Nuclear subs played cat-and-mouse game in Barents Sea

Training winter combat in western Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, around 8,000 soldiers are mainly operating along the coast to the Norwegian Sea in the west and the Barents Sea to the north.

Across the border to the east, on Russia’s Kola Peninsula, infantry units have practiced field shootings in the Pechenga region a few tens of kilometres from the border to Norway. The training is a part of an army competition, the information department with Russia’s Ministry of Defence reports Saturday morning. Russia’s recently established Arctic Brigade’s soldiers are to be prepared for deep snow and low temperatures. 

More advanced, out in the Barents Sea, two nuclear powered submarines have been playing one of the most serious war games submarines can be involved in; hunt-and-kill each other.

At least one of the two submarines, the ballistic missile carrier “Yury Dolgoruky” are armed with nuclear weapons. Each of the 16 Bulava missiles on board can carry six nuclear warheads. The other vessel, “Obninsk” is a 27 years old Viktor-class multi-purpose submarine that might, or might-not carry tachtical nuclear weapons.

Russia’s Defence Ministry says the most difficult part of the two submarine’s manoeuvres exercise in the Barents Sea was torpedo firing at underwater targets with dummy warheads.

Testing its stealth abilities, the two submarines were tracking an imaginary enemy, trained on combat manoeuvring including placing the subs in attack position.

“Yury Dolgoruky” is so far the only Borei-class vessel in operation with the Northern fleet.  Describing the features of the submarine, Russia’s TASS news agency says the developers have managed to achieve maximum stealth capability by using hydraulic propeller placed in a special ring nozzle and operating like a water pump receiving a stream flow.

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“Borei-class submarines can detect targets under the water while out of reach of sonars used by any of the enemy’s warships,” TASS writes.

The Defense Ministry note does not say where in the Barents Sea the cat-and-mouse game took place.