April 27th - Sentinel imagery of Northern Fleet Bases

Clear skies over Kola today

Earlier today I posted analysis of Sentinel-1 SAR-imagery of Severomorsk, both as a Note and on Twitter. Luckily, there was mostly clear skies over Kola today, so we got a nice Sentinel-2 optical pass around 1000z.

Severomorsk

Previously posted radar imagery analysis, from this morning , April 27th

Looking at the optical imagery taken five and a half hours later, it seems my SAR imagery analysis was right.

The Slava-class CG Marshal Ustinov had returned, while the Sovremenny-class DDG Admiral Ushakov, 1 x Gorshkov-class FFG and the Ivan Gren-class LST Ivan Gren were missing, presumably at sea.

I do not know if the missing Gorshkov is the Admiral Kasatonov or the not-yet commissioned Admiral Golovko, which is up north for weapons tests, as part of the sea trials.

1 x prob Borei-class SSBN was alongside at the Okolnaya Missile Pier.

Gadzhiyevo

4 x SSBNs were alongside in Gadzhiyevo, with the one at the missile-pier having recently moored there.

Using the criterias from my SSBN article, the number of NORFLT SSBNs at sea is 3, which is within normal patterns.

I would here like to emphasize that being assessed as at sea isn't equal to being on patrol.

Olenya Guba

The Delta Stretch SSAN Podmoskovye and the AGI Yantar had returned home.

Both went out earlier this week and the Yantar operated in the Motovsky Bay.

Zapadnaya Litsa

Today's imagery confirms that the Yasen-class SSGN that has been at sea since the beginning of the month indeed has returned home.

All Oscar-II class SSGNs remained alongside. One of the three is the inactive/in-reserve Voronezh.

Regards

The Lookout