Submarines: July 27, 2001

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Russia is trying to scrape together the cash to finish building the first of it's fourth generation SSBNs (ballistic missile subs.) A twenty inch model of the Yuri Dolgoruki in a St Petersburg shop window shows a very modern looking sub. In fact, it looks a lot like the most current U.S. SSBNs. The Russia boat is named after the 12th century Russian prince who founded Moscow. "Dolgoruki" is actually a nickname meaning "long arm." The Dolgoruki class boats would carry missiles with a 5,000 kilometer range. The only purpose of these missiles would be to hit North American targets. For this reason, the government isn't eager to complete the Dolgoruki and put it into service. The keel was laid in 1996, but the boat is apparently a year or more from completion, once work begins again.