2010s Rostov-na-Donu is a diesel-electric submarine of the Improved Project 636.3 class of modern Russian ships. B-237 was built in Saint Petersburg shipyard, laid down on 21 November 2011, launched on 26 June 2014 and commissioned on 26 December 2014. It was part of the first batch of six Improved Kilo II submarines, which were built for the
Black Sea Fleet, The submarine was assigned to the 4th Submarine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet after completing training exercises off northern Russia, but was first deployed to the
Mediterranean Sea Task Force in December 2015.
Rostov-na-Donu joined the
Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war and on 8 December 2015 fired
Kalibr cruise missiles at
Islamic State command centers in the
Raqqa Governorate, Syria. The attack was later described by Russian Defense Minister
Sergey Shoigu at a press conference with President
Vladimir Putin. This made
Rostov-na-Donu the first Russian submarine to fire in combat since
World War II.
2020s In April 2020
Rostov-na-Donu returned to the Mediterranean for another deployment, as one of the attack submarines assigned to the Russian Navy task force there. The submarine returned to the Black Sea in February 2022, passing the
Bosporus on 13 February.
13 September 2023 attack On 13 September 2023, the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol
Mikhail Razvozhaev said that
Sevastopol Shipyard, belonging to Sevmorzavod, had been struck by a Ukrainian "missile attack" at 2 am, causing a large fire. The
Russian Ministry of Defence said that ten cruise missiles had been fired, of which seven were shot down. The attack also involved three "maritime drones", which were said to have been destroyed. The Ministry said, "As a result of being hit by enemy cruise missiles, two ships under repair were damaged". At least 24 people were reported injured. The ships damaged were the landing ship
Minsk and
Rostov-na-Donu. Ukraine said the two ships were "likely damaged beyond repair". The
Russian government denied this, and said they would be repaired and returned to full operational status. Based on open-source imagery, the UK Ministry of Defence assessed that the submarine had "likely suffered catastrophic damage." On 18 September, two images were leaked online of the damage to
Rostov-na-Donu, which appeared to be extensive. Two large breaches in the hull of the submarine could be seen, one around the midpoint of the starboard side to the rear of the conning tower and another on the top bow. Due to the nature of the damage, it was assessed that the submarine would be out of action for the duration of the war due to the closing of the
Dardanelles Straits to all foreign warships at the beginning of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine in accordance with the terms of the
Montreux Convention. The submarine would need to be transported to the
Admiralty Shipyards in Saint Petersburg to be repaired; however it is assessed to be more practical for a new submarine of the class to be constructed due to the extensive repairs that would be required.
2 August 2024 attack Ukrainian forces claimed
Rostov-na-Donu "sank on the spot" after a drone and missile strike on Sevastopol that also damaged an S-400 launcher. The submarine had been repaired after the 2023 attack, and was undergoing testing off Sevastopol. The
British Ministry of Defence stated that it was, "highly likely" that the submarine was sunk as
Newsweek published
satellite imagery alleging the submarine was replaced by a
decoy with the genuine submarine partially hidden beneath a tarp nearby. On 22 September 2025,
Atesh claimed that the submarine was docked in one of Sevastopol's bays and that it still was out of service due to damage suffered from the attack in 2024. ==References==