Page 10: of Marine Technology Magazine (May/Jun 2026)

SUBSEA DEFENSE

The USNS Bowditch oceanographic survey ship at sea.

USS Connecticut (SSN 22) is docked for its Extended Docking Selected Restricted

Availability July 12 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.

Wendy M Hallmark/U.S. Navy U.S. Navy photo fensive options by mapping the locations of submarine tele- of the Ministry of Defense headquartered on the Kola Bay, communications cables, pipelines, seabed sensor arrays, or which is also known to operate a ? eet of special-purpose sub- the contours of strategically important chokepoints for prepo- marines and deep-sea submersibles. Yantar has been observed sitioning sensor or weapon systems operating near critical underwater infrastructure in the Bal-

U.S. and Western adversaries are also well aware of the tic, North, and Irish Seas, and even off the southeast coast of need for up-to-date environmental intelligence in order to United States near Naval Submarine Base King’s Bay, home successfully operate in, and exploit the opacity of, the un- to U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines. Equipped with a dersea domain. Both Russia and China operate large ? eets wide range of sophisticated crewed and uncrewed deep div- of oceanographic research vessels, ostensibly for benign re- ing submersibles, Yantar is capable of mapping, imaging, as search missions, but are also suspected of engaging in dual- well as inspecting, deploying, or manipulating objects on the use intelligence gathering and even sabotage. Russia’s Yantar sea ? oor for purposes of identifying the locations of seabed in particular is widely regarded in Western security circles as sensors, submarine telecommunications cables, or crash de- a special mission platform masquerading as a research vessel. bris from missile tests or aircraft mishaps. Yantar is closely

Yantar, is attached to Russia’s benignly named Main Director- monitored by NATO navies wherever she operates, but she is ate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI), a highly secretive branch also known to operate “dark,” turning off her AIS transponder 10 May/June2026

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