Priority will be given to the Northern Fleet in receiving new ballistic missile submarines

The strategic importance of the Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsula is growing with increasing tensions in the Arctic.

The plan for the redistribution of the Borei-AU boats is now being made, the Izvestia newspaper reported this week.

Originally, the next three submarines of the class, currently being built at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk, were supposed to be part of the 25th Atomic Submarine Division of the Pacific Fleet, which is based on Kamchatka. Now sources in the Ministry of Defense told the newspaper that at least one will instead be part of the 31st division stationed in Gadzhiyevo on the coast to the Barents Sea.

That will either be “Knyaz Oleg” or “Generalissimo Suvorov” or both.

“Knyaz Oleg” is currently in sea trials and is expected to be handed over to the Navy this year.

“Knyaz Vladimir” at the Sevmash Court in Severodvinsk. Photo: Sevmash Yard

So far, four Borei-class submarines have been delivered, two of which are sailing with the Northern Fleet (“Yury Dolgorukiy” and “Knyaz Vladimir”) and two with the Pacific Fleet (“Aleksandr Nevsky” and “Vladimir Monomakh”).

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According to Izvestia’s source, the decision to possibly relocate was made after the Navy’s Arctic Umka exercise in March this year, when three nuclear submarines from the Northern Fleet surfaced simultaneously through the ice north of Franz Josef Land.

It’s interesting to give priority to the Northern Fleet, as the Pacific Fleet now operates the oldest Delta III-class ballistic missile submarines while the Northern Fleet still has all five newer Delta IV submarines in service.

The move follows a pattern from the last decades of the Cold War, when the Northern Fleet received most of the latest in nuclear submarines and naval weapons.

It also means that more of Russia’s naval-based strategic nuclear warheads will sail the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean.

A Borei-class submarine can carry 16 ballistic Bulava missiles, each armed with 6 to 10 nuclear warheads.

Originally eight Borei-class submarines were to be built, but last year the Ministry of Defense signed contracts with the Sevmash shipyard for two additional submarines named “Dmitry Donskoy” and “Knyaz Potyomkin”.