Yuri Dolgoruky begins final sea trials

Yuri Dolgoruky , the lead submarine of the Borey class of Bulava-armed ballistic missile submarines, went to sea from Severodvinsk on 7 June 2012 for another round of sea trials, according to Russian press sources.

Alexei Kravchenko, a spokesman for the United Shipbuilding Corporation, the parent corporation of the submarines' builders, described these trials to the Russian Interfax news service as being the "final phase" of the boat's pre-commissioning sea trials.

Yuri Dolgoruky is still on schedule to be commissioned into Russian Navy service in 2012 armed with the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

It was originally intended to be based with the Russian Pacific Fleet by 2014, but will instead be based with the Northern Fleet as its intended base at Vilyuchins on Kamchatka will not be ready. Vice-Admiral Viktor Chirkov, navy commander in chief, has ordered the re-basing, according to a report in the 6 June edition of the Moscow newspaper Izvestiya.

On 13 June Chirkov started a visit to the Northern Fleet that, according to a spokesman, will examine the facilities for basing these SSBNs there rather than in the Pacific.