Admiralty Shipyards to Build Pacific Fleet Submarine Maintenance Base by 2020

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — Admiralty Shipyards, a part of Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation, will build a maintenance facility for diesel-electric submarines of Russia's Pacific Fleet by 2020, the company’s CEO, Alexander Buzakov, said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Not so long ago, we were providing a one-year warranty service for the attack submarines we built, now the warranty period has increased to five years. Besides, [there is] warranty service for 10 years, from the time the vessel is delivered to the first medium-difficulty repairs. That’s why we have already built a delivery-and maintenance base for the Black Sea and the Northern fleets, and now we are setting up a similar facility for the Pacific fleet," Buzakov said.

In line with a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, a series of six Varshavyanka-class (Project 636.3) submarines is expected to be built for the Pacific Fleet by 2020. The keel laying ceremony for the first two diesel-electric submarines, the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the Volkhov, took place in late July.

According to Buzakov, the maintenance base for the Pacific Fleet submarines will be ready "by the time the first [of these] submarine arrives in 2020."

The Varshavyanka class is an improved version of Kilo-class submarines that features elements of advanced stealth technology, extended combat range and the ability to strike land, surface and underwater targets. Six such submarines have already been built for Russia's Black Sea Fleet.