The construction of heavy nuclear-powered strategic missile cruisers of Project 941 "Shark" (international classification "Typhoon") was a kind of response to the construction of US class nuclear submarines Ohio", armed with 24 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In the USSR, the development of a project for a new class of submarines began later than the Americans. The designers were faced with a difficult technical task - to place 24 missiles weighing almost 100 tons each on board. After many studies, it was decided to place the missiles between two durable hulls. As a result, the first Akula submarine was built in record time. short time- within 5 years.
In September 1980, unusually large soviet submarine the height of a nine-story building and the length of almost two football fields touched water for the first time. Delight, joy, fatigue - the participants in that event experienced different feelings, but everyone was united by one thing - pride in a great common cause. Mooring and sea trials were carried out in record time. Tests took place not only in the White Sea, but also in the North Pole area. There were no operational failures during the period of missile firing. During construction nuclear submarines class " Typhoon“The latest achievements in the creation of shipborne radio-electronic equipment and noise reduction were applied. Submarines of this project are equipped with a pop-up rescue chamber designed for the entire crew.
heavy nuclear-powered strategic missile cruiser "Akula"
Interestingly, the total underwater displacement submarine "Shark""is about 50,000 tons. Moreover, exactly half of this weight is ballast water, which is why it was dubbed a “water carrier.” This is the price of the transition from liquid hot to solid fuel, which has not been fully thought out for the Russian submarine fleet. As a result, the project Shark" became the largest submarine in the world and is included in the Guinness Book of Records. For the construction of nuclear submarines, a new workshop was specially built at the Northern Engineering Enterprise - the largest indoor boathouse in the world. The first Project 941 submarine code "TK-208" was laid down at the shipyard of the shipbuilding enterprise in 1976, launched on September 23, 1980, and entered service at the end of 1981. Then five more submarines were built and one of them was nuclear submarine « Dmitry Donskoy». Nuclear submarine"TK-210", laid down in 1986, was never put into operation and was dismantled in 1990 due to the high cost of the project.
dates of laying, launching and commissioning of Project 941 submarines
Design Project 941 submarine made according to the “catamaran” type: two separate durable hulls are located in a horizontal plane parallel to each other. In addition, there are two separate sealed capsule compartments - a torpedo compartment and a control module located between the main buildings in the center plane, which houses the central post and the radio-technical weapons compartment located behind it. The missile compartment is located between the pressure hulls at the front of the ship. Both housings and capsule compartments are connected to each other by transitions. The total number of waterproof compartments is nineteen. The central post compartment and its light fencing are shifted towards the stern nuclear submarine. The robust hull, central post and torpedo compartment are made of titanium alloy, and the lightweight hull is made of steel (its surface is coated with a special hydroacoustic rubber coating, which increases stealth submarines). Submarine "Shark""has a developed stern tail. The front horizontal rudders are located in the bow of the hull and fold. The cabin is equipped with powerful ice reinforcements and a rounded roof, which serves to break the ice during ascent.
Conditions of increased comfort have been created for the boat crew. The officers were placed in relatively spacious two- and four-berth cabins with washbasins, televisions and air conditioning, while the sailors and petty officers were housed in small cockpits. Submarine « Shark“received a gym, swimming pool, solarium, sauna, relaxation room, “living corner” and other premises.
According to domestic press reports, existing plans for the development of Russia's strategic nuclear forces provide for modernization Project 941 nuclear submarines with the replacement of the D-19 missile system with a new one. If this is true, submarine "Shark""has every chance of remaining in service until 2010. In the future, it is possible to convert part of the 941 project into transport nuclear submarines, intended for the transportation of goods along transpolar and cross-polar routes, the shortest route connecting Europe, North America and other countries. The cargo compartment built in place of the missile compartment will be capable of accepting up to 10,000 tons of cargo.
the largest submarine in the world photo
nuclear submarine "Shark" parked
on a barrel
submarine "Shark" on a combat mission
submarine "Shark" on the surface
Dear comrades, many of you have probably visited naval salons and climbed uncomfortable, shaking gangways onto the decks of huge ships. We wandered around the upper deck, looking at missile launch containers, spreading branches of radars and other fantastic systems.
Even such simple things as the thickness of an anchor chain (each link is about a pound of weight) or the radius of sweeping the barrels of naval artillery (the size of a country “six hundred square meters”) can cause sincere shock and bewilderment in the unprepared average person.
The dimensions of the ship's mechanisms are simply enormous. Such things are not found in ordinary life - we learn about the existence of these cyclopean objects only during a visit to the ship on the next Navy Day (Victory Day, on the days of the St. Petersburg International Naval Show, etc.).
Indeed, from the point of view of an individual, small or large ships do not exist. Marine technology is amazing in its size - standing on the pier next to a moored corvette, a person looks like a grain of sand against the backdrop of a huge rock. The “tiny” 2500-ton corvette looks like a cruiser, but the “real” cruiser has generally paranormal dimensions and looks like a floating city.
The reason for this paradox is obvious:
An ordinary four-axle railway car (gondola car), loaded to the brim with iron ore, has a mass of about 90 tons. A very bulky and heavy thing.
In the case of the 11,000-ton missile cruiser Moskva, we have only 11,000 tons of metal structures, cables and fuel. Equivalent - 120 railway cars with ore, densely concentrated in a single massif.
Anchor of the submarine missile carrier project 941 “Shark”
How does water hold THIS?! Conning tower of the battleship New Jersey
But the cruiser "Moscow" is not the limit - the American aircraft carrier "Nimitz" has a total displacement of more than 100 thousand tons. Truly, great is Archimedes, whose immortal law allows these giants to stay afloat!
A big difference
Unlike surface ships and vessels that can be seen in any port, the underwater component of the fleet has an increased degree of stealth. difficult to see even when entering the base - largely due to the special status of the modern submarine fleet.
Nuclear technologies, danger zone, state secrets, objects of strategic importance; closed cities with special passport regime. All this does not add to the popularity of the “steel coffins” and their glorious crews. Nuclear boats quietly nest in secluded coves of the Arctic or hide from prying eyes on the coast of distant Kamchatka. Nothing has been heard of the existence of boats in peacetime. They are not suitable for naval parades and the notorious “flag display”. The only thing these sleek black ships can do is kill.
Baby S-189 against the backdrop of the Mistral
What do “Loaf” or “Pike” look like? How big is the legendary "Shark"? Is it true that it doesn't fit in the ocean?
It is quite difficult to clarify this issue - there are no visual aids on this matter. The museum submarines K-21 (Severomorsk), S-189 (St. Petersburg) or S-56 (Vladivostok) are half a century old “diesel engines” from the Second World War and do not give any idea about the real size of modern submarines.
The reader will certainly learn a lot of interesting things from the following illustration:
Comparative sizes of silhouettes of modern submarines on a single scale
The fattest “fish” is a heavy strategic missile submarine cruiser.
Below is an American Ohio-class SSBN.
Even lower is the underwater “aircraft carrier killer” of Project 949A, the so-called. “Baton” (it was to this project that the lost “Kursk” belonged).
Hidden in the lower left corner is the multi-purpose Russian nuclear submarine of Project 971 (code ).
And the smallest boat shown in the illustration is the modern German diesel-electric submarine Type 212.
Of course, the greatest public interest is associated with the “Shark” (aka “Typhoon” according to NATO classification). The boat is truly amazing: the hull length is 173 meters, the height from the bottom to the roof of the deckhouse is equal to a 9-story building!
Surface displacement - 23,000 tons; underwater - 48,000 tons. The numbers clearly indicate a colossal reserve of buoyancy - to submerge the Shark, more than 20 thousand tons of water are pumped into the boat’s ballast tanks. As a result, the “Shark” received the funny nickname “water carrier” in the navy.
Despite all the seeming irrationality of this decision (why does the submarine have such a large reserve of buoyancy??), the “water carrier” has its own characteristics and even advantages: when on the surface, the draft of the monstrous monster is slightly greater than that of “ordinary” submarines - about 11 meters. This allows you to enter any home base without the risk of running aground, and use all available infrastructure for servicing nuclear submarines.
In addition, the huge reserve of buoyancy turns the Akula into a powerful icebreaker. When the tanks are blown, the boat, according to Archimedes’ law, “rushes” upward with such force that even a 2-meter layer of solid, like stone, will not stop it. arctic ice. Thanks to this circumstance, the “Sharks” could carry out combat duty in the highest latitudes, right up to the North Pole.
But even on the surface, the “Shark” surprises with its dimensions. How else? - the largest boat in world history!
You can admire the shark’s appearance for a long time:
"Shark" and one of the SSBNs of the 677 family
The boat is simply huge, there is nothing more to add here
Modern SSBN Project 955 "Borey" against the backdrop of a gigantic "fish"
The reason is simple: two submarines are hidden under a light, streamlined hull: the “Shark” is made according to the “catamaran” design with two durable hulls made of titanium alloys. 19 isolated compartments, a duplicate power plant (each of the durable hulls has an independent OK-650 nuclear steam generating unit with a thermal power of 190 MW), as well as two pop-up rescue capsules designed for the entire crew...
Needless to say, in terms of survivability, safety and convenience of personnel accommodation, this floating Hilton was unrivaled.
Loading the 90-ton Kuzka mother. In total, the boat's ammunition load included 20 R-39 solid-fuel SLBMs
"Ohio"
No less surprising is the comparison of the American submarine missile carrier "Ohio" and the domestic TRPKSN project "Shark" - it suddenly turns out that their dimensions are identical (length 171 meters, draft 11 meters) ... while the displacement differs significantly! How so?
There is no secret here - "Ohio" is almost half as wide as the Soviet monster - 23 versus 13 meters. However, it would be unfair to call the Ohio a small boat - 16,700 tons of steel structures and materials inspire respect. The Ohio's underwater displacement is even greater - 18,700 tons.
Carrier Killer
Another underwater monster, whose displacement surpassed the achievements of the Ohio (surface displacement - 14,700, underwater - 24,000 tons).
One of the most powerful and advanced boats of the Cold War. 24 supersonic cruise missiles with a launch weight of 7 tons; eight torpedo tubes; nine isolated compartments. The operating depth range is more than 500 meters. Underwater speed over 30 knots.
In order to accelerate the “loaf” to such speeds, the boat uses a two-reactor power plant - uranium assemblies in two OK-650 reactors burn day and night with a terrible black fire. The total energy output is 380 Megawatts - enough to provide electricity to a city of 100,000 inhabitants.
"Loaf" and "Shark"
Two "loaves"
But how justified was the construction of such monsters to solve tactical problems? According to a widespread legend, the cost of each of the 11 boats built reached half the cost of the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov! At the same time, the “loaf” was focused on solving purely tactical problems - exterminating AUGs, convoys, disrupting enemy communications...
Time has shown that multi-purpose nuclear submarines are most effective for such operations, for example...
« Pike-B"
A series of Soviet nuclear multi-purpose boats of the third generation. The most formidable underwater weapon before the advent of the American Seawolf-class nuclear submarines.
But don’t think that “Pike-B” is so small and puny. Size is a relative value. Suffice it to say that the baby does not fit on a football field. The boat is huge. Surface displacement - 8100, underwater - 12,800 tons (in the latest modifications it increased by another 1000 tons).
This time, the designers made do with one OK-650 reactor, one turbine, one shaft and one propeller. Excellent dynamics remained at the level of the 949th “loaf”. A modern sonar system and a luxurious set of weapons appeared: deep-sea and homing torpedoes, Granat cruise missiles (in the future - Caliber), Shkval missile-torpedoes, Vodopad anti-missile missiles, thick 65-76 torpedoes, mines... at the same time , the huge ship is piloted by a crew of just 73 people.
Why do I say “total”? Just an example: to operate a modern American boat analogue of the Pike, an unsurpassed underwater killer of the type, a crew of 130 people is required! At the same time, the American, as usual, is extremely saturated with radio electronics and automation systems, and its dimensions are 25% smaller (displacement - 6000/7000 tons).
By the way, interest Ask: Why are American boats always smaller? Is it really all the fault of “Soviet microcircuits - the largest microcircuits in the world”?! The answer will seem banal - American boats have a single-hull design and, as a result, a smaller buoyancy reserve. That is why the “Los Angeles” and “Virginia” have such a small difference in the values of surface and underwater displacement.
What is the difference between a single-hull and a double-hull boat? In the first case, ballast tanks are located inside a single durable housing. This arrangement takes up part of the internal volume and, in a certain sense, negatively affects the survivability of the submarine. And, of course, single-hull nuclear submarines have a much smaller buoyancy reserve. At the same time, this makes the boat small (as small as a modern nuclear submarine can be) and quieter.
Domestic boats are traditionally built using a double-hull design. All ballast tanks and auxiliary deep-sea equipment (cables, antennas, towed sonar) are located outside the pressure hull. The stiffening ribs of the robust body are also located on the outside, saving precious space in the interior. From above, all this is covered with a light “shell”.
Advantages: a reserve of free space inside a durable case, allowing for the implementation of special layout solutions. A larger number of systems and weapons on board the boat, increased unsinkability and survivability (additional shock absorption in case of nearby explosions, etc.).
Nuclear waste storage facility in Sayda Bay (Kola Peninsula). Dozens of submarine reactor compartments are visible. The ugly “rings” are nothing more than stiffening ribs of a durable casing (the lightweight casing has been previously removed)
This scheme also has disadvantages and there is no escape from them: large dimensions and area of wetted surfaces. The direct result is that the boat is noisier. And if there is a resonance between the durable and lightweight body...
Don’t be fooled by hearing about the above-mentioned “reserve of free space”. It is still forbidden to ride mopeds or play golf inside the compartments of Russian Shchukas - the entire reserve was spent on installing numerous sealed bulkheads. The number of habitable compartments on Russian boats usually ranges from 7...9 units. The maximum was achieved on the legendary “Sharks” - as many as 19 compartments, excluding sealed technological modules in the light body space.
For comparison, the robust hull of the American Los Angeles aircraft is divided by hermetic bulkheads into only three compartments: central, reactor and turbine (of course, not counting the insulated deck system). Americans traditionally bet on high quality manufacturing of hull structures, reliability of equipment and qualified personnel as part of submarine crews.
A whopping big fish. American multi-purpose submarine of the Seawolf class
Another comparison on the same scale. It turns out that the “Shark” is not so large compared to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the “Nimitz” type or the TAVKR “Admiral Kuznetsov” - the size of aircraft-carrying ships is completely paranormal. The victory of technology over common sense. The small fish on the left is the Varshavyanka diesel-electric submarine
These are the key differences between submarine shipbuilding schools on different sides of the ocean. But submarines are still huge.
The world's two largest nuclear submarines (NPS) of the Akula project will be in the Russian Navy until 2019, Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Vysotsky told reporters.
Heavy strategic missile submarines of Project 941 "Akula" ("Typhoon" according to NATO classification) are the largest nuclear-powered strategic submarines in the world.
December 19, 1973 The USSR government adopted a resolution providing for the start of work on the design and construction of a new missile carrier, created as a counterweight to the American nuclear submarine Ohio.
The project was developed at the Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering (CDB MT) Rubin (St. Petersburg), headed by General Designer Igor Spassky, under the direct supervision of Chief Designer Sergei Kovalev.
The construction of Project 941 submarines was carried out in Severodvinsk. To do this, it was necessary to build a new workshop at the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise.
On June 30, 1976, the lead strategic missile submarine cruiser (SSBN) of Project 941 was laid down on the slipway of the Severodvinsk Shipyard.
Most ichthyologists believe that the fearsome white sharks, called “megalodon,” have long since become extinct. However, there are theories and facts that suggest that the submarine shark (as this subspecies of white sharks is nicknamed) still lives somewhere out there, in the abyss of the ocean depths, inaccessible to humans. Let's try to understand this issue based on the records of scientists, their findings and theories.
The Story of David George Stead
David George Stead was one of the most famous and respected scientists in the field of ichthyology. It was his story, published after his death, that became a real sensation and made it possible to doubt what does not exist.
In 1918, the young scientist worked in Australia and was responsible for commercial fishing in Southern Shores. At this time, from a major port to government agency, who is responsible for the fishery, receives a letter demanding a thorough check of one sensitive issue. The fishermen claimed that off the coast of Australia there was a terrible creature, an unknown fish of such threatening size that they were all afraid to go out to sea.
A terrible meeting
A heartbreaking story awaited him on the shore... The fishermen on the ship went out to sea and went to the place where lobster traps were fixed in the depths. The divers, having descended into the depths in order to unhook the cables of the traps, rose to the top with incredible speed. Quickly climbing onto the deck, they reported that there was a huge shark in the depths. Divers said that the shark easily swallowed the traps with the catch one after another. But they were secured with steel cables! And it didn’t bother her at all. Suddenly the shark appeared before the eyes of the rest of the fishing team. Forgetting about the catch, they quickly started the engines and left the terrible place.
Of course, as a scientist, David George Stead understood that sharks with a body length of more than thirty meters could not exist. But there was no point in lying to the frightened fishermen. No one then decided to go and check and get any evidence. The fishermen flatly refused to go out to sea.
Vessel "Rachel Cohen"
After several decades, the submarine shark (as the fishermen called it for its incredible size) made itself known again. In 1954, again off the coast of Australia, the ship Rachel Cohen stopped at the port for repairs and “general cleaning.” When the ship was cleared of numerous shells, seventeen huge teeth were discovered. Each tooth, according to eyewitnesses, was more than eight centimeters in size. Scientists have determined that they could not belong to anyone other than the megalodon shark. For reference: the length of a regular white shark's tooth is only three to five centimeters.
Nature has never created more terrible creatures
According to scientists, it is the most terrible, bloodthirsty and terrifying creation of Mother Nature. It is estimated that its length ranges from twenty to thirty-five meters, and its weight varies from fifty to one hundred tons. Sperm whales, considered one of the largest inhabitants of the deep sea, are just an easy snack for megalodon. It’s hard to even imagine the size of a submarine shark’s mouth when a ten-meter-long whale is easy everyday prey for dinner.
Scientists have been finding huge teeth all over the world for many decades. This is further evidence that the white submarine shark exists and has (had) an incredible territorial distribution size.
It’s even scary to imagine a monster of such enormous size, in comparison with which a person is just a small grain of sand. The submarine shark, a photo of which scientists have recreated thanks to findings and theories, is a terribly ugly creature. It has a broad-boned skeleton, massive jaws containing five rows of teeth and a blunt “snout.” They even joke that megalodon looks like a pig. You involuntarily begin to rejoice that these creatures are extinct.
Are they extinct?
Geologists recognize animals as extinct only when there is no “news” about them for 400 thousand years. However, stories from fishermen from an Australian port, teeth found on the Rachel Cohen ship - all this proves the fact that the submarine shark exists. The teeth were subjected to numerous studies, and the result was that they belonged to a megalodon.
Moreover, the discovered “teeth” of the terrible giant did not even have time to really petrify. They are at most ten to eleven thousand years old. Understand the difference: 400 thousand and 11 thousand years! It turns out that somewhere in the depths of the ocean, a white shark-submarine still exists and feels great. Evidence of the existence of which is discovered quite often. And this already says something.
By the way, for example, the goblin shark, which was considered extinct for many years, was discovered in 1897 in the World Ocean. And the existence of which was also not believed for a long time, was found in 1828. Perhaps there is a shark submarine somewhere waiting in the wings.
How were they not noticed?
It would seem that such a huge size of an animal simply cannot go unnoticed for decades. Huge creatures would certainly be seen from the shore, in the shallows or from the stern of the ship. But if you think about it, the impressive dimensions of these giants simply do not allow them to swim close to the shore. It's too shallow for them here.
In addition, a submarine shark can easily exist in the depths of the sea. For example, the largest animals - sperm whales - live quietly at a depth of three kilometers. A person cannot reach such a depth, even despite the development of modern ones. Such depths are simply not yet available to us. And if you compare the sizes of sperm whales and submarine sharks, the latter clearly win. Consequently, the depth of their immersion can be much greater than the “simple” three kilometers.
In the fall of 2011, reports appeared in the domestic media according to which it was planned to decommission and dismantle all remaining Project 941 Akula nuclear submarines by 2014. The next day, Defense Department officials denied this information. As it turns out, these submarines will remain in the fleet in the coming years. Since then, new reports have been received from time to time about the future fate of the Sharks. First of all, the possible modernization of these boats is mentioned. However, the repair and re-equipment of the Sharks is sometimes called impractical, because there are only three such boats left in service. But in the early eighties, the Soviet Union was going to build ten Project 941 submarines. Why, instead of the ten largest submarines in the world, does our country now have only three?
When at the Rubin Central Design Bureau for Medical Sciences under the leadership of S.N. Kovalev, the development of Project 941 began, the fleet command could express quite bold wishes. According to some sources, the possibility of building a series of twelve new submarines was seriously considered. Apparently, for economic reasons, it was subsequently reduced to ten ships. Despite this reduction, the mid-seventies, when the project was created, can be called one of the best periods in the Russian Navy. Therefore, only three and a half years passed from the issuance of tactical and technical specifications to the laying of the lead “Shark”. Four years later, the first boat of the TK-208 project left the stocks and entered service in December 1981. Thus, it took about nine years to create the lead submarine.
Until 1986-87, seven Project 941 submarines were laid down at the Severodvinsk Sevmash plant. However, problems began already in 1988. Due to a number of financial and political problems, the seventh submarine, 35-40 percent complete, was cut into metal. The last three boats of the series generally remained at the stage of preliminary preparation for construction. Perestroika began in the country and funding for defense projects decreased significantly. In addition, the former (?) potential enemy, who was directly interested in the absence of such equipment, learned about the new submarines.
It's worth noting that the United States had good reason to fear the Sharks. Project 941 boats were the largest submarines in the world and carried solid weapons. The original design of the boat with two main strong hulls located at a distance from each other made it possible to fit two dozen missile silos of the D-19 complex with R-39 missiles into the contours of the light hull. The record-breaking size of Project 941 boats was due to the dimensions of the missiles. The P-39 had a length of 16 meters and simply did not fit on submarines of the old design, like the later versions of Project 667. At the same time, increasing the size of the boat made it possible to place on it comfortable cabins and quarters for the crew, a small recreation room, a gym, a swimming pool and even a sauna.
Both main pressure buildings housed one OK-650VV reactor with a thermal power of up to 190 MW. Two steam turbine units with turbo-gear units had a total power of up to 90-100 thousand horsepower. Thanks to this power plant, Project 941 boats with a displacement of 23-28 (surface) or 48-50 thousand tons (underwater) are capable of moving underwater at speeds of up to 25-27 knots. The maximum diving depth is 450-500 meters, autonomy is up to 120 days.
The main payload of the Sharks was R-39 ballistic missiles. These three-stage solid-fuel ammunition could fly to a range of about 8200-8500 kilometers and deliver ten warheads to targets with a capacity, according to various sources, from 100 to 200 kilotons. In combination with the unlimited cruising range and relatively low noise level of the carrier boat, the R-39 missile provided Project 941 submarines with high combat characteristics. It is worth noting that the R-39 missiles were not very easy to use. Problems with them were associated, first of all, with weight and size parameters. With a length of 16 meters and a diameter of 2 meters, the rocket with so-called units. shock-absorbing rocket launch system (ARSS) weighed about 90 tons. After launch, the R-39 shed six tons of ARSS weight. However, despite such mass and size, the R-39 missile was considered suitable for use and put into production.
In general, the potential enemy had every reason to be afraid. In 1987, new cause for concern appeared. The Soviet Union decided to modernize all existing Sharks in accordance with the 941UTTH project. Its main difference from the basic project was the use of upgraded R-39UTTH missiles. Before the collapse of the USSR, Sevmash managed to finalize only one lead boat of the project, TK-208. Other submarines were not modernized - there was simply no money for it. Subsequently, the lack of money constantly affected the fate of the Sharks, and only in a negative way.
According to some sources, maintaining one “Akula” in combat-ready condition cost 1.5-2 times more than operating Project 667BDRM boats. In addition, in the late eighties and early nineties, the leadership of our country was ready to make a variety of concessions in international negotiations, including those that were obviously disadvantageous for its own defense capability. As a result of consultations with, as they began to say, foreign partners, the construction of the seventh submarine of the series was completely forgotten, and half of those manufactured were decided to be gradually written off and disposed of. In addition, in the early nineties, production of R-39 missiles ceased. The submarines risked being left without their main one.
Due to insufficient funding, Project 941 boats sat at the piers almost all the time without any hope of going out. The first submarine to leave the fleet was the submarine cruiser TK-202. Disposal was delayed: instead of the planned start in 1997, work began only in 1999. The cutting into pins and needles was completed by the mid-2000s. In 1997-98, two other boats, TK-12 and TK-13, were excluded from the fleet’s operational strength. They stood at the piers for a very long time, and at the beginning of the 2000s there was hope for their return. The option of returning the TK-12 boat to service was considered. In addition, she was supposed to receive the name “Simbirsk”, since the administration of the city of Ulyanovsk expressed a desire to take patronage over her. But these proposals did not come to fruition. In 2004, the United States achieved the start of recycling the boat. The contract for the destruction of the last TK-13 submarine was signed in 2007. A few months later work began.
As we see, the “foreign partners” were still able to push through a solution that was beneficial to them. The importance of destroying the Sharks is perfectly illustrated by the fact that about 75-80% of the costs of dismantling the boats were paid by the United States and NATO. In total, they spent about $25 million. Probably, due to the danger of Soviet and Russian submarine cruisers, they were ready to once again shell out sums of this order for the disposal of the remaining Russian submarines, including other projects.
A completely fair question may arise: why didn’t the Russian leadership break the agreement on the joint destruction of unique boats? There are reasons for this. During the first years, our country simply did not have the opportunity to fully maintain all six submarines. Without proper maintenance, nuclear power plants could cause colossal environmental disasters. Later, at the beginning of the 2000s, money appeared, but at the same time another problem appeared. By the end of the nineties, the lack of missile production began to take its toll. A little later, the situation with ammunition became fatal: in 2005, reports appeared that there were only ten R-39 missiles for three submarines. In other words, it was not possible to equip even one submarine.
It is worth noting that the command of the navy drew attention to this problem back in the mid-nineties. In 1998, modernization of the TK-208 submarine began in accordance with project 941U (another designation “941M”). Instead of old launchers, several new silos were installed on the boat, designed to use R-30 Bulava missiles. The development of this rocket had just begun at that time, but appropriate measures were already being taken for testing and subsequent operation. After repairs, in 2002, the TK-208 boat received the name “Dmitry Donskoy”, and in 2003 it began to participate in the Bulava tests.
The operation of the Dmitry Donskoy submarine continues to this day. The other two remaining boats were less fortunate: they were not modernized. In 2004, TK-17 Arkhangelsk and TK-20 Severstal were put into reserve. In the fall of 2001, the Severstal boat went on a cruise to conduct two training launches. Together with the sailors, television journalists who were filming the documentary “Russian Shark” went to the place of the combat training mission. Subsequently, the footage was repeatedly used in various films about record-breaking submarines. Ironically, these shootings turned out to be the last in the biography of the TK-20 boat.
After memorable statements from an unnamed source in 2011, the situation with Project 941 boats has repeatedly become the subject of discussion. A couple of months after the official denial of decommissioning, the management of the Sevmash plant confirmed that the Dmitry Donskoy submarine will henceforth be used as an experimental submarine to test technologies and technical solutions intended for promising projects. The further fate of Arkhangelsk and Severstal was not known at that time. At the beginning of 2012, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, V. Vysotsky, said that all three existing submarines would remain in the fleet and would be in operation over the next years. The situation with the lack of missiles was not commented on. Since then, there have been no official reports about the fate of the remaining Project 941 submarines. Probably, due to the lack of any clear prospects, Severstal and Arkhangelsk will remain in the fleet for several more years and then will be decommissioned. At least now no one is going to upgrade them to use R-30 missiles. Probably, the fleet command assessed the possibilities and prospects of such modernization and came to the appropriate conclusions.
Project 941 submarines were unlucky to appear during a very difficult period in history. In the midst of their construction, transformations began that ultimately proved fatal for the country. Elimination of their consequences took many more years and as a result, the “Sharks” were held at the pier most own life. Now that it is possible to find opportunities to return the boats to service, the feasibility of this has begun to raise questions. Despite record-breaking characteristics for their time, the Project 941 boats are quite outdated and it will be necessary to invest as much money in updating them as would be spent on creating a completely new project. Does this make sense?
Based on materials from sites:
http://flot.com/
http://rbase.new-factoria.ru/
http://deepstorm.ru/
http://lenta.ru/
http://ria.ru/
http://militaryrussia.ru/blog/topic-578.html
Nerpichya Bay, 2004. Reserve. Photo http://ru-submarine.livejournal.com
