Russian Shipyard No. 10 -- Shkval -- is located in Polyarny, a town on the outermost western side of the Murmansk Fjord. In the West, it is more often referred to by the name of the town than its official name. As the first nuclear-powered submarines were delivered to the Russian Northern Fleet at the end of the 1950s, the yard was modified for docking and repair of these vessels. As Soviet (and now Russian) Naval nuclear vessels are decommissioned, they are laid up at Polyarny awaiting defueling and disposal.
Around 1970, Shkval was reorganised and partially expanded in order to handle the larger nuclear submarines then coming into service. It now includes tenders, service ships, dry docks, and two covered floating docks, as well as a self-propelled barge with 150-tonne payload, two onshore cranes with lifting capacity of 40 tonnes and 32 tonnes, two floating cranes with lifting capacity of 30 tonnes and 25 tonnes. The yard employs about 3000 workers, and covers 41,330 m² (446,000 square feet). Its docks total 550 meters in length.
Shkval is the only Kola-based naval yard capable of accommodating and servicing all modern Russian submarines. Defuelling and refuelling is performed by the Project 326M ship stationed in Polyarny, which was joined in 2000 by the civilian nuclear support ship Imandra.
Shkval is capable of processing three or four nuclear submarines at the same time. The shipyard defuelled and likely dismantled the November class submarine K-5 in 1996. In 1999, the Echo II class submarine K-172 (also designated K-192) was defuelled and dismantled at Shkval. Some early classes of submarines were partly dismantled at Shkval and later towed to Sayda Bay for storage. Currently there are six submarines stationed at Shkval: two November class submarines, one Hotel class submarine, one Echo II class submarine, and the two Victor II class submarines defuelled by Imandra in 2000.
