"Orenburg" Stretches Its Legs Near North Pole

Delta Stretch "Orenburg" near the North Pole - October 16, 2014
(Image courtesy of Yngve Kristoffersen and Audun Tholfsen)

Two Norwegian scientists, Yngve Kristoffersen and Audun Tholfsen, who have been living and working on an ice drift station in the Arctic since August, had an unexpected visitor last week. The October 16 entry from their weekly blog update reads:

Position: 89 19′ N, 174 51′ W, temperature – 8 C, air pressure 1036 hPa, wind 5 knots from E. Ice drift 0.1 knots toward east. Started recovery of the thermistor string as it is only 5 meter away from a crack that has widened 3 meters. The thin ice on refrozen leads are likely sites of future pressure ridge formation. Having recovered half (150 m), we discovered that the hydrophone was about to be consumed by the pressure ridge south of the hovercraft. Started to melt out the hydrophone, but was not successful. The 12 kHz echo sounder is giving us problems with weak or no bottom returns – recovered the transducer. In the evening. we spotted lights at a distance. Turned out to be a submarine at the surface in position: 89 17.5′ N, 172 42.9′ W. We were not able to identify it.

Delta Stretch "Orenburg" near the North Pole - October 16, 2014
(Image courtesy of Yngve Kristoffersen and Audun Tholfsen)

The submarine surfaced about 3 nautical miles from the researchers' camp. The researchers decided to head toward the submarine. When they approached to within 100 meters, the submarine submerged.

Reviewing the photos, it appears the submarine in question was none other than Delta Stretch-class auxiliary nuclear-powered submarine "Orenburg".

Delta Stretch "Orenburg" in Olenya Guba - April 2010
(Image courtesy of topwar.ru)

"Orenburg", which primarily performs highly sensitive missions for the Ministry of Defense's Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (GUGI), last visited the North Pole in late September 2012 while participating in the Arktika-2012 geological survey expedition along the Mendeleyev Ridge.