The Russian Navy has started the construction of its second, fourth-generation nuclear submarine, the Kazan, at Severodvinsk-based shipyard Sevmash.

The 119m-long and 13.5m-wide submarine will be equipped with 24 long-range cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, mines and eight torpedo tubes and can dive up to 600m with a crew of 90.

As part of the navy’s Project 885 Yasen, the submarine is being designed by the Russian ship building agency Malakhit Design Bureau in St Petersburg.

The construction of the first Project 885 submarine Severodvinsk began in 1993 and will undergo sea tests in 2010 and is expected to be commissioned by the navy’s Northern Fleet in 2010 or 2011.