Hull number TК-202 was laid down at the Sevmash shipyards in Severodvinsk in October 1980 and launched in April 1982.

She was the second ship of the Soviet Project 941 Akula class (Russian for shark, NATO reporting name Typhoon).

ТК stands for тяжелая крейсерская (tyazholaya kreyserskaya), meaning heavy cruiser.

The 14-year-old submarine was deactivated in 1997, and was laid up from July 1999 at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk awaiting decommissioning.

With funding from the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction programme the defueling of its reactors started in June 2002 at the Zvezdochka shipyard.