Russian Submarine Will Take Part In NATO Exercise

The  Russian Kilo class submarine, Alrosa will indeed take part in the NATO exercise Bold Monarc.

Russia will send a small task force from its Black Sea Fellet consisting of diesel submarine Alrosa, mooring lighter KIL-158, rescue ship Epron, and salvage tug Shakhter  to Bold Monarch-2011.  NATO organizes this large-scale submarine rescue in every three years. This year the exercise will be conducted off Spain since May 25 till June 14.

During the exercise several submarines including Alrosa will simulate a damaged submarine unable to surface. The aim of the exercise is to maximise the international cooperation in submarine rescue operations. Non NATO nations like Russia and Sweden will take part too.

Last week, a NATO delegation inspected the Alrosa

“In order to check technical capabilities of attachment of escape vehicle, the experts were allowed to learn design of Russian submarine Alrosa“, said Black Sea Fleets Commander’s press-secretary Vyacheslav Trukhachev.

Alrosa will be the first Russian submarine to officially take part in a NATO exercise. he is the only submarine in active service with the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It is based at a Russian naval base in Sevastopol on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

She had fire broke out in her engine department in November 2009 and she was in dry dock for the repairs ever since.

The Alrosa (originally Varshavyanka), a Kilo-class Project 877 diesel submarine, entered service in December 1990. It was renamed Alrosa in 2004 after it was “adopted” by Russia’s largest diamond company of the same name.