Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Russia Starts Building New Nuclear Submarine


I believe about the time Russia sold the aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, to India the statement or inference was made that Russia would concentrate on the new hard to detect subs for underwater supremacy. -Am

Russia Starts Building New Nuclear Submarine
Created: 19.03.2004 15:30 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:15 MSK, 38 minutes ago

MosNews

A ceremony devoted to the start of work on the Aleksander Nevsky nuclear submarine was held in the Russian naval base of Severodvinsk on Friday. The ceremony also marked Submariners’ Day which is celebrated in Russia on March 19.

The Aleksander Nevsky is a fourth-generation nuclear submarine of the 955 (Borey) project. A representative of the Sevmash shipyard has told the Interfax news agency that the ship would be a transitional link between a prototype and a series production model. The first submarine of the Borey project — Yuri Dolgorukiy — has been under construction at the Sevmash shipyard since 1996. Experts from the Jane’s Information Group report that work on the Borey project was suspended after the cancellation of the SS-N-28 missile — the main weapon of an attack submarine.

In 1999, Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister, ordered a major modernization of the Russian Navy. Over the past several years a number of major accidents have plagued the navy, including the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine in August 2000. Foreign experts currently estimate the strength of the Russian submarine fleet at 20 first class attack submarines in operational condition.


http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/03/19/newsub.shtml