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     Sevmash is a Russian submarine builder. They just issued a press release to announce that they had delivered the first K-329 Belgorod to the Russian Navy. The Belgorod is the world’s longest submarine. Although the Russian Navy has not provided exact specification for the Belgorod, reports in the press have said that the Belgorod’s enlarged Oscar-II class hull is about five hundred and eighty-four feet long and about forty feet wide. The Belgorod’s displacement probably exceeds the ninety thousand tons of the original Oscar-II class and is bigger than the largest Western submarine which is the U.S. Ohio-class.
     According to the Sevmash press release, the Belgorod is designed to investigate scientific problems and to conduct search and rescue operations. In addition, it can serve as a mothership for deep-sea rescue vehicles and autonomous underwater unmanned vehicles.
     The Belgorod is the first carrier for the Poseidon nuclear-armed underwater stealth drone. Russia says that it can deliver a retaliatory nuclear second strike at population centers, major cities and industrial centers near a coast by triggering devastating radioactive tsunamis.
      Russia also says that the Belgorod is designed to carry the highly classified Losharik special mission submarine. In addition to carrying the Poseidon drone, there are reports that the Belgorod can also serve as a mothership for various unmanned underwater espionage platforms including the Losharik.
     There are reports that the Belgorod’s reinforced lower rudders will allow the submarine to sit on the seafloor. It also has the capability to deploy unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) that could be used for espionage missions to tap or cut submarine communication cables. Such espionage missions could blind or cripple an enemy. Ninety five percent of global internet traffic passes through these cables. This was reported by the Atlantic Council think tank.
     With respect to the mission of the Belgorod, Russian defense analyst and military expert Alexei Leonkov explained the probable role of the submarine in a recent interview. He said that the Belgorod is designed to launch the Poseidon drone. It also specializes in second strike missions. Leonkov describes the Belgorod as a “retaliation weapons” for a big nuclear war. It could launch its Poseidon drones in response to a nuclear first strike involving mobile missiles, land-based launchers and land and sea-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) against Russia. Beyond use as a second-strike weapon, Leonkov mentions that the Poseidon drones can be deployed against carrier battle groups with the Belgorod carrying them to the site of the naval battle.
     However, Poseidon transport may not be the only important mission for the Belgorod. In an article published in the Boennoe Obozreniye, Roman Skomorokhov says that the U.S. may view the Poseidon in three different ways. First, he says, the U.S. may dismiss the Poseidon drone as propaganda. He notes that for all the concern that it has caused for U.S. defense analysts, it may just be a mock-up meant to intimidate the U.S. public and defense planners. Second, he notes that the U.S. may perceive the Poseidon as an underwater research vessel, but not the nuclear-armed underwater drone that Russia claims. Third, the U.S. may perceive the Poseidon as a real weapon and rush to carry out research efforts to develop defenses to counter nuclear-armed underwater drones.
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