Volkhov is the second of six submarines in the series being built by The Admiralty Shipyard for the Russian Pacific Fleet. The submarine was laid down in July 2017 and launched in December 2019. The Volkhov is the second submarine of project 636.3 for the Pacific fleet. It was laid on July 28, 2017. The Admiralty Shipyard begun dockside trials of the Volkhov submarine (known as Improved Kilo-II by NATO) at its base in St Petersburg. The trials will take about three months. Over this period, specialists will check all the ship’s systems, assembles and mechanisms. The Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky first serial sub was handed over to the Navy on November 25, 2019. It was built in 28 months. The Magadan and the Ufa subs were laid on November 1, 2019. In October, metal was cut for the firth sub of the series which is to be completed in 2022
Project 636.3 submarines (NATO reporting name Improved Kilo) are the third generation of diesel-electric submarines which are most noiseless in the world. They develop underwater speed of 20 knots, submerge to 300 meters and have the cruising capacity of 45 days. The crew comprises 52 men, the underwater displacement is close to four thousand tons. They carry Kalibr missiles to strike at surface (3M-54 and 3M-541) and ground targets (cruise missiles 3M-14) and have new electronic equipment. The optimal combination of acoustic stealth and target detection range, the latest inertial navigation system, modern automated information and control system, and powerful torpedo and missile weapons ensure the world priority of submarines of this class in the field of non-atomic underwater shipbuilding.
The Pacific Fleet operates three Project 949A (Oscar II-class) nuclear-powered guided missile submarines (K-456 Tver, K-186 Omsk, K-150 Tomsk, with two more – K-132 Irkutsk and K-442 Chelyabinsk – being upgraded) and the Project 971 (Akula I-class) K-419 Kuzbass nuclear-powered attack submarine (four more ships in the class are in various phases of upgrade). In addition, the Pacific Fleet has six Project 877 (Kilo-class) diesel-electric submarines – the B-394 Nurlat, B-464 Ust-Kamchatsk, B-494 Ust-Bolsheretsk, B-187 Komsomolsk-on-Amur, B-190 Krasnoznamensk and B-345 Mogocha. The construction of six Project 636.3 submarines will double the size of the diesel-electric force of the Pacific Fleet.
