Four nuclear submarines under construction in Russia’s Far North
Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk has full order books for 2015.
For the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, the shipyard is constructing four different nuclear-powered submarines at the same time.
“Sevmash finished 2014 with very good results, and the planned state orders were fulfilled completely,” Head of the department for submarine construction Marat Abizhanov says in a press release. “Last year we handed two submarines of the Yasen and Borey-class over to the Navy, and four new 4th generation submarines were laid down.”
The workers at Sevmash are currently busy completing four new nuclear-powered submarines. The Yasen-class “Kazan” and the Borey-class “Knyaz Vladimir” are soon ready for electric installation work, according to Abizhanov. The Yasen-class “Novosibirsk” is ready for insulation works, while the Borey-class “Knyaz Oleg” is getting ready for hydraulic testing.
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The two submarines that were taken into service by the navy in 2014 were the Yasen-class “Severodvinsk” and the Borey-class “Vladimir Monomakh”. “Severodvinsk” is based in the Zapadnaya Litsa fjord on coast of the Barents Sea, less than 60 kilometers from the border to Norway, while “Vladimir Monomakh” is planned to sail along the northern Sea Route to Kamchatka later this year to enter service in the Pacific Fleet.
Russia is currently in the middle of a huge rearmament program, earlier reported by BarentsObserver to reach $659 billion (€502 billion) by 2020. The navy is a high priority in the program.
Plans for another eight nuclear powered submarines to be commissioned before 2020 are approved, four of the Yasen-class and four of the Borey-class. On March 19, Sevmash will start construction of the fifth Yasen-class sub, to be dubbed “Arkhangelsk”, a Russian defense industry source told TASS.
According to Acting Director General of Sevmash Sergey Marichev, the shipyard plans to increase the number of workers, which already surpasses 25.000, according to Wikipedia.
Related stories from around the North:
Asia: Full steam ahead for Asian icebreakers in the Arctic this summer, Blog by Mia Bennett
Canada: Canada’s Arctic patrol ships – A $250M mystery, CBC News
Finland: New Finland icebreaker can operate sideways with asymmetrical hull, Yle News
Russia: Hbl – No Finnish Navy orders for Russian-owned shipyard, Yle News
Sweden: Swedish icebreakers gear up for Arctic role, Radio Sweden
United States: New ferry contract part of effort to create shipbuilding industry in Alaska, Alaska Dispatch
