Ukraine war updates

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Ukraine’s strike on Rostov-on-Don, a Russian Navy Kilo-class submarine, on September 13 was a major event in the naval war so far. In an instant, one of the four Improved Kilo-class submarines in the Black Sea was taken out of action. This submarine was used to launch Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets. Nearby a landing ship, Minsk, was also severely damaged.

Images have been shared online which show the extent of damage. The Russian Ministry of Defense has stated that the submarine will be repaired. This is unrealistic.

The images were shared online by Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group specializing in open source intelligence (OSINT). The images seen, including in this article, have been partially pixelated to protect the source. Naval News has had access to the original unredacted images and can confirm their credibility.

Storm Shadow Strike on Rostov-on-Don

British supplied Storm Shadow, and the essentially identical French supplied SCALP-EG, is an air-launched cruise missile. Ukraine has adapted the Soviet-era Su-24 Fencer jet to carrying two missiles. Russian sources claim that 10 missiles were employed in the attack with 7 intercepted. What is clear is that at least 3 got through, with 1 hitting the submarine and 2 hitting the landing ship.

Storm Shadow uses the BROACH warhead. This stands for Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge and means a two stage delayed explosion. The missile dives into the target and the first charge creates a hole in the structure for the second warhead to pass through. The main detonation then occurs inside or below the target, depending on the fuse settings.

The warhead likely penetrated the forward hull close to the front end of the pressure hull. The Kilo class is a double-hull submarine with an outer casing enclosing the inner pressure hull. The first stage of the tandem warhead, which is designed to penetrate reinforced concrete, probably drove the missile through both the outer and inner hulls. The main warhead would have them exploded inside the submarine.

Indications of this are visible in the upper casing of the submarine which is peeled back, consistent with an explosion blowing outward. Although the hit was in the torpedo room, that was likely empty. So the explosion will have been from the missile’s own warhead.

Total Devastation

The wrecked outside is only a hint of the damage done inside. We have not seen images of the interior, but we can infer several things. The detonation of the warhead will have gutted the submarine’s innards. Pipes will have been ripped from their supports, valves broken and surfaces buckled. The smoke seen in the photos rising out of the hole on the hull, is evidence that it started one or more fires. These will have melted and fried electrical systems and further damaged the hull separately to the initial hole.

Smoke will have added to the mess and damage. As will the gallons of harbor water which were likely sprayed through the hole in the hull in an effort to extinguish the fire.

Full article: Russian Submarine Hit By Missile, Rostov-on-Don, Gone