On the first days of 2013 “Yury Dolgoruky”, the first atomic submarine of the fourth generation, officially joined the Russian Navy. The official ceremony of raising the Russian Navy colours on the submarine on Thursday, led by Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, took place in Severodvinsk on January 10. It has been assigned to the 31st submarine division of the Northern Fleet, based in Gadzhiyevo, Murmansk oblast.
Scale Project
Borei-class ballistic missile submarine “Yury Dolgoruky” is the leading ship of the “Borei” Project 955. The nuclear ships of this kind today are the most up-to-date in the world. According to S. Shoigu the Borei submarines will “leave behind all foreign equivalents”.
“Yury Dolgoruky” was laid down in autumn 1996. First the submarine was planned to be equipped with the “Bark” rocket, but yet in a two years period it was decided to be changed to “Bulava”. The vessel was redesigned, so the building started as late as 2002. According to Mikhail Budnichenko, the Sevmash General Director, “Yury Dolgoruky” achieved the test program: “It accomplished 22 sea gates and sailed more than 20,000 sea miles”. The operating life of the ship is 20 years. By 2018 eight more submarines are planned to be built within the “Borei” Project. The second one, “Alexander Nevsky” successfully passed the new stage of performance trials. “Vladimir Monomach”, the third submarine, was taken out from assembly shop on December 30 of the last year. The “Knyaz Vladimir” SSBN is being built upon the 955A advanced project. The fifth missile-carrying nuclear submarine “Alexander Suvorov” will be laid down on July 28, on the Russian Navy Day.
Pilotage
January 4 the nuclear icebreaker “The 50 years of Victory” of Atomflot started its work in the White Sea. It left the port in the early morning and on January 7 piloted the Palva tanker with NOVATEK natural gas liquids. “The 50 Years of Victory” piloted the vessel from the Vitino port up to the White Sea bottle-neck ice edge. After that it started piloting of the Sea Marlin tanker. Now the icebreaker is piloting the “Perseverance” tanker, moving towards the Vitino port. Besides “The 50 Years of Victory” the other icebreaker, “The Vaigach”, also conducts piloting. On January 1 it started its operation in the Yenisei Bay doing chanelling for the “Norilsk Nickel” vessels.
“Rossia” in the Look-Out of Safety
Nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya set off from the northern port of Murmansk to the Baltic Sea on January 16. The ship will pilot heavy-tonnage vessels in the Gulf of Finland. It will provide safety for vessels entering the ports of Ust-Luga, Vysotsks, Primorsk and Big Port Saint-Petersburg . All the countries whose territorial waters the icebreaker is going to pass were notified by the MFA in advance. The separate notification was sent to STUK – Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland.
This year the ice formation in the Gulf of Finland is more intense than in the previous winter. During the navigation period of 2011-2012 the Rosatomflot nuclear ships piloted 322 vessels in total. There were two atomic icebreakers operating in the Baltic Sea – “The 50 Years of Victory” and “Rossiya”.
