Russian submarine Kazan (K-561)

K-561 Kazan is a Yasen-class submarine nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy. It is the second boat of the project, separated from the first by 16 years (1993–2009). Considerable changes were made to the initial design. Differences in the project have appeared sufficient to consider it as a new upgraded version Yasen-M (Ясень-М). The submarine is named after the city of Kazan. The submarine is deployed with the Russian Northern Fleet.

Design
The submarine project was developed in the Malachite Design Bureau in Saint Petersburg. The Russian navy declared that the submarine will be improved in comparison to RUSSIAN SUBMARINE Severodvinsk, the first of the Yasen / Graney class.

Compared to the first-of-class, Kazan is some 40 ft shorter than Severodvinsk, resulting from the deletion of a sonar array from the former's bow. According to one naval analyst, the intention was likely to reduce construction costs without meaningfully reducing the submarine's capabilities. Kazan will also include a nuclear reactor with a newly designed cooling system.

History
Kazan's first crew had been formed in March 2016, and the submarine was originally to be commissioned in 2017. On 23 August 2016, the Sevmash shipyard reported that the submarine would be delivered to the Russian Navy in 2018.

On 31 March 2017, Kazan was rolled out of the construction hall and subsequently launched on the water. It began its sea trials on 24 September 2018 and was expected to join the Russian Navy in 2019. In October 2019, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov, stated that Kazan's deployment would be delayed until the end of 2020 due to technical issues with its complex control systems.

The submarine's trials included the firing of the 3M-54 Kalibr and P-800 Oniks cruise missiles. They were completed in December 2020.

As of April 2021, the commissioning date was reported to be 25 July 2021. However, the vessel was actually commissioned on 7 May 2021.

On 6 June 2024, it was reported that the nuclear powered submarine was heading to Cuba for military exercise. It made port in Havana Harbor on June 12 as part of group of four ships including the frigate Admiral Gorshkov. Both of these vessels carry the Zircon nuclear-capable hypersonic cruise missile. The frigate has been reported to be enroute to the Mediterranean to be the command vessel of the operational group of the Russian Navy there.