Russian nuclear attack submarine detected near US ally’s waters

For the first time, Japan has detected an advanced type of Russian nuclear-powered submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles near its territorial waters.

On Monday, the Ministry of Defense announced Japan reported that four Russian ships were spotted sailing in the waters off the northern coast of Hokkaido, one of Japan’s four main islands, as they transited the La Perouse Strait westward from the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the Sea of ​​Japan.

The strait, also known as the Soya Strait, is one of five waterways where Japan has allowed its territorial waters to be claimed less than the usual twelve nautical miles to maintain high seas corridors. All ships can exercise their duties transit rights for international navigation.

The Japanese Self-Defense Forces have regularly encountered the Russian army units in waters and airspace throughout the country. Japan is a treaty ally of the United Stateswhile Russia has increased the level of military cooperation with nuclear-capable North Korea.

One of the Russian ships was a Yasen-class cruise missile submarine with nuclear propulsion, which is considered the most advanced, powerful and silent attack submarine in Russia, especially in terms of stealth equivalent to the latest Western submarines.

Two 13,800-ton Yasen-class submarines have been assigned to the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Krasnoyarsk and the Novosibirsk. Each has 10 torpedo tubes and 32 vertical tubes for firing long-range conventional missiles against warships and land targets.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.

It was not immediately clear why the submarine, the first Yasen-class boat sighted by the Japanese Navy, left its base at Rybachiy near Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula, home to the nuclear-powered submarines of Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

In September the Krasnoyarsk a journey completed with a submarine armed with nuclear missiles under the ice of the North Pole. They were transferred from the Barents Sea in northwestern Russia to the Far Eastern region, opposite the sea Pacific.

Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Vladimir Dmitriyev, the commander of Russian Pacific Fleet submarines, said in October that the modernization of a base in the Far East had made it possible seven nuclear-powered submarines put into use in recent years.

The Russian naval formation also includes the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikovthe missile range instrumentation ship Marshal Krylov and a rescue tug. The Japanese Navy deployed a P-3C anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft to shadow the Russian fleet.

In addition to the submarine-led formation, a second group of Russian naval vessels under the command of the Pacific Fleet, formed by three corvettes and a support ship, has been deployed in Indo-Pacific. visited Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia.

令和6年11月11日(月)午前8時頃、 #海上自衛隊 は、宗谷岬(北海道) 80 km, 80 km, 80 km Read more 4… pic.twitter.com/29j4VeAH14

— 防衛省統合幕僚監部 (@jointstaffpa) November 11, 2024