With a nuclear submarine in centre, Northern Fleet flotilla sails home
After parading at Navy Day in St. Petersburg, four warships are this weekend sailing into Scandinavian waters.
Saturday evening, the ships were southwest of Bornholm heading towards Storebælt where they are expected to sail under the bridge early on Sunday. Danish radiation protection authorities are routinely monitoring the flotilla since the submarine is nuclear-powered, Jyllands-Posten reports.
The Oscar-II class submarine “Orel” is one of the largest in Russia’s Northern Fleet, with a length of 155 meters and a displacement of 14,700 tons when sailing in surface position. Two reactors power the submarine, which is armed with 24 cruise missiles.
Additional to the 26 years old submarine, the navy group heading north towards the Kola Peninsula consists of the missile cruiser “Marshal Ustinov”, the new frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” and the anti-submarine ship “Severomorsk”.
Earlier this week, the warships participated in an inter-naval exercise in the Baltic Sea together with vessels from Russia’s Baltic Fleet that also had been on display during the parade in St. Petersburg on the Navy’s Day July 29th.
Denmark’s military operation center says it expects the Russian navy ships to leave Danish waters northwest of Skagen early Monday morning.
After sailing Skagerrak, the flotilla sails into the North Sea and turn north along the coast of Norway until it reach Russian waters in the Barents Sea likely by next weekend.
