cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, destroyers Severomorsk and Vice-Admiral Kulakov and likely a nuclear submarine. The Admiral Kuznetsov'''s airwing, composed of 6-8 Su-33s and 4 MiG-29Ks flew missions in Syria. A Su-33 and a MiG-29K were lost due to malfunctions of the arresting wires, with pilots being safely rescued. 2017 In 2017, the task force was temporarily strengthened by Northern Fleet's aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, heavy cruiser Pyotr Velikiy (both 26 October 2016–20 January 2017) and destroyers Severomorsk (26 October 2016–24 May 2017) and Vice-Admiral Kulakov (8 August–4 November), as well as Baltic Fleet's corvettes and (29 October–December). 2018 In 2018, the task force was temporarily strengthened by Northern Fleet's cruiser (11 August–12 November) and destroyer Severomorsk (11 August–3 May 2019) as well as Baltic Fleet's frigate Yaroslav Mudry (26 April–October). Between 1–8 September, the largest Russian post-Cold war naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea was conducted. Dubbed Ocean shield, it was the first iteration of Ocean shield exercises, which were in the next two years held in the Baltic Sea. 26 ships, 2 submarines and 34 aircraft were included. Among participants were cruiser Marshal Ustinov, destroyers Smetlivy and Severomorsk, frigates Admiral Grigorovich, Admiral Essen, Admiral Makarov, Pytlivy and Yaroslav Mudry, corvettes Vishny Volochyok, Grad Sviyazhsk and Veliky Ustyug and conventional submarines Kolpino and Velikiy Novgorod. Aircraft present included Tu-160 bombers, Tu-142 and Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft and Su-33 and MiG-29K maritime fighters. This was the largest Russian naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea of the post-Cold War era and the largest Russian post-Cold War naval exercise in the far sea zone. In terms of distant location and number of capital ships participating it's comparable only to June 2021 exercises of the Pacific Fleet off the Hawaii islands. 2019 In 2019, the task force was temporarily strengthened by Northern Fleet's cruiser Marshal Ustinov (22 August–30 October and 18 December–28 January 2020), destroyers Vice-Admiral Kulakov (December 2019–January 2020) and Severomorsk (11 August 2018–3 May 2019) and frigate (10–20 March). 2020 In 2020, the task force was temporarily strengthened by Northern Fleet's cruiser Marshal Ustinov (18 December 2019–28 January 2020) and destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov (December 2019–January 2020 and 6 August–8 November), as well as Baltic Fleet's frigate Yaroslav Mudry (March–April). The mainstay of the Squadron were Black Sea Fleet's frigates Admiral Grigorovich (28 February–26 June and 29 December 2020–8 May 2021), Admiral Essen (21 December 2019–11 April and 29 September–28 December) and Admiral Makarov (28