Russia Scrapping 'Dmitry Donskoy,' The Largest Nuclear Submarine In The World: Report

Kremlin has reportedly decided to scrap "Dmitry Donskoy," the world's largest nuclear submarine, said reports. The nuclear ballistic missile submarine has served the Russian Navy since the 1980s and is said to be nearly as long as two football fields.

"The submarine Dmitry Donskoy has been removed from the fleet and is to be scrapped," the state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed Russian defense industry source.

However, conflicting reports have emerged from other Russia sources that the fate of Dmitry Donskoy, also known by its hull number TK-208, is still hanging. According to anonymous sources from within Russia's state-run shipbuilding industry and security services, the news was incorrect and that any final decision about the submarine's future would not come until December at the earliest.

"The ship is currently performing combat training tasks at sea, participating in combat training activities. It will remain in combat formation at least until the end of the year," the source added.

At 175 metres in length, the submarine can displace up to around 48,000 tons when submerged.

Dmitry Donskoy was last spotted in June, accompanying another submarine, the Belgorod, in the White Sea. According to naval analyst H I Sutton, Belgorod was on trials. "2 largest submarines in the world, Belgorod (K-239) and Dmitriy Donskoi (TK-208) (TYPHOON Class) caught on surface in White Sea. These subs are ginormous, much bigger than anything in the West, even the US Navy's Ohio Class," he wrote on Twitter.

Though there are no official statements from the Russian Government in this regard yet, dismantling of Dmitry Donskoy would absolutely mark an end of an era for the Russian Navy.

Sutton, in his blog post, said the Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine (officially known as the Project 941 Akula class) was designed in the 1970s to counterbalance the US Navy's Trident missile program.

The Typhoon class entered the fleet in 1980, and Dmitry Donskoy was the lead boat of the project. A total of six submarines were built under this project, aiming to make the Soviet SSBNs more discreet under the Arctic ice cap.

Since entering the service, Russia held the details of the vessel a state secret. However, the submarines soon garnered attention after they got featured in Tom Clancy's now-famous novel "The Hunt For Red October," which was later made into a movie.

Post the collapse of the Soviet Union, five Typhoons had to be retired, between 1996 and 2013. As for Dmitry Donskoy, it was modernized and re-equipped in 2002, and has since been mostly used for research and development, test and evaluation, and training purposes.