Russia rolled out the Fifth Borei-A class SSBN On 3 February, the christening and roll-out ceremony of the Knyaz’ Pozharskiy strategic ballistic missile submarine from the assembly hall took place at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk in Northern Russia.
Knyaz’ Pozharskiy is the fifth SSBN of the Project 955A Borei-A built at the Sevmash shipyard for the Russian Navy (Voyenno-morskoy flot, VMF). After leaving the hall, the vessel will be rolled onto the Sukhona floating dock, designed for the launching of nuclear submarines at this shipyard. It was previously planned that the roll-out would take place on 31 January, but the deadline was not met. The launching operation will take place in the coming days. After that, the submarine will be towed to the outfitting quay and factory trials and preparations for state sea trials will take place there. During them, Knyaz’ Pozharskiy will test its armament, including the main one: 3M30 ballistic missiles of the Bulava system.
The keel of the SSBN Knyaz’ Pozharskiy was laid on 23 December 2016. It is the eighth submarine of the Project 955 Borei overall, and the fifth of the Borei-A version. The project was developed at the Central Design Bureau of Maritime Technology “Rubin” in St. Petersburg.
The Borei-A-class SSBNs are 170m long, have a submerged displacement of approximately 24,000 tonnes, while their primary armament is 16 3M30 intercontinental submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) of the Bulava system. In addition to these, the Borei-class SSBNs are armed with six 533mm launchers for torpedoes, anti-submarine rockets and bottom mines. A nuclear propulsion with a 170MW OK-650W reactor powers steam turbines that drives a pump-jet thruster, used for the first time on Russian nuclear-powered submarines. It provides acoustic discretion, a key issue for vessels with this purpose. Another novelty is the MGK-600B Irtysh-Amfora-Borei sonar system, which uses – again premiered in Russia – a spherical antenna installed on the bow of the submarine. The crew consists of 107 men.
Two more Borei-As are under construction (Dmitry Donskoy and Kniazʹ Potiemkin; both keels were laid on 23rd August 2021) and a further two have been contracted. This will be the main type of Russian SSBN to replace the five Project 667BDRM Delfin (NATO: Delta IV) submarines.
The new Russian SSBN Knyaz’ Pozharskiy is expected to enter service by the end of 2024, and will join the Northern Fleet, as the second unit of its class (project 955A). In early January, the VMF commissioning a submarine of the same class – Imperator Aleksandr III.…Read more by Tomasz Grotnik
