Borei-Class Submarine

A Borei-class submarine (Project 955) is one of a batch of eight nuclear ballistic missile submarines in service with the Russian Navy since 2012. A total of fourteen boats were planned for the series. As of December 2025, three subs are still being built and the last three ones are projected to be laid down at Sevmash' shipyards in the next couple of years. One of her main advantages is stealth as they sail by in the deep waters of the world's oceans practically undetectable, moving surreptitiously along a coastline or under an enemy fleet without being discovered. She was designed by Rubin in the late 1980s to replace the Typhoon and Delta IV class.

Technical Characteristics

The Borei-class submarine is the largest boat in the world today, with 170 m in length and 13.5 m in width (beam). The hull is sleek and streamlined to reduce the broadband noise. Although it is not mentioned in any defense industry magazine and website, the Project 955 boat was built with a two-layer hull made of titanium, which reduces sharply her magnetic signature. This double hull structure is based on the Alfa-class and Sierra II submarines of the Cold War period. Her external hull is shrouded in a sound-absorbing rubber layer, which is known as anechoic plating.

The use of titanium to build a submarine hull is extremely expensive for NATO nations but not for Russia, which is the main producer of this metal and the only country in the world which has the technology and the skilled hands to weld together the different titanium hull sections. Both the Project 955 and 955A versions feature a buoyant rescue chamber, large enough for the whole crew. The Borei submarines are equipped with a pump-jet propulsion system, like the one fitted in the Khabarovsk class subs. These boats are armed with 16 RSM-56 Bulava ballistic missiles and fitted with eight 533-mm torpedo tubes.

Active Submarines of Borei Class

Yury Dolgorukiy (K-535); Alexandr Nevsky (K-550); Vladimir Monomakh (K-551); Knyaz Vladimir (K-549); Knyaz Oleg (K-552); Generalissimus Suvorov (K-553); Emperator Alexandr III (K-554); Knyaz Pozharskiy (K-555); Dmitry Donskoy (K-556).

Specifications

Type: nuclear-powered ballistic submarine

Displacement: 24,000 tons (submerged); 14,720 tons (on surface)

Length: 170 m (557 feet, 9 inches)

Beam: 13.5 m (44 feet, 3 inches)

Draft: 10 m (32 feet, 10 inches)

Propulsion: one OK-650V nuclear reactor, with one steam turbine and one pump-jet.

Maximum Speed: 30 knots (submerged); 15 knots (on surface).

Range: unlimited; she must dock at base for food supply.

Compliment: 107 sailors and officers

Armament: sixteen RSM-56 Bulava SLBM; seven RPK-2 Vyuga anti-submarine/ship missiles; eight 533-mm torpedo tubes.