The Pyotr Veliky cruiser inspects a fishing boat

When entering the Indian Ocean from the Gulf of Aden on April 24, the marines of the Russian Pyotr Veliky cruiser carried out an operation on searching a suspected pirate ship.

The crew of the Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser spotted a fishing vessel surrounded by smaller boats. The cruiser was set on alert.

The Russian cruiser demanded that the schooner hove aback for being searched.

The cruiser lowered a motor boat and a cutter.

We did not find any suspicious objects or any signs of illegal activity, captain second rank Felix Menkov, the cruiser’s commander, said.

The fishermen were tolerant of the Russian marines’ searching their vessel.

There were no incidents. The two sides behaved in a civilized and reasonable manner.

“It was better to inspect the ship and make sure that they were peaceful sailors than risk that they will later assault or seize some ship. It would have been a much harder job then. The crew acted in a confident manner. We had held exercises and trained for such events. We can say today we proved it once again that our cruiser was ready to accomplish tasks like this, the cruiser’s commander said.

The Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Northern Fleet, departed from its base in Severomorsk on March 30 to take part in large-scale drills on the high seas along with other Russian vessels. The long-distance voyage will include calls at foreign ports and joint exercises with Russia’s military partners. The Pyotr Veliky cruiser is the world’s largest warship not carrying aircraft. The cruiser is designed to engage large surface ships and to defend the fleet against air and submarine attack at sea.