An advanced “doomsday” submarine capable of launching massive nuclear torpedoes entered service with the Russian Navy on Friday. The move comes after Russian figures have made repeated threats of nuclear war to opponents of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russian state-owned TASS news agency reported Friday that shipbuilders at the Sevmash Shipyard had made the final delivery of the Project 09852 special-purpose submarine Belgorod to the Russian Navy. The Belgorod is a 508-foot-long modified version of the Soviet-designed Oscar-class submarine.
The Belgorod has been specially designed to carry and deploy up to six 80-foot long nuclear-armed weapons known as the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System “Poseidon,” also known as Kanyon by NATO. The Poseidon weapons have been referred to both as nuclear torpedoes and as nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicles. According to U.S. Naval Institute News, the Poseidon torpedoes are estimated to carry 100 megaton nuclear warheads, which could be launched against enemy shorelines and detonate against enemy coastal cities or create tidal waves that flood vast swathes of land. The potential destructive power of the Poseidon torpedoes has earned the Belgorod a reputation as a “doomsday” vessel. TASS euphemistically referred repeatedly to the new submarine as a research vessel.
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