A Russian Akula-Class nuclear-powered attack submarine, loaded with cruise missiles, has been patrolling near the US strategic nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia, the home base for eight of America’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
Armed with various types of torpedoes, including those with nuclear warheads, anti-submarine-warfare missiles and long-range (3,000 kilometers) nuclear cruise missiles, Akula-Class SSNs are the most advances attack submarines of Russian Navy, capable of destroying both nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. It is alleged that the Russian sub went undetected for weeks, its presence was detected only when it had completed its patrol and left the area. This could also mean that it might have been relieved-of-duty and has been just replaced by another Akula, which is now on stations, around the coast of United States.
Vepr, an Akula Class SSN ( Image Courtesy - rt.com )
The report alleges that powerful US hydro-acoustic sensors deployed in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, supported by powerful military satellites, were unable to detect a submarine Russia has deployed for the past two decades.
Sending a nuclear-propelled submarine into the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean region is another demonstration by Russia that it is still a big player on the world’s political-military stage.
The last time Russian subs were supposedly detected near US shores was in 2009, when the New York Times reported on two Russian nuclear-powered assault submarines patrolling the Atlantic some 200 miles off the American coast. The report also mentioned future Russian plans to build dozens of new submarines, which will be even more sophisticated than Akula.
News Courtesy - rt.com
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