missile greater accuracy (~), increasing its damage potential against all types of military targets whether "soft" or "hard." Fire control for the R-29R is achieved through the D-9R ballistic missile system, which contains sixteen SLBM tubes, just like the preceding Project 667BD. The Delta III class most often carried 16 of the R-29R (height: ; diameter: ; starting weight: 36.3 tons) missiles each carrying 3 MIRVs (0.2 мт each) with a range of about . They also can carry R-29RK with 7 (0.1 мт) MIRVs and range of about 6,500 km or R-29RL with single (0.45 мт) warhead and range of about . Coupled with the R-29R's capabilities and the performance of the D-9R, the Russian Navy possesses, for the first time, the ability to launch any number of its missiles in a single salvo with shorter launch intervals. The submarines have four 533mm bow torpedo tubes and carry sixteen torpedoes of types SET-65, SAET-60M, 53-65K, 53-65M, or any combination thereof. History The first ship of the class, , was laid down on 30 January 1974 in Severnoye Mashinostroitelnoye Predpriyatie (Sevmash), Severodvinsk, as the last ship of the Delta II class. During construction the new D-9R missile system was integrated into the Delta II hull without any changes in other equipment. The ship was launched on 11 February 1976 and passed sea trials in November 1976. Then tests of the new missile system were started in the White and Barents Seas; 22 missiles were launched (four R-29PL, six R-29R, twelve R-29RK) and the missile system was commissioned in September 1978. Most submarines served in the Pacific Fleet at Rybachiy submarine base near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Seven under-ice Arctic voyages and two along the Southern territories were completed since 1980. Under-ice voyages were very difficult. In some places the depth of the sea is less than and the thickness of ice about . That gives only a few metres around the submarine. Two submarines served in the Northern Fleet at the Gazhiyevo submarine base and three at the Olenya submarine base. From the 1990s all the Northern Fleet subs were stationed at Gazhiyevo. All Delta III-class submarines passed general overhaul refuelling and upgrade in Zvezdochka shipyard, Severodvinsk, or in Zvezda shipyard, Bolshoy Kamen, since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. An upgraded missile system, D-9R, with lightly modified R-29R missiles, was delivered from 1987 to 1990. On some ships the sonar station Avrora-1