Ukrainian-owned, British-gifted Storm Shadow cruise missiles have left the Russian submarine Rostov on Don with catastrophic damage.

Newly emerged imagery has provided a stark visual testament to the substantial damage inflicted on Russia’s Improved Kilo–class attack submarine, Rostov on Don (B-237), after a Ukrainian missile strike in the Sevastopol Shipyard.

The strike is believed to have been executed using British-gifted Storm Shadow and French-gifted SCALP cruise missiles. It is also one of the most significant Ukrainian strikes against the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

A British Ministry of Defence intelligence update confirmed that the Sevmorzavod shipyard, part of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF) Sevastopol naval base, was targeted on 13 September 2023.

Both the landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-na-Donu were caught in the crosshairs, with both undergoing maintenance in the dry docks. Contrary to Russian MoD’s attempts to minimise the damage narrative, evidence suggests that the Minsk might be beyond recovery, while the Rostov’s path to reparations could lead to exorbitant costs and prolonged downtime for the shipyard’s dry docks.

Taking pride in the operation’s success, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, spoke on Telegram regarding the missile types employed.

He stated, “British and French media outlets are curious about the kind of cruise missiles Ukrainian pilots used to send the Minsk and Rostov-on-Don vessels the same way as the Moskva cruiser.” General Oleshchuk went on to confirm the utilization of both British Storm Shadow and French SCALP cruise missiles by the Ukrainian forces, adding, “Both missiles work perfectly – the occupier has no chance!”

This audacious attack underscores Western nations’ continued backing of Ukraine, notably exemplified by the UK’s Storm Shadow missile delivery to Kyiv earlier in the year. With an impressive operational range, these missiles have considerably augmented the Ukrainian military’s strike capability in the region.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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92 COMMENTS

  4. Just goes to show the power of such cruise missiles and the vulnerability of fleets . If we develop long range capability for storm shadow via A400m or C17 then you can literally take out an entire navy in port in minutes or an Airforce on the ground.

    This kind of conventional deterrent that Japan and Australia are investing in may soon be every bit as capable as a nuclear deterrents but much more deployable.

    It’s also the kind of thing our adversary’s may employ against us and it’s not something we can retaliate against with trident which is even more reason to have a sovereign UK capability to quickly launch several hundred such weapons either from aircraft, submarines or surface ships.

    • I think you make a very good point Jim. I had crossed my mind with the Dreadnoughts. Apparently we are only likely to use eight of the twelve tubes. Now I appreciate that the SSBN’s have to be kept under wraps at sea but if an emergency other than full scale exchange took place? At a guess I reckon 5/6/7 SLCM’s per tube with a nuclear tip or H.E. warhead?

      • Gives away the general location for a SSBN to surface for that sort of littoral warfare

        Target information has to be supplied as well before launch

        • I think an SSBN is a very expensive way to deliver cruise missiles. If you have four spare like the USA did in the 90’s then fair enough. However when you can drop dozens from the back of a transport aircraft that can fly almost anywhere in a few hours now your talking true strategic scale.

          The UK transport aircraft fleet could probably fire well over 200 storm shadows in a single go and we have 800 in storage.

          That’s enough to make a mess of anyone’s country. The missile is due out of service soon but it’s much younger than TLAM and probably has a lot of life left in it. We should keep them as long as possible for this secondary role of transport aircraft strike.

          • The current sub launch missiles are Tomahawks have a strategic level range of 1000 miles at under speed of sound and they will hit fixed targets
            The Storm sahdow is what 120 miles at a higher speed and maybe more mobile targets
            Only the Tomahawks suited for subs or land mobile launchers- maybe a battery or so

            The SS is for tactical reasons from a dedicated strike aircraft as it can get in position with latest target information. Ukraine is different as they wont be supplied with TLAM.
            A Transport aircraft would be shot out of the sky even at 120 miles from its target , and which ones would require a dozen SS at once.
            Think about what each missile is used for , what its likely target is . how that targeting is supplied and the aerial transport idea falls away

          • Ukraine is a special case as they dont have Tomahawks as I said. The SS were launched by Su-24 , an ideal aircraft, not a cargo aircraft.
            I dont see what your point is other than silly ideas attract people with vague ideas of what very expensive missiles are suited for

        • Really just thinking of a way that we could deploy something usable short of full scale launch but yes, probably a bit complicated.

          • Not really the USAF is looking at deploying massed air launched NSMs from the back of C5/ C17 and C130s- the plan being to obtain some localised air superiority over the launch site (100+ miles out from the saturation strike intended target then strike an invading fleet…cough…PLAN/ China…cough…..Taiwan, with potentially hundreds of precision munitions just as an invasion fleet is in the delicate position of trying to land troops.

      • SSBNs sail out to deep water, far from the possibility of detection. They then hide there. Using them to deliver TLAMs requires them to venture into contested waters and thus exposes them to greater threats. We have so few hulls that losing even 1 would make it very difficult to maintain CASD.

    • It goes both ways though. Imagine 1 second the consequences of let say… the British navy having all it’s submarines at bay, with a technologicaly advanced foe and no warning… See what was the impact of a fire on the perl SNA, whatever was the cause in piece time. What would happen in war time with so capable submarine in so small numbers.
      We should start to think war is possible. What are our air defense? What are the protection to ships in repaire? How long does it takes to produce one single ship and so on… All the game changer of the world we currently have may simply not be fit for a war. Don’t get me wrong, I love these ships. But with what we see in swarm attacks, how cheap the offensive waypons are, our own inability to have missiles ready, the cost of each ship. This is may be not war équipements.

      • We Definitely need more Air Defence ,we could do with another sqn of Typhoons or two which won’t happen .But hopefully more Sky Sabre one day but don’t hold it breath .🙏

      • Yes I agree, we should look to have active air defence at all major military sights and the ability to retaliate on mass with our own cruise missiles.

      • Exactly Math, no time for gloating over this. It can be done to us too. Greater GBAD ability needed for the UK quick smart. And stronger ASW and sub surface surveillance of all ports, military and civilian and their approaches.

    • There is a general problem with strategic deterrence that’s been described as ‘missing steps on the escalation ladder’. i.e., while it is technically possible to use Trident in a sub-strategic role, rather than bringing down Armageddon, there is no way for an adversary to unambigously determine the scale of the strike that you’re launching. A wider range of delivery systems for both nuclear and conventional ordnance would resolve that shortcoming.

    • Affordable and effective versus unusable without accompanying death wish. You get it, I see, others another this parish also get it. The people at the top – well, your guess is as good as mine. Well said Jim.

    • It does make a massed cruise missile strike on a fleet in dock the modern day equivalent of Pearl Harbour.
      The RN really needs to take note. What are our cruise missile defences around Portsmouth, RN Clyde and Plymouth?
      Probably should add Felixstowe container port to that list as nearly 45% of international trade into and out of the UK goes via that large container ship terminal.

  5. So looking at the happy snaps the missile went in one side and came out the other, if it was the Storm Shadow, that is a pretty good example of the BROACH warhead at work. Had a little chuckle at the blurring of the background , I mean its not as if don’t know where the strike took place.

    • Two holes, one on top in front of the conning tower, the other behind the tower lower down on the side of the hull, port side. I think this suggest either two Storm Shadows were used to attack the sub, or the sub suffered a secondary explosion after the one Storm Shadow hit.

      Although Storm Shadow’s BROACH warhead is a tandem design, specifically for punching holes in concrete, allowing the second main warhead to breach the structure then detonating. It can also be programmed to detonate above surface, or by detonating as a unitary warhead.

      It’s likely that Storm Shadow/Scalp was used in a tandem mode, thereby allowing the penetrating warhead to get through the outer and probibly inner hulls. Thereby allowing the main warhead access to the insides of the sub. Whichever way you look at it, having 450kg of PE exploding inside the sub, is not good for its health. I very much doubt the Russians took the batteries out of the sub, so there’s a good chance these added to the internal fire. Although it may be presumptuous to say, but its unlikely the Rostov will ever return to sea before the end of the War, if ever!

      • Didn’t quite understand what the Ukranians meant (taking into consideration translations) at the time, but the military said to slightly paraphrase from memory ‘that Storm Shadow is capable of burning out the interior of a vessel from the inside after penetration’. Your explanation of the dual charge warhead makes sense of what they were saying now.

      • Evening @DaveyB, at a guess without seeing the Port side as @ABCRodney says, I would hazard a guess and say that it’s been hit by 2 missiles.
        The distance between both areas of damage is around 50 foot, possibly a tad more. There are at least 2 watertight (not anymore!) bulkheads between both holes, with a control room and accommodation space in-between. Lots of equipment in those areas on both decks. The battery compartments are normally placed as low down in the hull as possible due to their weight. Believe Kilos have at least 2 separate battery compartments, 1 forward and 1 just behind the first one, roughly under the control room area.
        The front strike is roughly above the weapons compartment which normally houses all the torpedoes/cruise missiles, although suspect that it is empty in dock.
        The second area lower down is roughly in line with where the engine room housing the DGs is situated. Either way, it would be cheaper to scrap this baby and build a new one rather than try to repair this one.

      • My take as well.
        Went in fwd angled down and aft. Punched down and through the hull with the broach warhead detonating around where the Battery comp is.

        Immaterial really.
        Its never going to do sub stuff again.
        Best efforts now to patch it, flood the dock and get rid of it to get the dock back in use…So the Ukr can hit it again with its next occupant.

    • Hi Farouk, Without seeing the port side I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions about the nature of the damage. It could also be a hit that exploded between the outer casing and the pressure hull in the void. The blast would ripple through the void and vent outwards.
      A submarine pressure hull is massively strong and can take one hell of a beating. They are designed to withstand underwater explosions which effectively multiply the concussive effect of an explosion.
      One thing is certain, this boat isn’t going to be fixed up in Sevastopol. They don’t have the submarine building facilities nor skills required and will want that Drydock back into service ASAP.
      So either she can wait until the war is over and be meekly taken through the Bosporus and up to St Petersburg or be lightened and go up through the inland waterways to Nizhny Novgorod where some Kilos were built (nearly 1000 miles inland).
      Either way it will be a humiliating sight for all to see.

  6. Pretty much destroyed. That sub isn’t going anywhere anytime. Pity JohninMK isn’t around to explain to us how it will buff out….

    • He has been rather quiet of late. I have been expecting a reasoned explanation that all the photos have been doctored, all the missiles were shot down and it’s all a put up job by MI5, the CIA and all the other actors who cannot understand the need to de Nazify people by invading them. And as has been said above, Storm Shadow is now rated for ASW.

    • Remember when he told us Moskva was still afloat and back at port. The crew were back at base. A small accident had happened. 🤦🏼‍♂️

      • Or that Ukraine was nazi, or that there was nothing stopping the Russian military from rolling right up to the Polish border, or that the retreat from Kyiv/Kharkiv/Kherson was planned, or that the Western supplied equipment was for sale in Kyiv marketplaces, or that hospitals were legitimate targets, or that Ukrainian children were being freed by Russian pederasts, etc etc.

        • Yeah and how demoted Russian Generals were actually just transferred to organise another Campaign from the north on Kyiv. Aah I miss the humour of MK at his best. As I said before he went quiet at about the same time Wagner’s misinformation headquarters was raided and it’s operations closed down I expect we will see an upgraded robotised and re-educated MK sometime in the future code named Harlow New Town or EastBourne perhaps to cunningly disguise himself. Can’t wait, we need a good laugh.

          • Agreed mate! Goes to show just how prevalent trolls are on pretty much every online platform! But glad to see the back of him, and the other ruder version which was Frost002 and even that clown Esteban has reduced his child like trolling to limited amounts!

          • Johninmk uses the same user name over quite a few forums. Seen him on war zone and if you dig deep he’s on some Russian fan boy sites.

          • Yes mate clocked him on two of those last year, and on one he was a member since 2014, supporting the Russian invasion of Crimea 👍

    • You know I often despair at some of the brown stuff that gets spouted on here but 100% that made me laugh 😂👏🏻👍🏻

      bravo sir comedic par excellancey

      🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

  7. The accuracy of the missile is truly incredible. Straight through the side of Rostov, from how many miles away? And past any missile ‘defences’.
    Splash one Rostov!

    • Much of the early warning of attacks may have been comromised in the attacks on radars & air efence on the NW Black sea rigs & NW Crimea in the days preceeding. Plus there may have been ECM & suppresion of air defence in the attack.

      • Remember that video of the Panzer trying to shoot the storm shadow, something isn’t the missile kept it from locking on. I’m sure storm shadow has a few tricks up it’s sleeve that we are not aware of, it was the first cruise missile to be described as stealthy.

  8. Its amazing to think that Storm Shadow has now been in service since 2003 and yet even against Russian bluster and propaganda, stating they have shot many down, it is still highly effective. I would say more so than the Russian equivalent i.e. Kaliber. As Ukraine has been using them against high value strategic targets, like arms dumps, S400 batteries, HQs and now subs. Whereas Russia don’t seem to be hitting strategic military targets as much. Which surprisingly may be down to a lack of intelligence.

    I would still love to know the reason why Storm Shadow was never developed into a heavy weight anti-ship missile? Much like NSM/JSM it uses an imagining infrared sensor to produce images of targets. Then uses recognition software to lock onto the primary target as programmed during mission planning, against the library image of the target. The only thing I believe that is missing is the software to allow it to track a moving target.

    A wasted opportunity I feel!

    Storm Shadow is a stealthy missile, though not to the same extents as the new LRASM. It achieves this mostly through the shaping of the missile. Though I’m sure a basic radar absorbent material (RAM) could be added to make it even better.

    • DaveyB,

      The stealthiness of Storm Shadow/SCALP may or may not become an issue. IF the reported interception of 7 of 10 air launched weapons by the Orcs is indeed accurate, hope that the MoD makes an assessment whether upgrading Storm Shadow would be cost effective. 🤞 Presume it will remain in the inventory until at least 2030, possibly 2035?

      • It’s due to be replaced by FC/ASW. The scheduled entry date for that is around 2030 on Typhoons and sooner on T26s. Storm Shadow did get a recent wash and brush up to fulfil the SPEAR cap 4 requirement, but I don’t know if that included the export version, reportedly the ones sent to Ukraine.

      • Difficult to say in most executions and certainly in this one I suspect, the Ukranians use spoof US missiles to distract defences (and probably others too) so even if they did shoot down 7 out of 10 it’s difficult to know how many would be SS.

      • Two points, firstly I’d never trust Russian claims and secondly the Ukrainians launched a series of S-200 missiles as decoys so even if there’s some truth to the Russian claims it’s likely they were intercepting S-200’s not Storm Shadow/SCALP.

    • Like Tomahawk, Storm Shadow/ Scalp was designed to hit static targets with great accuracy. The latest Tomahawk Block 5 has been given an anti ship capability so there is no reason why Storm Shadow couldn’t be similarly upgraded.
      The problem might be the rules of engagement requiring clear identification of a moving target 100s of miles away.

      • Might want to amend to Tomahawk has had anti ship reinstated.
        They did used to do ASuW but they pulled it decades ago …nice to see its back Same issues though. Killchain, mid course guidance and aiming at a target that moves from 1000miles away.

      • I think SS is better for semi mobile targets, that might be gone ‘by lunchtime’ as the time final targeting info to hitting it might be 20 min or less

    • Perhaps that’s what FC/ASW will be atleast in its sub sonic variant. Also the USA seems to believe that JASSM can be used in a secondary anti ship role (not LRASM)

      This was key in RAND simulations in fighting over Taiwan. USAF B1 packed with JASSM firing volleys.

    • What an image presents 😂. They did do a great job on a steam battleship model a few years back but can they scale up? Difficult to say.

    • A lot of combined operations going on, if not quite in the way the yanks were pushing for. From what I read they landed special forces via semi submersibles launched from other vessels (like the SBS ones?) who acted as spotters too. I think the actions on the ‘Towers’ may have been S400 related too though not sure exactly when those operations occurred and to what extent misinformation might be part of the intelligence operation around such events.

  15. Comrades. Don’t be deceived by Yankee propaganda. This powerful new submarine upgrade allows for advanced air conditioning at all depths. Even at bottom of very big Marianas Trench proud Russian sailors enjoy unlimited cooling and bathing privileges. Now also pressure equalization relieves all stress from hull.

    This why I never date NATO sailors. They are smelling very very bad from not sufficient bathing. Once again, our beloved leader has making proud Russian Navy stronger every day. Soon we capture also Canada and control world’s maple syrup supply. Then you very much crying!

    • Nope its out of production- the RAF inventory was 800 missiles or so- some have been used in Iraq, Syria, Afghan and an undisclosed number given to Ukraine. I’d think the RAF probably has around 600 missiles left.- rough guess.

      • Seems strange that the line hasn’t been reopened, if the Ukrainians love them that much. Expensive to do so, yes, but surely worth it.

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