SEVASTOPOL, May 6. /TASS/. The Black Sea Fleet’s oldest submarine Alrosa is set to re-enter service soon after its repairs, the press office of the Black Sea Fleet’s 13th Ship Repair Plant reported on Friday.
"Specialists of the Black Sea Fleet’s 13th Ship Repair Plant are completing the repairs of the diesel-electric submarine Alrosa. The submarine will leave the Bay of Kilen in a few days and redeploy to its home berth. It will undergo shipbuilders’ sea trials in May, following which it will rejoin the Fleet," the statement says.
The shipbuilders’ sea trials will be run by the Ship Repair Plant’s staff who will remove possible faults and deliver the underwater cruiser to the customer. After that, the crew of the Alrosa sub will pass necessary tests, the press office reported.
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 belonged to the experimental Project 877. As its specific feature, it was driven by a waterjet engine instead of propeller propulsion, which ensured its maximum stealth. 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.
"The Plant’s workforce has fulfilled a large amount of work, as a result of which the Alrosa has been not only repaired but has also acquired new combat and technical capabilities. They put the submarine on a par with six submarines that have become operational in the Black Sea Fleet in recent years," the press office said.
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.