SSBN Yury Dolgoruky starts next phase of sea trials

06.08.2010 Nuclear ballistic missile submarine Yury Dolgoruky (Project 955) left water area of Sevmash shipyard and headed for naval range to pass the second phase of sea trials.

"Submariners and civilian experts test fineness, reliability and integration of all onboard systems and equipment", reports Interfax citing a source in the shipyard.

"The sub firstly took the sea on July 22", he added.

According to the source, navigation system and buoyancy control system were tested at that time.

The shipyard's press secretary Yekaterina Pilikina said in her turn that proficiency of the crew headed by Capt 1 rank Vladimir Shirin was also checked during the first sortie.

Lead sub of the project, the 4-gen SSBN Yury Dolgoruky was designed by Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering. The submarine construction contract cost 23 bln RUR, including 9 bln RUR for project development and 14 bln RUR for shipbuilding.

Yury Dolgoruky (Project 955 Borei) has displacement of 14,700/24,000 tons; dimensions of the sub are 170 x 13.5 x 9 meters; test depth is 450 meters; speed is 15/29 knots; crew is 107, including 55 officers.

Supposedly, the submarine will be armed with strategic missile system Bulava-M; however, regular failures occur during the missile test launches.

According to plans of Navy command, Project 955 ballistic missile submarines are to become the basis of Russia's naval strategic nuclear force after decommission of currently deployed Project 941 (Akula, on NATO classification – Typhoon) and Project 667BDR/BDRM (Kalmar and Murena, on NATO classification – Delta-III and Delta IV) submarines.

At present, Project 955 SSBNs Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh are under construction at the shipyard.