Forbes

U.S. officials said the submarine was taking part in a Russian military exercise. A Russian state media report (in Russian) on the exercise said the submarine ‘Omsk’ fired a cruise missile at a target in the Bering Sea, which is between Siberia and Alaska.

The circumstances of the surfacing are unclear. It is not normal for submarines to come to the surface near another country’s coast. And the USNORTHCOM statements raise questions as to whether something is wrong. “We have not received any requests for assistance from the Russian Navy or other mariners in the area.” This may imply that there is an emergency aboard which the U.S. Navy is aware of.

Omsk is a Project 949A ‘Antey’ class cruise missile submarine, more commonly known by its NATO reporting name, Oscar-II class. It is primarily armed with 24 P-700 ‘Granite’ (NATO designation SS-N-19 Shipwreck) anti-ship missiles. These have a range of nearly 400 miles and can travel at supersonic speeds. Their 1,653 lb warhead is much larger than on regular anti-ship missiles like the Harpoon and Exocet. It can also carry a 500 kiloton nuclear warhead.

Footage of the exercise published by the official Russian Ministry of Defence Twitter account (in Russian) shows a massive P-700 Granite emerging from the sea.

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