The “Severodvinsk”, the first of a total of eight planned Yasen vessels (NATO name Graney class), is to be handed over to the Navy in late 2012, Chirkov told journalists. The Navy leader at the same time rebuffed all speculations about an alleged technical problem with the vessel’s reactor system, RIA Novosti reports.
Also the United Shipbuilding Corporation, a state-owned consortium of shipyards, confirms that the submarine is likely to come into service in late 2012.
As previously reported, the “Severodvinsk” was originally supposed to be handed over from the Sevmash shipyard to the Navy by the end of 2011. The submarine had her maiden voyage in the White Sea in September 2011. However, the vessel subsequently remained in the Sevmash yard, presumably for technical reasons. The construction of the sub started already in 1993.
The Yasen subs are the new class of Russian attack submarines. Russia is at the same time building a new class of strategic subs, the Borey. The first Borey-class vessel, the “Yury Dolgoruky”, will be handed over to the Navy in September this year, a source in the United Shipbuilding Corporation told RIA Novosti.
