The Russian Black Sea Fleet is probably not able to fully use two Varshavyanka-class submarines based in Novorossiysk due to the technical condition of the vessels. This opinion was expressed by Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, on the air of "Telemarathon".
He was answering a question about what the reduction in the number of missile carriers in combat readiness in the Russian Black Sea Fleet after the strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine means for Ukraine.
"Of course, this changes the enemy's capabilities in terms of using sea platforms - specifically, in this case, the "Kalibur" missiles. At the moment, we can assume that they have at least two surface ships and two submarines left in their ranks. However, we need to consider whether they are actually ready for immediate deployment," Pletenchuk said.
He was referring to two small missile ships of Project 21631 "Buyan-M" and two submarines of Project 636.3 "Varshavyanka". According to Pletenchuk, there are questions about the operational readiness of the submarines.
"At the moment, I can't imagine how they would dive in the middle of the port and launch missiles from an underwater position. This is a more complicated task... It requires going out to sea, and they don't do that. And this may not be due to fear of being hit - in this respect, submarines are actually more protected than surface ships - but rather to operational conditions," the military representative noted.
He explained that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian army has not had the opportunity to carry out the necessary technical maintenance of the submarines - in particular, to put them in dry dock for repair. Russia does not have this opportunity not for physical reasons, but because the vessels would immediately become easy targets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Therefore, the limited use of enemy submarines may be related precisely to their technical condition. This would be logical. I cannot state it as a fact, but given the conditions and intensity of operations, it is quite likely," says the Ukrainian Navy spokesman.
In any case, he added, the trend remains unchanged: despite the Russians' reluctance to take the ships to open waters, the naval missile carriers are used between one and three times a month. A common feature of these cases is that they all stem directly from the Novorossiysk base - which means that safety protocols for such attacks are violated.
According to Pletenchuk, the "Caliber" missiles are not hypersonic, so there is time to react.