Barents Sea c.1987

[Roger Newsome]

I recently unearthed a few photos I took in the Barents Sea in 1987, or thereabouts, hopefully someone will find them of interest.

Roger. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chewbacca]

That takes me back!  I've got a similar set of photos (though of fewer types of ship) from the Baltic and North Norwegian Sea from the same period somewhere

[Roger Newsome]

The photos were taken with a little Kodak disc camera which was the ideal size to fit in a Killick Seaman's  foul weather jacket pocket, along with other essential items such as a ball of sailmakers twine, roll of insulating tape and a few cable ties. 🙂

Roger. 

[Terry1954]

Superb pictures Roger. In that first one (of four) it looks like a TU-95 Bear, a Flanker, an IL-38 May and do you reckon that's an Alpha Submarine on the surface?

[Roger Newsome]

25 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Superb pictures Roger. In that first one (of four) it looks like a TU-95 Bear, a Flanker, an IL-38 May and do you reckon that's an Alpha Submarine on the surface?

Glad you enjoyed seeing them Terry.

Definitely a Bear, May and Alpha, I also have a feeling it's a Flanker, I recall there being quite a bit of excitement among the 🕵️‍ people about seeing one.

[Chewbacca]

Difficult to tell from the photo but I do tend to agree that its a flanker.  I would have expected the "sting in the tail" to have been slightly more prominent but there's definitely something there so its certainly not a Fulcrum or Foxbat.

 

The one that has got me stumped is in the 4th group down.  There are 3 Tarantul IIIs but what's the one bottom right?  Grisha, Parchim or Petya? 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Going by the stinger extended aft from the top of the fin, I'm going to stick my neck out and say the Bear is the Maritime reconnaissance Tu142 Bear F

[Roger Newsome]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

There are 3 Tarantul IIIs

Those three Tarantul's are one Nanuchka.... I think. 🤔

A memory of the event has come back to me, the Nanuchka(?) was laying a smoke screen round the Alpha class in the previous photo so we couldn't see it. On closer inspection you can see the smoke in the photos. 

It wasn't very effective against a Type 42 and a Lynx. 😄

[Chewbacca]

1 hour ago, Roger Newsome said:

Those three Tarantul's are one Nanuchka.... I think. 🤔

 

My mistake Roger - I think you're right.  I forgot that they moved the main radome to the bridge roof in the later Nanuchkas.  Defintely not a Tarantul mast.  Its years since I had to do a ship recognition test!

 

Was that HMS NEWCASTLE by any chance?  If so I remember a very interesting conversation with your Flight Observer when they got back to Portland about what the Soviets were up to.

[Roger Newsome]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

My mistake Roger - I think you're right.  I forgot that they moved the main radome to the bridge roof in the later Nanuchkas.  Defintely not a Tarantul mast.  Its years since I had to do a ship recognition test!

 

Was that HMS NEWCASTLE by any chance?  If so I remember a very interesting conversation with your Flight Observer when they got back to Portland about what the Soviets were up to.

It was Liverpool and if I remember correctly we had two pilots and two flobs embarked not sure about the rest of the flight though. There was a squad of CT's embarked also, in fact there was so many additional personnel some of the ships company remained behind to make room for them.

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Roger.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I have a few similar photos from an Op Nickelby (Barents Sea) trip in 1995; 2 Sea kings on RFA Tidespring and a Lynx on a 22 (can’t recall which).  Huge fun, though distinctly odd getting airborne at 2 a.m. in broad daylight; messes with your head.

[Roger Newsome]

On 7/30/2020 at 7:21 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Huge fun, though distinctly odd getting airborne at 2 a.m. in broad daylight; messes with your head.

That's one of the things that's stuck in my head about that trip, well not the getting airborne bit. 😁