An OSINT week in Baltiysk: the Nanuchka class upgrades and a sub visit

 OSINT, and especially social media based OSINT, on military installations can be tricky. But some bases are a lot more accessible than others. The Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet is one of the easier ones. Both of the fleets major bases, Baltiysk and Kronstadt, are popular tourist and outdoor locations with people boating, walking, fishing, ice fishing and filming almost all year around. 

An unmodified Nanuchka-class corvette Geyzer and the Swans that hang out along the canal

So what kind of information can be derived from the typical weeks worth of digging through the various social networks? The most obvious fact is that a Russian city can have more nail saloons than residents. When it comes to the military side of things, the first one is the locations of the vessels within the port area. This also allows one to observe the ships that are missing from images. But be warned, some ports have more static berthing than others.

The Zubr-class LAC:s in their special concrete landing pads are the easiest to locate

You can also see the various ships entering than exiting the port and tie these sightings to the various exercise announcements that the Russian MOD and various defense publications do.

Dyugon class landing craft

Tarantul class corvette

Quite often there are also visitors that aren't mentioned in the headlines, like this Kilo-class diesel attack submarine that had a quick two day stop at the Baltiysk.

Kilo class submarine entering Baltiysk

Kilo class submarine leaving Baltiysk

Some of these ships are local ones that regularly patrol the waterways around the base, like the Alexandrit-class minesweepes, RVK-class rescue boats and Parchim-class corvettes. The ASW focused Parchims rarely venture very far.

Parchim class corvette

RBK class rescue boat

Alexandrit-class minesweeper

The most interesting spot of the week was moored right along the popular walkway by the entrance into the harbor. A Nanuchka-class missile boat / corvette Passat was recently on the Baltiysk floating dock receiving unspecified upgrades. It seems that the ship was fitted with PK-10 countermeasure launching system in front of its rear mounted 30mm AK-630 CIWS. The fact that the Russian Navy still invests in the survivability of these old hulls, tells you a low about how far their eventual replacement still is.

Nanuchka class corvettes Passat and Liven

One of Passat's PK-10 Countermeasure launchers

A Buyan-M class corvette on a Baltiysk floating dock

I hope that you enjoyed this brief Baltic Fleet newsflash, more similar posts might happen later on.