The end of the Soviet Union did not put an end to the underwater rivalry between Moscow and Washington. In an article for National Security Journal, American journalist Brent M. Eastwood revisits a little-known episode that underscored how tense the post-Cold War seas remained.

According to Eastwood, nuclear-powered submarines from the Russian Navy and the US Navy continued shadowing one another well into the 1990s, tracking routes and probing movements in what he describes as a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. One such encounter ultimately led to the retirement of a US submarine after it sustained serious damage.

He recounts that a Russian nuclear submarine with a titanium hull rammed a US Navy attack submarine during a surveillance mission. The incident occurred in 1992, at a time when relations between the two countries were officially warming following the collapse of the USSR, yet military distrust persisted.

US command sought to monitor the movements of Russia’s submarine fleet, with American boats operating near bases in the Barents Sea. That strategy culminated in a dangerous collision near Severomorsk. The USS Baton Rouge, a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, struck the Russian B-276 Kostroma.

Eastwood highlights that the Kostroma’s titanium hull made it exceptionally durable and one of the more unusual vessels in its class. The clash triggered a diplomatic uproar. Moscow reacted angrily to US operations so close to a key naval base. At the time, President George H. W. Bush dispatched Secretary of State James Baker to the Kremlin to convey apologies to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

The dispute was eventually defused, preventing further escalation. The consequences, however, were tangible. The USS Baton Rouge was later decommissioned and scrapped due to the damage sustained in the collision.

Russian sailors, for their part, treated the episode with a measure of irony. A symbolic marking appeared on the hull of the Kostroma, commemorating the disabled adversary submarine.