Defense Express: After SBU strike on Russian submarine, Novorossiysk's inner bay is closed

After the Ukrainian Security Service's maritime drones attacked a submarine in the port of Novorossiysk, Russia closed even the inner bay in an attempt to protect its ships. This was reported by the portal Defense Express.

Several barges have been stationed at the entrance to the bay for quite some time to prevent maritime drones from reaching the ships, the article says.

However, the Russians were not prepared for attacks by underwater drones, and on December 14, the SBU hit a Warsaw Pilot submarine. Since then, the Russians have significantly strengthened the defense of this bay.

New SAR images from Sentinel-1 satellites show that, in addition to the aforementioned barges, an internal partition has appeared at the main entrance to the bay.

Analysts claim that the barrier appeared on satellite images six days after the attack, on December 21. Satellite images of December 25, taken by the Sentinel-2 satellite constellation, show that a new boom barrier has appeared there.

Defense Express writes that these days the boom barrier has disappeared from the entrance to the bay. That is, most likely, it was simply moved inside. It can be assumed that this was done because the main defense of the bay made of barges can be opened for quite a long time for ships to pass.

The boom barrier inside is like a second layer of defense that should prevent submarines from being hit if the marine drone manages to slip through the barges, analysts said.

• December 14 in Novorossiysk first affected the occupiers' submarine with Sub Sea Baby underwater drones. The cost of one unit is about $400-$500 million.
• On December 23, it became known that the SBU a maritime reconnaissance aircraft was hit Russian Il-38N before blowing up a submarine in Novorossiysk.