Russian submarine Yury Dolgorukiy

Career (Russia)
Name:	Yury Dolgorukiy
Namesake:	Yuriy Dolgorukiy
Builder:	Sevmash
Laid down:	2 November 1996
Launched:	13 February 2008
Commissioned:	Scheduled for late 2009 or early 2010
General characteristics
Type:	Borei-class submarine
Displacement:	14,720 t (14,488 long tons) surfaced 24,000 t (23,621 long tons) submerged
Length:	170 m (557 ft 9 in)
Beam:	13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)
Draught:	10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Propulsion:	1 × OK-650B nuclear reactor 1 × AEU steam turbine 1 shaft
Speed:	25 knots (29 mph; 46 km/h)
Complement:	130 officers and men
Armament:	16 × Bulava SLBMs 6 × SS-N-15 cruise missiles (21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes)

Yuriy Dolgorukiy (K-535) is the first SSBN submarine of the Borei class that is being built for the Russian Navy. Named after the founder of Moscow Yuri Dolgoruki, it was laid down on 2 November 1996 and was first planned to enter service in 2001.

However, the SS-N-28 missile that the Borei class was supposed to carry was abandoned after several failed tests, and the submarine was redesigned for the Bulava missile. Bulava missile is smaller than the original SS-N-28, and in the 2007 START treaty data exchange it was reported that all Borei-class submarines would carry 16 missiles instead of 12, as originally intended.

The submarine was rolled out of its construction hall into a launch dock on 15 April 2007 in Severodvinsk, when it was about 82% complete. The Russian Government has allocated nearly 5 billion rubles, or 40% of the Navy's 2007 weapons budget, for the completion of the submarine.^{[citation needed]}

Some doubts about the conditions in which the boat was launched were expressed to the Russian press by workers and managers at the Sevmash plant, where the construction was taking place. Specifically, workers noted that welding of the submarine's outer hull was in some places unfinished.^{[citation needed]}

There was some speculation that Yuriy Dolgorukiy would be rushed through the rest of its production and testing phases in order to be ready for the 2008 Russian presidential elections. Much of the ship's equipment remains as yet uninstalled and untested, a process that would normally take over a year to complete.

On 13 February 2008 Yuriy Dolgorukiy was finally launched from its floating dock in Severodvinsk where the final outfitting took place [2]. The submarine's reactor was first activated on 21 November 2008. and submarine begin its sea trials on 19 June 2009.

It is expected to be commissioned in late 2009 or early 2010.

External links

• Media related to Russian submarine Yury Dolgorukiy at Wikimedia Commons
• New Russian nuclear sub to start trials
• Global security
• Warfare.ru
• Image gallery: Yuriy Dolgorukiy nuclear missile submarine
• Article in Vlast (Russian)
• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline, Aug. 8, 2007
• 16 missiles on the Yuriy Dolgorukiy