Soviet Submarines

  

The number of Soviet submarines in service had never dropped below the 200 underwater vessels since the 1930s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet Navy also laid claim to being among the first of the world´s navies to explore the full potentialities of the ´submarine torpedo boat´. Even before the emergence of the Soviet Union in 1917, the Russian submarine inventions and experiments included the periscope, the torpedo ´drop collar´, a chemical air purification system, and the sectional hull construction for quick disassembly and reassembly.

Looking back over a 75-year period of submarine building, a few traditions stand out. The Soviet Navy habitually operated more different classes and types than did any other navy in the world. By the end of the 1980s, there were as many different operating classes as there are letters in the alphabet. This fact must surely have put a strain on their maintenance and logistics. Another related phenomenon had been the tendency to operate side by side very new and very old submarines.

The third tendency in the Soviet Navy had been the building of specialized or ´mission-specific´ submarines. For example, during the 1930s, the diminutive Malodki class boat, armed with only two torpedoes, was charged with near shore defense, striking enemy surface ships that approached the coasts of the Soviet Union. The medium-size Shchuka, on the other hand, was designed for forward offensive operations.

The functional balance of the Soviet submarine fleet was particular striking during the last two decades of the existence of the Soviet Union. Whereas the United States of America had a tendency to build single classes of multi-purpose attack boats, the Soviet Navy laid down multiple classes to apparently suit different missions and weapon systems. Therefore, the Soviet Union built different types depending on whether the main armament was cruise missiles, torpedoes, or ballistic missiles. Also, the Soviet Union was the first and the only country in the world to build boats with double hull made entirely of titanium. In the missile-carrying category, it produced different classes to fit short versus long-range missiles, with most of them being nuclear-powered boats.

List of the most important Soviet submarine classes during the Cold War

Class

Whiskey (Project 613):  215 were produced, with the first being completed in 1952. These were diesel-electric boats.

November (Project 627): commissioned in 1959, 13 subs were built as they were the first Soviet nuclear-powered submarines.

Foxtrot (Project 641): a total of 41 boats built between 1959 and 1962. They were diesel-electric patrol submarines.

 Juliet (Project 651): 16 were completed. They were diesel-electric, cruise missile submarines, with the first being commissioned in 1963.

Yankee (Project 667): they were 34 nuclear-powered ballistic subs, with the first one commissioned in 1967.

Echo (Project 675): they were 34 nuclear boats armed with anti-ship cruise missiles.

Charlie I, II, III (Project 670): they were nuclear-powered cruise-missile subs, with a total of 33 built between 1967 and 1977.

Victor I, II, and III (Project 671): they constituted a series of 48 nuclear attack submarines, which were built between also between 1967 and 1977.

Alfa (Project 705): 7 nuclear attack submarines, with the first one being commissioned in 1971.

Delta I, II, III, IV (Project 667B): a total of 43 were built between 1981 and 1992. They were nuclear-powered ballistic boats.

Oscar (Project 949): they were 14 nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarines.

Typhoon (Project 941 Akula): they were 6 nuclear ballistic-missile boats.

Below, a November class submarine, which was the first Soviet sub being powered by a nuclear reactor.


USS Lexington (CV-2)

  

USS Lexington (CV-2) was the second aircraft carrier in service with the US Navy, being preceded by USS Langley (CV-1). She had originally been designed as a battlecruiser in 1916 and converted into a carrier, along with her sister ship USS Saratoga (CV-3), in 1922. Despite being a conversion, she could carry up to 68 combat aircraft. During WW2, she had aboard 21 Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters, 32 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and 15 TBD Devastator torpedo bombers.

USS Lexington (CV-2) was away at sea, carrying aircraft to Midway, when the Japanese attacked the US Navy's base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. At the end of December, 1941, as part of Task Force 11, she besieged the Wake Island (Marshall Islands) as her aircraft attacked the Japanese military installations there, wreaking havoc. The following year, she would take part in the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942. During this naval encounter against the Imperial Japanese Navy, her bombers hit and damaged IJN Shokaku aircraft carrier. However, on May 8, 1942, during this battle, she was seriously damaged by enemy aircraft and she had to be scuttled on the same day.

Technical Characteristics

Laid down for conversion on January 8, 1921, US Lexington was commissioned as an aircraft carrier on December 14, 1927. She had a starboard island, with an integral funnel, a straight-through flight deck, and transverse arrester wires. The former battlecruiser hull had been carried up to the hanger deck. The hangar deck itself was completely enclosed within the hull. Unusually for an USS carrier, the bow and stern were faired (joined smoothly) into the hull.

The most noticeable feature of the USS Lexington (CV-2) was the huge smoke stack (funnel) on her starboard side. It was located aft and separate from the island, which was small and contained navigation facilities. The turbo-electric machinery was the most powerful of the US Navy when WW2 broke out, enabling the ship to sail at the top speed of 34 knots.

Specifications

Type: aircraft carrier

Displacement: 37,681 tons; 43,005 tons (full-loaded)

Length: 270.7 m (888 feet)

Beam: 32.1 m (105 feet)

Draft: 10.2 m (33 feet, 4 inches)

Propulsion: 4 sets of General Electric turbines, with 4 shafts, and 16 water-tube boilers, generating 180,000 SHP.

Maximum Speed: 34 knots

Range: 10,500 nautical miles cruising at 15 knots.

Armament: eight 203-mm naval guns; twelve 127-mm AA guns.

Compliment: 2,327 sailors and officers.

Below, profile view of the USS Lexington off the coast of Hawaii in 1932.

The CV-2 aircraft carrier cruising along in the Pacific circa 1939.

Below, aerial view of the US Navy's first three carriers around 1930; the USS Langley (CV-1) in the foreground; next, in the middle, the USS Saratoga (CV-3); and USS Lexington (CV-3) in the background.

The USS Lexington in flames after being hit by Japanese dive bombers on May 8, 1942.


Alfa-Class Submarine

  

The Alfa-class submarine (Project 705 Lira) was one of a series of 7 nuclear attack submarines in service with the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. With a streamlined hull entirely made of titanium, she was the fastest boat in the world, with a test depth of +400 m (1,300 feet). She was also characterized by stealth and her powerful sonar which could detect and track enemy vessels from a long distance. She featured a new type of sail design, which neatly blended into the hull to minimize water flow disturbance. All seven subs were assigned to the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet, which operated through and from the Arctic Ocean, under the ice cap, secretly cruising into the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.

The first Alfa-class submarine, K-64, was laid down on June 2, 1968. Being built on Sudomekh shipyards, in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), she was launched on April 22, 1969, and commissioned on December 31, 1971. The last submarine of Project 705 Lira to be completed was K-463, which was commissioned in 1981; and the last boat of the series to be decommissioned was K-123, which was struck (phased out) on July 31, 1996; she had entered service with the Soviet Navy in 1977. They were all based on the Kola Peninsula, between the White Sea and the Barents Sea.

Like their American counterparts, the Project 705 submarines were never used in combat. However, they proved to be one of the most reliable Soviet subs of the Cold War period in terms of fire power and stealth. Not only did they represent a big shock and surprise to the US Government when they discovered their existence, but also a great threat to the US Navy's carriers. Only one of them, the K-64, had an initial technical problem with her first nuclear reactor, when the liquid metal in the primary coolant hardened. Thus, for safety reasons, she would be taken out of service in 1974, while the remaining six boats would keep sailing the seas flawlessly.

Technical Characteristics

Designed by Mikhail Rusanov, the Alfa-class submarine was a high-speed, nuclear-powered boat, which had been conceived to seek out and destroy NATO's submarines and aircraft carriers. She was powered by one BM-40A liquid-metal-cooled nuclear reactor, which generated 155 MW (megawatts). Using rods of uranium-235, it was a modular, two-section reactor, with two steam lines and circulating pumps. It produced pressurized steam to drive two turbines, which turned the generators. Submerged, she could move at the maximum speed of 41 knots, that is to say, 76 km/h (47 mph).

The hull of the Project 705 Lira submarine was of the double-hull design type. Both the inner and outer hull were made of titanium. This configuration and the material employed had already been used before to build the Project 627 (November-class) submarines. Titanium had the advantage of lowering the hull magnetic field, while the internal hull had an internal coating, which was designed to absorb own-ship machinery noise and reduce the acoustic signature of the submarine.

The Alfa-class submarine consisted of six compartments. Right above the control compartment, there was an escape chamber in the sail, which could accommodate the entire crew of 31 officers. In an emergency situation, the crew could enter the chamber through a hatch in the submarine. The chamber could be released and then float up to the surface through buoyancy and wait for rescue.

Specifications

Type: nuclear attack submarine

Displacement: 3,220 tons (submerged); 2,324 tons (surfaced)

Length: 81.4 m (267 feet)

Beam: 9.5 m (31 feet, 2 inches)

Draft: 7.1 m (23 feet, 3 inches)

Propulsion: one  BM-40A nuclear reactor, one 40,000-SHP steam turbine, and one shaft.

Maximum Speed: 41 knots (submerged); 12 knots (surfaced)

Range: sailing indefinitely for 20 years, but limited to 60 days for food and logistically supply.

Armament: six 533-mm torpedo tubes, with twenty VA-111 Shkval supercavitating torpedoes and eighteen 53-65K conventional torpedoes; 24 mines.

Below, an Alfa-class submarine on a naval base on the northern coast of Russia.


Five of the seven operational Project 705 Lira submarines moored at Zapadnaya, Litsa, naval base on the Kola Peninsula.

A Project 705 sub cruising on the surface in the northern Atlantic. You can notice how her sail blends into the hull. The masts could be retracted fully and covered over.

Below, an Alfa-class submarine photographed in the Barents Sea in the Summer of 1983. She had clean lines, revealing her underwater speed potential.

The Project 705 boat on dry dock for maintenance.


USS Grouper (SS-214)

  

USS Grouper (SS-214) was an American submarine used by the US Navy in the Pacific Theater of Operation of World War II. She belonged to the Gato class, which was composed of 77 attack submarines. Having an extensive and long career, she survived the war and, in 1950, she would be upgraded and converted into a hunter-killer submarine, which was fitted with a new powerful sonar. She was given the new classification number SSK-214. This new type of boats was highly-specialized to search for, track, and destroy enemy submarines. She was decommissioned on December 2, 1968.

Built by the Electric Boat Company, in Groton, Connecticut, USS Grouper was laid down on December 28, 1940, and launched on October 26, 1941. After more than three months of sea trials, she was commissioned into service with the US Navy on February 12, 1942. Her first assignment was the Pacific Submarine Force, which she joined on March 30, 1942. That year, in early June, she patrolled the waters near and around US Navy's Task Force 16 during the Battle of Midway. On February 12, 1943, she sank a Japanese destroyer near the Solomon Islands and, couple of days later, two merchant ships.

In July 1943, USS Grouper (SS-214) was damaged by two depth charges dropped by an America B-25 Mitchel, which mistook her for a Japanese submarine. Thus, she ended her patrols due to damage and headed for Brisbane, Australia, for repairs. On June 24, 1944, she attacked and sank the merchant ship Kumanoyama Maru, which was her last kill of that armed conflict. On April 6, 1945, after her last patrol of the war, USS Grouper sailed to Pearl Harbor.

Specifications

Type: attack submarine

Displacement: 2,415 tons (submerged); 1,525 tons (surfaced)

Length: 95 m (311 feet, 9 inches)

Beam: 8.31 m (27 feet, 3 inches)

Draft: 4.65 m (15 feet, 25 inches)

Propulsion: diesel-electric, with four General Motors Model 16-248, 16-cylinder, diesel engines, four electric motors, and two shafts, generating 2,740 SHP.

Compliment: 80 sailors and officers

Armament: twenty-four Mark-14 torpedoes launched from ten 533-mm (21-inch) torpedo tubes; one 76-mm deck gun.

Below, USS Grouper on January 24, 1942, about two weeks before she was commissioned. Notice the 214 number painted on the tower and bow hull.

Grouper sailing off the coast of a Pacific island in 1944.


IJN Mikasa

  
IJN Mikasa was a pre-dreadnought battleship, which was in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy between 1902 and 1923. It got a firm place in naval history as Vice-Admiral Togo's flagship. From the bridge of Mikasa, he commanded a combined fleet at the Battle of Tsushima on May 27, 1905, when he thoroughly defeated the Pacific fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. As a flagship, this Japanese battleship drew heavy enemy fire. However, her thick armor, sturdy construction, and skillful handling made her survive the battle, without suffering serious damage.

Mikasa was one of the four battleships ordered by the Imperial Japanese Navy from the British shipbuilding industry under the 1896 expansion program. Laid down in 1899, she was built by Armstrong shipyards at Elswick. She was armed with four 305-mm guns (12-inch) set up in two turrets, one on the fore portion of deck, the other aft. These guns could be loaded at any angle of elevation, as there were three alternative means of loading: electric, hydraulic, and manual, with the ship carrying a total of 240 rounds. She was powered by two reciprocating, triple-expansion steam engines.

During World War I, IJN Mikasa carried out coastal defense patrol missions. In 1922, she was stripped of her guns and, in 1923, her hull was encased in concrete and converted into a national museum. It miraculously survived World War II allied bombing of Japan.

Specifications

Type: battleship

Displacement: 15,370 tons

Length: 131.7 m (432 feet)

Beam: 23.2 m (76 feet)

Draft: 8.3 m (27 feet)

Propulsion: two reciprocating, vertical, triple-expansion, steam engines, with two shaft, and fed by 25 boilers, generating a total of 15,000 iHP (indicated horsepower).

Maximum Speed: 18 knots

Range: 8,000 nautical miles

Armament: four 305-mm (12-inch) guns; fourteen 152-mm (6-inch) and twenty 76.2-mm (3-inch) guns.

Armor: 229-mm-thick on belt; 51-mm on deck.

Below, photo of the IJN Mikasa in 1905, after the Battle of Tsushima.

USS Tennessee (BB-43)

  

USS Tennessee (BB-43) was an American battleship, which was in service with the US Navy between 1920 and 1947. She was severely damaged on December 7, 1941, by Japanese dive-bombers when she was moored at Pearl Harbor naval base. However, she would be repaired and upgraded, taking part in the Island-Hopping Campaign of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II as she provided fire support to landing US Marines with her powerful twelve 14-in (356-mm) guns.

USS Tennessee (BB-43) had been laid down on May 14, 1917, at the New York Naval Shipyard, being launched on April 30, 1919. She was commissioned on June 3, 1920, and became the lead ship of her class, which consisted of two battleships, the other being USS California (BB-44). They both were basically a repeat of the New Mexico class, with the exception that they had modern features, such as turbo-electric machinery and had two funnels in contrast to the New Mexico's one funnel. The hull of the Tennessee was flush-sided as they were designed from the start to carry secondary armament at upper deck level.

Right after repair and modernization, USS Tennessee (BB-43) was recommissioned in May 1943. She was assigned to Task Force 1, under Rear Admiral William S. Pye, participating in the major naval operations of the Pacific Theater, such as the Aleutian Island Campaign, the Battle of Tarawa, Battle of Saipan, and Battle of Iwo Jima, as well as the naval battle of Leyte Gulf. After the war, she would serve two more years, being decommissioned in 1947.

Specifications

Type: battleship

Displacement: 32,818 tons (33,150 tons full-load)

Length: 190 m (624 ft)

Beam: 29.7 m (97 ft, 5 in)

Draft: 9.1 m (30 ft, 2 in)

Propulsion: two steam turbine-driven Westinghouse electric generators; four General Electric AC motors, with four shafts, delivering a total of 27,500 shp. The steam turbines were fed by 9 boilers.

Maximum Speed: 21 knots (24 mph)

Range: 8,000 nautical miles (9,200 miles/ 15,000 km)

Armor: 343-mm-thick steel plate on the belt; 330-mm-thick on barbettes (gun emplacement); and 76-mm on deck.

Armament: twelve 14-in (356-mm) naval guns set up in four towers (two fore and two aft); fourteen 5-in (127-mm) guns.

Crew: 1,085

Below, a photo of the Tennessee battleship taken around 1938. You can notice the three Curtiss SOC-3 scout observation biplane aircraft she carried aboard.

The BB-43 in 1921 after she had been commissioned.

Below, the Tennessee under construction at New York Naval Shipyard in 1918.

The mighty battleship right after having been launched. The photo was taken in May 1919.

Below, the USS Tennessee (B-43) anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, in July 1945.


HMS Hood (51)

  

HMS Hood (51) was a British battlecruiser used by the Royal Navy during the first two years of World War II. She was sunk during the Battle of Denmark Strait on May 24, 1941. Before this armed conflict broke out, she had represented the ultimate in British sea power in the interwar period as she had been the largest and the most heavily armed capital ship in the world. She had a long and attractive profile, drawing people's attention at every port she anchored at.

Laid down in 1916, HMS Hood was built by John Brown & Company in the shipyards on the Clyde River. She would be launched in 1918 and commissioned in 1920. Her original design dated from before the Battle of Jutland (1916), when a class of four ships was conceived to counter the German Mackensen class battlecruisers, which were already under construction in those days. However, only one was built, HMS Hood, which was equipped with eight 381-mm (15-inch) naval guns. She followed the lines laid down by Adm. Fisher, with heavy gun armament and high speed, but with relative light armor protection.

As originally built, HMS Hood (51) introduced a number of novel features. For example, she was the first ship in the Royal Navy to incorporate an AC electrical supply from an installed generator, and 140-mm (5-inch) guns, which constituted her secondary armament, strengthened by the addition of twin 102mm (4-inch) AA mountings. Major reconstruction had been planned to start of 1938, including the addition of better armored protection and new machinery for the propulsion system. However, the threat of war following the Austrian annexation to Germany and the urgent need for every capital ship made the British government cancel this major upgrade.

At the outbreak of World War II, HMS Hood was attached to the Home Fleet. She was very busy from the very moment war was declared, taking part in the hunt for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the bombardment of the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, a port in Oran, Algeria. She would be part of the force sent to intercept the heavily armed German battleship Bismarck and her escort the cruiser Prinz Eugen. Thus, HMS Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales met these German warships in the Denmark Strait on May 24, 1941. There, sailing broadside along the British battlecruiser, the Bismarck quickly opened fire right before HMS Hood had a chance to use her guns. The British ship was seriously damaged as fire broke out, leading to an explosion that blew the ship apart.

Specifications

Type: battlecruiser

Displacement: 42,750 tons (48,300 tons full-load)

Length: 262.8 m (860 feet)

Beam: 31.8 m (104 feet)

Draft: 9.7 m (32 feet)

Propulsion: four Brown Curtis geared steam turbines, with four shafts, and twenty four Yarrow boilers, delivering 144,000 SHP.

Maximum Speed: 30 knots

Range: 6,300 nautical miles (11,673 km) at 12 knots.

Armament: eight 381-mm naval guns set up in four twin turrets; twelve 140mm guns.

Compliment: 1,397 sailors and officers.

Below, the HMS Hood approaching home port in 1937.

The British battlecruiser moored to a wharf at Gibraltar port in 1934.


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