Photos of Russia's $300m Rostov-on-Don submarine show catastrophic damage to the submarine
Photos of the $300 million Russian diesel-electric submarine Rostov-on-Don appeared on social networks. It was attacked on 13 September while it was in dock with the large landing ship Minsk.
Here's What We Know
Photos of the ship "Minsk" appeared on the day of the strike, but pictures of the submarine had to wait almost a week. But they were worth it. Judging by the published footage, the Russian submarine will not return to service. Analysts believe that it is beyond repair.
Per @The_Lookout_N, even though the extent of fire damage inside is not visible, it seems more reasonable to build a new submarine rather than repair this one
- CIT (en) (@CITeam_en) September 18, 2023
2/2 pic.twitter.com/l2QAdSWikg
In the photo we can see large holes in the bow and starboard side of the submarine's hull. Part of the hull may have been destroyed by a secondary explosion, although the use of the dual warheads used by the SCALP EG and Storm Shadow cruise missiles cannot be ruled out.
***UPDATE***
- H I Sutton (@CovertShores) September 18, 2023
Thread 1/n
Refined likely damage assessment: this is an ex-submarine
New photos of #Russian navy submarine hit by #Ukrainian cruise missiles in Sevastopol show damage is even worse than previously noted. Photos appear credible. Pressure hull has massive breaches pic.twitter.com/a9doVcmHmk
Second hole in Rostov-on-Don is near a battery well and control room equipment spaces. I expect Russia will salvage and cannibalise what equipment they can and scrap this submarine. https://t.co/fckiQ8fkhi
- SubBrief (@SubBrief) September 18, 2023
The Rostov-on-Don submarine was built under Project 636.3. It joined the Russian Federation's Black Sea Fleet in 2014 and is a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles, which Russia often uses to strike Ukraine.
There is still no official statement on what weapon was used in the strike. The Ukrainian Air Force has hinted at Storm Shadow and/or SCALP EG cruise missiles. Sky News, citing Ukrainian and Western sources, wrote about the use of Storm Shadow. The Russians report that the air defence system was able to intercept 7 out of 10 cruise missiles.
Regardless of which weapon was used, the main thing is the result. And the result is that Ukraine became the first country in history to destroy an enemy submarine with cruise missiles without anti-submarine warfare capabilities, while Russia lost its first submarine since World War II.
Source: The War Zone
