Diesel-electric submarine Vladikavkaz delivered to RF Navy (photo)
The ceremony marking the signing of the delivery/acceptance certificate for the large diesel-electric submarine Vladikavkaz upgraded at Zvezdochka shipyard (United Shipbuilding Corporation) was held yesterday, the shipyard says.
The submarine was delivered to the shipyard for repair and modernization in 2008. The state contract for submarine repair was signed in 2011.
The workshop phase of the overhaul lasted for two years and a half and included hull, equipment and other system repairs, as well as upgrades to communications, navigation, traffic control, naval combat data, propulsion control and other systems.
Having been floated out in September 2014, the submarine was fitted out and then underwent mooring tests. In early August the Vladikavkaz passed the manufacturer’s sea trials and confirmed all the speed, handling, noise and many other parameters designated by the Navy.
The Vladikavkaz returns to RF Navy having had its military characteristics significantly improved. The submarine will join the Northern Fleet for another 10 years, the statement says.
The Vladikavkaz is the second Project 877 submarine upgraded for Russia’s Navy by Zvezdochka shipyard. In 2013, the Zvezdochka shipyard delivered the same-class Kaluga submarine to Russia’s Navy. The next submarine to be upgraded by Zvezdochka is the Northern Fleet’s submarine Yaroslavl.
The Kilo-class Project 877 submarines are designed for anti-shipping and anti-submarine operations, deployment of mines, reconnaissance. 20 submarines of Project 877 have been exported.
The diesel-electric attack submarine Vladikavkaz was built in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) at Kransoye Sormovo Shipyard. The submarine entered service in the Soviet Navy in 1990 and served in the Black Sea Fleet with the base in Sevastopol, then in the North Fleet with the base in Polyarny. The sub obtained the name of Vladikavkaz on August 2, 1997 when she was taken under patronage of North Ossetia's regional administration.
The Project 877 LPMB ships have displacement of more than 3,000 tons, submerged speed up to 17 knots. Length - 72.6 m, beam - 9.9 m. Armament - six 533-mm torpedo tubes. Crew - 57.
