Ubåt - En Oscar II klasse er slått ut av virus - Tyler Rogoway video

The entire crew of one of the Russian Navy's eight Project 949A Oscar II class guided missile submarines is reportedly in quarantine over concerns they may have been exposed to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. This underscores the very serious implications that the rapidly expanding pandemic is almost certain to have on the readiness of military forces around the world, including the U.S. military, as time goes on, something the War Zone has already explored in detail.

B-port, an online Russian news outlet based in the northern port city of Murmansk, was first to report that the crew of the Oscar II class submarine Orel was in quarantine on Mar. 26, 2020. Russian Navy officials made this decision after learning that a civilian contractor who had visited the boat on official business had come into contact with another individual who tested positive for COVID-19.

Orel is homeported at the Guba Bolshaya Lopatka submarine base, which is part of the larger Zapadnaya Litsa naval base, on the Kola Peninsula. The base is situated to the northwest of Murmansk, as well as Severomorsk, a closed city that serves as the headquarters for the Russian Navy's entire Northern Fleet.

It's unclear how many Russian Navy personnel, as well as other individuals who work at Guba Bolshaya Lopatka, are in quarantine now, but a Project 949A submarine has a typical crew compliment of 110. B-port also reported that personnel from a second, unnamed submarine and floating workshop moored close to Orel had been placed in insolation for fear that they may also have been exposed to COVID-19.

Orel is one of eight remaining Soviet-era Oscar II class submarines still in Russian Navy service, two of which are in the process of being upgraded to the improved Project 949AM standard. A ninth boat in the class, the Belgorod, is in the final stages of major conversion into a Project 09852 special projects submarine, which you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone piece.

A present, Orel is one of just three Oscar IIs active with the Northern Fleet, the other two being the Voronezh and the Smolensk. The Tver, Omsk, and Tomsk are all assigned to the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet.

Sjekk video her: https://youtu.be/uKEPyiweA2o

The Oscar IIs, which began entering Soviet Navy service in the 1980s, still form the core of the Russian Navy's guided-missile submarine force. They have a distinctive wide-bodied hullform with long compartments on either side between the boat's inner and outer hulls. Each one of these two compartments contains launchers for 12 massive P-700 Granit anti-ship cruise missiles, also known to NATO as the SS-N-19 Shipwreck. The boats also have four 533mm torpedo tubes that can fire both heavyweight torpedos and the unique RPK-6 Vodopad anti-submarine missile, or SS-N-16 Stallion, the latter of which you can read about more in this past War Zone story.