Russia Floats Out Yasen-M Submarine Ulyanovsk — SkimNews
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- Sevmash shipyard floated out the nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Ulyanovsk on July 28, 2026, completing the hull-construction phase and moving the vessel to outfitting and trials alongside its quay at Severodvinsk.
- Ulyanovsk is a Project 885M Yasen-M-class multipurpose submarine, the sixth Yasen-M hull to complete slipway construction; Sevmash plans delivery to the Northern Fleet in December 2027 after mooring, sea and state acceptance trials.
- Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, said the submarine will join the Northern Fleet after trials, while Mikhail Budnichenko, Sevmash Director General, laid out the trial and delivery schedule.
- Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev and representatives of the Malakhit Design Bureau, the submarine's designer, attended the ceremony alongside senior Russian government, navy and industry officials.
- Four Yasen-M boats — Kazan, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Arkhangelsk — are already in naval service alongside the original Project 885 lead boat Severodvinsk, and Sevmash laid down Murmansk in June as the ninth submarine in the wider series.
- Yasen-M boats carry heavyweight torpedo tubes with vertical launch systems for Kalibr cruise missiles and P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles, and have been publicly linked to the Tsirkon hypersonic missile programme.
Why it matters: For Russia's Northern Fleet, the Ulyanovsk float-out keeps the Yasen-M line on track — six hulls past slipway construction, four already in service, and a December 2027 delivery target — directly expanding long-range undersea strike and anti-submarine capability in the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches, the design's stated mission per Sevmash.
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