The submarine “Khabarovsk” is looking for a home base. The Ministry of Defense is already working on the distribution of fleets and the preparation of the necessary ground infrastructure for carriers of nuclear Poseidons. Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula is being considered as a possible base for the submarine, which is to be launched this year. Great depths in the Pacific Ocean provide submarines with maximum freedom of maneuver and stealth deployment, experts explain.
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Far Eastern base
Currently, the issue of placing the special-purpose submarine “Khabarovsk” is being considered. One of the possible options for its deployment is Kamchatka, sources in the military department told Izvestia.familiar with the situation. There she will become part of the Russian Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet). True, according to Izvestia’s interlocutors, no final decision has been made yet.
The commander of the Pacific Fleet’s submarine forces, Vice Admiral Vladimir Dmitriev, said that soon the fleet will receive the latest combat units, including those that have no analogues in the world. According to him, they will not belong to the already known projects of the Borei-A missile carriers and the Yasen-M multipurpose missile carriers.
According to the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, in Kamchatka by the end of 2021, it is planned to complete the construction of all the necessary infrastructure for basing nuclear submarines of new projects.
Izvestia has already reported that currently the creation of ground facilities for storage, maintenance and preparation for use of Poseidon underwater drones is nearing completion… The work is scheduled to be completed next year.
In the Pacific Ocean, great depths begin already in the coastal zone, which gives the submarine commander maximum room for maneuver, former submarine commander Rear Admiral Vsevolod Khmyrov told Izvestia.
– Depending on the tasks, the boat goes to different depths: if it needs to listen to the enemy’s ships, this is one mark, if it should go unnoticed – another, – explained the expert. “In addition, maximum stealth is achieved depending on hydrological conditions and ocean waves. therefore the commander decides to dive based on the situation. And unlike, for example, the Barents Sea, where the bottom is about a hundred meters, the hydrography of the Pacific Ocean allows you to use all the capabilities of submarines…
Underwater “Khabarovsk”
The special-purpose submarine “Khabarovsk” will be the first Poseidon carrier ship built from scratch… This submarine was laid down according to project 09851 at the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise in 2014. According to media reports, it is already in a high degree of readiness and should be launched in 2021.
The exact characteristics of the submarine have not been announced. It is known that it will correspond in size and crew size to a submarine cruiser… The length will be more than 100, and the width will be about 12 m.The total displacement in the submerged state will be at least 10 thousand tons. It was reported that Khabarovsk has six launchers for Poseidon autonomous underwater robots… Perhaps they will equip it with several torpedo tubes for self-defense.
The construction of another Poseidon carrier is now being completed. It was the submarine K-329 “Belgorod”. The multipurpose submarine cruiser of the same type with the deceased Kursk began to be built back in 1992, but then it was mothballed. At the end of 2012, construction was resumed according to a new project 09852, adapted for the use of underwater robots.
The main armament of both special-purpose submarines will be the unique Poseidon robotic torpedoes. Thanks to its own nuclear power plant they have an almost unlimited range. Each carries a powerful thermonuclear warhead. Such devices can be used for an irresistible retaliatory strike against coastal targets and squadrons of enemy ships in the event of a large-scale atomic war.
“Vespiary”
Due to the multitude of nuclear submarines deployed in Vilyuchinsk and their high activity, the Kamchatka base received the nickname “hornet’s nest” in the United States during the Cold War. Now this is the only place of their deployment in the Far East. Only diesel submarines are located in the Vladivostok area.
Two divisions of nuclear submarines are based in Kamchatka at once. The 25th includes three strategic submarine cruisers. Two of them are represented by the newest Project 955 Borey submarines with Bulava missiles – Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh. They entered the fleet in 2013–2014. According to official plans, this summer, they should be joined by “Prince Oleg”, built according to an improved design.
The 10th submarine division united nine multipurpose submarines with torpedoes and cruise missiles. It will be reinforced with new project 885M Yasen-M submarine cruisers. The first of them – “Novosibirsk” – can enter the Pacific Fleet before the end of this year.
In the 2000s, a large-scale program was launched in Vilyuchinsk to create a new submarine base infrastructure and improve living conditions for the military and their families.
In a remote city, a sports and recreation complex “Ocean” with a water park, an ice skating rink and a shopping and entertainment center for the leisure of military families were built at the expense of the federal budget. New residential neighborhoods are also being built.
The creation of the basing infrastructure was synchronized with the receipt of new equipment. The construction of piers for new submarines has been practically completed. It was also reported about the construction of a complex for loading missiles on submarines and earthquake-resistant arsenals for storing their nuclear and conventional weapons.