SEVERODVINSK. Jan 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Experts from the Sevmashpredpriyatie Enterprise, based in Severodvinsk, have completed scrapping two Project 949 nuclear submarines, namely the K-206 Murmansk and the K-525 Arkhangelsk.
The Sevmashprepriyatie press-service told Interfax-Military News Agency that the German RWE NUKEM Company had confirmed the completion of the work, financed by Great Britain.
At the present time three-compartment blocks have already been sent to the Kola Peninsula to the temporary storage facility.
Scrapping the two Project 949 nuclear subs has become the first joint venture of the two largest defense industry enterprises, based in Severodvinsk, - Zvyozdochka and Sevmashprepriyatie.
The British side has allocated a total of $15 million for realizing the project.
The third-generation Project 949 nuclear submarine (NATO codename Oscar-1) was designed by the Rubin Design Bureau, based in St. Petersburg. A total of 20 SSBNs of this type were supposed to have been built. However, only two Project 949 subs were delivered, after which they were modernized into Project 949A, including the Kursk SSBN, which sunk in 2000.
The K-206 Murmansk entered the inventory of the Northern Fleet in April 1980, while the K-525 Arkhangelsk, which until 1991 had been designated Minsky Komsomolets, was fielded on December 30, 1980.
The power plants of both subs consisted of two 190-MW OK-650B water-moderated reactors and two 98,000-hp steam turbines.
Their main armament comprised 24 Granit supersonic cruise missiles. The subs were capable of firing torpedoes, as well as Vodopad missile/torpedoes at all depths. The subs were fitted with four 533-mm and four 650-mm torpedo launchers, accommodated in the bow. Both subs had a displacement of 13,400 tonnes, a length of 143 m, a width of 18.2 m, and an immersion of 9 m.