Project 945 Barrakuda (Sierra I) The first submarine of the Project 945,
Carp, was
laid down in July 1979 at the
Gorky shipyard and was
launched in August 1983 before being transferred to
Severodvinsk for fitting out. It was laid up in 1997. The next
hull to be built was
Kostroma, which was launched in July 1986 and was
commissioned in September 1987.
K-276 Kostroma was put into a drydock after its 11 February 1992 collision with the US submarine in the
Barents Sea, off
Kildin Island. The submarine was repaired on 3 June 1992 and was renamed
Krab on 6 April 1993, but in 1996 its original name
Kostroma was restored. The Sierra I class was also fitted with a releasable escape pod for the crew. The pod is covered by a V-shaped casing on the port side of the
sail.
Project 945A Kondor (Sierra II) The Project 945A has a considerably larger sail which is longer than the Sierra I class. The sail also has a curious flat, square leading edge. The masts are offset on the starboard side to make way for two escape pods in the sail. The starboard side also has a 10-point environment sensor fitted at right angles to the front end of the sail. Also, the Sierra II class has a much larger pod on its after fin. The pod houses the Skat 3 passive very low frequency towed sonar array. Of the two existing submarines of type Sierra II, the
Pskov was in overhaul between 2011 and 2015 according to the Russian website Deep storm. The aforementioned website acknowledges activity of
Nizhniy Novgorod under the command of Captain 1st Rank Alexey Ananko in both 2008 and 2013. Both
Nizhniy Novgorod and
Pskov took part in a large naval exercise in October 2019.
Project 945AB (Sierra III) The single submarine of the Project 945AB was laid down in March 1990 but was
scrapped in November 1993 before completion. ==Aborted Barrakuda (Sierra I) modernization==