USNI News – Last week, the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Samah entered the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. After a few miles, the 900-foot-long ship stopped reporting its position and destination. Evidence suggests the ship sailed to Syria, escorted by two Russian Navy ships, including a destroyer.

War Zone – The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced what it says is the first test launch of its Zircon hypersonic cruise missile against a naval target. The first-in-class Project 22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov fired the weapon during an event that may have been timed to coincide with the birthday of President Vladimir Putin.

Barents Observer – With ice edge at record north this autumn, the distance to the top of the world wasn’t too difficult for nuclear-powered Arktika on her maiden voyage.

Barents Observer – The ship “Akademik Aleksandrov” is closely linked with testing of Russia’s disruptive nuclear-powered underwater drone and the top-secret Harmony system of underwater sensors.

War Zone – The incident occurred in dense fog, but the Russian corvette reportedly had its tracking system deactivated.

War Zone – High winds from Typhoon Maysak caused a floating dry dock to break free of its moorings at Russia’s Vostochny Verf shipyard in the country’s far eastern port city of Vladivostok. Once free, it drifted into a number of ships and submarines belonging to the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, causing untold damage.

TASS – The United Shipbuilding Corporation displayed at Army-2020 forum a scale model of the new Serval-class P-750B submarine.

TASS – The United Shipbuilding Corporation displayed at Army-2020 forum a scale model of the new Serval-class P-750B submarine.

Naval News – Be-200 amphibious aircraft will protect Russian Arctic borders. Rescue and antisubmarine aircraft will be supplied to the Northern fleet. Be-200 can take off from the sea and land in any weather. They will defend deployment bases of Russian SSBNs.

BBC – Beneath some of the world’s busiest fisheries, radioactive submarines from the Soviet era lie disintegrating on the seafloor. Decades later, Russia is preparing to retrieve them.

Military Times – The Russian navy conducted major war games near Alaska involving dozens of ships and aircraft, the biggest such drills in the area since Soviet times.

War Zone – Russia is holding its largest naval drills in the Pacific in recent memory as the U.S. Navy’s big RIMPAC wargames are underway.

Barents Observer – The USS Seawolf conducted a brief stop in the fjord near Tromsø on August 21 for personnel change before sailing out to waters inside the Arctic Circle.

Barents Observer – The nuclear-powered “Admiral Nakhimov” will significantly strengthen the capacities of Russia’s Northern Fleet.

– RG – The large anti-submarine ship of the Northern Fleet “Vice-Admiral Kulakov,” which is now in the Mediterranean, will call in the port city of Algeria.

(Thanks to Alain)

– Barents Observer – Russia’s two newest special-purpose submarines, the Belgorod and the Khabarovsk, could redefine underwater warfare when they within some years sail out from the shipyard in Severodvinsk.

– Naval News – The armed forces will receive Be-200 amphibious aircraft, as the Defense Ministry plans to create several air units. The first amphibian is operating in the 859th naval training center in Yeisk. Experts believe Be-200 can be engaged by the Navy in rescue operations and anti-submarine warfare in future.

– Naval News – The “Ivan Rogov” and the “Mitrofan Moskalenko”, the first Russian LHD / amphibious assault ships of project 23900 will be able to operate as floating headquarters or command ships.

– Naval News – The Russian Navy will begin trials of new modular systems by the end of the summer. They include weapons and equipment carried in ordinary sea containers which can be loaded on various warships and plugged into onboard power supplies and controls.

– War Zone – Russia’s only Project 903 Lun class ekranoplan, a type of wing-in-ground-effect craft, recently floated out onto the Caspian Sea for the first time in decades and probably for the last time ever. Designed by the Soviet Union during the latter stages of the Cold War as a high-speed anti-ship missile craft, it only saw very limited service and is now going on display at Patriot Park in the city of Derbent in Russia’s semi-autonomous republic of Dagestan.

– Barents Observer – This is the ninth year in a row that Russian Navy ships sail the Northern Sea Route. Destinations and port-calls are not yet announced, but traditionally the annual flotilla sails all east to Kotelny Island, where Russia has one of its new Arctic bases.

– BMPD – “Cyclone” is a head unit, of five serial small missile ships (MRK) of project 22800 for the Russian Navy. The ship is intended for the Black Sea Fleet.

(Thanks to Alain)

– Forbes – U.S. Navy submarines have spent years shadowing Russian warships, hoping to snap photographs of missile tests through the periscope. It is the stuff of Cold War legends, taking intelligence, skill, courage and patience. Now by pure chance, a commercial satellite flying 488 miles above the Earth has captured exactly that.

(Thanks to Alain)

– Reuters – In a first for the Russian Navy, an all-female navy crew carried out patrols on the Black Sea on Friday in preparation for Russia’s Navy Day celebrations later this month.

(Thanks to Alain!)

– Barents Observer – The naval force that now sets out to the Barents Sea includes a powerful landing unit that is likely to engage in training near Norwegian shores.