Between September 4 and 11, the Spanish Navy frigates Blas de Lezo and Canarias monitored the navigation of the Russian Kilo-class submarine B-261 Novorossiysk in the Bay of Biscay. Following instructions from the Commander of the Maritime Operations Command (MOM), they accompanied the submarine and the auxiliary vessels Evgeniy Churov and Alatau during their transit through the Gulf of Cádiz and the Alboran Sea toward the Eastern Mediterranean.
The frigate Blas de Lezo departed from its home port at the Ferrol Arsenal, which tracked the Russian units during their transit through Spain’s national maritime areas, and later, the frigate Canarias was responsible for monitoring their passage through the Strait of Gibraltar. There, the tugboat Alatau joined the group to continue escorting the submarine into the central Mediterranean, where Canarias concluded its surveillance mission by transferring responsibility for monitoring to a French vessel.
This action by the Spanish Navy is part of Spain’s Armed Forces operations for Presence, Surveillance, and Deterrence, operationally organized under MOM, which, along with the Land Operations Command (MOT), Aerospace Command (MOA), and Cyber Command (MOC), forms the structure of Permanent Commands dedicated to these missions. The primary objective is to maintain vigilance over Spain’s sovereign spaces to act against threats and facilitate a rapid response to any potential controversy.
However, the recent monitoring by Spain is not the first (nor the last) to take place in this region. Last June, the Portuguese Air Force dispatched a P-3C CUP+ from Squadron 601 “Lobos” that monitored 36,000 maritime traffic movements, detecting the Kilo-class II submarine B-608 Mozhaysk on the surface. According to the force, this was a Russian submarine operating in the Baltic but intended to integrate into the Russian Pacific Fleet.
In September, the focus was on the Novorossiysk: an upgraded Kilo-class submarine powered by diesel generators and assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. With a displacement of 3,100 tons when submerged, it can launch land-attack cruise missiles (Kalibr) with an estimated range of 932 to 1,553 miles.
On this occasion, it is estimated that the Novorossiysk was heading to Tartus, Syria, where Russia has established a naval base. The port of Tartus, significant for Moscow, is the only base outside the former Soviet Union still under the country’s administration and holds great importance for the strategic interests of the Federation.
*Photographs used for illustration.
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