Abhiroop Das
Created by Derek Kolstad, Netflix’s ‘Splinter Cell: Deathwatch’ continues the story of Sam Mike, the famed creator of the Fourth Echelon, which is a clandestine espionage and counterterrorism unit tasked with neutralizing the most dire threats to peace. Once the chief purveyor of death, Sam now leads a quiet life of solitude. However, this calmness is interrupted when a global conspiracy comes knocking. With no time to prepare, the protagonist is thrust back into the life he clawed out of, but when faced with a threat to innocent lives, he takes on the mantle once again. Sam’s journey sees him travel into the heart of corporate darkness and uncover many secrets from his own past. The climactic showdown in this animated action thriller takes place on a ship named the Lazarev, which seems to play a major role in the elaborate plan concocted by Sam’s longtime foes, the Shetlands. As the layers begin to unravel, it becomes clear that the Lazarev is more than just the backdrop to tragedy. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Lazarev Shares Its Name With Several Real Russian Battle Ships
As a towering presence in the final episodes of the season, SS Lazarev draws a lot of narrative attention. While it is not based on any one ship in particular, its name does overlap with that of Admiral Lazarev, a Russian nuclear-powered battle cruiser. Construction of the craft began on July 27, 1978, and it was officially launched on May 26, 1981. As a guided missile heavy cruiser, Admiral Lazarev was operational till 1999, after which scrapping began in 2021. While the vessel is a landmark Russian creation with deep ties to history, its connection to the show’s version of the Lazarev ship is superficial at best and likely coincidental in nature.
To begin with, Lazarev in the movie is not nuclear-powered and is not actively used as a combat vessel, unlike its real-life analog. Furthermore, the fact that Admiral Lazarev ceased operations before the turn of the century does not sync with the timeline hinted at in the show, placing Lazarev’s functionality within the contemporary period. As such, the similarities in names are likely the only significant link between the two, and it is more likely that Lazarev is a fictional vessel penned by the writing team of ‘Splinter Cell: Deathwatch,’ comprising Derek Kolstad as the lead, alongside David Daitch, Katie J. Stone, Naomi G. Davis, Anthony Florez, and others.
Lazarev’s Role in the Story Brings Up Some Potential Real-World Parallels
While there have existed no less than three Russian ships in real life named Admiral Lazarev, outside of the nuclear-powered battlecruiser, none have the distinguishing characteristics that markedly match those of the vessel depicted on screen. Notably, all real-life counterparts were designed with military capabilities in mind, and while that is never confirmed in the show for Lazarev, its present work is of a commercial nature, which also adds more believability to the fate it ultimately has. It is revealed that the ship is tasked with carrying essential resources, including fuel, across borders, which makes it a hotbed for motivated attacks. While there exist ships in real life that directly transport energy resources from Russia to Europe, their association with Lazarev as presented within the narrative is unlikely to have played a part in its creation. As such, a composite image of energy-transporting vessels was likely used to bring the ship to life and tighten up the story’s stakes.
Lazarev’s introduction to ‘Splinter Cell: Deathwatch’ is synonymous with the reveal of a terror plot, which aims to put the vessel’s destructive capabilities to use. Given that shipping accidents are not a wholly uncommon incident, it is possible that real-life tragedies served as reference points for this plot thread. In 2025, a ship, named Glomar Venture, suffered a collision with a wind turbine located next to the coast of Callantsoog in North Holland province, Netherlands. The incident disrupted energy networks and threatened innocent lives, leading to widespread media attention. This incident resembles what Lazarev has in store in the show, but the differences are also readily apparent. While the incident in the Netherlands is an accident, Lazarev’s fate results from the antagonist’s forces engineering a tragedy, which makes the narrative more intense. As such, the ship retains a fictionalized appearance despite having a loose resemblance to real-life elements.
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