History
On 6 August 1991 21:09 Novomoskovsk, under the command of Captain Second Rank Sergey Yegorov, became the world's only submarine to successfully launch an all-missile salvo, launching 16 ballistic missiles (RSM-54) of total weight of almost 700 tons at an interval of several seconds (operation code name "Behemoth-2"). The first and the last missiles hit their targets successfully, while the others were self-destroyed in the air according to the plan. This operation was considered by the Soviet Navy as a part of possible nuclear war scenario ("Dress rehearsal of the Apocalypse") and experimentally confirmed the technical possibility of a safe underwater all-missile salvo. Politically, the Soviet ballistic missile submarines passed a reasonability check as a part of strategic triad. The previous attempt of an all-missile salvo (operation code name "Behemoth") was performed in 1989 and finished unsuccessfully, however with no casualties. As the experiment took place just before the August Putsch in the USSR, its results were forgotten for a while, and the crew's work wasn't rewarded by the Soviet government authorities.
On 19 March 1993, Novomoskovsk, under the command of Captain First Rank Andrey Bulgarkov, collided with USS Grayling (SSN-646). The American submarine was trailing the Russian submarine and miscalculated its speed. Both submarines returned to their homeports, and though badly damaged both returned to service. Grayling was decommissioned some four years later, while Novomoskovsk remains in service over ten years later.
In 1996, Novomoskovsk, together with the K-447 submarine, fired a batch of ballistic missiles. The operation was a complete success. The city of Novomoskovsk in Tula Oblast took the submarine under its patronage, and on June 19, 1997, K-407 received the name Novomoskovsk.
On 7 July 1998, Novomoskovsk launched a Shtil-1 carrier rocket with two German scientific Tubsat-N and Tubsat-N1 micro-satellites while submerged in the Barents Sea.
| “ | The unusual launch was the first time a commercial payload had ever been sent from Earth into orbit from a submarine and the first commercial space launch in the history of the Russian Navy. | ” |
The satellite, developed by Berlin Technical University, was placed in orbit on an SS-N-23 (RSM-54)-type ballistic missile. The Northern Fleet was paid some 200,000 German Mark (US $111,000) for the launch.
In 1999, Novomoskovsk pioneered the launch of a ballistic missile from the geographic location of the North Pole.
On 17 February 2004, Novomoskovsk seemingly attempted to test-fire a SS-N-23 ballistic missile, but the missile failed to come out of its silo because of an unspecified technical problem. The Russian Navy, despite earlier statements describing the test, explained that no "physical" launch was intended at all: the exercise was supposed to be a simulation. President of Russia Vladimir Putin was aboard Arkhangelsk, an Akula-class ballistic missile submarine (NATO reporting name "Typhoon"), to observe the exercise.
On 17 March 2004, Novomoskovsk physically test-fired two SS-N-23 ballistic missiles, successfully hitting designated practice targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Like the other 667BDRM Delfin ships in service with the Northern Fleet, the K-407 is slated to receive new SLBMs to replace the RSM-54. The missile is a new-build, minor modernization of the RSM-54. It does not bear a separate designator from the RSM-54/R-29RM/SS-N-23 asides from the name "Sineva". Testing of the R-29RM "Sineva" was completed in June 2004. The Novomoskovsk is the third Delfin-class submarine in line to receive the new missile (after her siblings K-51 Verkhoturye and K-84 Ekaterinburg). She was fully overhauled and modernized in 2006 before returning to service.
In July 2006, cleric of Aleksandr Nevskiy Cathedral, the head of the Diocesan department on interaction with the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies, priest Leonid Leontiuk was temporarily included in the personnel list of the K-18 Kareliya and was on board of the K-407 Novomoskovsk. During the deployment the priest has performed the consecration ceremony of submarine's compartments, met with submarine personnel, led discussions on the basics of faith and spiritual life. Six sailors got baptized on board.
In November 2008 K-407 Novomoskovsk went to the Zvezdochka plant to general overhaul and modernization.On Jul 29,2012 the submarines refit was finished and the ship was returned in active service.
The submarine is expected to remain in service until 2020.
Read more about this topic: Russian Submarine K-407 Novomoskovsk
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