At 184m long, the mysterious submarine K-329 Belgorod is not only longer than any other submarine in the world. Due to its special technology, it plays a special role. When the steel Colossus was officially handed over to the Navy by the largest Russian shipbuilder JSC PO Siewmash, it was designated as a research submarine. However, for research purposes, there is no need to fire six giant Poseidon torpedoes and conventional torpedoes. So Western military experts are talking about a new system of underwater weapons.
The West is particularly interested in the Poseidon torpedoes, which are already being called “weapons of destruction”. Over the past few years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has played a game between warning about its potential and looking for evidence of a real threat to its use. The Poseidon torpedoes were to be 24 meters long, 2 meters in diameter and weigh 100 tons. They are many times more powerful than conventional large torpedoes used in the West. Putin first mentioned these underwater giants in 2018.
Experts believe that Russia has been developing a super-torpedo for 20 years, which is nuclear-powered, and therefore should have a range of 10,000. km Conventional explosives or nuclear warheads are placed in the torpedo head.
Weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian television warned that a Poseidon torpedo that exploded off the coast of Great Britain could roll down the British coast with a radioactive shock wave 500m high. However, experts consider this information as useless propaganda. Before the war, Moscow threatened the United States that Poseidon torpedoes could destroy major cities on the US East Coast.
The terrifying, though unconfirmed, capabilities of the massive torpedoes match information about the unique Belgorod submarine, which currently operates as a launch pad. It is to be used as a powerful mother ship for special missions at great depths. Belgorod is so large that it can be used as a harbor for small submarines, e.g. For espionage missions or to cut underwater internet and telecommunication cables. It is said that when Losharik submarine destroyed by fire It will be ready to dive to extreme depths again, and it will be able to dock in Belgorod.
The newly commissioned giant submarine has a complicated history dating back 30 years. Initially, the steel hull was designed for the Russian Oscar II-class nuclear submarine, equipped with 24 guided missiles, mainly intended to sink US aircraft carriers. The project was already 70% complete when construction work got interrupted and the scope changed later.
In 2012, a new, rather mysterious concept of the ship was created. Insiders talk about Project 09852. The submarine was launched in 2019 and A The sea trials lasted until June 2021. Now the vessel is officially in use by the Directorate General of Deep Sea Exploration of the Ministry of Defence.
Belgorod may be involved in expanding the Russian network of underwater sensors in the Arctic. For this, small nuclear reactors are placed on the ocean floor to power the sensors. Russia and the United States want to know in advance if submarines are approaching their territory via the Arctic route.
Experts from the think tank GlobalSecurity.org estimate that there are 23,000 people in Belgorod. Displacement 860 tons under water. The ship is 184 meters long, 15-18 meters wide and 9 meters high with four or five decks and has two nuclear reactors to operate.
Belgorod can stay underwater for about 4 months continuously. The well-known defense analyst HI Sutton speaks of an “extreme submarine”, although Russia and the former Soviet Union have a tradition of large submarines. But Belgorod surpasses all. Sutton theorizes that the giant Poseidon torpedoes were developed by Moscow as a “second-strike weapon” in nuclear warfare, that is, as a retaliatory weapon that would act in the event of a nuclear attack on Russia.
Date Created: Today, 22:26
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