Four Nuclear Submarines Under Construction In Russia’s Far North

February 15, 2015

The Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk in Russia has full orders on the books for 2015.

For the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, the shipyard is constructing four different nuclear-powered submarines at the same time.

“Sevmash finished 2014 with very good results, and the planned state orders were fulfilled completely,” Marat Abizhanov, head of the department for submarine construction, said in a press release. “Last year we handed two submarines of the Yasen and Borey-class over to the Navy, and four new 4th generation submarines were laid down.”

The workers at Sevmash are currently busy completing four new nuclear-powered submarines. The Yasen-class Kazan and the Borey-class Knyaz Vladimir will soon be ready for electric installation work, according to Abizhanov. The Yasen-class Novosibirsk is ready for insulation works, while the Borey-class Knyaz Oleg is getting ready for hydraulic testing.

The two submarines that were taken into service by the navy in 2014 were the Yasen-class Severodvinsk and the Borey-class Vladimir Monomakh. The Severodvinsk is based in the Zapadnaya Litsa fjord on coast of the Barents Sea, less than 37 miles from the border to Norway, while the Vladimir Monomakh is planned to sail along the northern Sea Route to Kamchatka later this year to enter service in the Pacific Fleet.

Russia is currently in the middle of a huge rearmament program, earlier reported by BarentsObserver to reach $659 billion by 2020. The Navy is a high priority in the program.

Plans for another eight nuclear powered submarines to be commissioned before 2020 are approved, four of the Yasen-class and four of the Borey-class. On March 19, Sevmash will start construction of the fifth Yasen-class sub, to be dubbed “Arkhangelsk,” a Russian defense industry source told TASS.

According to Sevmash's Acting Director General Sergey Marichev, the shipyard plans to increase the number of workers, which already surpasses 25,000, according to Wikipedia.