MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Mikhail Budnichenko, director general at the Sevmash naval shipyard has said no other Navies in the world have a submarine like the Akula-class Dmitry Donskoy.
"I think Dmitry Donskoy is a grandiose nuclear-powered vessel," he told TASS. "Only a great country could accomplish a project like that."
"No other Navies in the world have similar vessels and they won’t in the near future," he went on to say.
On December 29 it will be 40 years to the day since the Dmitry Donskoy went into service. It was used to test fire Bulava ballistic missiles and is still operational with the Northern Fleet.
These heavy nuclear-powered submarines were key to ensuring military parity with the US, Budnichenko said.
To build Akula-class submarines, Sevmash constructed a covered berth that still remains the biggest of its kind in Europe, he said.
Akula-class submarines were designed as a response to US Ohio-class submarines. The underwater craft of this class are still the biggest submersibles in the world.
These submarines have a greater focus on creature comforts, featuring a sauna, a swimming pool, sun booths and a gym. According to publicly available data, the submersible is 170 meters long and 23.3 meters wide.
The Soviet Union built six submarines of this class from 1976 to 1989.