Upgraded SSK Kaluga to join Northern Fleet

Diesel electric submarine Kaluga will be put afloat after refitting at Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka Shipyard in May 2012,  ITAR-TASS reported.

Kaluga will be the first non-nuclear submarine repaired by Zvezdochka for Russian Navy in the last 25 years.

The sub had been staying at the shipyard's quay for nine years pending repair. Full-scale upgrading works started in the last year. As is expected, SSK Kaluga will be commissioned into Northern Fleet by the end of 2012.

The Varshavyanka-class submarine was built in 1989 by Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard in Nizhniy Novgorod. At first, she served at Black Sea Fleet and then was transferred to the north. The project was developed by Rubin Central Design Bureau (St. Petersburg).

Displacement of Varshavyanka-class submarines is 2,300 tons; length is 73 meters; submerged speed is 18 knots; full endurance is 45 days; test depth is 300 meters; complement is 52 men; armament includes 6 x 533-mm torpedo tubes.