The construction of the Russian Navy’s fourth Borey Class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine by Sevmash shipyard will begin on 22 December 2009.
Russia is planning to build eight of the Borey Class submarines before 2015, the newest of which, the Yury Dolgoruky, which is armed with the new Bulava sea-launched ballistic missiles, has already completed three of six required sea trials.
The $713m, 170m-long Yury Dolgoruky, has a hull diameter of 13m and a crew capacity of 107, and can carry up to 16 ballistic missiles and torpedoes. The vessel has a submerged speed of about 29kt at a maximum depth of 450m.
The second and third Borey Class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh are at different stages of construction.
According to navy officials, the Borey Class strategic submarine fleet will be deployed with Russia’s Northern and Pacific fleets.
