Recently, citizens of our country are increasingly interested in the combat effectiveness of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. On various Internet portals there are questions related to the army: “How many submarines and surface ships do Russia have?”, “How many tanks and missiles?” etc. Why did our people suddenly begin to show similar interest, what was the reason?
Lyrical digression
Today it is no secret to anyone that the President of the Russian Federation and his team have abruptly changed the direction of our country's foreign policy. They are increasingly giving nose clicks to Western powers. Russia's policy is becoming more and more solid; it does not bend under the United States, the European Union, or the IMF. Many Western politicians say that the "Russian Bear" came out of hibernation and will soon declare itself in full voice. It is hard to say what has changed in the minds of our president and his entourage. Christians tend to say that the final battle of the Apocalypse is coming, and that Russia will become the savior of all mankind. Fans of Vedic teachings claim that the Night of Svarog has ended, Dawn has come, that is, the time of lies and pretense has passed - the era of the warrior has come. We will not say which of them is right and who is mistaken, perhaps everyone is right, and they are talking about the same thing, they only look at the world each from their bell tower. Let's get back to the government, which step by step strengthens our statehood and sovereignty. One of these programs was the reform of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. In this article, we will examine the state of the submarine fleet of our state, the prospects for its development, and find out how many submarines Russia has and what their combat capabilities are. After all, everyone understands that a strong policy can only be carried out by someone who has an excellent army behind him.
How many submarines do Russia have today?
Despite the economic crisis that befell our country in the 90s of the last century, and the appearance of random people as Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in the new century, with all their might to destroy the defense power of the state, the domestic fleet is still considered one of the largest in the world. with powerful potential for combat and reconnaissance missions. One of the main components of the Russian Navy are submarines. The question of how many submarines Russia has is of concern to many, but it is rather difficult to answer it. To begin, consider the official statistics of the Ministry of Defense. According to materials submitted to the public, the Russian Navy has 70 submarines. Of them:
- 14 nuclear-powered ships with ballistic missiles: 10 in the Northern Fleet (SF) and 4 in the Pacific (Pacific Fleet);
- 9 atomic boats with cruise missiles: 4 in the Northern Fleet and 5 in the Pacific Fleet;
- 19 multipurpose nuclear-powered ships: 14 in the SF and 5 in the Pacific Fleet;
- 8 atomic submarines for special purposes - all in the SF;
- 1 diesel submarine for special purposes - in the SF.
- 19 diesel submarines: 2 in the Baltic Fleet (BF), 2 in the Black Sea (Black Sea Fleet), 7 in the Northern Fleet, 8 in the Pacific Fleet.
Real numbers vary significantly with statistics.
70 units of underwater equipment is quite impressive, but statistics are statistics, and real life is completely different. The above figures indicate that the fleet is armed with 50 nuclear-powered ships of various projects, however, as it turned out, less than half of them are on alert. The remaining nuclear submarines of the Russian Navy are either in reserve or awaiting repair, and their return to service is very, very doubtful. In order not to be unfounded, let's look at the state of the submarine fleet in detail, so to speak, with a transition to the individual.
Most age group
The most “ancient” representatives of the Russian submarine fleet are four boats of project 667BDR. To date, two of them (K-223 and K-433) are in service, K-44 and K-129 are under repair. The probability of their return to service is negligible, because even those that are involved are planned to be written off when new boats arrive.
The most numerous class of submarines are multi-purpose projects. In total, there are 19 units of five directions in the Navy. The oldest of them are four 671RTMKK boats: K-388 and K-414 are in service, and K-138 and K-448 are under repair. The decommissioning of these submarines is scheduled for 2015.
Submarine Fleet Base
The Navy includes the three largest boats in the world - 941 Sharks: TK-17 and TK-20 are put in reserve, and TK-208 is used to test Bulava-type ballistic missiles. In the ranks of the Northern Fleet there are six Project 667BDRM submarines: K-18, K-51, K-114, K-117 and K-407 are in service, and K-407 is to leave repair docks this summer.
In addition, nine submarines of the Antey 949A project are in service with the Northern Fleet and Pacific Fleet, but only four of them (K-119, K-410, K-186 and K-456) underwent scheduled repairs, and five are either in reserve, either under repair, and their prospects are very vague.
The basis of multipurpose boats is the Shchuka-B ships of Project 971. There are eleven units in the Russian Navy, five of them (K-154, K-157, K-317, K-335 and K-461) are on alert the composition of the Northern Fleet, two - K-295 and K-331 - in the Pacific Fleet, and the rest are in the sky-ready state, and their repair is a big question. Four more boats belong to projects 945 and 945A: Barracuda and Condor, respectively. These ships are distinguished by a titanium heavy-duty hull. Two of them - K-336 and K-534 - are serving in the Northern Fleet, and K-239 and K-276 are preparing for modernization and repair.
As you can see, the real number of Russian submarines is much less than what was presented in the report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
The most modern submarines of Russia
Modern submarines of Russia - Borey project 955 - became part of the Navy only in 2013. Two of them, K-535 and K-550, are on alert somewhere in the waters of the oceans, K-551 is undergoing mandatory state tests, and another is under construction. It is planned to release a series of eight submarines of this project.
The most modern submarine of our fleet is the K-560 of project 885 Ash. She joined the Navy on December 31, 2013. According to the plans of the Moscow Region, ten such nuclear powered ships will be produced. As you can see, the new Russian submarines continue to enter the Navy, so there is hope that in the coming years the situation will radically change, and for the better.
What awaits the Russian submarine fleet?
According to the statement of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation S. Shoigu, the Navy will receive 24 new submarines by 2020. Such ships of different projects and classes will help to upgrade and raise the combat potential of the fleet to a qualitatively new level. The Ministry of Defense has a clear plan for the development of the submarine navy for the coming decades. It is divided into three stages, each of which has its own goals and features. The first period is already in full swing and will end in 2020, immediately after it the second will begin, which will end in 2030, and the last will last from 2031 to 2050.
Despite the various plans of each of the stages, they all have a common goal: updating the technical base of the Russian submarine fleet and bringing it to the level of world leaders. Consider briefly each of the periods.
First stage
The main task is the construction of new nuclear powered ships carrying strategic weapons. After all, old boats are nearing the end of their useful life, and will soon need to be replaced. They are planned to be replaced by project 955 and 955A submarines. As mentioned earlier, by 2020 it is planned to release 8 boats of this class. After being put into operation, they will be able to simultaneously keep on duty more than 200 missiles of the P-30 "Bulava" class. In addition, the Navy command decided to abandon a large number of different types of projects and replace them with multipurpose fourth-generation nuclear-powered ice-boats “Ash” of project 885.
Second phase
For reasons of secrecy, the details of this period are not made public, it is only known that it is planned to completely replace the obsolete park with fourth-generation models and create new fifth-generation projects.
Third stage
There is even less information about this period than about the second. We only know about the formation of new requirements for the sixth generation submarines. It is possible that a module assembly project for the submarine fleet will also be implemented, when, depending on the requirements of the customer, one or another module is installed, for example, with anti-ship missiles or ballistic missiles, etc. Depending on the task, the boat will assemble like a designer Lego.
Historical reference
Officially, the history of the domestic construction of submarines has been going on since the time of Peter the Great (1718). Then the carpenter from the village near Moscow, Efim Nikonov, submitted a petition to the Russian emperor, in which he proposed a project of the so-called “Secret vessel”. This was the first submarine in Russia. In 1724, this creation was tested on the Neva River, but they failed, as the bottom of the ship was damaged during descent, and the author of the project almost died and was saved only thanks to the personal participation of Peter himself. Nikonov was tasked with correcting the shortcomings, but with the death of the emperor, as often happens, the project was safely forgotten. The first submarine, enlisted in the Russian fleet, appeared only at the beginning of the 20th century. Photo of the destroyer "Dolphin", which became the basis for subsequent domestic submarines, is presented below.
Conclusion
Today, the submarines of Russia and the USA are the basis of the world submarine fleet. To maintain its position, the domestic submarine fleet needs to be developed and modernized. And I would like to end this article with a quote from the Russian Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894): “In the whole world we have only two faithful allies - our army and navy. Everyone else, as soon as possible, will gang themselves up against us. ”