The Kazan is based at
Nerpichya in Zapadnaya Litsa a short 60 km east of Russia's border with Norway
on the Barents Sea coast. Photo: Press service of the Northern Fleet
62 years after the Cuban
Missile Crisis, Northern Fleet nuclear-powered submarine is headed for Havana
The top-modern, heavily armed, submarine is part
of a Russian naval detachment of four ships that will stay in port of the Cuban
capital from June 12 to June 17.
By
June 06, 2024
“The visit
corresponds to the historical friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian
Federation,” a statement by Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces reads.
The ministry
finds reasons to underline that “none of the ships carry nuclear weapons.”
Commenting
on the statement, nuclear weapons expert Hans Kristensen writes on Twitter (X):
“I wouldn’t expect them to but I wonder if the Cubans would be in a
position to know.”
Kristensen
is Director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of
American Scientists.
Unlike non-strategic
U.S. navy submarines, Russia’s multi-purpose submarines currently have cruise
missiles that can be armed with tactical nuclear warheads.
Last time
Moscow and Havana made joint plans involving nuclear weapons, tensions rose to
near confrontation between the Soviet Union and USA. The Cuban missile crisis
in October 1962 was resolved during some hectic days with hot-line talks
between the White Hose and the Kremlin.
It was three
weeks ago, on May 17th, the Northern Fleet detachment sailed out from the Kola
Peninsula, heading for the North Atlantic. The three surface vessels in the
group are the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the oil tanker Pashin and
the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker.
Russian navy tug ‘Nikolay Chiker’ at port in Severomorsk. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Somewhere
outside the coast of Norway, the Admiral Gorshkov in exercise
mode put an approaching NATO P-8 maritime patrol aircraft in gunsight,
the Barents Observer reported.
The press
service of the Northern Fleet this week posted another video from aboard the frigate, this time showing the crew
launching a small quadcopter drone as target for artillery shooting.
The frigate
carries a Ka-27M helicopter that at locations during the Atlantic voyage are
training reconnaissance flights.
The
Ka-27M helicopter operates out of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. Here, somewhere
in the North Atlantic this week. Photo: Information Service of the Northern
Fleet
“The flights
took place at a distance of up to 200 kilometers from the detachment of ships
of the Northern Fleet and at altitudes of up to 1000 meters,” a Northern
Fleet statement informs.
The Cuban
Defense Ministry was first to announce the arrival of the Russian warships. By
late Thursday, no official information is published by Russia’s Defense
Ministry or the Northern Fleet about Havana as a first destination for the
voyage that in May was said to last “for several months” on take place on “the
world oceans.”
The Admiral
Gorshkov is the lead vessel of Russia’s latest class of frigates.
Commissioned in 2018, the warship can be armed with Tsirkon, Kalibr and
Oniks cruise missiles, as well as Otvet anti-submarine missile.
Lead vessel
of its class is also Kazan. The Yasen-M submarine was launched
in 2017 and entered service with the Northern Fleet in 2021. This submarine can
carry Oniks and Kalibr cruise missiles. The Defense Ministry in Moscow
has previously said the Kazan will be armed with Tsirkon hypersonic
missiles.
The Kazan (K-561) is
powered by a 4th generation KTP-6 nuclear reactor. The submarine is said to be
the quietest in the Russian underwater fleet.
The visit to
Havana next week will be the first ever to a foreign port by the Yasen-M
class.
Frigate Admiral Gorshkov first time made port call to
Havana in 2019. During winter 2023, the warship sailed both the North- and the South Atlantic, including a joint drill
with the Chinese and the South African navy, followed by a port call to
Cape Town.
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