1/ A Russian submarine stricken with a serious fuel leak has surfaced off Brittany and is being tracked by the French Navy. Meanwhile, leaked documents describe how a Russian missile corvette collided with a civilian tanker on 7 August 2025. ⬇️ 
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that the Russian Black Sea Fleet submarine Novorossiysk (B-261) has surfaced off the coast of Brittany. It is being monitored by a French Navy frigate, according to NATO's Maritime Command.
https://x.com/NATO_MARCOM/status/1976325370908426672
3/ VChK-OGPU reports that the submarine's fuel system is damaged and is leaking directly into the hull:
"There are no repair parts or qualified specialists on board, and the crew is unable to fix the malfunction. The serious accident has led to other problems."
"There are no repair parts or qualified specialists on board, and the crew is unable to fix the malfunction. The serious accident has led to other problems."
4/ "The fuel accumulated in the hull is an explosive hazard. The source believes that the crew has no choice but to start ‘draining the hull’ directly into the sea."
5/ The Project 636.3 Varshavianka-class submarine is relatively new, having been launched in 2013 and accepted into the 4th Separate Submarine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet in 2014. It was on a combat patrol in the Mediterranean Sea when the problem occurred.
6/ This is the second serious setback for the Black Sea Fleet in recent months. On 7 August, the Project 21631 Buyan-M small missile corvette Vyshny Volochok, part of the 41st Missile Ship and Boat Brigade, collided with the civilian tanker Nazan in the Sea of Azov off Crimea.
7/ The 41st Brigade's commander, Captain 1st Rank Oleg Sardin, blamed a Ukrainian UAV attack and claimed that the collision had not harmed its operational readiness. However, leaked photographs show that the ship sustained serious damage.
8/ A leaked report by the Russian Navy is scathing about the failures of the ship's command crew. The commander is criticised for failing to ensure the safety of its navigation, radio system and preventing collisions at sea. The assistant commander is similarly criticised.
9/ The commander of Vyshny Volochok's radio-technical and communications combat unit is also criticised for failing to failing to organise the ship's surveillance and not passing on information to the ship's watch officer.
10/ Blame is also directed towards "incompetent management of the tactical group and the lack of organisation of the safety of navigation of ships on the part of the chief of staff of the unit." Captain Sardin himself is personally blamed for:
11/ "Failure to fulfill his official duties to control the division's ships, ensure the safety of navigation during joint maneuvering, and fail to take measures to deploy the division's command post at sea by the commander of a division of small missile ships."
12/ The classified report describes how the collision happened. At 01:20 on 7 August, the Azov Naval Missile Commander transmitted an "Unmanned Danger" signal to the small missile group, placing the unit's ships on alert.
13/ At the time, Vyshny Volochok was patrolling waters in the southeastern part of the Sea of Azov from the Kerch Strait to the Temryuk lighthouse. At 03:12 the ship's MR-231 navigation radar detected the tanker Nazan, but the officer in charge failed to track it.
14/ The tanker weighed anchor at the same time and began moving on a general course of 110°, at a speed of 7 knots, to the outer roadstead of the Temryuk seaport. At 03:20, Vyshny Volochek was travelling ahead of the tanker and made a 90 degree course change towards Temyruk Port.
15/ This put the tanker in the blind spot of Vyshny Volochek's navigation radar. At 3:34, following the order of the commander of the control group, the corvette turned to a course of 124 degrees at 9 knots to proceed along the coastline.
16/ Vyshny Volochek was operating on only two of her four engines at the time, in violation of naval operating guidelines. At 03:50, the ship's commander left the bridge to go to his cabin without handing over to his deputy, who was acting as the watch officer.
17/ At 03:59, UAVs were detected in the vicinity of Temyruk. The commmander of the small missile group ordered his vessels to execute a sharp turn to the opposite course. This triggered a chain of mishaps and misjudgements, exacerbated by poor training, that led to the collision.
18/ "The ship's assistant commander did not give the watch officer and the watch officer a command to assess the safety of turning to a new course; he assessed the safety of the turn independently by visually inspecting the sector on the port side.
19/ "At 04:02, contact with the tanker was reestablished on the MR-231 navigation radar during a circling maneuver; the distance was 6.6 cables [1,220 m]. Due to the low professional training of the radio-technical commander, the tanker's movement parameters were not determined.
20/ "The ship's assistant commander saw the target's speed on the MR-231 remote indicator as 0 knots and concluded that the target was not moving and posed no threat to the small missile ship.
21/ "As a result, the assistant commander took no action to avoid the tanker for two minutes.
22/ "At 4:04 a.m., the portside watchkeeper reported to the small missile corvette's assistant about spotting a vessel on a course of 35 degrees, approximately 600 metres away, with a searchlight shining toward the small missile ship.
23/ "To avoid a collision, the assistant ordered the helmsman to "rudder right 35 degrees," but, in violation of the requirements of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs), did not order the vessel to slow down or stop.
24/ "The tanker captain, seeing the inevitability of a collision with the small missile ship, gave the command “Stop the engine” and, in violation of the requirements of the COLREGs-72, “rudder to port.”
25/ "At 4:05 on 7 August 2025, the small missile ship Vyshny Volochek collided with the tanker Nazan tangentially on its port side in the area of the signal bridge in favourable hydrometeorological conditions."
26/ It's not known what punishment, if any, has been meted out to the officers responsible. However, the incident shows once again that – as with the sinking of the missile cruiser Moskva – there are serious failings with the competence and training of the Russian Navy. /end
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