Russian nuclear powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir ready for sea duty.

The crew of the nuclear submarine Knyaz Vladimir, which is to join the Russian Navy by the end of this year, in parallel with the plant and state trails, has fully mastered the new submarine and passed all the necessary course tasks, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, Commander of the Northern Fleet, reported to the Minister of Defence General of the Army Sergei Shoigu on March 12.

Borey-class Russian submarine, the Yuriy Dolgorukiy (Picture source: Russian MoD)

The head of the military department received reports from officers of the Northern Fleet on testing of the nuclear submarine Knyaz Vladimir, as part of his instruction to commission the submarine by the end of this year. As the commander explained that the crew of the submarine will be ready to carry out the assigned tasks at sea as soon as it is commissioned by the Navy.

The Knyaz Vladimir SSBN project was developed by the Rubin Design Bureau, and the chief designer was Sergey Kovalev. The keel was expected to have been laid down sometime in 2010 but this was delayed until July 2012 because of a price dispute between the Russian MOD and the United Shipbuilding Corporation.

The submarine is the first of the Project 955A sub-class and will have several modifications from the previous members of the Project 955 class. These modifications will include major structural changes, reduced acoustic signature, and more modern communication equipment. While initially reported to have 4 more (20 total) launch tubes, the 955A will only have 16 missile tubes as did the 955. If these reports are true, the fourth ship may be the lead ship of a new Borei II class, though this has not been officially stated. The submarine will be armed with the newest submarine-launched ballistic missile developed in Russia, the R-30 (RSM-56) Bulava (NATO designation SS-NX-32). Knyaz Vladimir and its sister ships will replace the Delta and Typhoon-class submarines in the Russian Navy. Knyaz Vladimir was launched on 17 November 2017.