Off the coast of Denmark, there was an emergency with the Russian submarine. Danish Navy describes the situation as “dramatic”. The giant Oscar-II class submarine “Orel” drifted at 1,5 knots towards the island of Sejerø. Ropes were prepared for towing and two other Russian warships came to assist, as was reported by Deutsche Welle.
The Russian Oscar-II class nuclear guided-missile submarine Orel had an unknown problem with its propulsion system on July 30 while transiting Danish waters in the Baltic Sea near Denmark’s second-largest city Aarhus, prompting the Russian Navy to prepare to tow the submarine before it eventually resumed operation. The details of the incident aren’t exactly clear, but Russian submarines have had some issues in recent years.
The Barents Observer reports that Orel was sailing alongside the Udaloy class anti-submarine missile destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov from St. Petersberg to the Kola Peninsula when the issue occurred. The crew of the Orel could reportedly be seen on the forward deck wearing life preservers while the Russian Northern Fleet’s tug Altai approached with ropes. The Danish patrol vessel HDMS Diana also approached to offer assistance and attempted unsuccessfully to make radio contact with the stricken sub, but was answered instead by the crew of the Vice-Admiral Kulakov. The Orel was being escorted by the HDMS Diana when the incident occurred.
There is no way in or out of the Baltic Sea that doesn’t cross through Danish or Swedish territorial waters, so foreign warships are typically escorted by these nations’ navies when moving through the area. These foreign ships are typically allowed to make such transits under international rules of innocent passage, so long as they meet the criteria established by Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In a Facebook post, the Danish Navy’s Third Squadron wrote that this particular escort “will go down in history as both dramatic and exciting as the nuclear-powered submarine Orel of the Oscar-II class had problems with propulsion and lay dead in the water at Sejerø, where it drifted at 1.5 knots towards the island.” The post adds that the Danish Navy offered assistance to the submarine, which was “politely but not surprisingly declined.”