MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The most advanced nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir (Prince Vladimir) has completed the cycle of state trials and arrived at the Northern Fleet’s Belomorsk naval base, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.
"The latest Project Borei-A strategic underwater cruiser Knyaz Vladimir has completed state trials at the Northern Fleet’s combat training ranges in the White Sea and arrived in Severodvinsk," the press office said in a statement.
At the wharf of the Northern Fleet’s Belomorsk naval base, the cruiser’s crew was welcomed by Base Commander Rear Admiral Konstantin Kabantsov and CEO of the Sevmash Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) Mikhail Budnichenko.
On October 30, the crew of the Knyaz Vladimir test-fired a sea-launched Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea towards the Kura range in Kamchatka in the Russian Far East and also held torpedo fire against an underwater and surface target.
Aside from the trials of the sub’s sea-launched weapons, the shipbuilders checked the operation and the reliability of all its systems, mechanisms and equipment and made measurements of the noise level and the underwater cruiser’s other special parameters.
The Knyaz Vladimir is the improved Project 955A strategic missile-carrying underwater cruiser and represents the fourth generation of nuclear-powered subs built for the Russian Navy.
Compared to the first three Borei-class submarines - the Yuri Dolgoruky, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, the Knyaz Vladimir is less noisy and features improved maneuvering, depth and armament control systems.