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An Akula-class Russian submarine of the Northern Fleet on the surface. Russian MoD. In late 1984, when the first Akula submarine of the Soviet Navy put to sea, it immediately changed the way anti-submarine warfare would be conducted. With the Akula’s arrival the American submarine fleet would no longer enjoy the dramatic undersea advantages they had possessed since the end of the World War II. The Akula, which is Russian for shark, stunned NATO with its high-level of stealth, especially compared to any Soviet submarine before it. That’s because in the battle for undersea supremacy, silence is the key to...

Russia plans to upgrade its Project 971 nuclear submarines with Kalibr cruise missiles, Rear Admiral Viktor Kochemazov said in a radio interview on Saturday. “The Kalibr cruise missile is a highly efficient weapon as was amply proved by the recent launches from the Rostov-on-Don submarine. Kalibr missiles will be installed on the modernized Project 971 submarines,” Admiral Kochemazov told Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei (Russian News Service) radio station in Moscow. Project 971 Shchuka-B or Bars, designated by NATO as the Akula, are the codenames for the multirole nuclear-powered attack submarines which are the backbone of Russia's maritime nuclear deterrence. First deployed...

The Akula-class nuclear submarine is the biggest in the world. Source: Oleg Kuleshov At the end of June the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear submarine left Severodvinsk, the principal base of the Northern Fleet. It entered the White Sea on a mission, one objective of which is to interact with Russia's antisubmarine forces. This is a unique vessel. The submarines of this series (Project 941, or Typhoon, according to NATO's classification) are considered the biggest in the world. Their length of 124 meters is comparable to two football fields, while the height of this naval predator is that of a nine-story building....

Dear Freerepublicans, I came across your great Free Republic website about four years ago when I was googling the internet looking for information that can help us deciding on a formal name for our newly born daughter. Fourteenth November is celebrated as children’s day in India. 150 years ago, India’s first prime minister was born this day. Today, let me extend a long overdue ‘Thank You’ to this useful website and its inspiring members for the help that I received without you not even knowing about it. In the West, every formal name has an associated predictable child hood name....

Russia to Modernize Akula Class Attack Submarines MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will modernize its fleet of the third-generation Project 971 (Akula class) nuclear-powered attack submarines, Vladimir Dorofeyev, head of the Malakhit Design Bureau, said. “The Defense Ministry has decided to overhaul all third-generation attack submarines,” Dorofeyev said on Tuesday in an interview with RIA Novosti. “The first Project 971 submarine is already being upgraded at the Zvezdochka shipyard [in northern Russia],” he said without specifying the name of the vessel and the total number of submarines to be overhauled. According to Dorofeyev, the overhaul of the first...

India in talks with Russia on lease of second nuclear submarine India is in talks with Russia for the lease of a second nuclear submarine, said a senior official in the Russian defence industry. India is ready to finance the completion of a partly constructed nuclear submarine which sits at the Amur Shipbuilding Plant in the Russian Far East, the Russian government news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed “highly-placed” source in the defence industry. The submarine belongs to the same Project 971 as the Nerpa submarine which India leased from Russia in 2011 for 10 years at a cost...

Pentagon denied on Thursday media reports that a Russian nuclear powered submarine cruised unnoticed for several weeks in the Gulf of Mexico near the shores of the United States. “I don't know what that information was based on, but it was not correct,” Wendy Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said. The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier that Russia’s Akula class nuclear powered submarine (Project 971) freely traveled in June and July in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico undetected by the U.S. Navy.

India to get Russian nuclear attack sub in days: Report MOSCOW: Indian Navy is set to receive a major boost when the much-awaited Russian 'Nerpa' nuclear attack submarine would join its fleet "in the next few days" on a 10-year lease worth USD 920 million. The Akula-II class Nerpa nuclear submarine has finished sea trials and is now ready to be leased to the Indian navy in the next few days, a Russian engineer said today. "The submarine is now fully ready to carry out its tasks," a senior executive at the Amur Shipyard, where the submarine was built, was...

The Russian Navy will retain its Akula class nuclear attack submarines in service till 2019, the country’s Navy chief has said. “They (the Akula class subs) will remain in the fleet at a minimum until 2019,” Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky was quoted by Arms-Tass as saying. The Navy Chief said that modernisation opportunities for the attack submarines “are very large, there are several options.” The Russian naval fleet at present comprises of three Project 941 Akula class (NATO name Typhoon) nuclear submarines out of the six constructed. One of them – the Dmitry Donskoy – has been refurbished to...

Indian Navy will regain its underwater warfare nuclear capability in the next 60-days with the Russians assuring that the Akula-II class attack submarine the Nerpa would be delivered by mid-May. The assurance that the nuclear submarine would be delivered "strictly on schedule" was given by top Russian shipbuilding officials to the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is to visit New Delhi on a state visit next month. Nerpa has been handed over to the Russian Navy for its sea trials. "The 518th project, the Nerpa submarine is currently completing trials in the Pacific basin. We believe that we will be...

Russian Navy takes delivery of a new submarine for lease to India MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - The nuclear submarine K-152 Nerpa has joined the Russian Navy. The new Project 971U boat is planned to be leased to India, to which it will sail next summer. An Indian crew will undergo training aboard it before the hand-over ceremony. Its trials, which began in 2008, were interrupted by a tragic accident on September 8, 2008, when an unauthorized release of a fire-fighting gas killed 20 men and injured more than 20 others. The accident caused a delay in...

Energy: As Russian attack submarines patrol our eastern seaboard, Moscow signs a deal to help Castro's Cuba drill for oil off the Florida coast. In Moscow and Havana, the cry is "Drill, Comrade, Drill!"Two Russian nuclear attack submarines have taken up positions along our East Coast in recent days, another sign of renewed assertiveness by the former communist giant. The move comes as Moscow inks a deal with the communist relic of Cuba to drill for oil we refuse to go after. The submarines are of the Akula class, a counterpart to the Los Angeles class attack subs of the...

The fire safety system on a new Russian nuclear-powered submarine malfunctioned on a test run in the Sea of Japan, spewing chemicals that killed at least 20 people and injured 21 others, officials said Sunday. It was Russia's worst naval accident since torpedo explosions sank another nuclear-powered submarine, the Kursk, in the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 seamen aboard. The victims died of poisoning from Freon gas that was released Saturday when the fire-extinguishing system accidentally turned on, said Sergei Markin, an official with Russia's top investigative agency.

On November 2nd, a Russian Akula (Bars, in Russian) nuclear attack submarine caught fire while undergoing refurbishment in a north (Arctic) coast shipyard. The sub did not have any nuclear fuel aboard. The fire started when a welder's torch ignited some rags, which quickly spread to temporary wood planking, laid down to protect the compartment floor during reconstruction. The fire spread quickly, and the workers fled. The compartment was no longer airtight, because of the construction work, so sealing it off did not work. Eventually water and foam had to be used. Several firemen were injured from toxic fumes, created...

The Mythical Indian SSN Goes to Sea July 6, 2006: The long rumored, but much denied, deal for Indian to lease one, or two, Russian Akula II class nuclear attack subs, is hot news once more. That's because one of the Akula II subs, the Nerpa, was recently launched at the Russian Pacific shipyards. The Nerpa will be completed and undergo sea trials next year. In 2002, the stories began to appear, that India was leasing one, or two, Russian nuclear attack submarines (SSN). Eventually, both India and Russia denied the deal, which was promptly renamed as "a secret deal."...

Russian Akula sub near a beach in Severodvinsk

N-sub for Indian Navy goes on trial in Russian seas PTI Saturday, July 01, 2006 19:43 IST MOSCOW: A Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine to be leased to the Indian Navy has begun sea trials. The submarine, which went on sea trials on June 24, would be leased to the Indian Navy after its formal induction in to the Russian Pacific Fleet next year, Vedomosti daily reported on Saturday. The Amursky Shipyard based in Komsomolsk-on-Amur just across the Chinese border launched the construction of Nerpa nuclear-power submarine (project 971, type Shchuka-B) in 1991. "The contract concluded with India (around 2004) on completing...

No room for mistakes in a nuclear Navy Shishir Gupta With only two years to go before the Indian Navy is to transform itself to a blue water Navy—an elite club comprising mostly of the P5 countries—a string of incidents give clue to how unprepared the force is for it.Consider the following: • Last month, the sonar dome—an anti-submarine device—of the guided missile warship Talwar, got seriously damaged after the ship’s anchor was accidentally dropped on it. • In April, missile corvette Prahar sank after colliding with merchant ship Rajiv Gandhi. • In December 2005, a speeding INS Trishul, another...

Russia building nuclear submarines for India By Vladimir Radyuhin MOSCOW, OCT. 13. Russia is building two nuclear submarines for the Indian Navy, a leading business daily here reported. The construction of two unfinished nuclear submarines of Project 971 resumed this month at the Amur Shipyards in Komsomolsk-on-the-Amur, the Kommersant newspaper said. The building of the submarines was suspended several years ago due to lack of funds. Under an agreement with Russia, India will lease the two submarines and will provide money to enable the Amur Shipyards to complete their construction. According to the report, India has already made an advance...

Silent deep-sea hunter marks its 20-year-long service This Russian submarine made Americans to come down with money to aid Russia. This sub has been given various names like "aircraft carrier killer", or "deep-sea gangster", or "silent hunter", to name a few. The multi-purpose nuclear-powered submarine K-284 of Project 971 was commissioned June 16, 1984 crowning the efforts of the Design Bureau Malakhit and the Amurskiy Zavod shipyard in Komsomolsk-na-Amure. In total, 15 boats of that class have been built. In 1996, those involved in the creation of the submarine were awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation. For the...