The K-84 Ekaterinburg submarine of the Project 667BDRM/Delta IV class caught fire on December 29, 2011. The submarine was undergoing repairs in the PD-50 floating dry dock in Roslyakovo, near Severomorsk, where it was moved earlier this month. The fire reportedly began at about 16:20 MSK at the wooden scaffolding and later moved to the outer hull of the submarine. Firefighters had to submerge the submarine to extinguish the fire. According to an official report, the fire was put out by 16:00 MSK on December 30, 2011.
The submarine reactors were shut down and various sources in the military insisted that ballistic missiles had been removed from the submarine. The fire damaged the outer hull of the submarine, so it might take a year or longer before the submarine could return to service.
UPDATE: The submarine will return to service no earlier than summer of 2014.
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What in the world do they make the hull coating out of that it could burn for 24 hours without spreading inside the submarine? I imagine overhauling the fire to check for hot spots was pretty complicated since the coating is probably not easy to remove but I really doubt they flooded the dry dock just to be sure the fire was out. I am also curious if the temperature of the fire was hot enough to cause any deformation to the hull.
If I were part of the New START inspection team I would try and inspect this boat next if only to try and see how much damage was caused. Though the shipyard may not be on the list of "inspect-able" installations.
Its a pretty thick rubberized anti-acoustic coating
Videos of the fire fighters here: http://sorson.livejournal.com/27124.html
Pretty clear that the fire is burning between the inner pressure hull and the outer hull (or is it merely a super structure?) No wonder they had to flood the dry dock to get the fire out.
Any bets on how long it will take to repair? One of the videos clearly shows water being sprayed into the torpedo tube and also appears to show water leaking out from the bow in areas that do not appear to be regular hull penetrations indicating some pretty heavy damage to that outer hull/super structure.
Keith, the original repair works for done on polymer front hull section which had a light hull breach of some sort, so the size of the "hole" is not due to the fire.
I am more interested in the reports of potential damage to the sonar. While MGK-500 is technically replaceable (several antennas were manufactured for Borei class submarines recently), the version of MGK-500 on Delta IV is slightly different from the one of Akula and Borei. Perhaps they can salvage the sonar off of the BS-64 special purpose submarine (former Delta IV converted as a mini-sub mothership)? Keeping BS-64 grounded for longer sounds to me like a more optimal solution than scrapping one of the SSBNs.
to artjomh:
I red your professional comments in military photos and closely followed the BS-64 issue.
If you are right and they are going to salvage that sonar too it could well mean the final end of the curious BS-64 drama...