In 1994, a frigate Hetman Sagaidachny campaign took place in France. This was the first exit of the Ukrainian ship beyond the Black Sea and the first long-distance campaign in the history of the Naval Forces of Ukraine. The commander of the ship was Captain 3rd rank Serhiy Nastenko, the commanding officer of the campaign – Captain 1 rank Yuri Shalit, experienced officers who had behind their great experience of maritime service and far-off campaigns. Yes, and among the crew of the ship were quite experienced officers and midshipmen.

However, a complete lack of a logistics and maintenance system in the areas of the upcoming hike caused concern. In addition, the ship only a year, as part of the Navy, was in warranty and had some ‘childhood illnesses’. It has fed up skeptics about the success of the tasks. It was not without provocation of Russians. On the eve of the departure of the Black Sea Fleet command of the Russian Federation, forces of 102 detachments for fighting submarine sabotage forces and means tried to prevent the frigate ‘Sagaidachny’ and corvette ‘Lutsk’ on mooring barrels to participate in the festival ‘Starry Surf’, which was held on June 25. Our mooring groups had several hours to sit on mooring barrels and protect the mooring ends. The Russian anti-diversion boat ‘occupied’ the next barrel and did not allow ‘Lutsk’ to moor it. Eventually the problem was solved and on the barrels were two Ukrainian and two Russian ships.

After a thorough and exhausting training, the ship started its campaign on June 26 and already in the morning of the next morning it was trapped in the Bosphorus Strait. The first foreign warships met in Dardanelles, the four Italian Minerva-type corvules, which, right in the middle of the strait, demonstrated us an excellent maritime excursion in joint voyage – several turns ‘all together’, the front of the front, the bearing.
Finally, the Ukrainian ship went to the Aegean Sea and met the corvette of the Navy of France, which did not even have any idea what the country is and where Ukraine is.

In the Ionian Sea, the ‘Sagaidachny’ frigate for the first time received training experience with the NATO ship. It was a fairly simple ‘approach’ training (PASSEX) with the Greek frigate. However, on board the ‘Sagaidachni’ there was only one officer, Captain 2nd rank Eugene Losev, able to work with ships according to NATO standards. He actually became the first operational officer of the Ukrainian Navy and, most importantly, transferred his experience and skills to ship officers. The La Manche Frigate ‘Cahaidachni’ and French Navy cruiser ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ also conducted joint exercises with the landing of ship helicopters.

In general, the whole transition to the sea was saturated with intensive training with the crew and ship’s helicopter. Artillery and other combat exercises were also carried out. The ship conducted an exploration and a submarine search of submarines. Somewhere near the shores of Spain, the frigate ‘Sagaidachny’ discovered a submarine and more than 40 minutes kept contact with him, not a bad result for a single ship.

The Ukrainian frigate chained a lot of attention from NATO forces. There were regular flights of the ship by airplane base patrol aircraft: P3S Orion, Atlantic.

The first port of call was Toulon in France. During three days of parking, the ship replenished supplies of food, water, fuel, the crew carried out the procedure and maintenance of the material part.
Passing Gibraltar Strait, Viskai on July 10 in the Channel Strait, the ‘Hetman Sagaidachny’ frigate approached the raid of Gavra, at the entrance to the mouth of the river Sen. Several dozens of ships and ships, many of the world-famous sailors, were waiting at the entrance to the Seine for their turn. They all arrived for a great holiday, the Armada de la liberté maritime festival in honor of the 50th anniversary of the landing of Allied troops in Normandy. The festival was held in Rouen, the capital of Normandy. The Gethman Sagaidachi Frigate took several hours to cross the 120-mile River Seine and moor in the port of Rouen.

Commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, Vice-Admiral Volodymyr Bezkorovayny and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the French Republic Yuriy Kochubei arrived in Rouen. It was thanks to Volodymyr Gerasimovich Bezkorovayn that this campaign was carried out, and Yuri N. Kochubei organized the first official visit of a Ukrainian ship to a foreign country.

The ‘Armada of Freedom’ festival lasted a week, from 10 to 16 July. During this period more than 2 million people visited it. And there was something to see – more than 50 ships and ships from 21 countries of the world. Among them are more than thirty sailboats, including the most famous sailors: the Chilean Esmeralda, the Colombian Gloria, the American Eagle, the Italian ‘Amerigo Vespucci’, the Portuguese ‘Sagres’, the Polish ‘Gift of the Men’, the Norwegian ‘Christian Radish’ the German ‘Alexander Humboldt’. The actual participant in the Normandy landing operation in 1944 was present at the event and the Jeremy O’Brien cargo ship was the only Liberty ship that was preserved and able to cross the Atlantic. Ukraine was represented by the frigate Hetman Sagaidachny, the barge ‘Chersonese’ and the Cossack seagull ‘The Most Holy Virgin of the Virgin’. There were in Rouen and warships from France, Belgium, Brazil, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Russia.

The Sagaidachnoy crew participated in the parade in honor of the national holiday of France – the Bastille Day. But the football team of the Ukrainian ship, although not taking the prize-winning place at the mini-football championship, but received the prize of the sympathies of the spectators.

In general, the frigate ‘Sagaidachny’ was very popular. Every day near its ladder were erected huge queues for a boat trip. The improvised concerts given by the Ukrainian Navy’s orchestra just at the ship near the pier collected many spectators. During its stay in Rouen, ‘Sagaidachny’ was visited by about 10,000 people, and almost all of them did not know about the existence of Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers told the Europeans about Ukraine with pleasure. They saw the beautiful Ukrainian warship with their own eyes and realized that another powerful country appeared in Europe. The national color was added by guys from the crew of the Cossack gull. Right in the middle of France, in national costumes with pistols along the belt, with Cossack mustaches and herring, they made small, diverse performances. Foreigners had the opportunity to simultaneously see both the present and the glorious past of Ukraine.

And another event occurred during the frigate ‘Sagaidachny’ in France. Our sailors met the Ukrainian Diaspora. It was very important. For the first time, we have been so openly meeting our compatriots abroad (in Soviet times such relations were prohibited). Such meetings were very warm and frank. There was a great respect for us and pride for our country. Our compatriots showed traditional Ukrainian hospitality, some of the soldiers were invited to visit the house, and many arranged small excursions to the city. There was warmth and unity.
Holiday events have come to the end, ‘Sagaidachny’ has been awarded in the general form of the ‘Armada of Liberty’ holiday and, in fact, became a calling card of the country, confirmed the status of Ukraine as a maritime state.
The campaign lasted 43 days and ended on August 7, 1994. In total, 12,000 nautical miles were traversed. The Sagaidachni frigate visited three foreign ports (Toulon, Rouen, Le Havre), passed 7 seas (Black, Marmara, Aegean, Ionian, Ligurian, Bolear, Alboran) and went to the Atlantic Ocean.

But the main achievement of the campaign was invaluable experience: ship preparation and long-distance sailing, communication with the remote areas of the World Ocean, comprehensive provision of the Ukrainian ship in the absence of a base system, diplomatic accompaniment of the long-distance campaign.

This campaign was the first, in the future there would be longer and complicated hikes. But this experience has laid the foundation for the success of further long-distance campaigns and the successful implementation of the tasks of the participation of Ukrainian ships in international operations at sea.