The crew of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s submarine Veliky Novgorod delivered strikes with Kalibr-PL cruise missiles against a group of notional enemy warships. The submarine’s crew also practiced operations within the bounds of the combat training naval range to hunt down and eliminate the mock enemy’s surface combatants, conduct quick dives to various depths, exercise submarine control in surfacing and carry out damage control measures. The diesel-electric submarine Veliky Novgorod is the fifth in the group of six submarines of project 636.3 (Varshavyanka) built for the Black Sea Fleet.
The 3M-54 Kalibr (NATO codenames SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A), 91R1, 91RT2 is a group of Russian surface ship-, submarine-launched and airborne anti-ship and coastal anti ship (AShM), land attack cruise missiles (LACM) and anti-submarine missiles developed by the Novator Design Bureau (OKB-8). Club is the designation used for the export versions. Domestic variants are basic versions of this missile family; these are the 3M54 and 3M14. The export model is called Club (formerly Klub). They are also capable of performing very high angled defensive high speed maneuvers in contrast to the common linear flight path of other anti-ship cruise missiles.
3M-54E Club-S is the submarine-launched anti-shipping variant, Its basic length is 8.2 m (27 ft), with a 200 kg (440 lb) warhead. Its range is 220 km;. It is a sea-skimmer with a supersonic terminal speed and a flight altitude of 4.6 metres (15 ft) at its final stage is 2.9 mach. Submarine-launched variants are used by Kilo-class submarine, Lada-class submarine, Akula-class submarine, Oscar II-class submarine and the Yasen-class submarine. On 9 December 2015 Russia fired a group of 3M14K cruise missiles from Kalibr-PL system at positions occupied by Daesh from the Improved Kilo-class submarine B-237 Rostov-on-Don deployed in the Mediterranean.
The submariners delivered an electronic missile strike while submerged against enemy warships simulated by tactical groups of the Fleet’s anti-submarine warfare and missile ships. The Russian naval maneuvers are running as part of a final inspection of the Southern Military District’s troops for the 2021 training year. Overall, the drills have brought together about 8,000 personnel and up to 350 items of armament and military hardware from the combined-arms, air force and air defense armies and other units and formations, as well as the forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla.
