Russia Soon to Float Out New Nuclear Submarine

Russian Sub 'Alexander Nevsky'

Russia’s Sevmash shipyard will float out a third 'Borey-class' strategic nuclear submarine, the 'Vladimir Monomakh' at year's end.

The Borey class submarines are expected to form the core of Russia's strategic submarine fleet, replacing the aging Project 941 (NATO Typhoon class) and Project 667 class (Delta-3 and Delta-4) boats. Russia plans to build eight Borey and Borey-A class subs by 2020, reports Ria Novosti.

Two Borey class vessels, the Yury Dolgoruky and the Alexander Nevsky, have been already built and are undergoing sea trials.

The Yury Dolgoruky was expected to join the Russian Navy by the end of this year, but tests carried out during the latest sea trials revealed a number of technical flaws. For instance, software glitches in the automated launch control system prevented further tests of the Bulava ballistic missile, the submarine’s main weapon.

A Borey class strategic submarine is 170 meters (580 feet) long, has a hull diameter of 13 meters (42 feet), a crew of 107, including 55 officers, a maximum depth of 450 meters (about 1,500 feet) and a submerged speed of about 29 knots.

All the Borey class strategic submarines will carry the Bulava ballistic missiles, up to 16 ballistic missiles with multiple warheads.

The subs will be assigned to Russia’s Northern and Pacific fleets.
 

Borey Class Subs to be Deployed in Russian North, Pacific Fleets

Borey class strategic nuclear-powered submarine |Two Borey class strategic nuclear-powered submarines, the Yuri Dolgoruky and the Alexander Nevsky, will enter service with the Russian Navy, one with the North Fleet and the other with the Pacific Fleet, Anatoly Shlemov, head of defense contracts at the United Shipbuilding Corporation, said on Friday.

“The Alexander Nevsky will enter service with the Pacific Fleet, the main one, the Yuri Dolgoruky, with the North Fleet,” Shlemov said.

The crews of the submarines will begin training exercises on the North Fleet and later the crew of the Alexander Nevsky will prepare to go by the Northern Sea Route for its further service in the Pacific Fleet. “Usually, this takes a year,” Shlemov said.

US deep-sea submarine gets makeover to dive even deeper

Roomier, stronger Alvin will one day ferry three people 21,325 feet into the ocean

 Space-age, but bound for the deep, Alvin's new personnel sphere has been tested and is ready to take on deep-sea pressure.

The crews rebuilding Alvin, the United States' deepest-diving manned vehicle, recently celebrated a significant milestone in the submersible's years-long upgrade with the unveiling of a newly tested titanium sphere that will one day ferry three people 21,325 feet (6,500 meters) deep into the ocean.

Before the upgrade, Alvin could travel to a maximum depth of 14,760 feet (4,500 meters), and the vessel's makeover will extend its reach into the ocean's unexplored depths.

"Right now it reaches about two-thirds of the ocean. At 6,500 meters (21,325 feet) it will reach 98 percent of the ocean," said Susan Humphris, leader of the upgrade project and a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Alvin's operator.

Testing, testing…

Engineers tested Alvin's new 11,000-pound (5,000-kilogram) personnel sphere on June 22 at a Northrop Grumman facility in Annapolis, Md., to ensure that the silvery capsule can withstand the crushing pressures of the deep sea.

Safety standards require that the sphere can survive a trip to 26,250 feet (8,000 meters) — a full 24 percent deeper than Alvin will ever dive — where the pressure is 12,000 pounds per square inch.

Designers beefed up the capsule's walls to withstand the additional pressure, increasing them from 2- to 3-inches thick (6 to 8 centimeters). They also added two more windows, for a total of five, to allow greater visibility for passengers, who will also get a bit more leg room.

"The diameter is 6 inches (15 cm) greater than the old one, so we hope it will be a little more comfortable," Humphris told OurAmazingPlanet.

Company in the deep

The announcement comes at a busy time for deep-sea exploration. In recent days, China's manned submersible, the Jiaolong, has claimed the mantle of deepest-diving state-owned vehicle on Earth.

On June 27, in the fifth of a series of progressively deeper dives into the Mariana Trench, the vessel carried a three-person crew 23,170 feet (7,062 meters) down into the ocean. The Jiaolong has now plunged more than 1,640 feet (500 meters) deeper than the previous deep-diving champion, Japan's Shinkai 6500 submersible, which can reach 21,325 feet (6,500 meters).

However, the Jialong is not the deepest-diving craft in existence. In late March, filmmaker James Cameron piloted a submersible to the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep, 35,756 feet (10,890 meters), or nearly 7 miles (11 km), beneath the surface of the sea. Cameron's craft, the Deepsea Challenger, is one he helped design, and is privately owned. [ Images: Cameron's Dive to Earth's Deepest Spot ]

Humphris said the Chinese venture is certainly interesting. "They will be able to go a little bit deeper, so they will be able to go to parts of the seafloor that we can't," she said. "Since the seafloor is so poorly explored, we don't know what they'll find."

Alvin's upgrade is happening in two phases, and the submersible won't be ready to dive to 21,325 feet (6,500 meters) for several years, Humphris said. She said that even though robots, monitored by video from ships, can explore the ocean depths, it's important to send humans, too.

"It's sort of like, why do you go to the Grand Canyon if you can go buy a video of it?" Humphris said. "Putting an eye and a brain at the bottom of the ocean gives you a very different perspective than looking at a TV monitor."

Russia’s Second Borey Class Sub to Enter Service by Yearend

Russia's second Borey class strategic submarine, the Alexander Nevsky, will be commissioned by the end of 2012, First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov said on Thursday.

The submarine sailed for the White Sea on June 21 to join the first Borey class vessel, the Yuri Dolgoruky, in sea trials.

“If a state commission reports on August 1 that all tasks envisioned by the trials program have been fulfilled, we will immediately start preparing documents for the submarine’s commissioning,” Sukhorukov said.

The official added that a planned test launch of the Bulava ballistic missile from the Alexander Nevsky will be carried out after the submarine enters service with the Russian Navy.

The Russian Navy is expected to receive at least 10 new Borey class strategic nuclear submarines by 2020.

The submarines, to be armed with Bulava ballistic missiles, will constitute the core of Russia's strategic ballistic missile submarine force after 2018, and will be deployed with Russia’s Northern and Pacific fleets.