The world’s longest submarine, K-329 Belgorod, was officially handed over to the Russian military on Friday at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk. Russian Navy commander Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov attended the ceremony and thanked the shipbuilders for delivering the “research” vessel. The Belgorod, however, is also designed to be able to carry up to six ‘Poseidon’ nuclear-powered torpedoes, which are still under development.
The Belgorod “opens up new opportunities for Russia in conducting various studies, allowing us to conduct a variety of scientific expeditions and rescue operations in the most remote areas of the oceans,” Yevmenov said at the ceremony, thanking both Sevmash, the Rubin design bureau and Russia’s entire military industry for successfully building the submarine.
The multi-purpose nuclear submarine was previously designated as Project 09852. It is based on the Project 949A series, known in the West as the Oscar II-class, but with significant modifications. The lengthened hull allows the Belgorod to carry undersea drones, a deep-sea rescue vehicle (DSRV), as well as a smaller nuclear-powered submarine such as the AS-31 Losharik.