Spitballing here. Let's say when Jotater was installed, Putin gave the sub scramble order for now because he knew the Ukraine party was in the batters box, and Taiwan was on deck. Suppose the subs are in part to support the Chinese in Taiwan. Tactically or otherwise.
Also, considering the potential maintenance cluster that may be, and not all are combat ready but can sea trial systems, can you imagine there are at best 3 or 4 western subs lurking out there tooling around. Who/which one do they follow? Which one does Capt Mancuso follow? It just takes one.
Spitballing here. Let's say when Jotater was installed, Putin gave the sub scramble order for now because he knew the Ukraine party was in the batters box, and Taiwan was on deck. Suppose the subs are in part to support the Chinese in Taiwan. Tactically or otherwise. Also, considering the potential maintenance cluster that may be, and not all are combat ready but can sea trial systems, can you imagine there are at best 3 or 4 western subs lurking out there tooling around. Who/which one do they follow? Which one does Capt Mancuso follow? It just takes one.