An advanced “doomsday” submarine capable of launching massive nuclear torpedoes entered service with the Russian Navy on Friday. The move comes after Russian figures have made repeated threats of nuclear war to opponents of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russian state-owned TASS news agency reported Friday that shipbuilders at the Sevmash Shipyard had made the final delivery of the Project 09852 special-purpose submarine Belgorod to the Russian Navy. The Belgorod is a 508-foot-long modified version of the Soviet-designed Oscar-class submarine.
The Belgorod has been specially designed to carry and deploy up to six 80-foot long nuclear-armed weapons known as the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System “Poseidon,” also known as Kanyon by NATO. The Poseidon weapons have been referred to both as nuclear torpedoes and as nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicles. According to U.S. Naval Institute News, the Poseidon torpedoes are estimated to carry 100 megaton nuclear warheads, which could be launched against enemy shorelines and detonate against enemy coastal cities or create tidal waves that flood vast swathes of land. The potential destructive power of the Poseidon torpedoes has earned the Belgorod a reputation as a “doomsday” vessel. TASS euphemistically referred repeatedly to the new submarine as a research vessel.
Construction for the Belgorod submarine concluded in 2019, and the vessel was initially floated out of the shipyard in April of that year. The submarine has since undergone sea trials. The ceremony on Friday signified the submarine’s delivery to the Russian Navy.
“On July 8, 2022, a special ceremony was held at the Sevmash Production Association, Russia’s largest shipbuilding enterprise, to sign a certificate of the acceptance/delivery of the Belgorod research submarine to the Navy,” the Russian shipbuilders said, according to TASS.
USNI News reported the ceremony was held at the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet headquarters in Severodvinsk. The Russian Northern Fleet handles Russia’s naval operations throughout the Arctic Ocean.
Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolay Yevmenov said, “The submarine Belgorod opens new opportunities for Russia in holding various researches and helps carry out diverse scientific expeditions and rescue operations in remote areas of the World Ocean.”The explosion of this thermonuclear torpedo close to Britain’s coast will cause a gigantic wave tsunami wave up to 500 meters (1,640 feet) high,” Kiselyov said. “This wave also carries extreme doses of radiation. Having passed over the British Isles, it will turn whatever might be left of them into a radioactive desert unfit for anything for a long time.”
Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolay Yevmenov said, “The submarine Belgorod opens new opportunities for Russia in holding various researches and helps carry out diverse scientific expeditions and rescue operations in remote areas of the World Ocean.”
The delivery of the Belgorod into Russian military service could raise the risk of a nuclear conflict. In May, the state-run Russia 1 television channel aired a segment with a computer simulation of a Russian nuclear attack on the United Kingdom and the British Isles. The simulation showed a Poseidon nuclear torpedo detonation off the coast of the British Isles, followed by a tidal wave that swept over the islands.
“There is no way to stop this underwater drone,” Russian state television host Dmitry Kiselyov said in the May Russia 1 segment.
“The explosion of this thermonuclear torpedo close to Britain’s coast will cause a gigantic wave tsunami wave up to 500 meters (1,640 feet) high,” Kiselyov said. “This wave also carries extreme doses of radiation. Having passed over the British Isles, it will turn whatever might be left of them into a radioactive desert unfit for anything for a long time.”
