No Tom Clancy Book: A Navy Nuclear Sub Smashed Into a Russian Titanium Submarine

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5 Key Points: In 1992, the USS Baton Rouge, a U.S. Los Angeles-class submarine, collided with the Russian Sierra-class Kostroma near the Severomorsk naval base.

-Despite the Cold War’s end, both nations’ submarines continued shadowing each other, with the U.S. spying on Russian activities.

-The incident heightened tensions, forcing Secretary of State James Baker to appease a distrustful Boris Yeltsin.

-The Baton Rouge was retired after the mishap, while the Russians marked the Kostroma’s conning tower as a symbolic “victory.”

-A similar event today, amid U.S.-Russia tensions over Ukraine, could escalate into a severe diplomatic or military crisis, given Vladimir Putin’s aggressive stance.

U.S. and Russian Submarines Collided in 1992—Could It Happen Again?

You may have thought that right after the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, there would be no chance of combat between the new Russian Federation and the United States. 

Somehow, the navies from both countries didn’t get the message that peace was at hand. 

You see, the Americans wanted to keep track of Russian submarines. They could launch nuclear missiles, after all, and the political leadership in the former Soviet Union was tenuous at best.

Submarines Were Still Tracking Each Other

The U.S. Navy was taking nothing for granted and was still sending its submarines on patrol to sniff out the locations of Russian “boomer” subs that were nuclear-equipped and its attack subs that could launch cruise missiles. 

Both sides had no intention of sparking a shooting war, but neither wanted to lose their fighting edge underwater.

Then, There Was the Collision

In 1992, the USS Baton Rouge, a Los Angeles-class submarine, crashed into the Russian Navy’s Sierra-class submarine B-276 Kostroma near the Russian naval base at Severomorsk in the Barents Sea. This Russian submarine was unique, as it had a rare Titanium hull. 

Moscow was shocked after the initial news of the mishap. What was Baton Rouge doing so close to a key Russian military installation? 

This caused major headaches for both sides even though damages were minimized, and no one was hurt or killed.

This Raised Some Uncomfortable Questions for the U.S. Navy

Still, diplomatic tensions were at a boiling point.

It showed the Russians that the Americans were still playing for keeps even though the Cold War ended. 

Besides, wasn’t the United States supposed to be focused on the Middle East after Operation Desert Storm? Why were the Yanks still bothering Russia?

The Department of Defense admitted the collision happened, but this did nothing to alleviate the incensed Russians. 

President George HW Bush sent Secretary of State James Baker to the Kremlin for a mea culpa to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. 

Baker, the silver-tongued Texan, was going to have his work cut out for him when dealing with the mercurial and often hung-over Yeltsin, who never met a glass of vodka he didn’t like.

Baker Was as Wily As Ever

Baker knew that the United States was also surreptitiously tapping into undersea communication cables during Operation Holy Stone to collect intelligence on the Russians. The smooth diplomat wanted to keep that one secret. Yeltsin was probably suspicious that the Americans were still spying on Russia somehow, and this added to his dismay. 

The U.S. media reported that Baton Rouge was listening to communications between Russian bases. That was probably spot on. The Russians believed that the Americans were being chased by their own ever-alert submarine. 

This would make it look like the Russian navy was still capable and could find enemy submarines with ease. Meanwhile, Baker had to reassure Yeltsin that the U.S. Navy had no intention of spying.

Yeltsin was sure the collision showed that the Americans were up to no good and that their actions were illegal. Baker likely claimed that the mishap happened in international waters. 

Did the Russians “Win the Battle?”

The Russian navy had some fun with the incident. The Baton Rouge had to be scrapped after the collision, so the sailors aboard the Kastroma “painted a kill marking on its conning tower to commemorate the ‘defeat’ of the USS Baton Rouge,” according to various reports.

If this accident happened today, it wouldn’t end in fun and games. There’s a war on, and Vladimir Putin hates American military assistance to the Ukrainians. There is no way a lame-duck President Joe Biden would be able to act with alacrity to avert a crisis such as two subs colliding that close to a Russian naval base. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is no James Baker. Putin would likely refuse to meet him, and the Russians would pull their diplomats out of the United States. It would be a full-blown crisis that could conceivably happen again.

Thus, a repeat of the Baton Rouge—Kastroma incident would be a disaster, and the Kremlin would determine that it was an act of war. Diplomacy would be out the window. U.S. submarines are certainly spying on the Russians and sailing close to their bases in 2024. Let’s hope they don’t get caught, or Biden would be in a diplomatic tangle he couldn’t get out of.

About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.