The Mir sailing ship marked its jubilee in St Petersburg on September 29, 2017. One of the fastest ships in the world celebrated its 30^th anniversary at home – at the port of registry.

The solemn celebrations involved FSUE “Rosmorport” Executive Director Andrey Lavrishchev, FSUE “Rosmorport” Deputy General Director Oksana Gubina, Director of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch Sergey Pylin, head of the Rosmorrechflot Administrative Directorate Sergei Kurbatov, Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping acting rector Nikolai Glebov, representative of the St. Petersburg Government, heads of the maritime industry's enterprises, as well as leading maritime educational institutions.

Cadets of the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping greeted the honorable guests by the solemn parade. Cadets studies the basics of maritime affairs aboard the ship. The sailing ship's captain, Andrey Orlov, reported on the arrival of cadets upon completion of training, the absence of incidents during the navigation and the crew's and the ship's preparedness for starting the jubilee.

Within the celebrations Andrey Lavrishchev congratulated the crew members and cadets on the jubilee of the Mir sailing ship. He noted that this year for the first time training would be conducted till the end of November, that made it possible to receive and train more cadets. Real professionals of the sailing ship trained hundreds of future sailors.

During the event and on the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of hoisting the Russian State Flag the FSUE “Rosmorport” letters of commendation were given for the labor achievements aboard the Mir ship to:
Andrey Orlov, Captain;
Timofei Kurnosov, Radio Officer;
Nikolai Makarov, Second Engineer;
Igor Sivov, Chief Boatswain, and
Alexander Tatarintsev, Senior Leading Stoker – Electrical/Gas Welder.

The FSUE “Rosmorport” General Director commendation was awarded to
Alla Balakireva, Linen-Keeper;
Irina Vereshchagina, Keeper;
Vyacheslav Kotlyarov, Chief Mate.

Valuable presents were given to:
Natalya Belokonskaya, Second Mate;
Boris Zelensky, Chief Engineer;
Leonid Karabutov, Ship's Doctor;
Natalya Kirillovskaya, Captain's Mate for Administration.

The Mir is a yearslong participant in and a winner of prestigious international regattas. The sailing ship is a symbol of St Petersburg and proudly bears this title through seas and oceans by glorifying maritime culture and the high level of maritime education in Russia.

The sailing ship got congratulations on the jubilee from the different parts of the planet. During the jubilee, the International Sail Training Association's message was read out. The Association congratulated the ship's crew, the management and employees of FSUE “Rosmorport” on the 30^th jubilee of the Mir sailing ship.

“We praise the Mir sailing ship's annual participation in our regattas. For 30 years the sailing ship has been taking part in the regattas at the high level, especially led by the captains, Viktor Antonov and Andrey Orlov, who are considered the best in the world in their own right,” the greetings message said.

On the occasion of the jubilee FSUE “Rosmorport” jointly with Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping organized a competition on the best poem about the sailing ship. Kristina Khovina won a victory in the competition. The ship's captain, Andrey Orlov, gave souvenirs to the winners of the competition. In addition, the best cadets of the voyage were also given awards.

Upon completion of the celebrations the guests took part in an excursion on the legendary ship.

This jubilee season a total of 132 cadets of Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping ended training on the sailing ship. Most of them are trained to be navigators. The group includes 13 engineers, nine electrical officers and two radio officers. Every cadet carried out their own tasks at sea. They kept the sailing and steering watches and went training on courses in the selected specialty and English. Thousands of passed nautical miles allowed the children to test their power of endurance and firmness, gain experience and acquire skills to work with the sails.

For reference:

The Mir training sailing ship is a training three-mast ship (“a frigate” under the classification of training vessels or “a ship” under the rig – the full-rigged ship).

The Mir was floated out at the Gdansk shipyard “Stocznia Gdanska” (Poland) in 1987. This year under the flag of the USSR the ship left for its first voyage to the port of registry – the seaport of Leningrad.

Viktor Antonov has became the first captain of the sailing ship. In different years Valery Zorokhov, Sergei Timoshkov and Yuri Galkin were the captains of the ship. At present Andrey Orlov is the captain of the frigate.

In May 2014 under Rosmorrechflot Resolution No AD-207-r of May 26, 2014 the Mir sailing ship was given and assigned to FSUE “Rosmorport” on the basis of the right of economic management.

The vessel takes part many times and wins international events, sailing regattas and festivals.

Throughout its existence the frigate was designed for carrying out navigational training of cadets. The crew of the sailing ship and cadets take part in different cultural, sportive and educational events, promote the Russian culture and the Russian language abroad, and demonstrate the high level of maritime education in Russia