In a surprise turn, Northern Fleet warships leave the Baltic Sea before Navy Day

All three navy ships were announced to participate in Russia’s Main Navy Day Parade in St. Petersburg on July 28. The warships entered the Baltic Sea last week, then heading for the Finnish Bay. 

It is the Facebook group Under Broen (Under the Bridge) that posted photos one-by-one as the three warships sailed west through Danish waters between 6 am and 7 am CET on July 14.

The Russian navy vessels are all shadowed by Denmark’s navy. 

There are no official statements from Russia why its Northern Fleet now aborts mission to St. Petersburg. The Main Navy Day Parade is a big event and has multiple times previously been attended by Vladimir Putin.

President Putin oversees the Navy Parade in St. Petersburg on July 25 2023. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense

Theoretically, the three warships could sail out in Skagerrak and the North Sea for a few days and then still have time to return to St. Petersburg ahead of July 28. 

If sailing north, to the Barents Sea, the vessels will over the next few days be outside the coast of Norway. 

It is also believed that the Northern Fleet’s nuclear-powered submarine Kazan currently is operating in the North Sea region after returning across the Atlantic following a first-of-a-kind visit to Havana, Cuba last month. 

While the Kazan is a top modern multi-purpose sub of the Yasen-class, the Tambov that Sunday morning left the Baltic Sea is of the much older, but recently modernized, Viktor-III class.