Russian United Shipbuilding Corporation laid the keel and started construction on the country’s eighth and final Borei-class submarine named Kniaz Pozharsky.
The keel laying ceremony for the nuclear submarine took place at the Northern Machine Building Enterprise (Sevmash) shipyard in Severodvinsk, Russia on December 23.
Designed by Rubin Marine Equipment Design Bureau, Kniaz Pozharsky is part of the second generation of submarines, Borei-A or Project 955A, and features a number of improvements over the first three submarines.
The Russian Navy currently operates three Project 955 submarines, Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky and Alexander Nevsky.
Vladimir Monomakh, the strategic nuclear submarine, arrived at its permanent base in Viluchinsk, Kamchatka, in September this year after being commissioned into service in December 2014.
Borei-class submarines carry 16 Bulava submarine-launched intercontinental nuclear missiles, with 6 to 10 warheads each. The 170-meter submarines are additionally fitted with a floating rescue chamber which can accommodate the entire crew and detach in case of an emergency.
According to media reports, work on the fifth generation of Russian Borei-class submarines is already underway.