What you need to know: In February 1992, the US Navy’s Los Angeles-class submarine Baton Rouge collided with the B-276 Sierra-class submarine of the Russian Navy Kostroma near the Russian naval base at Severomorsk in the Barents Sea. Both submarines were damaged, but there were no casualties.

-The incident exposed continued US surveillance of Russian naval activities despite the end of the Cold War, leading to diplomatic tensions.

-Unusually, the Pentagon acknowledged the collision, sparking talks between US Secretary of State James Baker and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. TheBaton Rouge was later decommissioned, while theKostroma it was repaired, its crew marking the event by painting a “kill” symbol on its conning tower.

When an American submarine and a Russian submarine collided: the 1992 incident explained\

forty years ago The Hunt for Red October bookshelves becoming a blockbuster hit that even earned praise from Ronald Reagan. By the late 1980s, Tom Clancy had become one of the most prominent writers of modern military fiction.

A film version of The Hunt for Red October it came out six years later in 1990, and both the book and the film featured a memorable exchange between the Soviet ambassador and the US national security adviser, the former explaining that a Soviet submarine was delayed and missing.

The answer: “Have you ever lost a submarine?”

This short joke has become a popular meme on social media, serving to highlight the ineptitude of the Russian Navy today, including the fact that its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov been in dry dock for years and that the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet Moscow was sunk by Ukrainian forces in April 2022. Clancy sadly passed away in 2013, so he did not live to comment on the loss of the mighty warship.

However, it is unlikely to have been anything as pleasant as the exchange The Hunt for Red October to what happened in February 1991, after a US Navy attack submarine collided with a Russian submarine, causing sparks. an international incident. It was a situation Tom Clancy’s President Jack Ryan had never had to deal with!

Flashback: February 11, 1992

The Cold War had ended, as the Soviet Union had ceased to exist a few months earlier, yet the United States Navy continued to track the movement and communications of the Russian Navy. The maritime service went out of its way to access even Russian communications cables as part “Operation Holy Stone”.

Such activities may have gone unnoticed, but that changed on February 11, 1992, when an incident occurred that even Tom Clancy could not have dreamed of.

United States Navy Los Angeles class the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Baton Rouge (SSN-689) followed close behind Sierra class of the Russian Navy (made of titanium) B-276 Kostroma near the Russian naval base off the Severomorsk coast of the Barents Sea when the two submarines collided.

Harrison Kass, writing for The National Interest, explicitly how the incident unfolded:

“At 20:16 local time, in international waters approximately 12 miles off the coast of Kildin Island, the Baton Rouge collided with the Russian submarine B-276 Kostroma. Exactly what happened is still in dispute. The American press claims that Baton Rouge. had been monitoring wireless traffic between Russian bases, however, Russian media claimed the two submarines were engaged in a game of cat and mouse.

That game of cat and mouse led to a collision

It is now indisputable that contact was lost just before the collision, as can happen with fast-moving submarines operating underwater. The 9,000-ton Sierra-class ship of the Russian Navy rammed the USS Baton Rouge as it prepared to surface about 12 miles offshore. Both boats sustained damage, but luckily there were no casualties.

The American boat actually only received heavy scratches and a ruptured ballast tank, however, it could have been much worse since the American submarine only had one hull. If it had ruptured, the submarine would have taken on water and could have resulted in a catastrophe – which could have cost the lives of the crew. Damage caused Kostroma it was somewhat more substantial, and its sail was spiked on the forepart.

Both submarines were able to return to port under their own power.

Nautical Fender Bender turned into a political disaster

The incident was essentially little more than a naval fender bender – however, it was still a major political disaster for the United States, as it revealed that Washington was still keeping a close eye on Russian military activity despite the dissolution of the Union Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Moreover, even though the collision took place in international waters, Moscow also rightly felt that the US activity was carried out illegally.

Initially, the US even tried to dispute that they engaged in shadowing the Kremlin boat, but the Russian Navy countered that the two submarines were engaged in that aforementioned cat-and-mouse game. Subsequent investigations by third-party analysts have tended to support Russia’s claims.

Accidents will happen – but do they actually admit it?

What makes this story noteworthy, even if it lacked the suspense of a Clancy page-turner, is that we know with absolute certainty that it happened. The collision was definitely an accident, and the US submarine did not intend to hit the Russian boat. In fact, the U.S.S Baton Rouge he even circled around to see if the Russian submarine needed help.

In a surprise move, the Pentagon admitted that a collision had occurred, which was against official policy at the time.

The incident proved significant enough to prompt a meeting between then US Secretary of State James Baker and Russian President Boris Yeltsin to discuss the situation. No official transcript of what was said has ever been released, and it is doubtful that the conversation will ever be made public. But the US Navy subsequently ceased certain specific submarine activities near Russian naval bases – and this included intercepting underwater cables or initiating wireless communications.

The following

The Russian Navy managed to repair Kostroma until June 1992, and she was brought back into service, later receiving a major overhaul in 2005 – although the boat is now in the reserve fleet.

Instead, the USS Baton Rouge returned to the United States and the decision was made to scrap the boat as it was already scheduled for refueling. She became the first submarine of the Los Angeles class to be taken out of service and removed from the Register of Naval Vessels. The Russian Navy apparently noticed this fact, as sailors on the Kostroma painted a kill marker on its conning tower to commemorate the “defeat” of the USS. Baton Rouge.

Not even the late great Tom Clancy could have written a more fitting ending.

Experience and expertise of the author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a writer from Michigan. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites with more than 3,200 articles published over a twenty-year career in journalism. He writes regularly on military hardware, firearms history, cyber security, politics and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: (email protected).

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