The Drive
The Russian Navy’s newest ballistic missile submarine, the Project 955A Borei-A class Knyaz Vladimir, has headed out for its “final” sea trials, indicating that it could finally enter service in the near future. The boat was originally set to formally join Russia’s Northern Fleet back in 2017, but that schedule repeatedly slipped due to technical issues.
On May 13, 2020, the official press service the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet announced that Knyaz Vladimir, or Prince Vladimir in English, had left port in Severodvinsk and was headed into the White Sea. The sea trials will last “several days” and will include activities with the boat running on the surface, as well as submerged, according to the press release.
“During the trials, the quality of the removal of problems exposed earlier will be checked, after which the term for including the new vessel into the structure of the Northern Fleet’s submarine forces will be set,” the release added, according to a rough translation from Russian state-run media outlet TASS.
