Nuclear-powered submarine Severodvinsk will be the first among the seven vessels constructed within the framework of Project Yasen. The submarine will be placed into service a year earlier than initially expected - not in 2011, but in 2010.
The Navy Deputy Chief Commander for Armaments Vice Admiral Borisov, who addressed an audience at the ceremony marking the beginning of the construction of the project’s second submarine, could not say what the completion date for the new vessel will be. The second submarine is named Kazan.
Nikolai Kalistratov, director general of the Sevmashpredpriyatiye shipyard in the city of Severodvinsk where the vessel is being built, stated that it usually takes 5-7 years to construct submarines of this class.
While Kazan will be based on the Severodvinsk model, it will be a thoroughly modernized version of the original vessel.