Barents Observer – The diesel-engined Kronshtadt is designed for destruction of enemy ships and infrastructure, and is likely to serve in the Northern Fleet.

Wavell Room – This article summarises Russian unit production in the three defence sectors – maritime, aerospace and land – in 2023.  It effectively counts ships, aircraft and tanks.  This is a basic but not invalid way to check the state of Russian defence industry.

Barents Observer – Operations under the sea-ice will be one of the top priorities for our submariners in 2024, Russia’s Northern Fleet underlines.

Naval News – In keeping with tradition, dating back to Soviet times, new ships and submarines were commissioned in the Russian Navy with the end of the year.

Covert Shores – Imagine a future where submarines prowl on the surface, launching aerial drones (UAVs) and engaging targets with gunfire and anti-tank missiles. It seems the antithesis of modern submarine operations. Yet Russia’s famous design bureau Rubin has been suggesting exactly that. The twist: it’s for border guard duties not regular combat. In Russia the border guard is part of the FSB.

(Thanks to Alain)

Naval News – If you can measure a new weapon’s impact by the lengths the enemy has to go to feel safe against it, then Ukraine’s maritime drones are hugely successful. The Russian Navy is deploying a multi-layered approach to defeating them.

Naval News – On 11 December in Severodvinsk, Russian Navy commander Adm. Nikolay Yevmenov announced that the series of Project 22350 frigates (Admiral Gorshkov class) armed with Tsirkon hypersonic missiles will comprise 10 vessels.

BBC – In early November, 50 Georgian opposition MPs addressed Nato and EU member states calling for a unified stance against Russia’s plan to establish a permanent naval base in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.

Bulgarian Military – The Russian Federation has apparently replaced the Askold missile corvette damaged during the Ukrainian attack with a new one from the Karakurt class. Open sources, citing new satellite images from early December, claim that it is the Tucha missile corvette.

(Thanks to Alain)

Bulgarian Military – The K-564 Arkhangelsk’s journey to completion has been a long one. Its foundation stone was laid on March 19, 2015, marking the beginning of an eight-year construction period till the launch in November 2023. A key reason behind this extended timeline was frequent funding delays that beleaguered its development. 

(Thanks to Alain)

Naval News – Electromagnetic Warfare is a powerful weapon in the war in Ukraine. Yet it is elusive; we know it is happening but it is invisible, even mysterious. A new analysis of open source data gives a rare window into this world, unmasking Russia’s hidden hand.

War Zone – Russia could see long and short-terms impacts to its defenses and logistics from a major storm that hit the Black Sea.

Barents Observer – A solemn ceremony was held for the K-564 Yasen-M class multi-purpose submarine at the Sevmash shipyard in the north Russian city of Severodvinsk on November 29.

(Thanks to Alain)

Naval Today – Russian shipbuilder Admiralty Shipyards, a subsidiary of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, has delivered the fifth Project 363.3 submarine, Mozhaisk, to the Russian Navy.

(Thanks to Alain)

Business Insider – Despite operating aircraft-carrying ships for more than a half-century, Russia has struggled to build effective fixed-wing jets for those ships to carry into action.

Seawaves – The diesel-electric submarine of the Black Sea Fleet “Krasnodar” of project 636.3 (code “Varshavyanka”) will go to the Baltic, leaving the permanent operational formation of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea.

(Thanks to Alain)

RUSI – Russian plans to establish a naval base in Abkhazia would render the region a legitimate target for Ukrainian military strikes, creating major risks for Tbilisi.

Barents Observer – The container ship that is suspected of having damaged a gas pipeline and two communication cables in the Baltic Sea on the 25th of October left the north Russian port of Arkhangelsk with course towards Arctic waters. The Newnew Polar Bear will this week sail through the Kara Sea and make it through the icy strait of Vilkitsky. Escorted by a Russian state-owned icebreaker it will subsequently sail eastwards along the North Siberian coast towards the Bering Strait and into Pacific waters.

War on the Rocks – The U.S. Navy and its NATO allies may be gearing up to challenge Russia’s excessive legal claims to the Northern Sea route by conducting a freedom of navigation operation. Multinational naval exercises have been taking place in the Barents Sea, and at some point they might include a freedom of navigation operation. The stakes are high, given the tensions following Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Russian government’s warnings about naval operations in the area have become more bellicose and the political leadership appears more willing to take risks. As a result, the fallout from any freedom of navigation operation could rapidly escalate. 

RUSI – In Russia’s recently updated Foreign Policy Concept, the concept of the ‘World Ocean’ takes centre-stage as a tool for achieving Moscow’s objectives.

Naval News – Russia has had to reinforce the defenses at its naval bases in Crimea. One of its first moves at the start of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine was to station trained dolphins at the entrance of Sevastopol harbor. Similar dolphin pens have now turned up at a Russian Naval base in northwestern Crimea.

Barents Observer – The Sevmorput and Newnew Polar Bear sailed over the Balticconnector and the telecom cable in pair at the time the damage occurred. Now, they are following each other outside northern Norway, en route to Asia via the northern coast of Siberia.

Covert Shores – The Russian Navy deployments in the Mediterranean can be seen as part of the outer guard for the invasion of Ukraine. They deter NATO involvement, particularly from aircraft carriers in the sea. How good they are at this deterrence is a separate question, but their threat is real. At any rate, Russia has increased its warship and submarine operations there. Now the last submarine based there appears to be leaving. 

(Thanks to Alain)

Express – The Russian ship may have been struck by one of Russia’s own undersea mines placed around the mouth of Sevastopol harbour.

(Thanks to Alain)

Barents Observer – The transfer from the Northern Fleet to the Pacific Fleet was completed on the the 16th of October as the 170 meter long submarine arrived in the far eastern naval base.