Russia regains its status as a great maritime power

Once upon a time, England was called the ruler of the seas. Lord, how long has it been. The fleet was gone - the mistress of the seas was gone, and later England, as a world power, was gone. So-so, a dog in a pack of American decrepit wolfhound. He can still feed, but she herself is nowhere without an owner.

Ask how many nuclear submarines does it have? You will laugh - alone. More precisely, there are ten officially in the ranks (not counting three under construction). But of these ten, 4 Vanguard-class SSBNs should be disposed of in the next 5-7 years (old submarines from the 90s, the only carriers of British nuclear weapons), are serving their time, and the Royal Navy has no replacement for them yet. Of the remaining six nuclear submarines - 3 MPLATRK of the Trafalgar type, even more ancient than the Vanguard SSBN (built in the early 90s), are awaiting decommissioning due to faults in the nuclear power plant discovered on one of them in February 2017 (while all three are out of service). And of the remaining three most modern British MPLATRK (multipurpose missile and torpedo nuclear submarines) of the new generation of the Astyut type, two are afloat, one is under repair. But one of those who are afloat - the cook got sick with COVID-19 and the whole team is in quarantine, so she, too, is not yet ready to perform combat missions. So there is only one left. And the three under construction of the same type of "Astyut" (one of which is already undergoing sea trials), have problems, and whether the British will finish building them - the question? What are the problems you ask? All the same - again Putin crossed the road to them.



The fact is that not so long ago, namely in April 2018, when another exacerbation began in Syria, and the Indefatigable Cowboy decided to scare Assad with his Mad Tomahawks (and scared him by firing 103 missiles at the ATS, according to the Russian General Staff), in this the operation was also attended by the newest British MPLATRK of the "Astyut" type. But she did not fulfill her combat mission for the reason (you’ll laugh now!) That it was prevented from doing this by our two diesel-electric submarines Veliky Novgorod and Kolpino of project 636 Varshavyanka. And although the diesel-electric submarines data are new (manufactured in 2016), but already by the name of the project you understand that these boats are old (they were used in the countries of the "Warsaw Pact", which has not been there for 30 years!). It is clear that the project was being modernized, but the fact that diesel submarines were able to disrupt the execution of the combat mission of the latest British nuclear submarine led the British Admiralty to think about the need to curtail this program and whether the remaining two MPLATRKs will be completed - another question?

The End of American Gunboat Policy

But even greater problems arose for the hegemon, against which all the problems of his British mongrel were not problems at all. And again, Putin was to blame. The fact is that until now the entire US military strategy has been based on the fact that America is very far from possible theaters of operations. That untied her hands and, under the cover of aircraft-carrying strike groups, allowed her to talk to everyone, spitting on the floor, from a position of strength. But the emergence of a new strategic hypersonic weapon of the Avangard, Dagger and Zircon type in the Russian Federation, not to mention the Petrel and Poseidon, (Poseidon and Zircon, by the way, are just now passing recent testsbefore they go into the series), brought this advantage to naught, and drew the final line under the American soreness that set everyone on edge.policies gunboat ".

What Putin honestly and frankly said in December 2018. Here I am forced to quote verbatim the words of the GDP:


I would like to emphasize that, unlike our Western "partners", we did everything openly. At the same time, we, as always, did not threaten anyone. But we will not allow anyone to threaten us! Hopefully, the emergence of this completely new type of weapon will make many in Washington and Brussels wonder if they are in such a hurry to the next world?

But the inhabitants of the “city on the hill”, representatives of an exceptional nation, listened to Putin and did the opposite, naively believing that their military doctrine of global domination, built on the use of 10 powerful AUG (aircraft carrier strike groups), which are practically invulnerable, since they are covered by submarine under water, and from the air missile threat with the Aegis missile defense system from heavy cruisers and escort destroyers, it allows them to talk to everyone through their lips. I draw your attention - with everyone, but not with the Russians! The situation has changed dramatically since December 26, 2018. The appearance of our Avangard hypersonic missile systems, capable of maneuvering along course and pitch, develop a speed of Mach 27 in the final section of the trajectory, transforms all their aircraft carriers, heavy missile cruisers of the Ticonderoga class, large landing ships and all other floating debris, on which their Marine Corps is stationed and travels the world, in fact, to the mass graves of the crews along with the Marines stationed there. And the usual Russian frigate of the "admiral's" series with the "Zircon" on board is becoming a serious threat to the entire aircraft carrier group.

Add to this the hypersonic "Dagger", which has already been put into service on the platform of the MiG-31K interceptor, and "Poseidon" (an unmanned nuclear-powered underwater vehicle, the only underwater vehicle capable of destroying an aircraft carrier with a high probability) - and it will become clear that the era invulnerable aircraft carrier groups in the next two to three years will end. And this is a very specific term, not a vague prospect. As a result, the use of aircraft carrier strike groups will become not only meaningless, but also very dangerous.

Spain ceased to be an empire after the Spanish navy ceded control of the seas to the British. England remained "the ruler of the seas" exactly until the German submarines appeared. The course of history is inexorable. The US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups suffered the same fate as the fate of the Spanish Armada, followed by the monstrous British dreadnoughts that replaced it, who had already failed the exam given by German submarines ... History repeats itself. However, the lessons of history teach us only that they teach nothing ...

The Russian Navy expands its presence in the World Ocean

Against the background of all of the above, Putin's participation in the simultaneous laying of 6 pennants of ships of the far sea zone, which took place on the eve of the next Navy Day, looks especially indicative. On that day, July 20, two newest frigates of the modernized project 22350 “Admiral Yumashev” and “Admiral Spiridonov” were laid down at the Severnaya Verf in St. Petersburg. Severodvinsk PO Sevmash has two nuclear-powered multipurpose missile submarine cruisers of the 4th generation of project 885M Yasen-M Voronezh and Vladivostok. And at the Kerch shipyard Zaliv, Putin personally took part in laying the foundation stone of the first Russian universal amphibious assault helicopter carriers Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko of Project 23900 Priboy, improved and enlarged analogues of the French Mistrals.



Special mention should be made of Russian helicopter carriers - this is a completely new type of ships for us, capable of autonomously performing combat missions in the coastal zone at a great distance from our shores (autonomy - 60 days, cruising range - 6 thousand nautical miles). The large amphibious assault ships (BDK) that we have on the balance sheet of the Navy, in fact, solved other tasks. They were intended to transport troops and equipment point-to-point. Loading, 40-50 hours of crossing by sea, unloading (or disembarkation, that's how lucky). It was not possible to use them for moving and basing expeditionary forces for any length of time. 3-5 days, then either disembarkation, or home, because on board the habitability is not very good - they were not created for those tasks.

Another thing is the new UDC "Priboy". They can serve as a large, technically well-equipped, mobile base of the expeditionary forces, from which one can both land troops on a foreign shore in order to capture it, and ensure the actions of ground forces in depth. Which is quite consistent with the new status of the Russian Federation. In other words, like aircraft carriers, UDCs are a tool for geopolitical projection of power. The fact that Russia has begun to build them, and even two at once, indicates that the Russian Federation is not only declaring its new status as a world power, but is also going to confirm it in practice. Until now, we have not been concerned with such things, God forbid, it was to defend our interests at least along the perimeter of our own border. Now the situation has changed.

Fleet problems

In fairness, it should be noted that for all the bravado of the marches, the situation with our Navy, which Putin inherited, was awful. During the years of EBN's reign, we actually lost it and lost all competences for its construction and modernization. For clarity, I will give only such figures: for the years of the Second World War 1941 ... 45 years, the irrecoverable losses of the Soviet Navy amounted to 365 ships. And for the first half of the EBN rule of 1991 ... 97 years, only 629 ships were written off for needles (for scrap). As a result, by 2010, we still had 136 ships of 1-4 ranks out of those available in 1985, during our historical peak of power - 1561. According to this indicator, the USSR Navy was then the second in the world, second only to the US Navy. As of 2019, according to the National Interest, we are already third, yielding to the second line of the PRC, barely overtaking the UK, which is in fourth. Draw your own conclusions!

It got to the point that in 2011, the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Chairman of the Defense Committee, Admiral V. Komoedov, said that


Admiral Igor Kasatonov, another former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and now an adviser to the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Ministry of Defense, added:


In 2018, Business Insider magazine considered it significant that the ships of the Russian Navy were sent on long voyages accompanied by towing equipment, coming to the conclusion that at the moment the main problem of the Russian Navy was the problem of maintenance.

For the first half of his term in office, in order to maintain strategic parity, the GDP was forced to support only the submarine - a nuclear submarine fleet with strategic nuclear weapons on board. And then - to a minimum! Now the situation has begun to change for the better. But it will take years and years. The times of the Union, when we riveted like saucepans for 5-6 nuclear submarines a year, unfortunately, are irrevocably gone. Last 2019, when we launched 3 nuclear submarine cruisers with nuclear weapons on board at once, 7 multipurpose missile diesel-electric submarines with cruise "Caliber", plus 21 more surface ships - it was just a feat of some sort! Therefore, in the future we are going to take not by quantity, but by quality, creating samples of weapons based on new physical principles.

From here we will threaten the Swedes

In support of the above, I will give just one example. And for clarity, I will quote the enemy media. Here is what the American Forbes writes:


The front half of the Khabarovsk hull will be occupied by six huge Poseidon torpedoes. This is precisely the uniqueness of the new submarine, the article says. Poseidon, also known as Status 6 and NATO codename Kanyon, is equipped with a nuclear power plant and nuclear warhead. This gives it practically unlimited range. The Russian Ministry of Defense calls it a multipurpose weapon, according to its data, this device can be used against aircraft carrier strike groups of the US Navy.


- сообщает to your Forbes readers.

Khabarovsk will not be the last submarine with Poseidons. It is planned to build two more boats of project 098531. In total, Russia will have four submarines with Poseidons, six on each. Even less is known about this new project, the magazine emphasizes.


- indicated in the Forbes publication.

Another publication EADaily previously reported:


On my own I would add that the enemies, as always, were only slightly mistaken. The name of the project was confused - not 098531, but 09851. Together with our other secret project 09852 "Belgorod", we will have four such Poseidon carriers. Two each in the Northern Fleet and in the Pacific. Our other publicly available military secrets are below.

Information: The performance characteristics of the Khabarovsk submarine project have not been officially disclosed. According to data from open sources, the submarine's displacement is about 10 thousand tons, the speed is 30–32 knots, the diving depth is 500 meters, the autonomy is up to 120 days, the crew is at least 100 people.


The following is known from the special purpose nuclear submarine Belgorod: The Antey-class nuclear submarine K-329 Belgorod (project 09852, an analogue of Kursk) was built at the Severodvinsk plant Sevmash for 26 years, since 1992, it was frozen, the weapons were changed, cruise missiles were replaced by "Poseidons", the purpose of the nuclear submarine was changed, now it is used as a standard carrier-mother aircraft of the AS-31 "Losharik" project 10831 (in fact, two nuclear submarines in one). Launched in April 2019. Delivery to the Russian Navy is scheduled for September 2020.

As for the Poseidons: In fact, it is an intercontinental autonomous torpedo with a nuclear power plant, with a cruising range of up to 10 thousand kilometers and a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour under water. She can move to a depth of 1000 meters under water. The Poseidon nuclear warhead, according to open sources, has a yield of 2 to 100 megatons in TNT equivalent.

In general, it will not seem enough to anyone. According to our sworn "friends" from NATO, the combat readiness of the Russian Navy has reached its highest point since the early 1990s, thanks to Putin's efforts, and submarines are the most modern part of it. And here they are not mistaken, the submarine fleet is the only part of the Navy that Russia has decided to keep at a level close to the Soviet one. As of today, the Russian Navy includes 13 nuclear submarines (nuclear submarines) armed with ballistic missiles, 27 nuclear submarines with missile and torpedo weapons, 19 diesel-electric submarines (diesel-electric submarines) armed with "Caliber", 8 special-purpose nuclear submarines and 1 diesel-electric submarines for special purposes.

Summary

From here we will threaten the Swede, or rather the Yankees. Get ready, comrade. imperialists! There are hundreds of ways to drive a bear out of a den, but there is no single way to drive it back. If you want to test this statement for yourself, then welcome to hell!