The submarine “Dmitry Donskoy” is based in Severodvinsk and has since 2005 been used as a test-platform for the Russian navy’s new intercontinental Bulava missile. Since this year, the Bulava missiles have been test-launched from the Borey-class submarine “Yury Dologruky.”
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- The tests on board the “Dmitry Donskoy” are over. We considered an opportunity to decommission the sub. However, we later agreed with the Defense Ministry that the submarine would be stationed at the Belemorskaya (White Sea) naval base for assisting in the tests of the submarines that are currently being built, says Andrei Dyachkov, general director of Sevmash naval yard quoted by Pravda on Friday.
- This includes the tests for the hydroacoustic station and military equipment. We need a second submarine for such tests. Previously, we had a submarine of the northern fleet arriving here for such purposes, but the sub would be withdrawn from its duty for that, says Dyachkov.
The Soviet Union originally had six Typhoon-class submarines in operation from the Nerpitcha naval base in Zapadnaya Litsa on the Kola Peninsula. Today, three of them are decommissioned, two are laid-up (“Arkhangelsk” and “Severstal”) and the last is “Dmitry Donskoy.”
“Dmitri Donskoy” will mark its 30-years anniversary of service in February next year and is the oldest nuclear powered submarine in Russian Arctic waters. The submarine is the largest in the world; 175 meters long and a displacement of some 24.000 tons surfaced. The submarine has two nuclear reactors as propulsion.
