Katerina Chernovol22:37, 18.04.23

Expert Kovalenko considers it “the color of the degradation of the Russian submarine industry.”

In Russia, they decided to write off the diesel-electric submarine of project 677 (type “Lada”) “St. Petersburg”. She was accepted into the Russian fleet in September 2021.

As Alexander Kovalenko, military-political observer of the Information Resistance group, noted in his Telegram channel , among the Russian submarines, the Lada was his favorite, because “it was the color of the degradation of the Russian submarine industry.”

“Project 677” Lada “has its origins in the distant 1980s, and the first submarine of this class was laid down only 17 years after the start of work on the project – in 1997. The diesel-electric submarine was launched in 2004, and in 2010 it was sent for trial operation And just after a year of trial operation, in 2011, a proposal appeared from the “Lada” to abandon it due to a huge number of design and technological defects. But it was decided to “bring to mind” the submarine and did it for the next 10 years. And without much success, ” – said the expert. 

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Even after 10 years, this submarine still had an insufficient power plant, an unfinished sonar system, and an unstable and regularly malfunctioning combat information and control complex. At the same time, Kovalenko considers the most important fact that the submarine did not have a full-fledged anaerobic air-independent power plant.

“The project was frozen due to lack of funding back in 2017. At that time, Russian experts planned that the Rubin Central Design Bureau of MT and the Central Research Institute of Set would resume work and be able to start trial operation at best in 2027. But I was sure that, taking into account the sanctions imposed then and the lack of access to technologies, even dual-use – never,” the observer continued.

Kovalenko added that in April 2020, Lada was sent to the Kronstadt Marine Plant for modernization. In September 2021, her trial operation was completed, after which the submarine was accepted into service, even taking into account all those defects that were never corrected.

“And in 2023, it was decided to get rid of this defective homunculus, personifying Russia’s inability to implement projects inherited from the USSR.

Russian Navy: what is known about submarines

In February 2023, Russia decommissioned the heavy  nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoy . This is the world’s largest submarine in terms of displacement, which was included in the combat structure of the Russian fleet back in 1980.

In addition, the only diesel-electric  submarine of project 877V B-871 “Alrosa” in the Black Sea remained incapacitated . Alexander Kovalenko claims that she has always shown big problems and spent more time on repairs than on the high seas.

(C)UNIAN 2023