The nuclear submarines “Bratsk” and “Samara” will cross the Arctic onboard the Dutch heavy lift vessel Transshelf sailing from the naval base in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky this week, reports the tweet @russiannavyblog. Quoting the press-service of Zvezdochka yard, Itar-Tass confirms that Severodvinsk is the destination.
The transfer is the first in Post-Soviet times when nuclear powered submarines from the Pacific fleet are transported to a naval yard in the Barents Region for upgrade.
Both “Bratsk” and “Samara” are built in Russia’s Far East, at the yard in Komsomolsk-na-Amur in the late 1980ties and early 1990ties.
Russian naval blog says the approved window for the Northern Sea Route transit is August 25 to September 15.