India to Induct Russian Nerpa Nuclear Sub on Wed.

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED April 04, 2012

The Indian Navy will officially induct Russia’s K-152 Nerpa nuclear-powered attack submarine during a solemn ceremony on Wednesday, an unnamed source in the Indian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti.

In line with the contract worth over $900 million, the Project 971 Shchuka-B (NATO: Akula II) class sub has been leased to India’s Navy for ten years. It was handed over to India in January and will be renamed the INS Chakra.

The source said that the solemn ceremony will take place at the Visakhapatnam sea port on the east coast of India.

The submarine’s displacement is 8,140/12,770 tons. Its maximum speed is 30 knots, maximum operating depth, 600 m; its endurance is 100 days with a crew of 73. The vessel is armed with four 533mm torpedo tubes and four 650mm torpedo tubes.

India has become the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world, after the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China, though it previously leased another Russian submarine which was then returned.

Twenty sailors died on the Nerpa in 2008 after the vessel’s fire-suppression systems were accidentally triggered during sea trials, releasing toxic gases.

Topics: Asia, India, Russia

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