Thursday, April 9th, 2026, brought an interesting BBC live coverage to my attention, featuring a media briefing by the UK Defence Secretary John Healey, where he disclosed that:
The UK tracked a recent Russian Navy submarine clandestine operation “in and around British Waters” for over a month. Three Russian submarines were highlighted: an Akula SSN and two “GUGI” spy submarines. The Akula trolled NATO defences to distract them away from the two spy submarines as they "spent time over critical infrastructure."
Healey reported "No evidence that there has been any damage" to cables and pipelines of UK subsea infrastructure.
Healey addressed President Putin directly, saying, “We see you, we see your activity over our underwater infrastructure. ”
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| (Wiki file) HMS St Albans returns to Devonport, UK, on April 2, 2026. (Image: Tom Leach for Navylookout.com). --- |
The UK Royal Navy (RN) deployed: the Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans; the Tide-class tanker/support ship RFA Tidespring; and Merlin helicopters. While RAF P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPAs) maintained 24/7 tracking. This was alongside NATO Allies, with Norway specifically mentioned.
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| Undersea cables (red) and oil/natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines (purple) around the UK. (Graphic: BBC) --- |
Following up on the UK Defence Secretary’s press briefing, the Barents Observer stated that the Royal Norwegian Navy participated with an ASW frigate, other warships and P-8 MPA, confirming that the covert operation was by Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI).
GUGI is a
secretive Russian naval unit focused on deep-sea operations, to map, monitor, and
potentially disrupt undersea infrastructure like cables and pipelines. Based
mainly in Olenya Bay (aka Olenya Guba) Northern Russia, it serves as a critical, high-priority asset for both
surveillance and potential sabotage in European waters.
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| Declassified satellite image of Olenya Bay. (Image: UK MOD) --- |
GUGI was established in the 1960s. In the 21st century, GUGI became known in naval circles for operating Russia’s ‘special mission submarines" and intelligence ships, including the Yantar intelligence ship, the K-329 Belgorod and BS-64 Podmoskovye nuclear mothership submarines and the AS-31 Losharik deep-diving small nuclear research submarine.
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| BS-64 Podmoskovye. (Image: thebarentobserver.com) --- |
Navylookout.com, in its coverage on this operation, specifically mentions BS-64 Podmoskovye (wiki file) was reported by Norwegian OSINT sources to have left Olenya Bay in mid-February 2026 and returned to base sometime before April 8th. So BS-64 likely was one of the "GUGI submarines" mentioned in the briefing. While the second boat could have been the Losharik or a smaller Paltus-class nuclear mini-submarine (and see) deployed by BS-64.
Another excellent post Shawn.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting USS Jimmy Carter may have a similar "GUGI" role as a special missions submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter#History .
For a few years USS Jimmy Carter may have served with NR-1, a US nuclear powered mini-submarine, before NR-1's decommissioning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_submarine_NR-1
Its possible USS Jimmy Carter is now interoperating with a highly classified successor nuclear powered mini-submarine to NR-1. Maybe the successor is called "NR-2" or "NR-3"!
Pete
Hi Pete,
DeleteThe book “Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage documents America’s two early nuke spy boats, the USS Halibut and USS Seawolf, as well as NR-1, which chief scientist the USN’s Special Projects at the time, John P. Craven hated as it was a toy that Rickover forced him to develop.
Note USS Parche and her sister USS Richard Russel are only lightly referenced in this book, as they were in commission when this book was first published. USS Jimmy Carter is the third generation of American nuclear spy submarines.
https://www.hisutton.com/USS_Parche.html
NR-1 and the Losharik demonstrate the pros and cons of deep diving nuclear submarines - they have long loitered periods but are slow boats with a nuclear tea kettle, so they need motherships for docking/towing and make constant noise. With current technology, there is little need to send a manned vessel that deep, though Jimmy Boy likely has the capability of using deep diving ROVs or UVVs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Man%27s_Bluff:_The_Untold_Story_of_American_Submarine_Espionage
Hi Shawn at 4/15/2026 10:35 AM
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about no manned NR-1 replacement. This is due to tethered and free diving ROVs and UUVs being able to dive deeper (10,000+ meters?), far more cheaply and with no crew risking their lives.
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/04/u-s-navy-to-get-new-unique-submarine-virginia-ssw/ advises:
"The USS Jimmy Carter is currently the U.S. Navy’s principal seabed warfare submarine, specially fitted for covert spy missions deep beneath the waves. Now plans are underway to build a follow on special spy submarine using the newer Virginia Class hull.
A single Mod VA SSW (Modified Virginia, Subsea and Seabed Warfare) version of the Virginia Class is expected to be built.
Work is already underway at the famous Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. A basic outline of the design was shared by General Dynamics Electric Boat’s President, Kevin Graney, in a January 2022 at a Connecticut Economic Summit in 2022. Since then some information about the SSW design has slowly emerged in open sources, but naturally the details remain cloaked.
According to the Congressional Research Service, a single boat will be procured in the U.S. Navy’s 2024 budget. The calculated cost is $5.1 billion, almost a billion more than the baseline Virginia Class."
Cheers Pete