On November 22, 2008 the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk launched the K-18 Karelia submarine of the Project 667BDRM class, which has been in overhaul since 2004. The overhaul is reported to be "71 percent complete" and the submarine is expected to return to service in late 2009.
Karelia will join four submarines of the Project 667BDRM class that have completed overhaul already - K-51 Verkhoturie, K-84 Ekaterinburg, K-114 Tula, and K-117 Bryansk. The next submarine in line for an overhaul is K-407 Novomoskovsk.
As part of the overhaul and modernization process Karelia will carry a version of the R-29RM missile known as Sineva. It appears that it will be the third submarine equipped with Sineva missiles - after K-114 Tula, which returned to service in January 2006, and K-117 Bryansk, which returned in January 2008.
P.S. Here is an interesting bit of data reported in one of the news stories - during its 15 years in service Karelia conducted 38 patrols and traveled 140 thousand miles, which indicates that it did not normally stray very far from its base.
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Comments
Do they have to normally stray far away from bases ? Russian as I understand have a bastion strategy where they patrol in safe protected water , and the SLBM have the range to attack most of the targets in the world.
I agree - they certainly don't have to go far. Still, it's an interesting data point.
Just a question for those in the know. Why wouldnt the Russian SSBNs just patrol in the White Sea? This is Russian territorial waters and could easily be protected from entry by enemy submarines and ships, yet it is large enough to effectively hide a sub.
Pavel , how does this 15 years in service and 38 patrols compare with that of Western figures for a SSBN on patrol ?
Why haven't K-51 Verkhoturie, K-84 Ekaterinburg equipped with Sineva after their mid life modernization ?
Can we have the list of items that were upgraded or new system installed after this modernization besides the SLBM ?
140.000 miles/ 38 patrols = 3700 miles/patrol = 5900 km/patrol.
5900 km/30 days/patrol = 200 km/day = 8 km/h = 5 miles/h.
It seems to be a normal speed for a SSBN patrol. Someone expects to see a SSBN runing at 40 km/hr? I can't see any correlation with the distance from the base. Anyway, the bastion strategy made distance from the base counterproductive (less protection).
What about BS 64 VLADIMIR, (Delta IV)?
K-64 Vladimir has been converted into a special-forces submarine
"Just a question for those in the know. Why wouldnt the Russian SSBNs just patrol in the White Sea? This is Russian territorial waters and could easily be protected from entry by enemy submarines and ships, yet it is large enough to effectively hide a sub."- [Oleg] [November 23, 2008] [#]
A Russian SSBN -or any other nation's SSBN for that matter- it may need to deploy further then her immediate friendly waters for several reasons.
A prolonged deployment is an unreplaceble way of testing both the boat, the onboard miriad of systems and the training/endurance of the crew. But one of the most important reasons for a far deployment (especially close to enemy shores) is the possibility presented by such deployment -in case of an escalated political crisis- for a first nuclear strike employing depressed trajectories.