ARKHANGELSK, June 7 (AVN) - The Northern Fleet ill commission the new Gepard multirole nuclear submarine in late July, the headquarters of the Belomorsk naval base said on Thursday.
The submarine was made by the Sevmash shipyard in the town of Severodvinsk, a headquarters spokesman told the Military News Agency. It is undergoing sea trials at a proving range of the Belomorsk base, he stressed.
The Gepard is a Project 971 submarine designed by the Malakhit naval machine-building design bureau. It is the 11th Bars-class submarine (NATO classification Shark) that was made by Sevmash. Project 971 submarines are armed with torpedoes, 82-R anti-ship torpedoes and Granat cruise missiles that are intended for hitting coastal targets at the ranges of up to 3,000km and launched from torpedo tubes.
The submarines' maximum diving depth makes 900m, full run speed in the submerged position up to 36 knots, sea endurance up to 100 days and complement 61 people.
The two latest Project 971 vessels, the Vepr commissioned by the Northern Fleet in 1996 and the Gepard, have undergone profound modernisation, and that is why NATO experts included them into a separate class called Shark-2. Bars-class vessels produce the lowest level of noise in the Russian Navy. It is confirmed by acoustic tests held during the Gepard's current voyage. According to the spokesman, the tests proved that modern hydro-acoustic systems are practically unable to find out whether the submarine is moving even when it sails fast underwater.
The Gepard was laid down in 1991 and set afloat on September 1999. Vladimir Putin, then Russia's prime minister, attended the ceremony. The submarine underwent mooring tests in summer 2000. A nuclear security commission of the Defence Ministry checked it in September. Two months later Navy Commander Vladimir Kuroyedov ordered to start the Gepard's sea trials.
While the vessel was tested in the sea several defects were found in its design, for instance, the satellite communication aerial broke down. The Sevmash plant was to blame for the defects. At present the crew has no serious claims to the shipbuilders.
A state commission is to arrive in Severodvinsk in late June to sign the vessel's commissioning act. It is planned that the Gepard will join the Northern Fleet on July 29, which is celebrated as Navy Day in Russia.