ST. PETERSBURG. Aug 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The St. Andrew's flag will be hoisted above the Novorossiysk diesel-electric submarine of Project 636.3 at the Admiralty Shipyards of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) on Friday, a shipyard spokesman told Interfax-AVN.
"The raising of the St. Andrew's flag will symbolize the submarine's transfer to the Navy," the Navy staff added.
The Novorossiysk is the first of six submarines the Admiralty Shipyards is constructing for the Russian Black Sea Fleet. All the Novorossiysk crewmembers are contract servicemen trained at the Navy training center in Obninsk. Submarine commanders have been coached aboard similar submarines of the Baltic Fleet.
The keel of the second submarine of the series, the Rostov-on-Don, was laid in November 2011 and the submarine was launched in June 2014.
The construction of the third submarine, the Stary Oskol, began in August 2012. It will be launched on August 27.
The keel laying ceremony for the fourth submarine, the Krasnodar, was held in February 2014.
The keels of the fifth and sixth subs, the Veliky Novgorod and Kolpino, will be laid in the fall.
The diesel-electric submarines of modernized Project 636.3 developed by the Rubin Central Navy Design Bureau have higher combat efficiency achieved through an optimal combination of stealth acoustics and long target detection ranges, a brand-new inertial navigation, a contemporary automated data control system, and powerful and rapid torpedoes and missiles.
The submarines have a surface speed of 17 knots, an undersea speed of 20 knots, an operating depth of 240 meters, a sea endurance of 45 days, a crew of 52 men and an undersea displacement of 3,950 tonnes.