'What the f*** did I just hit?': Shocking moment Russian hunter-killer submarine crashed into Royal Navy warship that was stalking it in the Arctic Circle

UK Daily Mail ^ | 01/06/2022 | David Averre

[DFG]

The Royal Navy has admitted one of its warships collided with a Russian hunter-killer submarine in the north Atlantic in what is believed to be the first collision between Russian and British vessels since the Cold War.

The Russian submarine was lurking 200 miles north of Scotland in 'late 2020' when the crew of HMS Northumberland was dispatched on a 48-hour mission to hunt it down amid fears it would try to tap into or cut undersea cables essential for communication and the internet.

The Royal Navy's Type 23 frigate sailed into the region where the sub was believed to be hiding and deployed its array sonar - a cable covered in hydrophones pulled along behind the hull - to listen for sounds from the sub.

But in what a navy source has described as a 'million-to-one chance event', the submarine passed right behind the British vessel and smashed into the sonar cable being towed behind the frigate.

The collision, which was caught on film by a Channel 5 TV crew, did considerable damage to the HMS Northumberland's sonar device which was raked across the Russian sub's hull, forcing the British crew to abort their mission and return to base for repairs.

In the video of the moment of impact, a crew member is heard exclaiming, 'what the f*** have I just hit?'.

[Tallguy]

Perhaps, but when you consider the potential speed differential between the sub and the surface vessel, detection ranges and reaction times (how fast can the frigate ‘secure’ it’s towed array), you can imagine scenarios where you can get entangled.

[rlmorel]

Truth is, there were a lot of incidents during the Cold War.

When I was on the JFK, the Soviets had smaller ships, trawlers tracking us whenever they could. I remember once standing on the fantail and seeing a Soviet trawler trailing us a few miles back. I had a pair of binoculars (there were no flight ops going on right then) and as I viewed them, I saw implacable, motionless, silent groups of men staring back from their bridge, hands holding binoculars, black disks where their eyes would be.

We were standing behind our last plane spotted on the flight deck and couldn't be seen from the island, so a bunch of us lined up and dropped our dungarees to expose our backsides to the enemy...:) When I looked again at them, they were motionless, still staring in what seemed like a disembodied machine-like way. I often wonder what they thought of that display...did they laugh? I know I would have if they had mooned us.

When we were about 400 miles off the coast of Ireland (I think) heading up the the Artic Circle, we had a Tomcat malfunction and go off the side of the carrier with a Phoenix on board. Unfortunately, there was a Soviet cruiser several miles in front of us that saw it happen, and they began to cut across our bow to get a better look, and one of our vessels in the area cut in front of it. However, they now had a fix on where the plane was, so our country had to engage in an all out effort to salvage the plane so they couldn't get their hands on the Tomcat or the Phoenix.





LOL, I was a new Plane Captain, sleeping in my plane spotted along a line parallel to the waist catapult, facing the island, when I was awoken as the full throttle exhaust from the runaway Tomcat played across my plane jerking it violently from side to side as the Tomcat dropped off the deck behind me. I turned in time to see the twin tails going over the side and people running over to see it hit the water.

Several times during my deployments, we had a Russian Bear (Tu-95, big propeller driven plane) fly towards us, with two Tomcats flying in formation with it, gently shepherding it away from the carrier.

I understand what went on between smaller ships like the Soviet destroyers and subs and their American counterparts was far more confrontational and aggressive. Not nearly as close to Cold War as hot war.

It is thought that the Soviet sub raised by Howard Hughes' Glomar Explorer had been sunk in a collision with one of our subs that had tried to surface with the Soviet sub right above it, which is how we knew where it was, but the Soviets didn't. (I read something that the sub limped into Yokosuka a week or two later with its conning tower, scopes, and antennae crushed and distorted, where it was immediately covered with tarps. At least that is one account I read, I can't remember if that was accurate or supposition.

[Tallguy]

Exactly... A Brit sub commander deliberately “snipped” a towed-array from a Russian surface vessel and got a commendation for it.

A Russian sub skipper might not be sporting the special gear to do the cable cutting, but his intent might be the same — to bring back a section of an opponents towed array by deliberate entanglement.

[Blueflag]

yeah, I read it wrong. I originally thought the DDG hit the towed array of the sub ...

#readignskillsmatter

[Kiss7]

#readignskillsmatter

That was good!

[Yo-Yo]

yeah, I read it wrong. I originally thought the DDG hit the towed array of the sub ...

#readignskillsmatter

Completely understandable since the quote in the article was from the RN helmsman who said "what the f*** did I just hit?" when really he should have said "what the f*** just hit me?"

[SJSAMPLE]

Love that movie. The way Richard Widmark abuses and frustrates James MacArthur give you a hit as to what’s coming.

[SJSAMPLE]

I all fairness, their mission was to find the sub.

They did.

[SJSAMPLE]

Well, shit.

Sidney Portier just died.

[2CAVTrooper]

The towed sonar is almost a kilometer behind the ship and several hundred feet below it.

[Vaduz]

Russian hunter-killer submarines get Vodka supply removed.

[ro_dreaming]

She could be a “butterface”, but with a decent looking body and curves like that, no one would object to a little doggystyle I’d think.

In my Navy years, I found 1 woman, and 1 woman only, that looked good in dungarees...

Although, I did get to see quite a few in towels (and out of, of course!).

[SuperLuminal]

Yep!
Whenever I’m bass fishing, I never use a sonar-array lure...
They always snag on something undesireable that doesn’t count at weigh-in...

[Lower Deck]

The Russian captain skillfully sought and destroyed the trailing sonar array completely undetected.

I doubt the Russian submarine knew it was there.

[tomkat]

Very interesting .. thanks for all that.

[bert]

Never underestimate the capability of the enemy

[linMcHlp]

bkmk

[rlmorel]

It was an interesting time in my life...I was glad to get out of the Navy, but I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. I learned a lot, and grew up a lot. Gave me focus in life...

[rlmorel]

"...I all fairness, their mission was to find the sub. They did..."

LOL, I can see the skipper's superior yelling at him:

"Dammit! You are supposed to use the thing to LOOK for the enemy submarine using the refined electronic functionality it offers, not use it the same way a bunch of drunk cops would if they were dragging a lake looking for a body!"

[Lower Deck]

Never underestimate the capability of the enemy

The towed array was likely not giving off any noise at all. Assuming the Russian sub was below the layer in the shadow zone then you have a situation where they know there's a surface ship close but were likely not 100% sure where. The surface ship knew there was a sub likely under the layer somewhere but not 100% sure where exactly. Hitting the array, which was probably below the layer, was a freak accident but not all that surprising.