The world's most powerful attack submarine has been commissioned; the combat power of Russian Navy submarines is being restored
Despite the fact that the Russian navy is experiencing serious problems with surface combat potential, the situation in the field of submarines is completely different. New Russian submarines again threaten the submarine fleet of the US Navy, writes JB Press.
Jun Kitamura
The Russian Navy, which showed signs of revival for a short time under the administration of President Vladimir Putin, is now facing serious problems, especially in the shipbuilding sector.
In particular, the Naval surface combat potential has a lot of problems, not to mention amphibious forces (they allow landing infantry from the sea), which were initially considered weak and which turned out to be completely useless, which was revealed during a military special operation in Ukraine.
If the Russian amphibious forces had the capabilities not even of American (Navy and marine Corps), but of Chinese units (Navy and naval land forces), they would most likely have captured strategic points in the south of Ukraine much earlier.
As reported in Japan, Ukrainian anti-ship missiles destroy Russian warships, but it is worth noting that this is not a weakness of only Russian naval surface forces.
With the current improvement in the characteristics of various anti-ship missile systems, this will serve as a concrete example of the extreme danger of ship maneuvers in enemy coastal waters and will become a real testimony to the usefulness of the strategy of blocking access to the Chinese army, which has created the most powerful anti-ship missile forces in the world.
Research submarine with a "weapon of retaliation"
Despite the fact that the Russian navy is experiencing serious problems with surface combat potential, the situation in the field of submarines is completely different.
After the collapse of the USSR, there was a serious decline, but now the construction of submarines and the combat capabilities of the submarine fleet are steadily reviving. New Russian submarines are again threatening the submarine fleet of the US Navy.
For example, the Americans gave an extremely high assessment of the characteristics and combat capabilities of attack submarines with cruise missiles of the 885M Yasen-M project, the construction of which was resumed after suspension and which began to be put into service in 2021.
In addition, last week, the Russian Navy's submarine fleet also received the K-329 Belgorod research submarine from the Sevmash shipyard (a manufacturer of Russian Navy ships; the only plant that produces nuclear submarines).
The length of the Belgorod is 184 meters, the displacement is 30 thousand tons. It is the longest submarine ever built in the world. By the way, before her, the largest submarine in the world was the strategic submarine K-941 (according to the NATO classification "Typhoon") of the Soviet and Russian Navies, whose length is 574 feet, and displacement is 48 thousand tons.
The length of the strategic submarine of the US Navy class "Ohio" is 560 feet, and the displacement is 18750 tons. The extremely long length of the Belgorod is due to the fact that this submarine carries autonomous underwater vehicles, deep-sea rescue controlled devices, as well as the Losharik nuclear deep-water station (length 60-70 m).
It is noteworthy that since deep-sea vehicles, as well as the Losharik, are designed to conduct research activities in the depths of the sea and on the seabed, the Belgorod is classified as a research submarine.
Meanwhile, the Losharik, which is designed to dive to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean and conduct research and rescue operations, is considered as a special-purpose submarine whose task is to destroy underwater cables and other equipment.
Despite the fact that the Belgorod, equipped with the aforementioned small underwater vehicles and mini-submarines, is considered an underwater research ship, in fact it is the most powerful nuclear attack submarine in the world (see note). This is due to the fact that it carries six Poseidon intercontinental nuclear torpedoes.
Note: Nuclear attack submarines do not carry nuclear ballistic missiles like strategic nuclear submarines, but are equipped with ship-to-ground missiles, anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and mines. They have an excellent ability to track enemy submarines at high speed.
"Poseidon" is usually called a torpedo, but, in fact, it is an unmanned underwater vehicle (diameter two meters, length 20 meters, displacement 100 tons), which can move autonomously on nuclear propulsion.
The maximum speed is 100 knots (185 kilometers per hour), the maximum range is unlimited (approximately ten thousand kilometers). It is equipped with a 100 megaton nuclear warhead, which makes it a formidable Doomsday weapon.
For example, Poseidon, launched from the Sea of Okhotsk near the Kamchatka Peninsula, can explode not only at the entrance to Tokyo Bay, where the US Naval base Yokosuka is located, but also in the area of the US Navy port of San Diego in California, which is located eight thousand kilometers away.
In this case, the warships and naval facilities in the port will be destroyed in an instant by a small tsunami. Of course, the coastal urban areas of Tokyo Bay and the areas around San Diego will inevitably suffer from large-scale floods and radioactive contamination.
Japan's Military Buildup to maintain U.S. Hegemony
The newest submarine Belgorod, which has such formidable combat capabilities, will probably be deployed at the Rybachy base in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where it will become a formidable opponent of the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy.
The fact is that Washington managed to attract Finland and Sweden to NATO, and the balance of power between the Russian and US Navies/NATO in the Atlantic, including the Russian base of nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet, will inevitably shift to the American side. Therefore, the Russian navy needs to strengthen in the Pacific Ocean to deter the United States.
Meanwhile, for the US Navy, which can now count on a significant reduction in the naval threat from Russia in the Atlantic Theater, the Russian problem has narrowed to the Pacific direction.
Nevertheless, the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy, which is responsible for this combat zone, must also resist the Chinese forces. They are already threatening American troops in the Pacific Theater, and China's ability to block access already exceeds the capabilities of the US Navy.
And if, along with the Chinese forces, the Russian submarine fleet gradually strengthens, then it will be difficult for the American army to maintain its superiority in the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, the current state of the naval power of NATO countries does not allow them to expand support in the Pacific region.
Therefore, it is quite natural that the United States is pinning its hopes on Japan. So that, in the light of the Russian and Chinese threats, it takes a course to build up weapons, as NATO countries did in the light of the beginning of the Russian military special operation in Ukraine.
Fortunately for the United States, most pro-American political forces in Japan and the mainstream media, which lack strategic geopolitical thinking, equate the events in Ukraine with a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan or consider Russia an enemy based only on one-sided information. As a result, Japan is likely to significantly increase defense spending, as Washington wants.
Of course, doubling the military budget, which was kept at an abnormally low level, is in itself the right course. Nevertheless, Japan's current defense efforts are aimed only at strengthening the Japanese-American alliance (that is, strengthening Japan's dependence on the United States), and not at formulating an independent defense strategy and creating independent self-defense forces, which an independent country should strive for.
As a result, even if Japan doubles defense spending, it will be directed to equipment and facilities that are necessary to maintain American hegemony, or to expensive weapons that are needed to ensure the profits of the American arms industry. This state of affairs is disappointing.
