Russian nuclear submarines stage ‘underwater duels’

Russian nuclear fast attack submarines have twice staged underwater ‘duels’ while also testing NATO defences between Scotland, Iceland and Greenland in the Atlantic, say reports in Moscow.

The most recent cat and mouse game last week involved Northern Fleet submarines Nizhny Novgorod and Pskov in ‘sparring and tracking’ war games.

‘They executed electronic launches, and at the conclusion of the drill, real launches of torpedoes without warheads,’ reported official Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Russian media have reported that nuclear fast attack submarines have been involved in two ‘underwater duel’ scenarios over recent weeks. The most recent war games took place last week as the Nizhny Novgorod, pictured right, took on the Pskov, pictured left, in ‘sparring and tracking’ simulations in the Norwegian Sea

The Russian Navy launched another ‘duel’ in the waters around Kamchatka, when the Vladimir Monomakh submarine, pictured, and Alexander Nevsky submarines simulated a battle scenario. Russian media reported that one of them roleplayed as the Western enemy 

‘Prior to this the submarines conducted submergences to maximum depth and tested new weapons in the Norwegian Sea.’

Another ‘duel’ – with one nuclear submarine playing the role of a Western enemy – was conducted by the Alexander Nevksy and Vladimir Monomakh vessels off the coast of Kamchatka.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta claimed its Western military foes were ‘most alarmed’ by Russian training sessions in the North Atlantic aimed at ‘penetrating an antisubmarine barrier which the Alliance deployed between Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland’ equipped with the SOSUS sonar system.

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Participation in the exercise of Sierra III-Class submarines Nizhny Novgorod and Pskov ’caused particular alarm of NATO military analysts’.

The report stated: ‘They are nicknamed “titanium destroyers” for the hull material and range of missions performed, the main one being destruction of enemy strategic submarines and carrier groups at the beginning of a conflict.

‘The high-speed submarines are capable of moving covertly at great depth, and their armament – torpedoes, rocket-torpedoes, and Kalibr cruise missiles – make boats of this type among the most formidable marine predators.’