Experts from the American edition of The National Interest compared the US Navy’s Virginia-class submarines with the Russian Yasen-class submarines, which are seen as competitors in their class. Noting the advantages and disadvantages of these two nuclear submarines, analysts concluded that the United States has lost ground on ocean dominance. This is despite the fact that there are 19 American boats, the first representative of which was SSN-774 Virginia in 2004. Project 885 and 885-M has only three Russian boats: K-560 Severodvinsk, K-561 Kazan and K-573 Novosibirsk. Six nuclear submarines of the project are expected to enter the Navy by 2028.
The superiority of nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project over Virginia-class submarines lies not only in surface and underwater displacement – for Russian boats, it is slightly higher due to the weapons on board. So, “Novosibirsk” has 8 silo launchers, each of which contains 4 Onyx, Zircon cruise missiles or 5 smaller cruise missiles, as well as 10 torpedo tubes and 30 torpedoes of 533 mm caliber for them. diameter “caliber”. American submarines have 4 torpedo tubes (26 torpedoes), which reduces the ability to launch a salvo, and 12 launchers, on which a Tomahawk cruise missile is placed.
The silence of the two nuclear submarines is almost the same – the stealth of these boats is their main advantage. The Americans consider their submarines more perfect, at the Sevmash plant they do not agree with them and call their product “submarine cruiser of the XXI century.” Despite the fact that both nuclear submarines are multipurpose, the main purpose of the Virginia is to combat submarines and conduct special operations, and representatives of the Yasen project, combat enemy surface ships and destroy ground targets with cruise missiles of various types. .
With a volley of Onyx supersonic missiles (speed at Mach 2.6), the Yasen project submarine could even destroy a group of enemy carriers protected as an aircraft carrier attack group. The range of destruction of ground targets is up to 800 kilometers. The combat use of these missiles was recorded in Syria in November 2016 using the Bastion-P mobile coastal missile system. During the special operation in Ukraine, repeated attacks by Onyx were carried out on the objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The combat use of Onyx and Caliber missiles (2500 km range) or Zircon missiles (1000 km) by Russian nuclear submarines was not recorded – this is still the prerogative of diesel-electric submarines of the Varshavyanka project. , carrying cruise missiles “Caliber”.
“Our nuclear submarines are a kind of “second front” in the special operation in Ukraine – Officially, they do not take part in hostilities, but most of them are now nuclear, which are transferred to an almost full combat readiness state. in combat service as part of deterrent forces. Hail is already an extreme step. American President Biden, who fell asleep at the launching ceremony of the Virginia-class Delaware submarine, knows this. Russian President Vladimir Putin knows it too – he’s sure he has his back covered, he has a serious underwater component behind him. there is power.
Not only the submarines of the Yasen-M project went to sea, representatives of the Borey, Shark, Pike-B and other projects are in combat service. The newest Belgorod special-purpose submarine with Poseidon nuclear drones has disappeared from American radars. I believe that Kazan and Novosibirsk, representatives of the 885-M project, already have hypersonic Zircons, which neither ships nor ground targets, where US military decision-making centers are located, can bypass. This is very positive information for all parties, especially the Pentagon.”
Russian nuclear submarines of project 885-M are still in the zone of secrecy. Even the boat’s propeller is an object of state secrecy, and its design, along with the power plant that allows the nuclear-powered ship to develop an exorbitant speed of up to 31 knots in a submerged position, is unknown to foreign intelligence agencies. The navigation autonomy of such a boat is 100 days – under water, it can perform combat missions for more than three months without surfacing. At the same time, it remains undetected by radar surveillance systems of a potential enemy.
“The nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project, including those currently in various stages of construction, are a great foundation for the future for the entire Russian submarine fleet,” 1st Degree Captain Igor Dygalo told socialbites.ca. – They are ahead of their time and will be modern for decades to come. However, they are not just the pride of our current and future fleet. The Borey-M, Condor projects, which are under construction and modernization, new boats with diesel engines Varshavyanka and Lada and some others allow us to say that the Russian submarine forces have regained naval power.”
Source: Gazeta
