Northern Fleet Deploys New Borey-Class Nuclear Subs RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 31.12.2013 Russia’s two newest ballistic missile submarines arrived at their home base in the Arctic on Monday to begin active service with the Northern Fleet, the Defense Ministry said. The Borey-class submarine Yury Dolgoruky was commissioned in January while the second of the type, the Alexander Nevsky, entered service on December 23. Both submarines will operate from the Northern Fleet’s main nuclear submarine base at Gadzhiyevo, Murmansk Region, the ministry said. The Borey is Russia’s first post-Soviet ballistic missile submarine class and will form the mainstay of the strategic submarine fleet, replacing aging Typhoon, Delta-3 and Delta-4 class boats. Russia ultimately expects eight Borey-class submarines to enter service by 2020. The third vessel in the class, the Vladimir Monomakh, is awaiting manufacturer’s acceptance trials. The new Borey-class boats, with a length of nearly two football fields, can carry sixteen Bulava missiles, each fitted with up to ten independently-targetable nuclear warheads. Bulava, however, is yet to be declared fully operational, following a problem with a test-firing earlier this year, a Defense Ministry high command source told RIA Novosti in November. The Borey class boats are likely to be restricted to carrying out secondary roles until the weapon is declared ready, the source said at that time. Ballistic missile submarines comprise one leg of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad along with land-based ICBMs and the bomber force. Topics: Nuclear ships, Russia Other news: Rosatom Boosts Foreign Orders Portfolio to $74 Bln Rosatom signed in Helsinki an expected deal with Finnish nuclear consortium Fennovoima on the construction of a 1,200-megawatt Hanhikivi-1 nuclear reactor in Pyhajoki, northwest Finland. First Chapter of US-Russian Megatons-to-Megawatts Deal Closes Russia started delivery of the last batch of low-enriched uranium to the United States under a long-standing program to convert Soviet-made nuclear weapons into fuel. Russia Starts Building Largest-Ever Nuclear Icebreaker The yet-unnamed ship, to be powered by two nuclear reactors, will be 14 meters (46 feet) longer and four meters (13 feet) wider than the current largest, the 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory). |
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