MOSCOW, May 1 – RIA Novosti. The last nuclear submarine of the Russian Navy, the Project 941 Dmitry Donskoy, which is the largest operational submarine in the world, will last until the full production of fuel in a nuclear reactor, which will happen within the next three to four years, a source in the shipbuilding industry told RIA Novosti.
As previously reported by the Commander-in-chief of the Navy Nikolai Evmenov, after laying this year two new submarines of the class "Borey-A"-"Prince Potemkin" and "Dmitry Donskoy", now bearing the name "Dmitry Donskoy" submarine project 941 will remain in the fleet as a numbered submarine (TK-208) and will continue to perform the tasks of testing new weapons systems and equipment.
He explained that " carrying out the necessary repairs to this ship with the restart of the reactor, as well as further operation of the submarine, are assessed as unnecessarily costly and impractical."
The interlocutor added that after the end of the service, the TK-208 will most likely be preserved in anticipation of disposal in the Sevmsha Bay (Severodvinsk), along with the same type of submarines Severstal and Arkhangelsk.
Nuclear submarines of the project 941 class "Shark" are the largest in the world, the total underwater displacement of these submarines is 49.8 thousand tons, length-172 meters, width-23.3 meters. The boats have two sturdy hulls and two pop-up rescue chambers for the entire crew. The strategic submarine cruisers of this project could carry 20 R-39 solid-fuel ballistic missiles on board.
A total of six "Sharks"were built. "Dmitry Donskoy" - the lead ship in the series-was laid down on the "Sevmash" on June 30, 1976 under the number TK-208, launched in 1980. In 1981, the submarine was accepted into the combat structure of the Northern Fleet. In 1989, the ship was put on a major overhaul with upgrades, which were completed only in 2002. In the same year, the submarine was named "Dmitry Donskoy". Since 2004, it has been used for test launches of new Bulava solid-fuel ballistic missiles.
Three boats of the project were cut into metal in 2005-2009. Two more submarines ("Arkhangelsk" and "Severstal") are currently awaiting disposal in the waters of "Sevmash".
Earlier, experts made proposals to convert the remaining three "Sharks" into cruise missile carriers. According to various estimates, one boat of the project 941 after modernization could carry, depending on the chosen modernization option, from 100 to 160 Kalibr, Onyx or Zircon cruise missiles.
