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Unseen Threat: Russia Adds Unusual Defenses To Secretive Navy Base (9 June 2023)


Click to enlarge. Unusually, Russia has deployed defenses to one of its key naval bases in the arctic. This is similar to the protection given to its bases in the Black Sea where Ukrainian maritime drones are a threat.

In a new move, the Russian Navy has started building defenses at a secretive submarine base in the Arctic. The floating barrier is similar to what they have deployed in Crimea to protect against Ukrainian attacks. This is highly unusual.

Many observers would not be surprised to hear that the Russia Navy is increasing the defenses of one of its submarine bases. What’s unusual, unexpected, is that the base is in the Arctic, thousands of miles away from Ukraine.

A new defensive barrier has been positioned across the entrance of Olenya Guba submarine base. Analysis of satellite images, include radar (SAR) imagery,  shows that it has been set up over the past couple of months. This is significant.

Olenya Guba (deer bay) is an important submarine base on the Kola Peninsula. Unlike other bases in the area which house in ballistic missile submarines or attack submarines, Olenya Guba is home to Russia’s spy submarines.


The Effect Of Ukraine’s Maritime Drones

After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia was slow to increase the defenses in its Black Sea naval bases. Ukraine’s maritime drone attack on Sevastopol in October 2022 changed that.  Now Sevastopol is protected by multiple layers of floating booms and torpedo nets as well as missile, gun and depth charge systems. And other Russian bases and ports along the Crimean coast have received similar defenses. Notably this includes Feodesia which is now being used by ships carrying Kalibr cruise missiles.

If we compare the floating boom in Crimea to those in Olenya Guba it is clear that it is a defense. It is not the type used to contain pollution or some other prosaic explanation. Russia is hardening its key base in the Arctic.

The boom has been set up across the 560 meter (1,840 feet) entrance to the base. It is just beyond the beluga whale pens which are part of the Russian Navy’s marine mammal training program. It was likely a whale from here which appeared in Norway in April 2019.

GUGI: Russia’s Secret Submarine Fleet

Olenya Guba is a closed town, meaning that the average Russian citizen cannot enter, has been a submarine base since the Cold War. Today it is home to the GUGI fleet. GUGI (Glavnoye upravlenie glubokovodnikh issledovanii) is a secretive branch of the navy. It translates as the Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research. “Research” is of course a euphemism for espionage.



The submarines there are specialized in seabed warfare, meaning offensive and defensive operations on the sea floor. For this there are titanium-hulled deep diving nuclear submarines which are unique to the Russian Navy. The most famous of these is Losharik which suffered a fatal fire on July 1 2019. These deep diving submarines are transported to their operating areas by special mother (‘host’) submarines, which are the largest subs in the world. It is also the home of the infamous spy ship Yantar which is suspected of operating over other countries’ underwater internet cables.

Outlook

It is not immediately clear why Russia is increasing base defenses in the Arctic. It is thousands of miles from the Black Sea where Ukrainian maritime drones are a threat. We can speculate that possibly they fear U.S. Navy underwater drones may be operating in the area. Or that Ukraine will travel that far, in the extreme weather of the arctic, to carry out a sabotage mission.

It is the type of move we might expect in war preparations. However, in isolation we should be cautious to read too much into it. But analysts will likely be watching other Russian Navy bases closely. Whatever the reason, it paints a picture of a Russian Navy increasingly concerned for its safety.

Unseen Threat: Russia Adds Unusual Defenses To Secretive Navy Base

Maybe they don't want their subs to get Nordstreamed.



Russia also has a Beluga whale pen based near several of the Northern Fleet's submarine bases.