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Submarines - Shipbuilding

Russia does not have the same budget and specialists as the USSR. The only thing that has remained the same is the ambition. Nuclear submarines finally turned to a method that has long been used in the United States, Great Britain, France and Sweden. First of all, this will speed up the construction of strategic submarines equipped with ballistic missiles. The new technology will be implemented first at Sevmash in Severodvinsk. Its press service reported on preparations for the use of block-modular technology for the construction of nuclear submarines. This corresponds to the practice according to which, before launching the production of a new generation of ships, the shipbuilding enterprise that has received such a task prepares the necessary technical and organizational base.

The choice of Sevmash is completely natural, since it is the only place in the Russian Federation where strategic nuclear submarines are built. In total, 133 such ships have been built in Severodvinsk, and four more are currently undergoing tests before their transfer to the Navy. The enterprise has repeatedly updated its equipment as each new project was launched. The Russians consider the first large-scale modernization to be the one carried out in the 1970s, when preparations began for the construction of third-generation submarines of Project 941 Akula. These were the largest submarines ever built in the world.

For a boat 175 meters long and 23 meters wide with an underwater displacement of 48 thousand tons, it was necessary to build a special slipway shop (No. 55) of unprecedented dimensions. The implementation of the project for the construction of multi-purpose submarines of Project 971 "Shchuka" with an underwater displacement of 12,770 tons also required serious changes in the shipyard equipment and construction technology.

Russians are increasingly open about the fact that after the collapse of the USSR, the process of introducing technological innovations at Sevmash has seriously slowed down, and therefore they have begun to lag behind Western countries in this area. In order to overcome the lag, Severodvinsk decided to implement the same methods that the Americans, French and British use when building their Virginia, Suffren and Astute submarines, respectively.

The Russians plan to assemble their submarines by connecting blocks already equipped with equipment and engineering systems (cables, pipelines). According to Sevmash, "the use of block-modular technology will reduce the labor intensity and construction time of nuclear submarines."

It will replace the modular-aggregate method, which was once considered very progressive and was implemented during the construction of third-generation submarines of projects 941 and 971. The method consisted of block sections being delivered from the hull-welding production to the slipway, where they were assembled into blocks, then hydraulic tests were carried out, and then they were separated again. Not individual devices, but modules with pipelines and electrical equipment were mounted in the prepared sections. Now this method is considered outdated and too expensive. Block-modular technology makes it possible to reduce the time a submarine spends in the slipway shop, since the equipment of individual blocks will be produced in parallel with the hull-building work in special shops.

Research related to the use of this technology has reportedly been underway at Sevmash since 2016. That was when a special working group was created there, which included, in addition to Severodvinsk specialists, representatives of the Rubin and Malakhit design bureaus from St. Petersburg, where all submarines built in Russia are designed. So far, preparations are limited to upgrading the enterprise's equipment and creating new infrastructure. The Russians report that it will also be necessary to "build new logistics for the supply of equipment and services." The task will be all the more difficult since the new technology is planned to be used, among other things, in the construction of Project 955A Borei-A submarines, which have already been launched into serial production.

The construction of the last four ordered Boreys began in 2014 (two), 2015 and 2016. It is likely that new production technologies will not be implemented on them, but on the next two examples (possibly the Borey-B), which were planned to be laid down in May 2020. This event, however, is being postponed. Work on the creation of fifth-generation nuclear submarines is also being delayed.

The situation is quite different in the United States, which is investing more and more in the new Columbia-class strategic submarine project (its construction is due to begin in 2021). The same process is underway in France, which is in an advantageous position, as it has just completed preparations for the commissioning of the new-generation Suffren multipurpose submarine (Project Barracuda), so it has all the necessary conditions and specialists for production.

Russians rarely or never talk about similar programs. While Russia was in stagnation, the Americans managed to raise the bar very high. In particular, the reactor installation of their Columbia will not require recharging during its entire service life (more than 40 years). Such technologies are not yet available to the Russians. They do say, however, that when serial production of the Borei-A submarines began, Russian design bureaus, in cooperation with the Navy, began experimental design work, but so far this consists of formulating requirements and methods for their implementation on the future submarine.

The production of fifth-generation nuclear submarines is planned to begin after the construction of three Project 955 Borei and five Project 955A Borei A ships. Russia will have to make a giant technological leap, since these submarines can hardly be called innovative. Of course, the Borei makes an impression: it has an underwater displacement of 24 thousand tons, a length of 170 and a width of 13.5 meters, and can develop an underwater speed of up to 29 knots (surface - up to 15). Its arsenal includes 16 Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles (each can carry 6-10 nuclear warheads), but the design of these submarines began in the late 1980s, and the construction of the first (Yuri Dolgoruky) began almost a quarter of a century ago, on November 22, 1996.

Moreover, their production has proven difficult, as evidenced by the fact that the Navy received the Yuri Dolgoruky only on January 10, 2013. The crew had problems with this boat, which complicated the process of its acceptance into service. In the meantime, a technological revolution has taken place in electronic and computer systems, so that almost every submarine of this type receives its own equipment and even weapons systems.

Now the Russians will have to put this whole "hodgepodge" in order in the conditions of a deficit of financial resources. Without technological changes, the creation of new strategic submarines is impossible, which Russia understands perfectly well.