# What is the state of the Russian navy today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512 "2020-10-08T17:54:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@cjackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjackson)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/1 "2020-10-08T17:54:47Z")
How is the VMF doing today? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/2 "2020-10-08T18:01:54Z")
Well, their flagship, the [Admiral Kuznetsov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_aircraft_carrier_Admiral_Kuznetsov) (which is, AIUI, also their only aircraft carrier) has been badly damaged twice in the past two years, while undergong a refit, and may not be back to service for another two to three years. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/3 "2020-10-08T20:07:12Z")
Everything I’ve read is morale is low and maintenance has not been great. It looks like Russia prioritizes Army & Air Force, which actually makes sense for Russia. Their surface Navy has no chance in a sea battle and little major use otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![cjackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@cjackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjackson)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/4 "2020-10-08T22:27:42Z")
How are the submarines doing? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/5 "2020-10-08T22:40:11Z")
The little I’ve seen on it indicates the Russian subs have been modernized. They’ve got a mix of Nuke & Diesel-Electrics fast attack subs. About 40 I think. About 20 missile subs. I’ve never read anything recent about submariner morale so no clue there. I wonder if anyone on the board has a subscription to Janes, still probably the best resource. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/6 "2020-10-08T23:14:17Z")
Here’s an article that deals with their new hypersonic cruise missile launched from a Russian frigate. The article has links to other ships/missile/navy developments. > **[Russia Says This Is Our First Glimpse Of Its Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36945/russia-says-this-is-our-first-glimpse-of-its-zircon-hypersonic-cruise-missile)** > > Launched from a frigate in the White Sea, the weapon was claimed to have exceeded a speed of Mach 8 before hitting a naval target. This site, The Drive and the sub-section dealing with the war zone is up to date on most current news regarding new developments around the world. Good source, comments are uneven; some excellent, some drivel. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/7 "2020-10-09T07:10:36Z")
They have a habit of lying about weapons systems - all fur coat and no knickers. So the question is, reliability and effectiveness - hard to imagine they have come up with something no-one else has done. I would have expected the US would already have such systems or be well on the way. What we have is their story of an experimental system - probably in highly rigged conditions and we don’t know how many failures they already had. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/8 "2020-10-09T12:59:35Z")
It is funny thing about reporting. The US mostly reports failures. Russia, China & N. Korea mostly report unverified successes. It is almost like the US is trying to hide its capabilities while the other 3 are trying to puff out their feathers to look bigger than they are. Then you have the UK & France that just seem to do honest reporting. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-the-russian-navy-today/922512/9 "2020-10-09T20:06:03Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Their surface Navy has no chance in a sea battle Depends who they’re fighting. I know it’s not strictly the navy, but the Russian coast guard was able to handily overwhelm numerous ships of the Ukrainian navy in the [Kerch Strait incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerch_Strait_incident) of 2014.