The last adopted by the Russian fleet the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky submarine is not like any American submarine because it does not have a nuclear reactor, but runs on batteries. About this writes the Forbes publication.
Russia and the United States have a different approach to the formation of their submarine forces, the newspaper writes. If the U.S. Navy relies on nuclear submarines that can go far from naval bases and operate autonomously, then Russia, along with its nuclear submarines, is developing a class of non-nuclear submarines that can operate in a limited space near the bases.
The new Russian submarine is a modernized version of the Kilo class submarine. It uses reinforced lead-acid batteries to power the engine. These batteries are periodically recharged using a diesel generator, and this type of power plant is called diesel-electric
- writes the publication, noting that in the United States the last submarine of this class was built in 1958.
The author of the article notes that Russia is building such submarines for operations in the area of its naval bases in all fleets, but the use of non-nuclear submarines for the Black and Baltic Seas is especially relevant. Among the strengths of the Russian “Varshavyanka” the author calls the smaller size, cheapness and difficulty of detection. At the same time, he notes that Russian non-nuclear submarines still do not have an air-independent power plant, which significantly affects their combat capabilities due to the more frequent ascent to recharge batteries.