site.btaAntarctic Mission Naval Support Crew Receive Awards from Bulgarian Memory Foundation

The crew of the naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) received awards from the Bulgarian Memory Foundation (BMF) on Friday for their performance during the ship's second voyage supporting the annual Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition. They were presented with honorary diplomas and cash awards by BMF President Milen Vrabevski during an official ceremony at the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in the Black Sea city of Varna. RSV 421 Commanding Officer Nikolay Danailov and the members of his crew, Naval Academy Rector Ft. Adm. Boyan Mednikarov and sailors' relatives were at the ceremony.

"Your mission was elevating," Vrabevski said, addressing the crew. "We are proud of your work, and we laud it as a model to emulate. By boosting the prestige of our nation, the RSV 421 crew has given our society and the whole country motivation to develop." Expressing his admiration for the sailors' achievements, Vrabevski assured them that the foundation will continue to support the efforts of the Naval Academy and RSV 421. He noted that this is the second time that such awards are presented, and pledged to make them a regular feature of BMF's activities.

Rector Mednikarov said the Naval Academy has a longstanding tradition of cooperation with BMF. He stressed that the two institutions uphold shared values and pursue the shared goal of raising Bulgaria's prestige. "Our cooperation has acquired a new dimension in recent years as the foundation has backed the voyages of RSV 421 in support of the 31st and the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expeditions. We highly value Dr Vrabevski's compelling demonstration of patriotism, his support for the ship's crew, the additional motivation he has given them to make their long and difficult sea passages with due responsibility. In this way, the foundation is working to help Bulgaria triumph in the continent of Antarctica by building capacity for scientific research."

Nikolay Danailov, the crew's commanding officer, likewise thanked the foundation for its trust and support. He said: "We reached places that none of us, being in military service, ever dreamed of visiting. We honoured the legacy of our ancestors, who said that Bulgaria should go beyond the Black Sea."

Danailov recalled some dramatic moments on the way to the icy continent and back, such as the urgent assistance which the crew provided to a yacht in distress on New Year's Night and the effort it took them to unload the huge amount of materials for a new laboratory at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island. According to the crew leader, RSV 421 did a great job in supporting the taking of sediment samples from the ocean floor off the shoreline of Livingston Island, which was an unprecedented endeavour for Bulgarian explorers, and the reaching of the islands of King George, Deception and Half Moon, which are beginning to be discovered for Bulgarian science.

Awards were presented to all 34 crew members, including three ladies: the ship's doctor, an assistant cook and a cadet. Mednikarov received BMF's annual award for 2023 for his service to society and his remarkable contribution to the development of Bulgarian naval education.

On behalf of the Naval Academy, Mednikarov presented Vrabevski and his wife with a scaled replica of RSV 421.