Russian Navy to receive Belgorod submarine in September 2020.

The Belgorod special submarine which is the first carrier of Poseidon craft will sail out for trials in June 2020 and has to be handed over to the Navy in September, Sevmash Shipyard CEO Mikhail Budnichenko said.

The world's longest submarine, the Belgorod (Picture source: TASS)

"Mooring trials have begun. All stages of the work are ongoing in strict compliance with the scheduled approved by the Defense Ministry," he said.

The Belgorod is to sail out on June 15, 2020. "The acceptance act is to be signed in September according to the contract," he said.

The Belgorod nuclear submarine was initially built as Antey-class of project 949A. It was laid by Sevmash on July 24, 1992, and re-laid on December 20, 2012, by project 09852 and floated on April 23, 2019. The technical characteristics are kept secret. In November 2018, the Defense Ministry said the crew of the submarine had been formed.

The nuclear-powered Belgorod is neither an attack submarine nor a ballistic missile sub. A special mission submarine, Belgorod will be a mothership to other undersea vessels. The sub can carry a payload on its back, behind the sail, or a Losharik class mini-submarine that attaches and detaches to the bottom of the hull.

The hull was lengthened to approximately 184 meters (604 feet) and the ship’s displacement ballooned to 30,000 tons submerged--more than fifty per cent greater than the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The result of an unfinished hull the Belgorod is a one-off, and there will not be another one like it.

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