02.09.2008
The submarine Dmitrii Donskoy is 172 meter long, has a 49,800 ton deadweight and can carry Russia’s state of the art strategic weaponry, the Bulava missile. After more than ten years of upgrades, the vessel was last week successfully tested in the White Sea.
The Russian Navy now also confirms that the
Bulava missile (SS-NX-30), an adjusted model of the
Topol-M missile, will undergo final testing in September-October this year,
Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports in its weekly edission.
The
Dmitrii Donskoy (TK-208) is the only of Russia’s six
Typhoon subs, which has been modernized to handle the latest of Russia’s missile, the
Bulava. The vessel has been undergoing upgrades at the
Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk for the last ten years.
- Tests have been on a high level and with positive results, the vessel’s captain, Arkadii Romanov, says in a letter to Nikolay Kalistratov, head of the
Sevmash yard. - The vessel is now ready for tests of the missile complex, he adds, Sevmash.ru reports.
The vessel – the biggest sub in the world – is unique with sheer size and its double hulls. It has a deadweight of 49,800 tons, a length of 172 meters and a width of 23,3 meters. The
Dmitrii Donskoy was first put on the water in 1981. It is one of six Russian
Typhoon subs, of which only three today remain in service.
The rebuilt vessel can have 20
Bulava missiles on board. That is more than the newest model of the Russian subs. The country’s first fourth generation sub, the
Yuri Dolgorukii (Project 955
Borey), can take only 12 of the missiles.
Source:
, photo: Sevmash.ru
