What's new at Russian shipyards and WMF bases?
What's new at Russian shipyards and WMF bases. The construction of strategic submarines of the Borya type is underway. Meanwhile, on September 30 last year, Alexander Nevsky, the second in this series, drove into Vilyuchinsk in Kamchatka. During the transition from the shipyard to the Far North, he traveled 4500 nautical miles in Arctic waters.
The current decade is undoubtedly a period when the Navy of the Russian Federation is clearly regaining its position as one of the strongest fleets in the world. A manifestation of this is, among other things, the construction and commissioning of new ships, both combat and auxiliary, which is directly related to the systematic increase in financial spending on the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, including their naval contingent. As a result, over the past five years there has been a “bombardment” with information about the start of construction work, the launching or commissioning of new ships. The article presents the most important events of the past year related to this process.
Keel placement
The largest units with a large offensive potential, the keels of which were laid in 2015, were two nuclear submarines. On March 19 last year, the construction of the Arkhangelsk multi-purpose submarine began at the shipyard of OJSC PO Sevmash in Severodvinsk. This is the fourth ship built according to the modernized project 885M Yasen-M. According to the basic project 885 "Ash", only the prototype K-560 "Severodvinsk" was built, which has been in service with the Navy since June 17, 2014.
On December 18, 2015, the keel of a ship armed with Imperator Alexander III strategic ballistic missiles was laid at the same shipyard. It is the fourth unit of the modified project 955A Borey-A. In total, it is planned to build five ships of this type, and the corresponding contract was signed on May 28, 2012. Contrary to earlier announcements, at the end of 2015, not two, but one Boriev-A was laid down. According to the current plans, in 2020 the Russian fleet will have eight new-generation strategic submarines - three Project 955 and five Project 955A.
In the category of escort ships, it is worth noting the start of construction of three project 20380 missile corvettes. Two of them are being built at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. These are: "Zealous" and "Strict", the keel of which was laid on February 20 and which should be put into operation in 2018. July 22 at the shipyard Amur Shipbuilding Plant in Komsomolsk in the Far East on the Amur. The most important thing in these events is the fact that project 20380 base corvettes have returned to construction, of which four - also built by Severnaya - are used in the Baltic Fleet, and two from Komsomolsk are intended for the Pacific Fleet, are still being built, instead of modernized and project 20385 corvettes, which are more powerful in terms of armament. Only two such units are being built at the aforementioned shipyard in St. Petersburg, while three years ago it was reported that project 20385 corvettes would completely replace their predecessors.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, project 20385 corvettes are technically more complicated, which means they are much more expensive than the original ones. There was even information about the complete abandonment of the construction of corvettes of this type in favor of new ones, project 20386. This was additionally imposed by international sanctions that did not allow them to be equipped with German MTU (Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG) timing diesel engines, instead of which domestic engines of the company will be installed JSC "Kolomensky Zavod" from Kolomna. All this meant that the prototype of this type of apparatus - "Thundering", the keel of which was laid on February 1, 2012 and which was supposed to enter service last year, has not even been launched yet. This is currently planned to happen in 2017. Thus, the start of construction of three units of project 20380 can become an “emergency exit”, allowing relatively quickly commissioning corvettes of a proven design.
It is noteworthy that in 2015 the construction of a single frigate of projects 22350 and 11356R did not begin. This is undeniably related to the problems these programs experienced as a result of Russia's annexation of Crimea, as the gyms intended for them were built entirely in Ukraine or consisted largely of components manufactured there. Mastering the construction of such power plants in Russia takes time, therefore, at least officially, the construction of the fifth project 22350 - "Admiral Yumashev" and the sixth project 11356 - "Admiral Kornilov" - was not started. As for the units of the latter type, the propulsion systems for the first three ships were delivered before the annexation of the Crimea. However, when it comes to ships of the second series, contracted on September 13, 2011 - Admiral Butakov, whose keel was laid on July 12, 2013, and Admiral Istomin, built from November 15, 2013 - the situation is much more complicated. It's just that after the occupation of Crimea, the Ukrainian side does not intend to hand over the gyms intended for them. This led to the suspension of all work on these frigates in the spring of 2015, which, however, were resumed later. The manufacturer of gas turbines for these units will ultimately be the Rybinsk NPO Saturn and gearboxes PJSC Zvezda from St. Petersburg. However, their deliveries are not expected before the end of 2017, and by that time the hulls of the two most advanced frigates of the second series will be brought to a launching condition in the near future to make room for other orders. This was quickly confirmed by the "silent" launch of "Admiral Butakov" on March 2 this year without the installation of simulators.
