Metal cutting for the fourth and fifth diesel-electric submarines of Project 677 Lada has begun at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg. Today, on February 15, the press service of the enterprise reported about it. The contract for the construction of this pair of submarines was signed with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in June 2019 as part of the Army forum.
The project's lead submarine, the Saint Petersburg, was laid down at Admiralty Shipyards in December 1997 and launched in October 2004. Since 2010, the submarine has been in trial operation in the Northern Fleet, and in September last year it became a full-fledged combat unit of the Russian Navy. The second and third submarines (Kronstadt and Velikiye Luki) are planned to be transferred to the fleet this year.
Project 677 Lada submarine
Image source: shipspotting.com
Project 677 Lada is a series of diesel-electric submarines. These submarines were developed for independent operations against enemy submarines and surface ships, anti-submarine defense and laying minefields. Submarines can be armed with torpedoes, mines and missiles (including cruise missiles).
The Rubin Design Bureau announced the resumption of serial production of Project 677 ships in October 2015 after successful initial tests of a new type of power plant. The designers said that the anaerobic installation will allow the submarines to stay underwater for up to twenty days — a record time for non-nuclear submarines. After repeated postponements of the deadlines for the delivery of new submarines, the Russian fleet began to receive Lada-type submarines with an old power plant - the reason for this was a lack of funding.
