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A video released by the Russian Defense Ministry shows three underwater towers breaking through a continuous layer of ice. The action takes place in the archipelago of Francis Joseph Land in the Arctic Ocean, north of the Barents Sea.
The submarines are part of the Umka-2021 expedition (Siberian in Chukchi means “polar bear”), an expedition that involves 600 military and civil organizations, including representatives of the Russian Geographical Society, a non-governmental organization established in the 19th century.
Three submarines crossed the 300-meter section “for the first time in naval history” simultaneously on one and a half meters of ice, Russian naval commander Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov said in a video call to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Admiral reported that the region was between -25 and -30 degrees Celsius at the time, with gusts of up to 110 km / h.
Advance of the submarines
Breaking a submarine through the ice is not an easy task. Based on 2018. A popular mechanics article about American submarines in the Arctic requires careful preparation for breaking the ice.
Submarines armed with atomic missiles generally try not to emerge from under the Arctic ice because this makes them more difficult for the enemy to detect. But when they have to surface, the ship’s captain first tries to find nearby open water patches where the ship can rise to the surface without hitting the floating ice.
If this fails, you must maneuver carefully, so that the submarine can cut through the sea ice, which can be up to 2.5 meters thick.
The first part of such an operation is to slowly lift the submarine until its top turret is at the bottom of the ice. The compressed air is then blown out of the ship’s ballast tanks, creating a force that pushes the ship upward until the ice breaks.
It is especially difficult for three submarines to break the ice at the same time because they do not have the opportunity to communicate with each other.
Arctic expedition
While this is the first time that Russian submarines have simultaneously surfaced through the ice, it may not be the first time such a maneuver has been performed in the world.
Popular Mechanics reported that two US submarines, the USS Connecticut and the USS Hartford, performed a synchronous dredge in 2018 off the British submarine HMS Trenchant.
The Russian military did not name the three ships involved in the latest operation, but the Barents Observer news site identified them as two nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines Delta-IV, the Soviet Union’s main Cold War submarine, and a newer Borea-class submarine. . The name of the last class comes from the Greek god of the north wind Borea.
Each Russian submarine is estimated to carry up to 16 ballistic missiles, and each missile can have up to six separate nuclear warheads.
The Umka-2021 expedition near the Russian archipelago of St. Joseph’s Land began on March 20, under the command of the Russian Navy.
“For the first time, based on a common concept and plan, a complex of combat training, research and practical measures is being implemented in various fields in the Arctic regions,” N. Jevmenov told Putin in a video call.
The key result has been that the “technical characteristics” of various weapons systems, military equipment and special equipment have been tested and validated at high latitudes and at low temperatures, he said.
Russia has proposed that the Arctic could become a major shipping route to be developed and maintained by nuclear-powered icebreakers.
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