NATO leadership said that a lone Russian attack submarine appears to be “limping home,” forced to travel on the surface. An alliance official told Business Insider the activity is “unusual” for a sub and far from ideal.
NATO forces have been tracking the Russian Kilo-class submarine, identified as the Novorossiysk, since last week. The alliance official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the developments, said it isn’t optimal for a vessel to sail on the surface.
A submarine’s best defense is its stealth, and these vessels are most vulnerable when surfaced. There are signs that the Russian sub may be experiencing some sort of problem; NATO’s civilian chief described it as “broken.”
French, Belgian, and other NATO forces tracked the sub last week as it moved north from the Mediterranean off the coast of Western Europe. On Saturday, the Dutch military said it escorted the warship and a supporting Russian tugboat through the North Sea.
The Netherlands said escorts prevent Russian vessels from sabotaging critical undersea infrastructure, which has been a point of concern for European countries for years.
Cdr. Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesperson for NATO’s Allied Maritime Command, said the Russian submarine has surfaced “numerous times” during its journey from the Mediterranean back to its home port.
“Allies have been keeping a close watch on this submarine during its transit,” he told Business Insider in a statement on Monday, and the UK said Tuesday that tracking the Novorossiysk has been a coordinated operation involving roughly a dozen warships from six countries so far.
‘Lone and broken’
The Netherlands Chief of Defense
The 240-foot-long Novorossiysk is a diesel-electric attack submarine assigned to the once-fearsome Russian Black Sea Fleet. Construction on the vessel began in 2010, and it was commissioned in 2014. The boat is capable of launching the Kalibr cruise missile, which has been used frequently in strikes against Ukraine.
The sighting of the submarine off the coast of France last week sparked speculation that it had surfaced due to a technical issue. The Black Sea Fleet pushed back, saying such reports were false.
In a statement carried on Monday by Russian state media, the Black Sea Fleet said that the submarine is doing a “routine inter-fleet transfer” after carrying out missions in the Mediterranean as part of a naval standing task force operating there.
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The Black Sea Fleet said that international rules require that submarines must be surfaced the entire time when passing through the English Channel, around where French forces spotted the Novorossiysk.
However, the NATO official said that the Novorossiysk has made the long trip home from the Mediterranean primarily surfaced, suggesting a potential problem if the submarine is exposing itself and sacrificing its main advantage.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday that there is a “lone and broken Russian submarine limping home from patrol” — confirming that the alliance assesses there is an issue, although he did not specify what, exactly, it might be.
NATO Allied Maritime Command
Speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Slovenia, he said this is emblematic of Russia’s dwindling naval prowess, which has been stretched thin due to setbacks in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Russia’s “Mediterranean task force was once a mix of surface ships, submarines, and support vessels,” Rutte said. “Now, in effect, there is hardly any Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean left.”
For many years, Russia maintained a significant presence at Syria’s Tartus naval facility in exchange for military support on behalf of the Assad regime during the country’s brutal civil war. This allowed Moscow to project maritime power in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions.
However, Syrian rebels ousted Assad in late 2024, ushering in a new leadership in Damascus and jeopardizing future Russian operations at Tartus. Western officials have characterized this shift as a significant setback for Moscow.
Making matters worse for the Russian navy, Ukraine has dealt a substantial series of military defeats to the Black Sea Fleet over the past three and a half years, using exploding naval drones and missiles to damage or destroy dozens of Russian warships and other naval vessels.
The campaign forced Moscow to relocate much of the Black Sea Fleet from its long-held headquarters in Crimea to Novorossiysk across the region.
