MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. Construction of the fifth Yasen-class multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine will begin on March 19, a Russian defense industry source told TASS on Friday.
"The Yasen-class submarine that will be dubbed Arkhangelsk will be laid down at Sevmash on March 19," the source said.
The head of the Sevmash shipyard in December told TASS that construction of three Project 885M Yasen-class attack submarines and two Borei-class submarines will start in 2015.
The head Yasen-class (Project 885) submarine named Severodvinsk was commissioned with the Russian Navy in 2013. In 2009, 2013 and 2014 three more vessels-the Kazan, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk modernized submarines were laid down under Project 885M.
Yasen is the fourth generation of multipurpose nuclear-powered submarines. They are equipped with the Oniks and Kalibr type missiles. Unlike most Soviet submarine designs, the Yasen-class boats do not make use of a double-hull-instead it has hybrid design with a lighter structure over the vessel’s pressure hull.
Another unique feature for a Russian vessel is that it incorporates a spherical bow sonar called the Irtysh-Amfora for the first time. As a result, Severodvinsk has its torpedo tubes located at about mid-ship like U.S. submarines. The vessel has eight torpedo tubes, four of which are 650mm tubes while the rest are 533mm tubes. The Yasen-class submarines may carry as many as 30 torpedoes.
Russia’s Navy also uses the Arkhangelsk boat of Project 941 "Akula" - the world’s largest submarine. A total of six submarines of this type have been built and three of them have already been scrapped. The Arkhangelsk sun and Severstal submarine of the same type are currently on standby at the Belomorskaya (White Sea) naval base in Severodvinsk. Another submarine - the Dmitry Donskoi - has been modernised for testing the Bulava ballistic missile.