On 16 October 1996 Commander in Chief of
the Russian Navy ADM Feliks Gromov announced that work would start on a new-generation
strategic nuclear-powered submarine, which he said would be "two or three times more
powerful" than any submarine currently in the fleet. The keel of the
fourth-generation strategic missile submarine Yuri Dolgoruky was laid down at the Sevmash
State Nuclear Ship-Building Centre at Severodvinsk on 2 November 1996. The keel-laying was
postponed for a week after poor weather made it impossible for high ranking officials to
attend, including First Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kokoshin, Presidential Chief of
Staff Anatoly Chubais, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzkhov, and Admiral Gromov. Kokoshin described
the new Yuri Dolgoruky as a state-of-the-art submarine with "substantial
improvements" over those currently in service, and Chubais termed the new submarine
"a totally unique thing, a submarine for the next century." The city of Moscow
is sponsoring the project, as the lead vessel is named after the traditional founder of
the city. The wages of shipyard workers and the crew of the new boat will [reportedly] be
paid by the city in the event that the federal government is unable to pay. This is the
first submarine of the new Borei-class [Boreas], with a length of 170 meters, a body
diameter around 10 metres, and a submerged speed of over 25 knots (over 45km/h). With
about half the displacement of the Typhoon, the 935 class will nonetheless carry 20 SLBMs
of a new type. Currently, the naval leg of Russia's strategic nuclear force includes 6 941
[TYPHOON] and 7 667 BDRM [DELTA IV] submarines.
The oldest of these boats, which entered service in 1983, will reach the end of their
20-year service life about the time the first 935 is commissioned. But the Navy
leadership's plans to launch one new-generation submarine per year beginning in 2002
appear unrealistic with the planned financing of national defense. Consequently no more
than 9-12 missile-armed submarines with a total of 800-1,000 warheads are likely to remain
in the naval strategic nuclear forces by 2010, although the START I and II treaties allow
Russia to have up to 1,750-1,900 warheads in the naval component. |
