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Russia Presented Export Version of Project 21301 Submarine Rescuer with GVK-300 Diving System

Rubric: Russia, Industry, Future

New Russian Project 21301 submarine rescue ship will be equipped with the deep-sea diving system capable to reach 300 meters (GVK-300), says updated website of the ship’s design bureau, Almaz. In fact, it is the first official presentation of the future rescuer to wide public, two informed insiders told Mil.Press Today. An interviewee at the bureau said Almaz was preparing to mark the 70-th jubilee, and the website update was connected with the oncoming festivity.

According to the ship’s characteristics, GVK-300 system incorporates the rescue vehicle Bester with slipway and the 58-tf launch/recovery system, and the decompression chamber capable to serve 110 rescued submariners.

3D-model of Project 21300 batch-produced submarine rescuer with GVK-300

The system includes 4 living decompression chambers, a diving bell with launch/recovery system, a hyperbaric lifeboat, a life support and breathing mixture system, 12 sets of diving suits for operations down to 300-meter depth by saturation diving method, and underwater engineering equipment.

In addition, the ship has two electric hydraulic cranes with lifting capacity of 12.5 tf, a remotely-controlled underwater vehicle to operate down to 1-km depth, a salvage boat, a duty boat, and the equipment for occasional helicopter landing.
The presentation of the ship’s export version helps to get some insight into characteristics of the future Russian submarine rescuers, a high-ranking official in the Russian Navy’s Search & Rescue Dept told Mil.Press Today.
They are based on the Project 21300 lead ship, Igor Belousov (Dolphin class). It is planned to equip the new Dolphins with GVK-300 diving system made of Russian components to the maximum extent. According to Mil.Press Today, share of the Russian-made parts of diving systems mounted on the new serial rescuers will reach 60-85%, in contrast to GVK-450 on Igor Belousov (15-20%).

The editors failed to obtain any official comments from Almaz design bureau, the Russian Navy command, or potential domestic manufacturers of the deep-sea diving systems.

The recommendation to kick off designing of the serial Project 21300 submarine rescuer with Russian-made GVK-300 deep-sea diving system was announced by the Russian Navy’s expert board convened on December 11, 2018. Mil.Press Today published the image of the new rescue ship equipped with GVK-300 system on December 20.

The interviewed experts pointed out that lower max diving depth of the future Russian rescue system GVK-300, which is to be installed on the serial Project 21300 submarine rescuers, would not hinder the effectiveness of salvage operations.

For reference


Standard displacement of the upgraded rescue ship is 5,800 tons, length is about 117 meters, beam is somewhat 18.2 meters.

Max speed is 17 knots. Crew endurance is 45 days, rescued personnel endurance is 10 days. Cruising radius is 5,000 nautical miles.

The rescue ship is to be powered by 4 x 2,100-kW diesel generators, 2 x 1,690-kW auxiliary diesel generators, and a 1,080-kW harbor diesel generator.

In addition, the ship will be equipped with an integrated electric power system consisting of 2 x 3,500-kW propulsion motors, 2 x 3,500-kW full-azimuth thrusters, and 2 x 850-kW lateral thrusters.

Dmitry Zhavoronkov

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