All news

Dmitry Donskoy submarine not to be decommissioned for five years at least, says source

Previously, Sevmash CEO Mikhail budnichenko said in an interview that a contract was signed in 2020 for construction of two Project 955A strategic submarines, one of them will be named Dmitry Donskoy

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. The Dmitry Donskoy submarine strategic missile cruiser (Project 941) may be decommissioned no sooner than in five years, a source in the military told TASS Thursday.

"There are military training events planned for 2021 involving the cruiser. Decommissioning of the submarine is an issue of five years, at least," the source said.

Previously, Sevmash CEO Mikhail budnichenko said in an interview that a contract was signed in 2020 for construction of two Project 955A strategic submarines. One of them will be named Dmitry Donskoy. According to the TASS source, construction of such submarines usually takes 7 to 8 years.

Until recently, Dmitry Donskoy was considered the largest submarine in the world. Today, this title belongs to the Belgorod - a special purpose submarine, armed with Poseidon nuclear supertorpedoes.

The Dmitry Donskoy was launched in September 1980, and commissioned in December 1981. Initially, the cruiser was armed with 20 D-19 ICBMs. In 2002, the cruised was upgrade under Project 941UM, repurposed for trials of Bulava ICBMs.