Definitely fenders of some sort.

Would anyone surface a Golf-boat through ice?

I wonder about DSRV testing, though; seems to me you'd be better off testing in as close to a real-world scenario as possible, and I'd think that fenders wouldn't be that. Can't say for sure, though. Those folks do things differently.

Those hatches are rescue buoys in case the sub goes down. On Russian boats they are painted like a barber's poll, PRC subs use neon orange, we use yellow but hide it under the deck.

purely a guess, but it could be an attempt to lower the noise signature of the sub. :hmmm:

Iirc, they are specifically designed to do so. The main armament is in the sail, and could only fire from the surface, also dem russkies do love the Arctic.

This, I did not know. :up:

OK, then, the logical follow-on: would/could these fenders be used to protect the upper hull from ice upon surfacing?

http://newsuc.com/newsfun//media/blo...imir_putin.jpg

Hey TLAM, I know, but I'm not going to tell.

Very doubtful. They've never needed them before.

Unless the chinese have tried to shave weight by shaving the hull. :rotfl2::rotfl2:

Any ideas how old the boat is? Or is there something else on the hull that's more fragile that they're trying to protect? Maybe they are just DSRV guards - as I said before, those folks do tend to do things differently that we do.

I'm just throwing out thoughts as they come up. Interesting little discussion here.

Put in to service in 1966.

Forty-five years, then. Likely some hull deterioration over that time?