Tickets Offered to Public to Tour Soviet Navy Ships

Tickets to board two Soviet warships visiting San Diego Aug. 1 to Aug. 4 will be made available by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday.

The tickets will be offered from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Navy/Marine Mobile Recruiting van adjacent to the main entrance of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The tickets, available on a first-come-first-serve basis, will be limited to four per family.

A U.S. Navy surface combatant ship will also be available for touring. Three Soviet navy ships, which are scheduled to arrive in San Diego on July 31, will be visiting the West Coast for the first time. The ships--the Admiral Vinogradov, Boyevoy, and the oiler Argun--will be docked at the San Diego Naval Station, Pier 2.

Military personnel have been requested to order tickets through their commands, Navy officials said.

During the unprecedented five day visit, Adm. Charles Larson, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, will host his Soviet counterpart, Adm. Gennadj Alexandrovich Khatov, commander of the Soviet Pacific Fleet.

The Soviet visit is the second round of an exchange organized by Adm. William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev, former Soviet chief of staff. The visits were established to foster goodwill and understanding between the two nations’ navies.

The first round of visits started last July when the Soviet navy visited a U.S. naval base in Norfolk, Va. The following month, the U.S. Navy sailed to Sevastopol in the Crimea. This September, three U.S. ships will sail to Vladivostock.