‘Underwater game of cat and mouse’

nn

The Belgorod may be only the first in a fleet of four submarines that could carry the Poseidon torpedoes, the CRS said, with two destined for service in Russia’s Pacific Fleet and two in its Northern Fleet.

Sutton, of Covert Shores, wrote in 2020 that the next three Poseidon-armed subs, the aforementioned Khabarovsk class, “are likely to be the defining submarine of the 2020s because they represent a novel and difficult adversary”.

“Other navies are unlikely to emulate it, but they will want to counter it,” Sutton said of the Khabarovsk class.

“The underwater game of cat and mouse where US Navy and (British) Royal Navy hunter-killer submarines stalk the Russians could be reinvigorated. A new Cold War in the Arctic, North Atlantic and North Pacific” could be coming, he wrote.

While the Belgorod could be the future Poseidon test launcher, Sutton said the submarine would likely also operate as an intelligence gathering platform.

“It will be crewed by the Russian Navy but operated under GUGI, the secretive Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research organisation,” and carry a range of midget submarines and submersibles “to conduct covert special missions,” Sutton wrote.

In a news release earlier this month, the Russian shipbuilder highlighted the Belgorod’s non-lethal capabilities, saying it opened up “new opportunities for Russia” to conduct “scientific expeditions and rescue operations in the most remote areas of the world ocea