The submarine is still standing at the building berth at Sevmash, but will start mooring trails within the end of the year, a press release form the shipyard reads. A source in the Malakhit Construction Bureau told RIA Novosti that the submarine could be ready for missile test launching in mid-2010. The crew for the submarine was established already in 2005 and arrived Sevmash two months ago, as BarentsObserver reported.
In connection with celebration of the 70 years anniversary for the Sevmash shipyard, a cooperation agreement between the submarine’s crew, the shipyard and the city of Severodvinsk was signed. This is the first time the giant shipyard, which has built many of Russia’s best submarines, takes on patronage of a vessel.
“Severodvinsk” is the first in the “Graney” class (in Russian “Yasen” class) of nuclear powered attack submarines. As BarentsObserver earlier reported, a source in the Russian Ministry of Defence told ITAR-TASS that at least six submarines of the “Graney” class will be built within the next eight years. Construction of the second submarine in the series, “Kazan”, started in July 2009.
Vessels of the “Graney” class will be most silent submarines in the world. According to Wikipedia, they will have a maximum speed of 16 knots surfaced and 31 knots submerged. They will be 119m long, 13,5m wide and 9,4m high. They will be armed with 24 cruice missiles of the type SS-NX-26.
