Project 955: Borei class SSBN

Knyaz Vladimir Project 955A submarine to join Northern Fleet

The fourth submarine of the Project 955A, Knyaz Vladimir, is expected to join the navy by the end of 2019. It will remain with the Northern Fleet, joining the first Project 955 submarine, Yuri Dolgorukiy.

Construction of Knyaz Vladimir began in 2012, it was floated out of the dry dock in November 2017.

The fifth Project 955/955A submarine, Knyaz Oleg, still appears to be in the dry dock at Sevmash, although it was expected to begin service in 2020. It will join the Pacific Fleet.

http://russianforces.org/blog/2019/09/knyaz_vladimir_project_955a_su.shtml

walle83 wrote:Here we go.
Missile launched.

https://navaltoday.com/2019/11/01/russias-newest-ballistic-missile-sub-launches-its-first-bulava-slbm/

Compared to the first three Borei boats, inducted into the navy between 2013 and 2014, Borei-A boats are built with four additional missile tubes making them capable of carrying a total of 20 Bulava (RSM-56) ballistic missiles.

idiots...

Why do these so called experts keep claiming the Russians want 20 missile launch tubes in their Boreis?

It made sense for Typhoon because there was no limit on how many SLBMs were allowed so if you had 6 boats then having 20 missiles in each... as opposed to say 12 or 16 meant you could have more missiles.

These days the max number of missiles is limited so there is no value in putting all your eggs in fewer baskets.

The current in force arms limitation treaty limits each side to about 1,500 warheads, which means if you divide that by three you are allowed 500 SLBM warheads... fitting 20 missiles into each borei with 6 warheads per missile means 500/6 = they can have about 83 missiles... with 20 missiles per sub that means four subs before they start having capacity for too many SLBMs. With 16 missiles per sub that means 5 subs... and 12 missiles per sub that means they can have about 7.

If they declare each Bulava able to carry 4 warheads that means they can have 125 missiles, so with 20 missiles per sub that is about 6 subs, with 16 missiles that is about 8 subs and with 12 missiles that is about 10 subs.

With 5 warheads per missile and 12 launch tubes you get 8.3 subs for 500 warheads... or more accurately with 5 warheads on each missile, with 8 subs with 12 warheads you get 480 warheads... which is about what they need. Replace a few of those 12 missile models with some 16 missile models and they will be close enough to 500... with the wording of the current treaty they only need to meet the numbers for one day anyway and when it expires the next day they can make as many as they like.

So what if it does withdraw from new Start... making nuclear weapons is much cheaper than maintaining a very large conventional force.

I rather suspect considering all the new weapons they describe as doomsday weapons... like Posiden, and that nuclear powered cruise missile, that they will also be working on ever more powerful warheads to match.

Their work on miniaturising warheads should lead to improvements... a cruise missile with unlimited flight range might originally have had a 400Kt nuclear warhead, but as a doomsday device they could take that warhead out and replace it with a dozen or more tiny 2kt nukes that can be dropped as the missile flys along its way.

Their new design fast breeder reactors should be ideal for making weapons grade material very quickly too, so any new Arms race the US wants to start... Russia will be happy to oblige I am sure.

I doubt Putin thinks Trump is smart enough to renew the new START programme... it wasn't really the number limitations... it was the right of inspections and trading information that made it valuable... with no replacement for New START the Russians can do what they like and not have to declare anything at all to the west.

Those hypersonic Zircons and upgraded 3,500km range hypersonic Iskanders might have nuke payloads or they might not.

Russian latest Borei-A nuclear-powered sub completes state trials

The most advanced nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir has arrived at the Northern Fleet’s Belomorsk naval base

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The most advanced nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir (Prince Vladimir) has completed the cycle of state trials and arrived at the Northern Fleet’s Belomorsk naval base, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"The latest Project Borei-A strategic underwater cruiser Knyaz Vladimir has completed state trials at the Northern Fleet’s combat training ranges in the White Sea and arrived in Severodvinsk," the press office said in a statement.

At the wharf of the Northern Fleet’s Belomorsk naval base, the cruiser’s crew was welcomed by Base Commander Rear Admiral Konstantin Kabantsov and CEO of the Sevmash Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) Mikhail Budnichenko.

On October 30, the crew of the Knyaz Vladimir test-fired a sea-launched Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea towards the Kura range in Kamchatka in the Russian Far East and also held torpedo fire against an underwater and surface target.

Aside from the trials of the sub’s sea-launched weapons, the shipbuilders checked the operation and the reliability of all its systems, mechanisms and equipment and made measurements of the noise level and the underwater cruiser’s other special parameters.

The Knyaz Vladimir is the improved Project 955A strategic missile-carrying underwater cruiser and represents the fourth generation of nuclear-powered subs built for the Russian Navy.

Compared to the first three Borei-class submarines - the Yuri Dolgoruky, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, the Knyaz Vladimir is less noisy and features improved maneuvering, depth and armament control systems.

https://tass.com/defense/1091627

The Russian news agency TASS posted the first video of the country’s latest Project 955A (Borei-A) strategic fourth-generation nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine Knyaz Vladimir built at the Sevmash Shipyard.

The 24 tubes of the Ohio class and 20 tubes of the Akula class were from a time when there were no restrictions on how many missiles or warheads you could have so having more on each sub just meant for every new sub you put in to service meant more missiles available for use if needed.

These days with new START.... right now Russia could have 2 and a half Akulas with 500 warheads in 50 missiles, while the US could have 3 and a half Ohios with 504 warheads in 84 missiles.

With Borei having 16 launch tubes and 6 warheads per missile that is 96 warheads per boat so just over 5 Boreis is legal these days.

PapaDragon wrote:
Knyaz Vladimir from above, 16 tubes as expected:

That large truss arrangement on the bow is apparently related to some calibration activities for her hydro-acoustical sensor complex (?). Anyone have any info on it? I've never seen anything like this before.

Better views in these photos:

Almost looks like an iron sight that you use a periscope to aim down to make sure the barrel is calibrated properly....

The Project 955A (Borei-A) lead nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir will be delivered to the Russian Navy in about a month and a half, Head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov said on Monday.

https://tass.com/defense/1118461