What We Know: Russia Is Building a Submarine To Hold "Thermonuclear" Torpedoes

Mark Episkopos

Security,

Russian president Vladimir Putin looked on from St. Petersburg via teleconference as the Belgorod nuclear submarine was floated out at Sevmash plant in in the northwestern province of Severodvinsk.

The first submarine to carry Russia’s “Poseidon” thermonuclear torpedoes has been laid down, inching the strategic weapon closer to deployment readiness.

Russian president Vladimir Putin looked on from St. Petersburg via teleconference as the Belgorod nuclear submarine was floated out at Sevmash plant in in the northwestern province of Severodvinsk. “By our shared efforts, we’ve multiplied Russia’s status as a great maritime power. May the ships’ future crews serve well. Seven feet beneath the feet keel,” said the Russian president. The latter phrase is an old Russian nautical blessing, in the same vein as its english “fair winds and following seas” counterpart.

Quoting Russian defense industry sources, the TASS news agency reports that Belgorod will undergo state trials in early 2020 and be transferred to the Russian Navy later that year.  Poseidon’s readiness is an altogether different question, with U.S. intelligence sources alleging that the underwater nuclear drone will enter the Russian armed forces no earlier than 2027.

The Kremlin, citing the “secrecy of the project,” has taken the unusual step of banning even major state media outlets from capturing Belgorod on video. The Russian Navy could perhaps be concerned that potential adversaries will study close-up footage of the unfinished hull to gain insight into Belgorod’s design or Poseidon’s loading/installation mechanisms.