Russian Warship Transits Panama Canal: A First View At Gatun
You saw a real Russian warship? Yup. And not on TV either. I already hear the disbelief in the voice of my friends when I recount for them my latest adventure in Panama.
A Tweet from a friend tipped me off with a news alert that a Russian warship, the Admiral Chabanenko 650 would be passing through the Panama Canal on Friday December 5, 2008. This is the first time since 1944 at the time of World War II, that a Russian warship would make this voyage through the Canal. It sounded like something worth seeing.
I learnt from my sources that the Russian destroyer was scheduled to arrive in Colon Panama to transit Gatun Locks at around 17:40 pm on Friday. So my next move was to find someone to accompany me to the choice spot I got in order to take some photos to share with you. Well let me just say, adventures never quite go as planned, do they?
At 17:40 the warship was still in the bay waiting to enter Gatun Lake and disappointment started creeping in because I knew it would get too dark to take any photos (with my camera and my skills). And that’s exactly what happened. By the time we raced to the spot, arriving at 6:00pm and stood waiting for my first glimpse of the Admiral, night descended. And as you can see from the image above the Admiral is not painted white. Still it was exciting to see it.
As the ship drew near, we got all excited and then someone said, “Pastora do you realize that somewhere in the US and in Russia all eyes and radars and locked on this ship and on us standing on the banks watching?” No doubt you can tell we watch too much TV! But it wasn’t far fetched at all given that the US believes that Russia is flexing their military muscle trying to prove a point by coming into Latin America at this time. The warship is on its way back from Venezuela and are stopping in Panama for rest and restocking of supplies.
But what started a fresh round of laughter was the question as the ship drew level with us and the weaponry became visible. Someone asked, ‘Wait what are those harpoons’?? I laughed till I nearly fell in the water. Harpoons? That’s like really old black and white war movie now. As you can see in the photo above, the weaponry was well and truly in place. Those were not toy bombs. I hope that’s the closest I’ll ever get to a real bomb.
The Admiral Chabenenko 650 was much smaller than I imagined it would be. It’s 169 meters or 554 feet long. Nonetheless, it was still small compared to the huge vessels that transport containers. That was the reason for the night transit as well. It’s a small ship and small vessels transit at night as Panama Canal gives larger vessels the preference for daytime transit. One hour after we got there, the warship was in Lake Gatun waiting to go through Gatun Locks but had to wait until 2 vessels exited the Locks headed for the Atlantic Ocean.
When we left a little after 7pm about 3 tug boats were helping the warship reverse, by pulling it backwards. It was probably going too fast and had to slow down to allow the ship in the locks to exit. After transiting the Canal, Admiral Chabanenko will be based at the former Rodman Naval Base in Panama City , now Balboa where it will dock for 6 days. I was informed that the Panamanian public have been invited to view and board the destroyer. Such a pity I have such a horribly busy week or I’d go to see it up closer and in daylight.
Photo Credits to Naval Weapons of the World.
Well who knows what I’m going to get up to next.
Until then,
Marvia
Subscribe to RSS
December 6th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Friendly visit??? I still dont get the true purpose of the visit really…Friendly visit to do what?? Have a drink of vodka?? Talk politics??? Why on earth is a warship doing a friendly visit??? I would really like to know if they have other plans….Especially while the world economy is slowing down…
December 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I hope this Russian vessel has friendly intentions.
There will probably be a few more Russian ships passing through the canal too, because naval vessels seldom travel alone.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Hello Bro,
You are right of course.
There is a nuclear vessel called Peter the Great lurking about somewhere in a top secret location. And who knows what else is around.
So far the 'friendliness' of the visit in these parts is causing quite a buzz. Latin America has been under US influence for a long time, but communism/socialism is far from dead in the impulses of the people.
So that makes Russia's friendly visit set off alarm bells big time:-)
Peace!
December 11th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Dave you mek mi laff,
Real Jamaican suspicion that. A dear friend of mine would respond thus…show me a friendly war ship and I'll show you a vegetarian wolf!
Come on! The people say they are on a friendly visit:-)
Ok they actually went to do some joint military training or some such with Venezuela and thought they'd sail by and say hello the the Panamanians while giving the crew some rest and stocking upon supplies. So there you go – a 'perfectly innocent' trip.
But on the other hand they do wish to remind the region that they are still good trading partners and let USA know that they are not the only 'big guns' around. Or something to that effect.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
My grandparents grew up around Gatun Lake. Thanks for posting.