In 2013, the first strategic submarine of the Borey project was adopted by the Russian Navy. The submarine, the photo of which was published by domestic and foreign media, is called "Yuri Dolgoruky." She at that time was the only launched in the previous 12 years. In addition, it was the first similar cruiser ship built in new Russia.
Who is Borey?
Translated from Greek, "Northwind" means "North." But this geographical concept, which partially meets the operational region of Yuri Dolgoruky, does not exhaust the meaning of the name of the project. Each submarine of the Borey project represents the power of the ancient Greek mythological deity, the brother of Noth and Zephyr, the son of Astraeus and Eos, the formidable lord of the north wind. Homer wrote about him in the Iliad, he was a favorite hero of the masters of ancient Hellas, who depicted him in many works of art that have survived to our times. Mighty, winged, bearded, long-haired, he lived in the “seven-house grotto” (that is, quite secretively) and did what he wanted. When he decided to marry, he abducted Oriph, the royal daughter, by the way. This moment was later reflected on their canvases by many artists. The imaginary image of the deity Borea (aka Zephyr) is also on the painting "Spring" by Botticelli himself. This name obliges a nuclear submarine.
Project history
The Borey submarine was originally conceived as a specific type of strategic nuclear carrier - the Bark solid-fuel rocket (R-39UTTX), which was developed in the mid-eighties as a counterweight to the American Pershing 2. As it turned out later, shipbuilders coped with the task better than rocket launchers, in which everything went wrong. In the end, they decided to abandon the Bark project, the new submarine should have been armed with something else. One of the options was to equip it with cruise missiles, but the Ministry of Defense insisted on continuing research in the field of solid rockets, which had, in comparison with liquid samples previously produced in the USSR, a number of advantages. The submarine, meanwhile, continued to build. Difficult times came in the country.
Unfinished Yeltsin times
The project was ready after the collapse of the USSR. The first submarine of the Borey class was laid in 1996 and ... became a real long-term construction. Two years later, when the failure with the Barks became apparent, the finished drawings had to be reviewed. The construction of strong and lightweight buildings in the context of the financial crisis and the financing gap lasted twelve years. Only in 2008 the solemn launching of the Yuri Dolgoruky took place, but it still took a full five-year calendar to complete the finishing work and transfer the ship to the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation. But all these efforts to overcome difficulties can be considered justified. The Borey nuclear submarine has unique seaworthiness.
What kind of ship is this?
Immersion depth - four hundred meters (480 maximum). Underwater - 29 knots, surface -15 knots. Displacement (total) - 24 thousand tons. Each square meter of the hull, made of alloyed high-strength austenitic steel AK-100, can withstand a 40-ton load. The length of the ship is 170 meters. Drinking water is extracted from the side by desalination plants, and oxygen is also taken from there, which is necessary for enriching the air inside the ship. You can not go up to the surface for months. Excellent living conditions were created for the crew. The nuclear submarine Borey sees and hears everything that moves many tens of miles around, has stable communications through coded acoustic channels and is always ready to carry out a combat mission. The purpose of the ship, unlike many universal counterparts, is strategic. By order of the president, he must deliver a massive nuclear missile strike, the power of which is enough to turn an entire continent into a lifeless desert. For this, the cruiser must secretly be present in any area of the World Ocean, at a depth unknown to a probable enemy with coordinates unpredictable for him. Few defense objects are covered in such a veil of mystery, as the submarine Borey. The technical characteristics are classified, very little is known about them, and even then only thanks to the main purpose of any defense system of this level - to frighten a possible aggressor.
The mission of a strategic submarine missile carrier does not include the hunt for vehicles or combat formations of hostile fleets. It provides exclusively nuclear deterrence by the threat of imminent retaliation in the event of an attack.
About shipbuilding "donation"
Material difficulties forced the creators of the first ship of the series (“Yuri Dolgoruky”) to use the project 971 submarines “Cougar” (aka “Pike-B”) to build it. In the design of Alexander Nevsky, similar modules were borrowed from the Lynx, and in the case of Vladimir Monomakh from the Ak Bars. Information leaked to the press that the previously decommissioned Barnaul nuclear submarine became a kind of donor for new ships, which gave rise to some critics of the Russian defense industry to draw conclusions about the technical backwardness of the Russian fleet. Pessimistic assumptions were built that the submarines of project 955 Borey were not at all the last word of military shipbuilding, but were assembled from recycled materials and subassemblies removed from service. In fact, the use of quite suitable shells of a durable case is a completely justified measure designed to reduce material costs. This does not affect the combat effectiveness of new ships.
Reactor and power plant
The heart of the submarine is a 190-megawatt OK-650V steam generator. The main sources of noise unmasking any nuclear submarine are pumps pumping the coolant, and TGZA (turbo-gas-gear unit). In the design of the Borey submarine, these units remained the same as those used on boats of previous series (including the Ash project). But this does not mean at all that the noise level has remained the same - it has been reduced due to various technical tricks. The mover became a water jet, which significantly reduced decibels, all equipment received special shock absorbers. There is an assumption that in conditions requiring special secrecy, the GTZA is disconnected from the propeller shaft, and the boat is driven by a special low-noise engine. At least, this is how the issue of Ashen's secrecy was resolved.
Fourth generation
The submarine Borey is a fourth-generation ship. The purpose of its creation was the replacement of submarines produced in the Soviet era, the most modern of which have been on combat duty for a quarter of a century and are armed with Sineva-type liquid rockets. The continuity of the structures in this case is quite justified: underwater cruisers are very expensive and have a long service life, and their displacement with new samples is gradual. The strategic oceanic carriers of the US Navy’s nuclear missiles are about the same age as the Russian ones, all the more so as the United States has recently focused on creating multipurpose submarines to the detriment of global containment tasks. The pace of construction of Russian submarines in recent years has increased significantly, although they still do not reach Soviet standards. So, the second ship (as well as the third) of project 955 was put into service only six years after laying.
Acoustic station
The entire nose of the Borey nuclear submarine is occupied by the highly sensitive spherical antenna of the hydroacoustic complex MGK-600B Irtysh-Amphora. No matter how powerful the weapons of the underwater giant may be, it would be useless without the ability to objectively assess the surrounding surface and underwater conditions. In addition to the usual tasks of noise direction finding, target recognition, and communications, the onboard HAK can measure ice thickness, detect torpedoes and mines, find wormwood in the northern latitudes and provide the ship's command with a lot of other useful information, invaluable in a combat situation.
Rocket launchers
The submarine Borey has a characteristic silhouette with an influx of pilots. There are missile launchers, which are the main weapon of a special-purpose submarine cruiser. Until the moment when data on the strategic capabilities of the new ship were released, military experts believed that there were twenty of them. In fact, this is not so: there are sixteen launchers, in each of them there is a Bulava missile. The system of ultra-precise depth stabilization provides a reliable start from anywhere in the combat course.
So what about the Mace?
The submarine Borey was created in order to become the carrier of the new Bulava missiles. Since January 2013, the ship has been part of the Northern Fleet, but it is still unknown how effective the strike delivered by it can be. The transition to a new type of ammunition was more difficult than previously expected. Actually, the advantages of solid rockets are as follows:
- safe storage and the almost complete elimination of the possibility of an accidental launch;
- relatively low cost;
- ease of launch;
- less vulnerability to missile defense systems.
At the same time, solid-fuel missiles have a smaller radius of combat use than, with the same mass, similar liquid-propellant ones. In addition, the technology of their production is characterized by many subtleties.
In 2013, the “Mace R-30” was launched from the board of Alexander Nevsky, which ended in failure. The projectile fell two minutes after launch. Prior to this incident, the tests were successful. After troubleshooting, the following launches also failed. The conditions of secrecy do not allow making unambiguous conclusions about the combat effectiveness of the Borey nuclear submarine. The performance characteristics of the Bulava missiles are known only in general terms; they constitute a state secret. Work to improve them and increase reliability continues.
Other boats of project 955
Each of the following submarines of the Borey type is launched from the previous one with ever greater perfection. Since the beginning of 2013, the lead ship Yuri Dolgoruky has been assigned to the base of the Navy Gadzhievo (SF). “Alexander Nevsky” - the next submarine cruiser - since the end of the same year serves in the Pacific Fleet in Vilyuchinsk, as part of the 25th division. A year later, in December 2014, the third unit of the series, the Vladimir Monomakh nuclear submarine, arrived at the same base. All three boats have not yet been on combat duty in operational areas. It is difficult to judge how incomplete technical readiness is the cause of this. The normal practice of all the fleets of the world is to thoroughly develop the skills of the crews and achieve perfect possession of the material part of the ships before entering the operational space. The team consists of 55 highly professional officers and 52 sailors, whose training requirements are also very high. Not only the success of a long voyage, but also the life of sailors depends on how well coordinated their actions are.
Next Boreas
In 2009, the fourth ship of Project 955, named after St. Nicholas, was laid on the Sevmash. Currently, equipment and electrical machines are being installed inside the finished building. This version of the submarine missile carrier is index 955-U.
In 2014, construction began on two more units - Suvorov and Prince Oleg (version 955-A). The works are at the stage of assembling durable cases.
In 2015, it is planned to lay two more submarines of the Borey class.
Whether the Russian Navy will confine itself to eight fourth-generation submarines is still not known exactly. Perhaps by 2020 their number will reach ten. Over time, they will replace the squid and Dolphins of project 667 on combat duty, who will already serve their age.