Russia's doomsday submarine sets sail for the first time
The special-purpose nuclear submarine Khabarovsk, designed to carry the Poseidon nuclear-powered giga-torpedo, is currently undergoing sea trials in the White Sea.
Khabarovsk is the first of three submarines of a new class designed to carry Poseidon autonomous, long-range nuclear torpedoes. Its design is based on the hull of the Borei-class submarine, but it is significantly shorter because it lacks the section for ballistic missiles.
Several Russian military blogs, including Military Review and Amalnews Military, reported that Khabarovsk put to sea on 17 August. No official information about the voyage has been published by the Sevmash shipyard or Russian state media.
Construction of the submarine began in July 2014, long before Vladimir Putin announced in 2018 that Russian engineers were developing a nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed, unmanned vehicle designed to travel across the Atlantic or Pacific and strike coastal targets in the United States.
The Poseidon is a second-strike weapon, aimed at taking out the enemy after the initial phase of a nuclear war, involving an exchange of warheads. For that reason, it has been called a doomsday weapon.
The Barents Observer first reported on the existence of the weapon in 2016.
Khabarovsk was launched on 1 November 2025. The submarine was initially scheduled to enter service with the Russian Navy in 2020, but construction was significantly delayed for reasons that have not been made public.
Construction of a second vessel in the class, to be named Orenburg, began last year. No information has been published on when the submarine will be launched. The same is true of the third vessel, for which it is not even known whether construction has begun.
What is known is that Khabarovsk will be transferred to the Pacific Fleet, where a dedicated facility for the Poseidon weapon is currently under construction.
In Severodvinsk, a special port facility supports the Poseidon programme, which has been under development and testing for at least a decade. Both surface vessels and the Belgorod submarine have carried the weapon into open Arctic waters for testing.
The second submarine of the Khabarovsk class is expected to serve with the Northern Fleet.
In late October 2025, dictator Vladimir Putin claimed that a successful test of the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone had been carried out.
“For the first time, we were able to not only launch it from a submarine using its booster engine, but also to start the nuclear power plant, where the apparatus operated for a certain period of time,” Putin said.
Khabarovsk is reportedly capable of carrying six Poseidon torpedoes. The 24-metre-long weapon is said to have a range of 10,000 kilometres and a maximum operating depth of 1,000 metres, potentially making it difficult to intercept using conventional anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
