Military historian Dmitry Boltenkov — on the state of the naval strategic nuclear forces of the Russian Navy
The Commander—in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Alexander Moiseev, said at the XIV International Forum "The Arctic: Present and Future": "The naval grouping of the Russian nuclear forces has been completely updated - this remains a priority for our country." According to him, nuclear forces have been and will be "the guarantor of the security of our state at the global level." Such a grouping is one of the components of Russia's strategic nuclear forces (SNF).
The Strategic Nuclear Forces consist of control and communication systems, nuclear weapons storage bases, strategic missile forces (Strategic Missile Forces) armed with mobile and mine-based ballistic missiles of the Yars, Topol-M types and others.
In the near future, the Strategic Missile Forces will receive a new medium-range ballistic missile "Hazel". The air component of the Strategic Nuclear Forces includes regiments with Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers armed with cruise missiles of various types, MiG-31K fighters with hypersonic Dagger missiles.
The naval component of the Strategic Nuclear Forces is represented by strategic missile cruisers of projects 667BDRM, 955 and 955A. Only two countries in the world have a full—fledged triad of strategic nuclear forces - the United States and Russia. The rest of the countries of the "nuclear club" do not have such capabilities.
It is believed that the marine component of the Strategic Nuclear Forces is more resistant to destruction in the event of the outbreak of hostilities. A submarine can hide in the depths of the sea and travel vast distances in a short period of time. This increases its survival rate, especially under Arctic ice.
That is, in the event of a direct military clash between Russia and unfriendly Western countries, our missile submarines can leave for the so-called protected bastions of the seas of the Arctic Ocean, for example, the White Sea, and the Okhotsk Sea of the Pacific Ocean. There they will be able to save their resource and use it during retaliatory strikes on enemy territory.
Organizationally, the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces include two divisions of submarines — one each as part of the Northern and Pacific Fleets.
The Pacific Fleet includes the 25th Submarine Division, which was formed in 1973 with a base in Vilyuchinsk in Kamchatka. Since 1980, it has included missile cruisers of the 667BDR project. Traditionally, during the years of the Soviet Union, more modern missile carriers were part of the Northern Fleet. Therefore, the first production boats of the 955 project entered this division.
In 2015-2016, the first two new cruisers of Project 955, Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh, joined the compound. On December 12, 2020, the last of them successfully launched four Bulava missiles from the Sea of Okhotsk at the Chizha test site in the Arkhangelsk Region.
In anticipation of the further arrival of new submarines, the Vilyuchinsk base was significantly modernized: new berths, barracks, residential and public buildings, and a protected missile loading point were built. The auxiliary forces supporting the activities of the 25th Division included the new Akademik Kovalev missile transport, the Evpatiy Kolovrat icebreaker, floating cranes and tugs.
All these measures made it possible to accept a number of newly built ships already in the 2020s. So in 2022 the cruiser "Prince Oleg" arrived, in 2023 — "Generalissimo Suvorov" and in 2024 — "Emperor Alexander III". By this time, all boats of the 667BDR project that remained in service had been withdrawn from the fleet. The last boat of this project, the Ryazan, will be in 2023.
The division already includes five new cruisers. The Pacific Fleet has a practice of reporting on activities carried out by submarines. So, in 2024, Generalissimo Suvorov and Prince Oleg performed combat services. During the strategic training of the Strategic Nuclear Forces conducted under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, on October 29, Prince Oleg fired a Bulava missile at the test site. In the future, the division may receive several more cruisers of this project.
The other division is the 31st Red Banner of the Order of Nakhimov. It is located at the Gadzhievo base on the Kola Peninsula. The capabilities of this item have also been dramatically improved in recent years.
It includes boats of the 955 Yuri Dolgoruky and 955A Prince Vladimir family. In 2025, the division will be replenished by the Prince Pozharsky, and later by the boats Dmitry Donskoy and Prince Potemkin. Perhaps a few more boats will enter.
In addition to these ships, the division includes five more cruisers of the 667BDRM project. Verkhoturye, Tula and Novomoskovsk are in service. Two more — Bryansk and Karelia — are under renovation and modernization.
Soviet scientists, designers and engineers created cruisers of the 667BDRMa project as capable of striking retaliation. The Novomoskovsk submarine proved this when, on August 6, 1991, the only one in the world history of military shipbuilding successfully fired a full ammunition package of 16 missiles.
In the dashing 1990s for our country, the Navy received regular funding only for repairs and upgrades of this series of boats. As a result, all the buildings underwent a major upgrade with the replacement of electronics, nuclear reactor cores, as well as the Sineva missile system.
During the above-mentioned training of the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces on October 29, 2024, Novomoskovsk fired a Sineva missile.
As new cruisers arrive, the boats of the 667BDRM project will leave the fleet in the period up to the mid– late 2030s.
The lead boat of project 955 "Yuri Dolgoruky" is in the stage of its first medium repair.
And what about the West?
The U.S. Navy has 14 Ohio series submarines in its fleet. They were built in the period 1976-1997, they are armed with 24 Trident missiles. Now 12 boats of the Columbia project are being built to replace them. The main one should become part of the US Navy in 2031.
The British Navy includes four Vanguard-type boats built between 1986 and 1999 with 16 Trident missiles on board. Saving on everything has led to the fact that in reality, at best, there are eight missiles on board. A program has now begun to replace these boats with four Dreadnought project boats. They are as unified as possible, including missile systems and compartments with Columbia boats. They are expected to join the fleet in the 2030s.
The French Navy includes four Triumphant type boats built in 1986-2010. They are armed with 16 missiles of the M45 and M51.1 types. Their replacement is planned in 2030.
In addition to these countries, submarines with ballistic missiles on board are part of the fleets of India and China.
Thus, at present, the Russian Navy's Strategic Nuclear Forces has a grouping of 12 submarines, either newly built or modernized. The boats are armed with modern Sineva and Bark missile systems and regularly carry out training launches.
The Russian Navy currently has more advanced and better armed submarines than those of unfriendly countries. The next stage of the arms race has been won by Russia outright, which in the course of its ongoing military operation in Ukraine is crucial to deter any aggression against our country.
Following the results of the strategic training held on October 29, Vladimir Putin said: "I stress that we are not going to get involved in a new arms race, but we will maintain nuclear forces at the level of necessary sufficiency. This year, their equipment with modern weapons has reached about 94%. <...> The introduction of the latest nuclear-powered submarines into the Navy continues, as well as the modernization of long-range strategic bombers."
I would also like to remind you that promising work is underway in Russia to create both a new fifth-generation nuclear submarine (a possible Arcturus project) and a ballistic missile for its armament.
Dmitry Boltenkov — military historian
The editorial board's position may not coincide with the author's opinion
