What can be replaced on the ship during the first scheduled repair
The nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine Yuri Dolgoruky is moored in Severodvinsk for repairs. A source of Izvestia in the shipbuilding industry said that during it, a partial modernization will be carried out on the submarine. Izvestia investigated what kind of work can be carried out on the ship and what significance it will have for other representatives of the series.
Image source: iz.ru
The difficult history of the construction of Yuri Dolgoruky
At the moment, the strategic missile submarine Yuri Dolgoruky is located in Severodvinsk. Experts believe that the process of extracting the core of a nuclear reactor is currently underway on the boat. In the future, according to media reports, she will get up for her first scheduled repair at the Zvezdochka plant.
Nuclear submarine "Yuri Dolgoruky" at the pier in Gadzhievo. 2019
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Pavel Lvov
The project of the missile submarine project 955 (code "Borey") it started back in the 1980s. The development is carried out by the Central Design Bureau of MT Rubin. The lead boat "Yuri Dolgoruky" was laid down on Sevmash on November 2, 1996. It was a difficult period for the Russian military shipbuilding industry. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the D-19UTTH missile system was not put into service. And there is no point in building a boat in advance, not knowing what the main element of the weapon will be on it. Therefore, the construction of the Yuri Dolgoruky was stopped.
In the late 1990s, it became known about the creation of a new D-30 missile system with a Bulava missile. And in the early noughties, the construction of the boat resumed. At the same time, previously manufactured metal structures from the Cougar Project 971 ship were used. The Cougar boat was laid down in 1992 and discontinued in 1998. On February 12, 2008, the Yuri Dolgoruky was launched. On November 21 of the same year, the physical launch of the nuclear reactor was carried out. Until the summer of 2011, the cruiser underwent various stages of testing. The first successful launch of the Bulava rocket took place on June 28, 2011.
The inner compartment of the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear submarine. 2019
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Pavel Lvov
Later, the boat underwent a number of more tests and improvements and finally officially joined the Russian Navy on January 10, 2013. In the period from 2004 to 2014, two more similar boats "Alexander Nevsky" and "Vladimir Monomakh" were built, which serve in Kamchatka.
How will the Yuri Dolgoruky boat be repaired and modernized
The service life of a modern nuclear submarine is calculated at 40 years. The time comes, and the mechanisms either physically wear out or become obsolete — they need to be changed to something newer. In the middle of its service life, the boat undergoes a so-called medium repair. There may be several such repairs: the first, the second. During these works, in fact, all the "insides" are removed from the ship's hull, repairs or replacement of equipment are carried out. Modernization of the ship's weapons systems or equipment can be carried out to give new combat properties.
Nuclear submarine "Yuri Dolgoruky" at the pier in Gadzhievo. 2019
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Pavel Lvov
The hull structures are defective, if necessary, they are replaced. The ship's characteristics return to the original ones, as they were when it was created. Repaired or new equipment is loaded back into the case. This work is carried out in a closed space, that is, at the next stage, Yuri Dolgoruky will be transferred to a closed boathouse. After that, repair work will be carried out for two to three years, then the boat will be launched and, after a set of tests, returned to the combat staff of the Russian Navy. In total, such work, as well as their organization, may be more difficult than building a ship from scratch.
When the construction of a submarine or a warship is still underway, a set of documentation is being prepared for its repair. It describes the technology — how to make repairs, what to pay attention to, what to do and how to do it. But the boat was built in the first half of the noughties, almost 20 years have passed since then. During this time, the equipment has been updated, technologies and computer solutions have advanced far.
At the central post of the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear submarine. 2019
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Pavel Lvov
Ship repairers and the Central Design Bureau of MT Rubin face a very difficult engineering task, the meaning of which is to find out what needs to be repaired and what needs to be updated. At the same time, it is necessary to identify suppliers and link the manufacture, delivery and installation of new equipment, as well as the repair of old ones. Most likely, most of the ship's filling will be replaced on the boat, and the boat's design may change to 955M, where "M" is an upgrade. It is clear that the mines of the Bulava complex will not be changed, but the missile launch systems have become somewhat smaller over the past 20 years, which means that space will be freed up that can be used for other purposes.
As a result of such a first repair of the Project 955 submarine, it will be decided how its younger brothers, the Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh, will be serviced in the future. At the same time, the technological documentation will be corrected and "bottlenecks" will be identified. There will be a more accurate understanding of what and how to do with the mechanisms of serial boats, and the range of contractors will be determined for the repair/ replacement of equipment and equipment. This will speed up future repairs of production ships.
The covers of the shafts of the missile compartment of the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear submarine. 2019
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Andrey Stanavov
So the installation of the 4th generation Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear missile submarine in the first medium repair is a landmark event, quite commensurate in importance with the laying of a new nuclear submarine. And this opens up new prospects for the development of the domestic nuclear submarine fleet.
Dmitry Boltenkov
