Advanced Russian nuclear-powered submarines are emerging from the massive shipyard at Severodvinsk, and diesel-electric and possibly air-independent propulsion boats are being built at the Sudomekh/Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg. How will these submarines be employed, and what weapons will they carry?

In the past, Western intelligence often got it wrong with respect to Soviet submarines. The massive Soviet submarine force peaked at almost 400 units during the Cold War, and throughout those 45 years the West feared those undersea craft would be employed to sever the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) connecting the United States and Western Europe.