Russia sends world's largest nuclear submarine to participate in drills

"As part of combat training, a group of anti-submarine warships from the Belomorsk naval base held a tactical exercise searching for a submarine in the White Sea," the press office of the Russian Northern Fleet said in a statement on July 18.

According to the scenario, the fleet's small missile ships Onega and Naryan-Mar practiced such exercises as detecting and tracking a hypothetical enemy submarine, attacking the submarine, as well as avoiding torpedo attacks by enemy ships. In some scenarios, the heavy nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoi participated as an opposing force.

"The focus of the exercise was the attack on simulated underwater targets. The crews of the ships fired anti-submarine rockets from the RBU-6000 system," the Russian fleet stressed.

These ships had previously completed their assigned missions of protecting another warship formation as well as deploying weapons and electronic countermeasures against a simultaneous attack from the air and sea.

Dmitry Donskoy is currently the only Project 941 "Akula" submarine still in service with the Russian Navy. The Akula submarine currently holds the world record for size with a length of 175m, a width of 23m and a displacement of 48,000 tons.

The ship is capable of carrying up to 20 R-39 intercontinental ballistic missiles, each with a range of 8,300 km and containing 10 warheads with a total explosive power equivalent to 135 nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima. The ship can move at a speed of 44 km/h when surfaced and nearly 50 km/h when submerged thanks to the

The two OKB-650 nuclear reactors have a total capacity of nearly 100,000 horsepower.