The Novorossiysk submarine suffered a ‘serious accident’ on Sunday, forcing it to surface near the Strait of Gibraltar as a ‘serious accident’ onboard was reported by the crew
International naval forces have rushed to respond to a ‘serious accident’ involving a Russian nuclear submarine that was compelled to surface near UK waters over the weekend.
Fresh details have surfaced about the incident in the Strait of Gibraltar, where the 74-metre missile-carrying Novorossiysk became an “explosive hazard” after experiencing a severe leak in its fuel system. Russian Telegram channels described a catastrophic situation aboard as the stealth submarine’s hull became flooded with diesel.
Despite the critical nature of the vessel’s fuel delivery system, military bloggers alleged that nobody aboard possessed the expertise to repair the fault and that no replacement parts were available.
With the nuclear submarine threatening to detonate in one of the globe’s most congested shipping lanes, concerns mounted that the crew might begin discharging diesel into the Mediterranean.
Although the Russian Navy declines to acknowledge the incident, open source vessel-tracking software and eyewitnesses have observed a coordinated response from multiple military nations to watch the struggling submarine, which has travelled westward towards the Atlantic since being forced to surface.
A crew member aboard the submarine informed Russian military bloggers: “Novorossiysk, currently on combat duty in the Mediterranean Sea, is experiencing serious technical problems. Due to damage in the fuel system, fuel is leaking directly into the hold.”
They continued: “The accumulated fuel in the hold is an explosive hazard. The source believes the crew has no choice but to start ‘pumping out the hold’ directly into the sea.”
The massive Kilo-class Novorossiysk submarine boasts six torpedoes with 12 reloads and can fire supersonic, nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
The vessel was spotted near British waters earlier this year, with the Royal Navy providing an escort as it departed the English Channel in January en route to the North Sea.
More recently, it was observed operating in the Mediterranean for several weeks alongside the Russian tug Jakob Grebelsky, according to Olive Press reports.
Following this catastrophic malfunction, the same tug has been monitored moving westward off Portugal’s Algarve coast, indicating the Novorossiysk may also be Atlantic-bound.
Amid fears the submarine might detonate, two French warships were observed entering the region to shadow the damaged vessel.
A Spanish frigate was also detected patrolling nearby waters, whilst flight radars captured numerous NATO aircraft scrambling over the Strait of Gibraltar following the incident.
The waters surrounding Gibraltar rank amongst the most heavily monitored globally, serving as the bottleneck for all Mediterranean maritime traffic, with NATO and Spanish naval forces tracking every vessel transiting the strait. Earlier this month, these same forces kept a close eye on a Russian intelligence-gathering ship, the Viktor Leonov, as it navigated the tight passage between North Africa and Southern Europe.
While such military manoeuvres are commonplace, they’ve taken on heightened significance for the Kremlin, given that Turkey’s decision to shut the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits following the Ukraine conflict has left Russia’s Black Sea fleet in a bind.
This move effectively blocks the fleet from reaching the Mediterranean and broader international waters, making Russia increasingly dependent on submarines like the Novorossiysk for its global operations.
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