MOSCOW, January 24 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Navy postponed the putting of the Yasen class Severodvinsk nuclear submarine into service for 2013, Russian First Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Sukhorukov told reporters on Tuesday.

“The deadlines for the contract of the Russian Navy to bring the Yasen class submarine into service were not fulfilled, the deadline was delayed to 2013,” Sukhorukov underlined.

The project 885 fourth generation multipurpose nuclear submarine Severodvinsk was designed by the Malachite maritime machine building design bureau in St. Petersburg. The submarine was laid at the Sevmash shipyard in 1993 and was set afloat on June 15, 2010. A long period for the construction of the submarine was caused not only by economic problems, but also an essentially new design of the hull and weaponry.

For the first time in the practice of Russian shipbuilding the Severodvinsk nuclear submarine has torpedo launchers not in the nose of the submarine, but behind the compartment of the central command post that made it possible to place an overall hydroacoustic antenna in the nose. Eight vertical launchers are used for missiles. The submarine is also provided with advanced telecommunications and navigation systems, equipped with an absolutely new nuclear power unit. The submarine has a water displacement of 9,500 tonnes, is 120 metres long, has the largest submersion depth of 600 metres. The full underwater speed is 31 knots (about 57 kilometres per hour) and the submarine has a crew of 85 submariners.

In July 2009 the project 885 second nuclear submarine Kazan was laid at the Sevmash shipyard. According to some open sources, Sevmash was to build more than ten nuclear submarines of this class, which are armed with supersonic cruise missiles Onix or their counterparts with the fire range of several hundreds of kilometres, torpedo carrying missiles and torpedoes. The submarine can use nuclear and conventional weaponry in many variants.

The Yasen class nuclear submarines were designed for the destruction of submarines of the enemy, including missile-carrying submarines, strikes of ship convoys, primarily air and naval bases and ports, as well as other coastal facilities.