Russia: Neither Crewmembers of SSBN Yekaterinburg Nor Shipyard’s Staff Suffered from Fire

Neither crewmembers of SSBN Yekaterinburg nor shipyard’s staff suffered from the fire, reports Northern Fleet (NF) Procuracy.

At present, the procuracy holds inquiry into the incident happened to SSBN Yekaterinburg in the 82-nd Ship Repair Plant; investigators check whether fire safety precautions during repair works were observed. Military investigative agencies initiated a criminal case on the basis of clause 347, RF Criminal Code (damage of military property by negligence).

Recall that on Dec 29 the fire occurred in the submarine passing repair in 50-th floating dock of the 82-nd Ship Repair Plant in Roslyakovo, Murmansk region. Presently, the fire has been brought under control, firefighters are extinguishing hot spots. It will take 5 or 6 hours to neutralize the fire completely, said EMERCOM minister Sergei Shoigu. There is no threat of radioactive contamination; the submarine had no weapons on board. Nine persons were slightly intoxicated during the fire extinguishing; 7 of them are military servicemen and 2 are rescuers.

Officially, wooden scaffold and construction waste ignited near SSBN Yekaterinburg. Eventually, fire moved to the submarine’s outer hull and rubber coating. Eleven fire teams of EMERCOM and Northern Fleet took part in the extinguishing operation, as well as NF fireboat.

Project 667BDRM Delfin nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine K-84 Yekaterinburg was laid down on Feb 17, 1982 at Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, and joined Soviet Navy on Dec 30, 1985; the sub obtained the name of Yekaterinburg in Feb 1999.

Main weapon is 16 submarine-launched ballistic missiles R-29RM or upgraded version R-29RMU2 Sineva with flight range exceeding 10,000 km.

Full displacement of SSBN Yekaterinburg is about 19,000 tons, length is 166 meters, beam is 12 meters. Except for missiles, the submarine is armed with four 533-mm bow torpedo tubes with combat load of 12 torpedoes.

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Naval Today Staff , January 02, 2012; Image: forum.keypublishing