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Soviet-era submarine spotted in Baltic Sea en route to Russia’s annual naval parade

Friday 12th 2024 on 08:04 in  
Finland

Markus Erkkilä was travelling by ship to Tallinn on Tuesday when he spotted something unusual in the sea. He saw a submarine moving in the horizon. “For a moment, I watched to see if it was really a submarine or perhaps an islet,” Erkkilä recalls. After a moment of confusion, he determined it was indeed a submarine. Another vessel followed the submarine, which Erkkilä estimated was there to protect it.

“I have been travelling to Tallinn quite regularly for 20 years and I’ve often wondered why I’ve never seen a submarine, even though they have been spotted there,” Erkkilä muses. What surprised him about the situation was that no one else on the ship, which was full of people and tourists, paid any attention to the submarine. “I was the only one there gaping,” Erkkilä chuckles.

At first glance, the submarine looked like an islet. Petri Mäkelä, a Russian military hardware expert, reveals that it is a Soviet-era Victor III-class submarine. The Russian army currently operates two of these submarines. Victor III-class submarines are a rare sight in the Baltic Sea. “The Baltic Sea normally has smaller diesel-powered submarines, because the Baltic Sea is such a puddle,” Mäkelä says.

According to Mäkelä, the type of submarine is easy to determine from its mast and especially from the sonar visible at the back of the boat, which is quite rare in Russian submarines. The Victor III-class submarine is a nuclear-powered attack submarine of the northern navy. “It is mainly intended as a weapon for destroying aircraft carriers and submarines. The submarine has two nuclear reactions that provide its power. The boat can stay continuously at sea for up to 80 days,” Mäkelä says.

Mäkelä estimates that the submarine is on its way to St. Petersburg via Kaliningrad for Russia’s annual naval parade.