British intelligence: Russia's attempts to return submarine to service take many years
British intelligence believes that the Russians are unlikely to be able to quickly restore the 'Rostov-on-Don' submarine and the 'Minsk' ship, which were hit in Sevastopol, which in turn caused serious damage to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The British Ministry of Defense reported this on social network X (Twitter), citing intelligence data, Ukrinform reported.
As reported, in the early hours of 13 September 2023, multiple missiles struck the Sevmorzavod shipyard within Russia's Black Sea Fleet (BSF) Sevastopol naval base. The landing ship Minsk and Kilo 636.3 class submarine Rostov-na-Donu were hit while undergoing maintenance in dry docks.
Despite the Russian Ministry of Defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage, the report says.
“Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a realistic possibility that the complex task of removing the wreckage from the dry docks will place them out of use for many months. This would present the BS with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance”, British intelligence emphasizes.
It is noted that the loss of the Rostov removes one of the BS's four cruise-missile capable submarines which have played a major role in striking Ukraine and projecting Russian power across the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.
As reported, powerful explosions occurred in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol on September 13 at night. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported a cruise missile attack on the Ordzhonikidze shipyard, which damaged two ships. According to OSINTtechnical analysts, a large Ropucha-class amphibious assault ship and a Kilo-class submarine were damaged.
A representative of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, commenting on the extent of damage to enemy ships, said that the Russian large amphibious assault ship 'Rostov-on-Don' and a submarine were beyond repair after the attack by the Defense Forces on the Ordzhonikidze ship repair plant in Sevastopol.