Oscar-II cruise missile Russian sub 949 Antei fire out

 Firefighters have put out a blaze on a nuclear submarine,  the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation which runs the Zvyozdochka shipyard said

smoke rising above a dock at the Zvyozdochka shipyard in the north Russian city of Severodvinsk, April 7, 2015

07 Apr 2015  A Russian nuclear submarine has caught fire in a shipyard in Russia's northern province of Arkhangelsk,    The Emergencies Ministry declined comment on the reports of the fire at the Zvyozdochka shipyard, where the agencies said the 500-metre-long 949 Antei submarine was being repaired. There was no word of any casualties.   A source told TASS news agency the submarine's nuclear reactor had been shut down prior to the blaze.   "The active zone of the reactor was unloaded at the start of repairs a few years ago," the source said.   The news agency reports said the fire had started during welding, causing insulation materials to catch fire.

A similar blaze in 2011 nearly led to a nuclear disaster as a blaze engulfed a nuclear-powered submarine carrying atomic weapons, a leading Russian magazine reported months after the blaze, contradicting official assurances that it was not armed.

Project 949 (Granit) and Project 949A (Antey) are Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines (NATO reporting names: Oscar-I and Oscar-II respectively).  In the late 1990s it completed several new submarines of the third generation Oscar II     Two Oscar II submarines are active with the Northern Fleet and five with the Pacific Fleet.

THE KURSK DISASTER

On 12 August 2000, the Oscar II nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine, Kursk (K 141), sank in the Barents Sea, with the loss of all 118 crew. 

[September 13 2013 Oscar-II cruise missile Russian sub Tomsk fire out ]

 Fire started during welding on the Oscar-II cruise missile nuclear submarine Tomsk being repaired at the Zvezda shipyard near Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan.    Only the Typhoon-class Soviet/Russian submarines, the American Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and the Russian Borei-class submarines are larger.   The missiles the submarines normally carries had been removed in 2009 before the repairs began, and the atomic reactors that power it had been shut off and that there was no radiation leak.

It normally carries 24 × P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) cruise missiles with 750 kilograms (1,700 lb) HE or 500 kt nuclear warheads, plus ther armament.