Russia Tests Yury Dolgoruky Submarine

The Yury Dolgoruky was developed at the Rubin Design Bureau for Marine Engineering
The first tests of the Yury Dolgoruky nuclear submarine will begin at the Sevmashpredpriyatie enterprise in the Russian city of Severodvinsk in 2003, the Interfax news agency reports. This will be a preliminary test, as the submarine is not yet completed, head of the RF Navy’s shipbuilding department Rear Admiral Anatoly Shlenov said on Tuesday. Time until completion of work will not be revealed.

It was declared earlier that construction of the strategic nuclear submarine would be finished in 2005. Construction the 995 class Yury Dolgoruky, which is a improved model of the 677 class (which is comparable to NATO's Delta IV) was started in 1996 at Sevmashpredpriyatie. The submarine has displacement of  14,720/24,000 tons, and its maximum submersion depth is 450 meters. The submarine is armed with D-9RMU ballistic missiles, 533 caliber torpedoes, Waterfall torpedo missiles and Igla-1 anti-aircraft missiles. The submarine operate for100 days without docking. Its crew consists of 107 people including 55 officers. Missile launching can be done at a depth of 55 meters in rough sea (a storm with a magnitude of 6-7) and at a speed of up to 6 knots. The submarine is equipped with an escape chamber . The Yury Dolgoruky was developed at the Rubin Design Bureau for Marine Engineering.

Anatoly Shlenov says that tests of the Dmitry Donskoy submarine will not continue for the rest of the year. Work on the submarine is progressing according to schedule. Preparation for loading nuclear material into the submarine's reactors is supposed to start in the middle of June.

Interfax