Construction of Russia's 7th Borie-class sub due to star Friday

Staff, Russia and India Report
18 December 2015
Russia's seventh Borei class nuclear-powered missile submarine (Project 955A) dubbed Emperor Alexander III will be laid at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on Friday, the company’s press service reported.
The ceremony will be attended by representatives of the Navy High Command, Northern Fleet Command and the Belomorskaya (White Sea) naval base. The boat’s laying down is timed to Sevmash’s birthday which is celebrated on December 21.
The Borei class submarines should form the basis of Russia’s naval strategic nuclear forces for the coming decades. According to previously reports, eight submarines of this class are to be built by 2020; three of them have already been delivered to the Navy. Each boat carries 16 Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The building of the submarines’ series now continues under the upgraded Borei-A project. The first submarine of the project is the Prince Vladimir, laid down in 2012. In 2014, two submarines - the Prince Oleg and the Generalissimo Suvorov were laid down.
The eighth and final missile submarine in the series is planned to be laid down in 2016.
Russian Defence Ministry’s spokesman for the Navy Igor Dygalo said early this week that three Borei-A project submarines - the Knyaz Vladimir, Knyaz Oleg and Generalissimo Suvorov - are currently at different stages of building at the Sevmash shipyard. The series of the fourth-generation nuclear-powered submarine cruisers of projects Borei and Borei-A, armed with the Bulava ballistic missiles, is to become the core of the Russian naval strategic nuclear forces for the coming decades," Deputy Commander of the Russian Navy Viktor Bursuk said previously.
The Russian Navy operates three Borei-class submarines, the flag ship Yury Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh. The first two were commissioned in 2013, while the latest one is in active service since December 2014. The first submarine of the Project 955-A Borei-II class, dubbed Knyaz Vladimir, is expected to enter service in 2017. By 2020, the Russian Navy plans to operate a total of eight Borei class ballistic missile submarines, three Project 955 subs and five Project 955-A vessels. The Borei class submarines are expected to remain in service for decades to come, at least until 2040.