(Adds quote, details on Tula submarine in paras 3-5)

MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti) - A nuclear submarine of Russia's Northern Fleet successfully test-launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea in the Arctic on Monday toward a site in the country's Far East, the Navy said.

The dummy missile, launched from the K-114 (Delta IV class) Tula submarine, hit the target on the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula on schedule, the Navy's press office said.

"The launch was conducted from an underwater position as part of training to test the readiness of the marine strategic nuclear forces," the statement said.

The Tula submarine, built in 1987, has been modernized at the Zvyozdochka (Starlet) Engineering Plant in Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk Region.

The submarine is equipped with 16 intercontinental PSM-54 missiles and torpedoes. Tula submarines form the mainstay of the strategic nuclear fleet. Seven of the series were built between 1984 and 1992.