Russia Is Building New Subs to Launch Its Terrifying Apocalypse Torpedoes

Russia Is Building New Subs to Launch Its Terrifying Apocalypse Torpedoes

Sébastien Roblin

Even as Russia’s military continues to struggle in Ukraine, the country’s plans to deploy a unique sea-based form of strategic nuclear deterrence are apparently proceeding. Russia’s TASS state new agency reported on Monday that its Pacific Fleet was moving forward with plans to activate a new division of submarines specially designed to launch an intercontinental-range nuclear drone-torpedo called Poseidon, which could be used to attack coastal cities.

This follows Russian media reports from January that delivery of the first production batch of Poseidon drone torpedoes—formerly known as the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System or Kanyon—had been successfully completed.

Not only does each Poseidon torpedo carry a big nuke—approximately a 2-megaton-yield—it’s propelled by a liquid metal nuclear reactor, giving it essentially inexhaustible range and endurance, and likely high sustainable speeds.

Russia has been happy to threaten the use of this weird weapon of mass destruction prior to its operational deployment. It has been showcased in prominent TV appearances by Putin, and a commentator on state TV eagerly suggested the torpedoes could be used to flood the entire United Kingdom in a radioactive tsunami.

Allegedly, the new submarine division will become active at a base on the Kamchatka Peninsula in either late 2024 or the first half of 2025, according to TASS. The division seems likely to eventually encompass four or five submarines in total, with 30 Poseidons between them. If production stops at 30, that would imply there would be no bothering with reloads after the doomsday torpedoes are launched.

The hulls of least two of the planned four drone torpedo-carrying nuclear-powered submarines were laid down in 2014 and 2017: the Khabarovsk and Ulyanovsk. These are supposedly set to be for commissioned in 2024/2025 and 2027. Also designated Project 09851 submarines, they appear to be significantly shortened (down to 120-meters length) derivatives from Russia’s latest Borei-class ballistic missile submarine, and include that submarine’s quiet pump jet propulsion system. (For more, check out submarine expert H.I. Sutton’s well-illustrated article on this new submarine class.)

Basing the Poseidon and its Project 09851 carriers in the Pacific makes sense—the ocean’s deeper waters would give the torpedoes greater freedom of maneuverability to evade detection with fewer chokepoints. There, however, it seems likely to pose a particular threat for naval bases in the Pacific and to U.S. West Coast cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco—though in theory, it has the endurance to go anywhere, undersea geography permitting.

At present, only two unique ‘special projects’ submarines can employ Poseidon. The first was the B-90 Sarov, based on the ubiquitous Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine which, unusually, has a nuclear reactor used only for electrical generation instead of directly turning the propeller. Given its experimental role, it seems less likely Sarov will be permanently assigned to the new division.

Russia subsequently built the much larger K-329 Belgorod ”special mission” sub, which also plays a research-and-undersea-hacking role, serving as the mothership for the Klavesin under-water drone and Losharik mini-submarine. Based on the Oscar II-class cruise missile submarine, the 10,000-ton Belgorod (AKA Project 09852) can carry up to six Poseidons in its oversized tubes, and was commissioned in June of 2022.

At 24 meters long and 1.6 meters in diameter, each Poseidon is roughly three times wider than a standard heavyweight torpedo, and has practically unlimited endurance with which to drive its quiet pump-jet propulsions system, thanks to its nuclear reactor. It can also allegedly dive deeper than the crush depth of U.S. Mark 48 torpedoes at 1,000 meters, and may be able to do it faster at 56-70 knots—depending on which Russian claims you believe.

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