K-51'' Verkhoturye'' (russian: link=no, К-51 ''Верхотурье'', italic=unset) is the lead submarine of the Project 667BDRM ''Delfin'' class ( NATO reporting name: Delta IV) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines currently in service with the Russian Navy. It was built at the

Sevmash JSC PO Sevmash ( rus, ОАО «ПО „Севмаш“», Севмаш, СМПСМП, "Severodvinsk Machine Building Plant") is a Russian joint-stock company (JSC) under the vertically-integrated United Shipbuilding Corporation. The shipbuilding ...

shipbuilding company in

Severodvinsk Severodvinsk ( rus, Северодвинск, p=sʲɪvʲɪrɐdˈvʲinsk) is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina, west of Arkhangelsk, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the ...

between 1981 and 1984 and was commissioned in 1984. It is named after the city of

Verkhoturye Verkhoturye (russian: Верхоту́рье) is a historical town and the administrative center of Verkhotursky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located in the middle Ural Mountains on the left bank of the Tura River north of Yekaterinb ...

Description

''K-51 Verkhoturye'' has a length of

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

, beam of and

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . It displaces and can dive up to . It carries a complement of 135–140 sailors. Two VM-4

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) i ...

s power the submarine, and drive two shafts with seven-bladed fixed-pitch propellers. They propel the submarine to the maximum speed of when surfaced and when submerged. The boat's primary armament are the 16 R-29RM ''Shtil'' submarine-launched ballistic missiles which have the range of . It also has four 533 mm bow tubes which can launch RPK-7 ''Veter'' anti-ship cruise missiles, and up to 12-18 torpedoes or 24 mines.

Construction and service

''Verkhoturye'' is the first submarine of the Delta-IV class. It was built at the

shipbuilding yard and launched under the name ''Imeni XXVI Siezda KPSS'' ("named after the 26th Congress of the CPSU") and was renamed as ''Verkhoturye'' in February 1999. The boat's keel was laid on 23 February 1981, it was launched on 7 March 1984 and was commissioned on 28 December 1984 into the Soviet Navy. The submarine was the test bed for the R-29RM submarine launched ballistic missile during 1985–1986. Between 2–29 September, it became the first submarine of the class to cruise to the Arctic Ocean while carrying missiles. After the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, the boat was transferred to the Russian Navy. It underwent modernization twice, first in 1999, and then between 2010 and 2012. It re-entered service in December 2012 after the re-fit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verkhoturye (K-51) Ships built in the Soviet Union Delta-class submarines Cold War submarines of the Soviet Union Submarines of Russia Ships of the Russian Northern Fleet Ships built by Sevmash