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.

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.

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