The construction of Project 941 "Akula" submarine cruisers (according to the international classification "Typhoon") was a kind of response to the construction in the United States of nuclear submarine missile carriers of the "Ohio" type, armed with 24 intercontinental ballistic missiles. In the USSR, the development of a new ship began later than the Americans, so the design and construction went almost in parallel.
"The designers were faced with a difficult technical task - to place on board 24 missiles weighing almost 100 tons each," says SN Kovalev, general designer of the Rubin Central Design Bureau. There are no analogues to such a solution in the world. " "Only Sevmash could build such a boat," says A. F. Helmets. The construction of the ship was carried out in the largest boathouse - shop 55, which was headed by I. L. Kamai. A fundamentally new construction technology was used - the modular-modular method, which significantly reduced the time. Now this method is used in everything, both underwater and surface shipbuilding, but for that time it was a serious technological breakthrough.
As a result, the ship was built in record time - in 5 years. Behind this small figure is the enormous work of the entire team of the enterprise and its numerous counterparties. “The construction of the submarine provided more than a thousand enterprises throughout the country,” recalls A. I. Makarenko, then chief engineer of Sevmash. “Our Shark was ready a year earlier than the American Ohio. Naturally, the government highly appreciated the merits participants in the creation of this unique ship. Anatoly Innokentyevich was appointed personally responsible for the construction by the order of the Minister of the Shipbuilding Industry. For the creation of the nuclear submarine of project 941 A. I. Makarenko and the assembler of the PCB A. T. Maximov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. To the responsible deliverer A. S. Belopolsky was awarded the Lenin Prize, N. G. Orlov, V. A. Borodin, L. A. Samoilov, S. V. Pantyushin, A. A. Fishev - State Prize. 1219 employees of the enterprise were awarded orders and medals. Among those who distinguished themselves were the heads of the shops G. A. Pravilov, A. P. Monogarov, A. M. Budnichenko, V. V. Skaloban, V. M. Rozhkov, chief specialists M. I. Shepurev, F. N. Shusharin, A. V. Rynkovich.
In September 1980, an unusually large nuclear-powered submarine, as tall as a nine-story building and almost two football fields long, touched the water for the first time. Delight, joy, fatigue - the participants in that event experienced different feelings, but all were united by one thing - pride in a great common cause. Mooring and sea trials were carried out in record time for a nuclear submarine of such a project. And this is the great merit of the commissioning team, such excellent specialists as G. D Pavlyuk, A. Z. Elimelakh, A. Z. Raikhlin, and the ship's personnel under the command of Captain 1st Rank A. V. Olkhovikov. Despite the tight deadlines for the construction and testing of the newest nuclear submarine, situations arose when engineers were required to urgently develop new design solutions. “As you know, the outer hull of the boat is covered with a thick layer of rubber,” continues Anatoly Innokentievich. “On the Akul, each sheet weighed 100 kilograms, and the total weight of the glued rubber was 800 tons. The first time the boat went out to sea, some of this cover came off. I had to quickly invent new gluing techniques."
The ship has adopted the first domestic solid-propellant missile system D-19. A large number of missile launches were carried out on the head cruiser of the series, which was later named "Dmitry Donskoy". “The program of extended testing of missile weapons was more than intense,” recalls the former commander of the BC-5, Captain I Rank V. V. Kiseev. “The tests took place not only in the White Sea, but also in the North Pole area. there were technical failures. Everything was very reliable."
After ten years of operation, the world's largest nuclear submarine was raised on the slipway for medium repair. It was a difficult task in terms of ensuring radiation and fire safety, since the nuclear submarine had not been repaired on the workshop slipways of Sevmash before. After an average repair and replacement of a number of complexes in May 2002, "Dmitry Donskoy" was removed from the shop. This date is considered the second birth of the ship. The slipway works and the withdrawal of the ship were supervised by the deputy head of the shop M. A. Abizhanov, and by the actions of the delivery team on the ship - the mechanic G. A. Laptev. "Factory sea trials and state tests of various weapon systems are now being successfully carried out. The Dmitry Donskoy is unique in its maneuverable characteristics and controllability," says submarine commander Captain I Rank A. Yu. Romanov with pride. "This order has tremendous combat capabilities. This is the fastest of all ships in the series, two knots exceeded the previous speed record of Project 941. Successful tests of the ship are largely due to the responsible delivery officer E. V. Slobodyan, his deputies A. V. Larinsky and V. A. Semushin and, of course, the crew Nuclear submarines, specialists in their field, commander of a combat electromechanical unit, captain II rank A. V. Prokopenko, commander of a navigational combat unit, captain-lieutenant V. V. Sankov, commander of a communications combat unit, captain III rank A. R. Shuvalov and many others."
A ship, like a person, has its own destiny. This cruiser proudly bears the name of the great Russian warrior, Prince of Moscow and Vladimir Dmitry Donskoy. As the divers themselves say, their ship is reliable and happy. “Now the fate of this nuclear submarine is clear,” says SN Kovalev. “This submarine will be the most powerful ship in the Navy for a long time. it was built by many other enterprises that participated in its creation, and, of course, the Navy on the anniversary of the wonderful ship."
Dmitry Donskoy has been serving the Motherland with faith and truth for 25 years. The crew is changing, the delivery team, but for all the cruiser remains native. Today, the ship, like a quarter of a century ago, is the first - it is at the forefront of testing new naval missile technology. Happy anniversary and happy sailing to you, "Dmitry Donskoy"!
