Putin says enjoyed excursion to Gulf of Finland floor

(Interfax – GOGLAND ISLAND, near St. Petersburg, July 15, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has said he enjoyed going down to the floor of the Gulf of Finland aboard a submersible to see the sunken Russian 19th-century frigate Oleg.

Oleg, which sank in 1869, is “in an amazingly good state,” Putin told reporters. “It’s lying on its right side. It’s really in a very good state, the name of the ship can be read very well.”

In answering a question from Interfax, the president said the submersion was a very interesting and not at all frightening experience for him.

Asked by a reporter whether he was going to look for treasures on sunken ships, he said: “Not me, let journalists do that.”

Putin said he had also been able to see cannon emplacements on Oleg.

This was not Putin’s first underwater trip, but the president said it was different from his preceding ones.

“Another kind of vessel, with somewhat different impressions. It’s semispherical with thick glass, and so you get a different idea,” he said. There being quite a large a sunken ship lying on the bottom made his Gulf of Finland submersion different from his dive in Lake Baikal.

Putin said he didn’t operate the Sea Explorer 5 submersible because “one needs a lot of experience to operate such a vehicle,” but that the crew who were inside with him were “real professionals.”

Putin spent about half an hour under water, having joined what was an expedition to Oleg.

An Interfax reporter said the sea was getting rough with waves up to 1 meter high by the time Sea Explorer returned to Gogland. The crew said finishing the expedition later would have made surfacing and moorage practically impossible and would have been illegal.

Oleg, a sailing ship with propellers and one of the largest ships preserved from its period, belonged to a class of frigates that marked an end to the era of wooden sailing ships with smooth-barrel cannon charged through the muzzle.

Colliding with another ship during complex maneuvers, Oleg sank between the Gogland and Sommers islands, and lies at a depth at about 60 meters.

The frigate is being explored as part of the Sea Glory of Russia project. Its investigations are financed by the Russian Geographical Society.