Status: Real
Supposedly this is a picture of a Russian nuclear sub cruising by a beach somewhere in Russia. I've noticed this picture posted on a number of blogs, but the info about it comes from
strategypage.com. However, no source for the photo is indicated. Is it real? I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. Here in San Diego it's quite common to see nuclear subs cruising past, especially if you're at Cabrillo Point or Coronado. I imagine the same must be true in Russia.
Update: For comparison, here's a photo I took about two weeks ago of an American submarine cruising off Cabrillo Point, San Diego. In my picture you can see sailors standing on top of the sub as it comes into harbor. Interesting that there are no sailors standing on the Russian sub, especially since it seems like a nice day when the photo was taken.
Update: Stone (in the comments) found a
Russian site with more pictures of this sub at the beach, which leads me to conclude that the picture is real because it's unlikely that someone faked an entire series of pictures. According to the machine translation of the Russian site, the pictures were taken at Severodvinsk on the White Sea.
Supposedly this is a picture of a Russian nuclear sub cruising by a beach somewhere in Russia. I've noticed this picture posted on a number of blogs, but the info about it comes from strategypage.com. However, no source for the photo is indicated. Is it real? I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. Here in San Diego it's quite common to see nuclear subs cruising past, especially if you're at Cabrillo Point or Coronado. I imagine the same must be true in Russia.
Comments
It could also mean the sight is so common in that area everyone has seen it many times before and therefore doesn't care. However, based on my experience of having lived on military bases when I was young, anytime something big was moving, we all stopped to watch.
It is also way to close to shore for that size of a vessel and it is not nearly common enough to be considered routine and unnoteworthy, people would be looking.
Finally, balistic missle subs don't cruse the coastline. They go straight to deep water and then dive.
How close to shore it is depends on the depth of the channel. Also, if there's a base nearby, and that's where it's heading, it would be a pretty common sight.
Here in San Diego nuclear subs and aircraft carriers are a pretty common sight. After a while people get used to them.
I'm just saying it's definitely possible that it's real. But whether it is real or not, I don't know.
More info and pics (if you speak Russian, at least):
http://www.webpark.ru/comments.php?id=14675
Color me surprised.
"The Typhoon is huge. It's 175 metres long. Do you know how they make these things? They take three Delta-class hulls and they weld them together, and then they put another hull around it. It's as large as a WWII aircraft carrier. The Typhoon is a HUGE sub."
We've seen the odd Collins sub cruising off Garden here, but not nearly close enough to be snapworthy.
My partner says that the Dmitry Donskoi is still serving as a test platform in the Russian navy.
The sub looks very blur to me, and as you mentionend, noone on the beach looks at it(even if a car is passing, at least some ppl would look at it, and here a submarine is sure not that usual)
There is also a shoreline visible on the far side, indicating that this is either a narrow bay (unlikely) or a wide estuary.
A further look at the photo will show that there are indeed people watching the passage of the submarine-note the three women beyond the pole just to the left of frame centre. They are clearly looking.
The atmospheric haze is consistent with a well lit object at a relative distance of about three quarters of a kilometre between the hours of noon and three pm (approximately), local time.
The vessel is a Project 941 Akula class ship, or Typhoon 2. The Severstal (TK20) is still in service, I believe and is based in Nerpich'ya, though it may be one of a small number still in service.
If one clicks on the photo to enlarge it, one will find the bridge crew perfectly visible on the top fwd part of the conning tower (sail).
It is entirely possible, if not likely, that this beach is actually within the security area af the naval base to which the channel is the entrance. If so, the beach goers will be more than familiar with seeing this and other vessels coming and going.
Is there even anything to give a time frame as to when these pictures were taken, other than the type of submarine? Just going by the class of SSBN, these pictures could have been taken any time within the past 25 years or so and could have been from a time when it was more common to see them sailing by.
Perhaps somebody with more of a naval background can see some modifications on the sub's hull that will give us a better idea of when the pictures could have been taken?
Finaly, the perspective is wrong. It should be at a slight angle, as the photo is taken from an elevated position off the bow of the submarine.
The sunlight appears to match, but I still say it's photoshopped.
I believe the photo to be digital and taken through a telephoto lens of between 120-200mm, which would account for the apparent lack of depth of field.
I have also had a better look at the other three photos in the series and can now say that the vessel is putting to sea, rather than coming into port.
She is trimmed to maximise freeboard, hence the splashes from the screws visible to the stern. I am also reasonably certain that she is sailing on the tide-note the absence of a tide mark on the beach, indicating that it is high.
The perspective is perfectly OK-the deck of this submarine is above the vantage point of the camera by a good margin. It's nearly twenty feet above sea level! In addition, she is not running parallel to the beach, but is bows out to it.
The reason that the bow wake is difficult to see is because it is running close to the hull side, in the vessel's own shadow.
This is where the missile subs are based and loaded with SSBNs. Using Google Earth you can easily find the base and if you look there are a few Typhoon class subs moored there. No fake but the real deal. Widh I could have been there. Also speaking to my Russian wife she ahs heard it is quite warm there in the summer and nice to visit.
The headquaters of the Russian Northern Fleet is based at Severomorsk along the northern edge of the Kola Peninsula. Severomorsk is also a major port and weapons handling facility. This coastline, which is ice-free all year due to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream, provides the Northern Fleet unrestricted access to open water. This allows for near continuous year-round training exercises as well as the opportunity for response to political and military crises. The remainder of the Arctic coastline becomes icebound and virtually impassible each winter.
The sub is traversing a deep channel and also keep in mind that the Russian are very sensitive of the prying eyes and ears of the US spy boats. As such most of the waters that surround bases, especially sub bases are heavily mined. So all vessels have to surface and then follow a pre-desinated path, in and out of port.
Hope this helps..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykYHN3pP2SA
Actually, it is an Akula class, but not in the NATO classification. The NATO classification is Typhoon II, but the Russian classification is Akula. The Russian classification for the NATO Akula class is Shchuka.
Related -
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/nerpichya.htm
http://www.barentsobserver.com/index.php?id=522833&cat=16287&xforceredir=1&noredir=1