For the first time in about 15 years, two Russian submarines are conducting a patrol in international waters off the east coast of the United States.
If you are about to fill your pants at the thought of depressed trajectory nuclear strikes, take a deep breath and calm down. These are Akula-class attack submarines, not the ICBM-armed boomers that could lay waste to everything from Boston to Florida.
As to why they are doing it, nobody seems to know, and the Kremlin isn't saying. Perhaps after the latest failure of the Bulava (Mace) missile, the Russians want to look tough.
Considering the dismal condition of the rest of the Russian Navy, these may be the only two working subs left. Maybe they just wanted to see how they worked.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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3 comments:
The first thing I thought when I read this was "Oh christ, who's gonna pay for dragging one of these rusty fuckers up from the bottom?"
If you want to stay relevant in the sub game, you've got to constantly scrimmage against the varsity.
That's what a lot of the general public doesn't get about the PLAN: They can buy all the subs they want, but until they've built a sub culture in their fleet, they're nothing but submersible target drones for the USN or RN. (Same with carrier ops, for that matter; buying or building a CV is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is a whole 'nother ball of wax.)
100% agree. A Nimitz class supercarrier isn't just a big floating airport, it's a culmination of 68 years of serious and uncompromising naval tradition and experience. Same with subs, USAF, etc.
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