Ukrainian attack drones have hit a Russian submarine in the port of Novorossiysk.
The Security Service of Ukraine said that they used Sub Sea Baby underwater drones for this purpose.
The submarine was a 636.3 Varshavyanka class submarine (Kilo in NATO classification).
“As a result of the explosion, the submarine was critically damaged and, effectively, disabled,” the SSU said.
The submarine was armed with four Kalibr cruise missile launchers.
The drone struck near the stern of the submarine, where the propeller, vertical rudder, aft horizontal rudder, and the diving planes are located.
It was a joint operation of the SSU’s 13th Main Directorate of the Military Counterintelligence Department and the Ukrainian Navy. The blown-up submarine was forced to stay in the port of Novorossiysk because of the special operations by the Sea Baby surface drones that drove Russian ships and submarines out of the Sevastopol Bay in temporarily occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s underwater drones
Ukraine has been developing various underwater attack drones for a long time. No official information has been disclosed about Sub Sea Baby.
However, it is known that at least three underwater drones were developed in Ukraine: TLK 1000; TLK 400; TLK 150.
The largest , TLK 1000, depending on the task, can be from 4 to 12 meters long and carry a warhead of up to 5,000 kg.
It is not unlikely that Ukrainian underwater drones were also used to detonate the supports of the Crimean bridge in June this year.
Back then, the underwater supports of the bridge were severely damaged at the seabed level, with reports stating that “1100 kg of TNT equivalent explosives contributed to this.”
