The Russian Navy Report

Afla class Submarine

 

If you take a look at the modern submarine force of the Russian Navy, many of those boats have roots in the Alfa class submarine. At the time when the first Alfa put to sea it was a revolution in submarine technology.  The Akula and new Yasen class submarines borrow heavily from technology developed from the Alfa class.

 

The Alfa’s featured a teardrop hull, with smoothing features around the sail and rudder. These submarines also used a lead-cooled nuclear reactor, which were smaller in size than conventional reactors. This allowed the Alfa’s to be smaller and size.

 

They were the fastest submarines in the world (with the lone exception of the K-222 Papa class).

In time of war these submarines would be used as interceptors, meaning that they would put to sea, and basically charge a US carrier battle group at high speed.

 

While they were never used in combat, and suffered from significant technical problems, the influence upon both the Russian Navy and the western navies cannot be overlooked.  If you care to read about it here is an article about how the CIA gathered information about the Alfa class.

In total there were seven units built. All were decommisioned by 1996.