Ukraine became first country in history to hit an enemy submarine with cruise missiles

The Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have anti-submarine aircraft like the P-8A Poseidon or P-3 Orion, let alone their own submarines. However, September 13, 2023 was another important day in history.

Ukraine became the first country in history to be able to hit an enemy submarine using cruise missiles. The strike was believed to have been carried out by British Storm Shadow missiles or French SCALP EG missiles. Sky News reports that it was Storm Shadow that Ukraine used. The carriers of the cruise missiles are Su-24M frontline bombers.

The Ukrainian Defence Forces have no means to search for enemy submarines. Because of this, the only way to hit the target is to strike when it is not underwater, but in a surface position.

This is exactly what was done at night. The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force hinted that the strike was carried out by aircraft. However, there is no full-fledged official confirmation of the use of Storm Shadow or SCALP EG yet.

The Russian multipurpose diesel-electric submarine Rostov-on-Don was hit. It was built as part of Project 636 Varshavyanka and cost approximately $300 million. The submarine is a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles.

The submarine was docked at a ship repair plant in Sevastopol. Also hit was a large landing ship “Minsk”. The extent of the damage is not specified, but most likely they are out of commission for several years, if not completely destroyed.