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Russian Black Sea Fleet’s oldest sub may redeploy to Baltic Sea after repairs

The Black Sea Fleet’s 13th Ship Repair Plant told TASS earlier that the submarine was set to re-enter service after November 2021

TASS. June 26. The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s oldest submarine Alrosa may redeploy to the Baltic Sea after repairs, a source in defense circles told TASS on Saturday.

"The submarine will be presumably prepared for its redeployment to the Baltic Fleet," the source said.

The Black Sea Fleet’s 13th Ship Repair Plant told TASS earlier on Saturday that the submarine was set to re-enter service after November 2021. Currently, the submarine’s dockside repairs have been completed and the sub has been transferred to a berth in the Bay of Kilen in Crimea’s Sevastopol, the source specified.

The Alrosa was built at the Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard in the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union and was referred to the experimental Project 877. As its specific feature, it was driven by a waterjet engine instead of propeller propulsion, which ensured its maximally stealthy movement. Owing to this, submarines with waterjet engines are dubbed ‘black holes’ abroad. Soon after the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Alrosa remained Russia’s sole combat-fit submarine in the Black Sea.

According to the data of the Black Sea Fleet’s press office, the Fleet received six new Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarines carrying Kalibr precision cruise missiles in 2014-2017.