Khabarovsk set out to sea
On August 17, 2026, images of the Project 09851 special-purpose nuclear submarine Khabarovsk outside its outfitting waters appeared in open sources. The author of the initial publication suggested that the submarine had departed Severodvinsk the day before. No official announcements from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sevmash, or USC regarding the departure or the start of factory sea trials were published as of August 24.
One photo and two days
The image appeared online on August 17. It shows the submarine's hull outside the factory waters, with support vessels nearby. Nothing else is publicly available: no launch report, no test program.
Italian observer Massimo Frantarelli, publishing the photo, chose a cautious formulation: “It appears that the Project 09851 Khabarovsk-class ... set sail from Severodvinsk yesterday” "Apparently, it left Severodvinsk yesterday." The actual departure date is not confirmed here, and it cannot be considered the date of the filming: the word "yesterday" pushes the event to August 16. War correspondent Alexander Kots writes on August 18, "Today, it went out to sea for the first time for factory sea trials," and a third date appears. A two-day discrepancy at launch stories, which will then be recounted down to the day.
A day after the first publication, the Polish edition MILMAG и Army recognition they present the event differently: a boat “departed Severodvinsk for its first factory sea trials in the White Sea” — embarked on its first factory sea trials. These publications presented the reader with no new primary evidence, but the qualifications changed: the observed fact of the ship's presence at sea was transformed into a statement about the official purpose of the expedition.
The difference here is not philological. Factory sea trials are a prescribed program under which the shipbuilder tests the propulsion system, propulsion, controllability, submersion, and general ship systems at sea. These are followed by state trials: the program is approved by a state commission with the participation of the customer, and the transfer the fleet The process begins after any issues have been addressed and the acceptance certificate has been signed. The process isn't always linear; returns to the shipyard and repeated launches are possible. The program has a document, a delivery team leader—the group of shipyard employees responsible for the ship until delivery—and a list of operational modes. None of this has been publicly confirmed for the Khabarovsk's launch.
The image proves little: the hull is floating outside the outfitting quay, with other vessels nearby. Beyond that, it's a matter of uncertainty—whether the submarine was underway or partially towed, whether it submerged, whether its power was at full capacity, or whether there was anything on board. The date the photo was taken also can't be determined from the image.
The message then spreads in circles. The Russian resource bmpd publishes the same photo, attributing it to Frantarelli and explicitly stating that it's the first entry into the ZHI. Industry Flotprom refers to the American Military Watch Magazine and adds what others omit:
At the time of publication, there was no confirmation from the United Shipbuilding Corporation or the Sevmash Production Association administration regarding the commencement of sea trials for the Khabarovsk.
The gap that foreign publications filled with qualifications, the Russian industry publication simply recorded. news The Sevmash news feed for August doesn't feature the boat at all: it reports the commissioning of a residential building for workers on August 11 and a report on the company's possible involvement in the construction of floating power units on August 18.
Four levels that don't happen together
This is where we see why event qualification is more expensive than it seems. The readiness of such a ship can conveniently be divided into four levels—this isn't an official classification, but a way to distinguish between things that are most often confused.
First: the hull is at sea and capable of going there. Second: the ship's systems are passing the factory testing program. Third: the carrier is capable of receiving and launching the vehicle. Fourth: the submarine, vehicle, communications, and shore support system is capable of combat duty. There is no public data on the third and fourth aspects of the Khabarovsk as of the cutoff date. The second has been reported by industry publications. Images from August 17 refer to the first and confirm the fact of being at sea, not the nature of the voyage.
The gap between the levels is measurable, and there's a measuring device—at the same shipyard. The Project 09852 BS-329 Belgorod, the first Poseidon carrier, was launched on April 23, 2019. It began its factory sea trials on June 29, 2021. 798 days after descentTASS reported the return from the first mission on July 26, 2021, citing an industry source, citing the date of July 24 and a planned second mission in the coming days. The acceptance certificate was signed on July 8, 2022, 374 days after the start of trials. The delivery to the fleet was initially planned for 2020, expected in the summer of 2021 at the end of that year, but took place in July 2022: the deadline was pushed back even after the ship had already set sail.
The comparison is illustrative: the Belgorod was completed using a Project 949A hull, so there's no reason to extend its construction to the Khabarovsk. The value of this series lies elsewhere—it demonstrates what this same milestone turned out to be in practice: not the finish line, but the starting point.
The Khabarovsk's own chronology is as follows. Laid down on July 27, 2014, launched from the slipway on November 1, 2025, and observed at sea in mid-August 2026. Open sources do not reveal how this time was distributed between the workshop and the outfitting quay. Two values are known: from keel laying to launch—4404 days; from launch from the slipway—289, counting from August 17; a day's shift in the date does not change the picture.
What has been officially confirmed is known for certain. On November 1, 2025, Sevmash announced the submarine's departure from the slipway, and the Ministry of Defense published a video. The purpose was formulated as follows: carrier of a "modern submarine" weapons and robotic systems for various purposes." Neither the armament nor the number of launch sites are specified in the official description. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, addressing the crew and the delivery team, said, "The ship still has to undergo a series of sea trials." As of November 1, 2025, the cycle had not been completed. This statement says nothing about what happened in August 2026.
Where do the numbers come from?
The announcement of its launch comes alongside the specifications. Length: approximately 135 meters, width: approximately 13,5 meters, displacement: approximately 10,000 tons, six launchers, payload: up to 660 tons, speed: 30-32 knots (55,6-59,3 km/h). The specifications appear to be extracted from a data sheet. The origins of these specifications vary, and none have been officially confirmed.
Length and width are measurements from images. Displacement is calculated based on estimated dimensions and architecture, the methodology is not disclosed. Speed is estimated by the American USNI ProceedingsThe number of launch sites is based on TASS reports citing unnamed sources in the defense industry. The payload has been calculated. Flotprom describes the situation as follows: "The technical specifications of the Poseidon carriers are not disclosed. There is no confirmed information about the capabilities drones "Poseidon" is also not there."
It is more convenient to conduct the analysis using one example. 660 tons is not a measured value, but a calculated one: The estimated number of devices is multiplied by the estimated mass of each. Both initial values are estimates, both taken at the upper limit. The result inherits their uncertainty, but takes the form of a precise number with three significant digits and is then circulated in publications as a characteristic of the spacecraft.
The opposite is true for length. Early reconstructions gave a length of 113–120 meters, while later ones, after the full hull was unveiled, gave a length of 135–140 meters. USNI Proceedings gives 371–459 feet, that is, 113,1–139,9 meters: such a spread is more honest than a single “about 135”, it shows what the observer actually has at his disposal.
The number of devices remains the same. The indexes are known: "Belgorod" received four 2P39 launchers for the 2M39 devices of the Poseidon system. For "Khabarovsk," the Russian bmpd writes differently: "it is believed to have six." "It is believed" is correct: external images show neither installations nor loading. Norman Polmar in the January issue Proceedings The announced plans for 2026 are 30 vehicles on four carriers. This is a procurement plan, not the actual combat load of a ship that has already gone to sea.
How estimates become specifications is evident in publications about the device itself. In 2023, kp.ru reported a range of 10,000 km, a depth of 1000 meters, and a speed of 200 km/h. Public estimates are different. The range is over 5000 nautical miles (over 9260 km). Depth is up to 3000 feet (914 m) in some sources, 1000 meters in others. Speed ranges from 70 knots (129,6 km/h) in later estimates to 100 knots (185,2 km/h) in an early Status-6 presentation. Public sources provide estimates for the warhead yield, ranging from 2 to 10 megatons, meaning they don't provide one. Any figure more precise than "about" would be a guess.
Timing and shore
Complaints about the length of the cycle have been publicly voiced in the industry, even by the industry's top executives. The starting point is a document: the Rubin-Sever design bureau, which managed the working documentation for Project 09851 and oversaw its construction at the shipyard, indicated a completion date of 2020 in its 2015 annual report. The same date appears in contract descriptions published by industry sources. Approximately a year after this deadline, on July 30, 2021, at the launch ceremony of the Krasnoyarsk nuclear submarine in Severodvinsk, USC head Alexei Rakhmanov outlined the goal: to reduce the delivery time of serial submarines by approximately 9-14 months. He added: "This is a challenging task, and it will probably not be achieved with the next serial number." He was referring to serial hulls, and the Khabarovsk is the lead hull for its design—the situation for lead submarines is more complex. On June 26, 2024, at a meeting on shipbuilding development, the Russian president stated that experimental design work on equipment, instruments, and components should be carried out in advance: this "will significantly reduce the design and construction time for lead ships."
The coastal part of the complex is less visible than the naval part. Completion of construction of the facilities at the new base for the Belgorod and Khabarovsk was planned for early 2024, according to TASS, citing a source close to the defense ministry, who noted that there was no official confirmation. The tsunami of July 30, 2025, provided an indirect clue: Planet Labs images show The New York Times and in the footage Umbra Space у The Daily Telegraph It's clear that one of the piers at the Vilyuchinsk base cracked after being struck by a wave. The purpose of the pier and its connection to special-purpose carriers are not determined from the images. What's clear is that there were no submarines moored at the damaged pier, and the images show no other damage or increase in radiation levels.
The place of future service is described in advance and in detail.
"The Khabarovsk is expected to serve in the Pacific Fleet," writes Alexander Kots. "The only thing larger than the Pacific Ocean is the planet Earth itself. A submersible with an unlimited cruising range could easily get lost in its depths. And enemies will be left wondering where this thermonuclear monster is headed."
The order to include the ship in the formation and the unit number are not available in open official materials.
The torpedo that the fleet closed
The concept around which the Khabarovsk was built is not the first in Russian practice. From 1949 to 1954, the T-15 torpedo was developed at the Research Institute-400 of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry, under the leadership of Chief Designer N. N. Shamarin, at the initiative of V. I. Alferov of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building. It was 23,55 meters long, had a caliber of 1550 mm, weighed 40 tons, and carried a thermonuclear warhead. The T-15 torpedo was to be launched from the first Soviet nuclear submarine, Project 627 Kit, led by Vladimir Peregudov. It was intended to strike enemy coastal areas and carried a single 1550 mm tube with a single torpedo; conventional 533 mm torpedoes were used only for self-defense.
The overall dimensions of the vehicle have changed little since then: publicly available estimates of the Poseidon's length range from 19,8 to 24,4 meters, while the T-15's length is 23,55 meters according to reference data. The diameter is more difficult to compare: the T-15's diameter is listed as 1550 mm, while estimates for the Poseidon vary by approximately one and a half to two meters.
The first serial nuclear torpedo T-5 (caliber 533 mm), developed in the USSR in the 1950s and accepted into service in 1958
The difference lies elsewhere. According to descriptions in reference literature, the T-15 carried a battery-powered electric motor with a range of approximately 30 kilometers; there are also descriptions of a combined-cycle gas engine with a longer range. Regardless of how the debate is resolved, the order of magnitude is the same: the carrier would have to approach the enemy coastline very closely. With the Poseidon, the power source has been transferred from the carrier to the vehicle itself. In October 2025, the Russian president announced that during testing, the vehicle was launched for the first time by a booster motor from a carrier submarine, and its nuclear power plant was activated, with the vehicle "running for a certain amount of time." The carrier submarine was not named, and the intercontinental passage was not publicly demonstrated. But it is precisely the change in power source that makes the old design viable: the range is transferred from the ship to the munition.
From there, the analogy breaks down. The size class and the overall concept—a large, specialized weapon for striking coastal targets—are identical. The power output, endurance, method of use, and the role assigned to the weapon by doctrine are not. Readiness is even less comparable: the T-15 remains a project, while the Poseidon is undergoing testing.
And one more detail of that story. For reasons of secrecy, the T-15 was developed without the Navy's involvement—they only learned about it in December 1953, after the technical specifications for draft project 627 were approved. The torpedo project was closed after review by naval specialists; in the revised technical project of 1955, the 1550 mm caliber torpedo was removed from the armament, replacing it with eight 533 mm torpedoes mounted in the bow, each with a complement of 20 torpedoes. The decision was made neither by the designer nor by the contractor, but by the person who would be deploying the project, and it was made when he was able to evaluate it for the first time. For the Khabarovsk, this point also occurred not at the launching ceremony, but at sea.
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