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Arkhangelsk submarine under way
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The Project 941 Akula (Template:Langx, meaning 'shark', NATO reporting nameTyphoon), was a class of nuclear-poweredballistic missile submarines designed and built by the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. With a submerged displacement of Template:Cvt,[1] the Typhoons were the largest submarines ever built,[2] able to accommodate comfortable living facilities for the crew of 160 when submerged for several months.[3] The source of the NATO reporting name remains unclear, although it is often claimed to be related to the use of the word "typhoon" ("тайфун") by General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev of the Communist Party in a 1974 speech while describing a new type of nuclear ballistic missile submarine, as a reaction to the United States Navy's new Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"..[4]
The Russian Navy cancelled its modernization program in March 2012, stating that modernizing one Typhoon would be as expensive as building two new Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s.[5] A total of six boats of the Typhoon class had been built and a seventh was started but never finished.[6] Three boats were decommissioned in the 1990s and were scrapped in the 2000s, another two were decommissioned during the 2000s and are currently inactive. With the announcement that Russia has eliminated the last R-39 Rif (SS-N-20 "Sturgeon") submarine-launched ballistic missiles in September 2012, only one Typhoon remained in service, Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., which was refitted with the more modern RSM-56 BulavaSLBM for testing. She continued to serve until February 2023, when she was decommissioned.
File:Typhoon class Schema.svgTyphoon class general arrangements: 1 - outer hull; 2 - 533 mm forward torpedo tubes; 3 - pressure hull (forward); 4 - stowable forward hydroplanes; 5 - escape hatches; 6 - torpedo compartment pressure hull; 7 - sonar compartment; 8 - 20 x R-39 ballistic missile tubes; 9 - control room; 10 - escape capsules; 11 - retractable devices; 12 - Fin; 13 - radio room; 14 - reactor compartment; 15 - hangar / payload doors for towed communication buoy; 16 - protrusions to prevent ice damaging the propellers; 17 - turbine compartment; 18 - machine compartment, 19 - hydrodynamic vortex smoothing protrusions; 20 - vertical stabiliser; 21 - rudders; 22 - ducted propeller; 23 - aft hydroplanes; 24 - sonar; 25 - stowable thrusters; 26 - missile compartment; 27 - crew compartment; 28 - 2 x OK-650 nuclear reactors; 29 - propeller shaft; 30 - horizontal stabiliser; 31 - pressure hull (forward); 32 - main pressure hull (starboard); 33 - main pressure hull (port); 34 - pressure hull (fin); 35 - pressure hull (aft); 36 - rapid dive tank; i - attack periscope; ii - navigation periscope; iii - radio sextant; iv - radar/ESM system; v - snorkel; vi & viii - radio communications; vii - direction finding; ix - satellite communication/positioning antenna; x - hull mounted towed sonar array
Soviet – subsequently Russian – nuclear submarines are identified by the letter "K" followed by a number (for example, the lead boat of the Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., the Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., is K-560). K stands for Cruiser: (Крейсер). The sheer displacement of the Typhoon-class boats, comparable to several aircraft carrier classes, led to their classification as Heavy Cruisers (Тяжелый Крейсер).
Typhoon-class submarines featured multiple pressure hulls which simplifies internal design while making the vessel much wider than a normal submarine. In the main body of the sub, two long pressure hulls lie parallel with a third, smaller pressure hull above them (which protrudes just below the sail), and two other pressure hulls for torpedoes and steering gear. This also greatly increases their survivability – even if one pressure hull is breached, the crew members in the other are safe and there is less potential for flooding. Its ballistic missiles were placed between the two main pressure hulls, their launch tubes enclosed only by the outer, "light" hull.
The Typhoon was capable of traveling at Script error: No such module "convert". submerged.[8]
The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the Soviet Akula class (Акула), meaning shark. It is sometimes confused with other submarines, as Akula is the name NATO uses to designate the Russian Project 971 Shchuka-B (Щука-Б)-class attack submarines. The project was developed with the objective to match the SLBM armament of Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s, capable of carrying 192 nuclear warheads, 100 kt each, but with significantly longer range. To accommodate this increase in range, Soviet SLBMs were substantially larger and heavier than their American adversaries (the R-39s is more than twice as heavy as the UGM-96 Trident I; it remains the heaviest SLBM to have been in service worldwide). The submarine had to be scaled accordingly.[6]
In the early 1990s, there were also proposals to refit some of the Typhoon-class submarines to submarine cargo vessels for shipping oil, gas and cargo under polar ice to Russia's far flung northern territories. The submarines could take up to Script error: No such module "convert". of cargo on-board and ship it under the polar ice to tankers waiting in the Barents Sea. These ships – after the considerable engineering required to develop technologies to transfer oil from drilling platforms to the submarines, and later, to the waiting tankers – would then deliver their cargo world-wide.[9]
Six Typhoon-class submarines were built between 1976 and 1985. Originally, the submarines were designated by hull numbers only. Names were later assigned to the four vessels retained by the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During the time of the Russian Federation, these boats were to be sponsored by either a city or company. The construction order for an additional vessel (hull number TK-210) was cancelled and never completed.
In late December 2008, a senior Navy official announced that the two Typhoon-class submarines, Arkhangelsk and Severstal, that were in reserve would not be rearmed with the new Bulava SLBM missile system. They could potentially yet be modified to carry cruise missiles or to lay mines, or could be used in special operations.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". In late June 2009, the Navy Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy, told reporters that the two submarines would be reserved for possible future repairs and modernisation.[10] In September 2011, the Russian defense ministry decided to write off all Project 941 Akula nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines until 2014. The reasons for decommissioning the Typhoon-class vessels are the restrictions imposed on Russia by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and successful trials of the new Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"..[11]
Despite being a replacement for many types of submarines, the Borei-class submarines are slightly shorter than the Typhoon class (Script error: No such module "convert". as opposed to Script error: No such module "convert".), and have a smaller crew (107 people as opposed to 160). These changes were in part designed to reduce the cost to build and maintain the submarines. In addition, the United States and Canada provided 80% of funds for scrapping the older Typhoon-class submarines, making it much more economical to build a new submarine,[12] TK-13, which was scrapped in 2007–2009.[13]
On 20 July 2022, it was reported that Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". was withdrawn from the Russian Navy. This was an earlier-than-expected decommission date, as it was stated in 2021 that the submarine was expected to remain in service until 2026 as a weapons test platform.[14] However, sources suggested in 2022 that the 2026 date was not in the Russian Navy plan.[15]
On 6 February 2023, it was reported she was decommissioned.[16]
Units
#
Name
Laid down
Launched
Commissioned
Fleet
Status
TK-208
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10 February 1982: Entered 18th division (Zapadnaya Litsa), NOR.
December 1982: Transferred from Severodvinsk to Zapadnaya Litsa.
1983–1984: Tests of D-19 missile complex. Commanders: A.V.Olkhovikov (1980–1984).Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
3 December 1986: Entered Navy Board of the Winners of the Socialist Competition.
18 January 1987: Entered MoD Board of Glory.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
20 September 1989 – 1991: Repairs and refit at Sevmash to Project 941U. 1991 refit cancelled.
1996: Returned to 941U refit.
2002: Named Dmitriy Donskoy.
26 June 2002: End of refit.
30 June 2002: Start of testing.
26 July 2002: Entered sea trials, re-entered fleet, without missile system.
December 2003: Sea trials; refitted to carry a new Bulava missile system. New missile system expected to be operational by 2005.
9 October 2005: Successfully launched SS-NX-30 Bulava SLBM from surface.
21 December 2005: Successfully launched SS-NX-30 Bulava SLBM from submerged position on move.
7 September 2006: Test launch of the Bulava missile failed after several minutes in flight due to some problems in the flight control system. The missile fell into the sea about a minute after the launch. The sub was not affected and was returning to Severodvinsk base submerged. Later reports blamed the engine of the first stage for the failure.
25 October 2006: Test launch of the Bulava-M missile in the White Sea failed some 200 seconds after liftoff due to the apparent failure of the flight control system.
28 August 2008: Underwent successful testing at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast. More than 170 men worked with the Dmitriy Donskoy, 100 of them employed at the Sevmash plant and 70 at other companies.
