Two new submarines to be laid down for Russian Navy in October

Two new diesel electric submarines will be laid down for the Russian Navy in October, Defense Ministry spokesperson for the Navy Igor Dygalov said on Tuesday.

The submarines, called Kolpino and Veliky Novgorod, and four other Kilo-class (Varshavyanka by Russian classification) craft are to join the Navy by 2016.

 

Dygalo confirmed that the Russian Navy Ensign would be hoisted on the leading submarine of the series, called Novorossiysk, on August 22.

 

The Novorossiysk, the construction of which began in August 2010, is finishing the second stage of sea trials in the Baltic Sea and will arrive at St. Petersburg’s Admiralty Shipyard before the flag raising ceremony.

 

A third Project 636.3 submarine called Stary Oskol will be launched on August 28. Two more submarines of the same series, Krasnodar and Rostov on Don, are still under construction.

Project 636.3 diesel electric submarines being built for the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be tested in deep waters at the North Fleet, Admiralty Shipyard Director-General Alexander Buzakov said earlier.

“The submarines will undergo deep-water trials in northern testing ranges,” Buzakov said.

 

The new submarines will be stationed in Novorossiysk and Sevastopol on the Black Sea.

 

The Black Sea Fleet will get about 30 new warships in the next six years, Navy Commander-in-Chief Viktor Chirkov said.

 

“The Black Sea Fleet will receive six Project 636 submarines by 2016 and the first of the six Project 1135.6 escort ships in 2015. The Fleet will also get six Project 22160 patrol boats for patrolling territorial waters and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone, escorting ships at sea and protecting naval bases and water areas to warn about enemy attacks,” he said.

 

“Six such submarines will be built for the Black Sea Fleet in the next two years,” the commander said.

 

In late June, the Russian Navy was joined by a new-generation mine countermeasures vessel (Project 12700) designed by the Almaz Design Burea and built by the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard. The vessel is intended for finding and destroying mines near naval bases at safe distances. “Three more such ships will be built shortly,” Chirkov said.

 

The Navy will also acquire four fast-speed Raptor patrol boats complete with the most up-to-date control systems and intended for landing and assault missions.

“The Navy expects to receive more than 50 ships and support vessels before the end of the year,” he said.

 

Chirkov said the Black Sea Fleet was “obsolete beyond reason and we now have the opportunity to stop its aging and upgrade underground and surface forces in order to be able to carry out our missions effectively in the Black and Mediterranean Seas”.

 

The Black Sea Fleet is carrying out an ambitious rearmament program to upgrade its capabilities in Crimea.

 

“The Navy expects to receive more than 50 ships and support vessels before the end of the year,” Chirkov said.