A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine was detected within 200 miles of the East Coast last month — the first time that particular class of submarine had been detected near a U.S. coast, defense officials told
The Washington Free Beacon.
“While I can’t talk about how we detected it, I can tell you that things worked the way they were supposed to,” one defense official told the Beacon, stating that the Russian submarine “poses no threat whatsoever.”
The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of anti-submarine warfare efforts, the Beacon reports.
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Identified by its NATO designation as a Russian Seirra-2 class submarine, the vessel is believed to be based with Russia’s Northern Fleet.
The submarine was believed to have been conducting anti-submarine warfare efforts against U.S. ballistic and cruise missile submarines based at Kings Bay, Ga., one official told the Beacon.
But a second official told the Beacon that the submarine did not sail close to Kings Bay and also did not threaten a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group that was conducting exercises in the eastern Atlantic.
Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base is just north of Jacksonville, Fla. It is the base for two guided missile submarines and six nuclear missile submarines.
The submarines are known to be a target of Russian attack submarines, the report said.
“A Russian AGI and an SSN in the same geographic area as one of the largest U.S. ballistic missile submarine bases — Kings Bay — is reminiscent of Cold War activities of the Soviet navy tracking the movements of our SSBN’s,” yet another U.S. official told the publication, referring to the designation for ballistic missile submarines, SSBN.
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Naval analysts told the publication that the Russian attack submarine was outfitted with SS-N-21 anti-submarine warfare missiles, as well as SS-N-16 anti-submarine warfare missiles. It also is equipped with torpedoes.
The U.S. Navy deploys underwater sonar sensors set up at strategic locations near the United States that detected the submarine late last month, according to the report.