The Biggest Submarine in the world

A 2006 Russian stamp in honor of the Typhoon

      The Typhoon class submarine is one of the most famous class of submarines in the world thanks to its size and movies like The Hunt for Red October. The Russians refer to the submarine as Project 941 Akula, which can be confusing considering that there is a fast attack submarine whose NATO classification is Akula.  The Submarine is 574 feet long and 75 feet wide, and when submerged displaces 48,000 tons.  Theoretically the submarine has the capability to remain at sea for 120 days or longer with a crew of 160.  
           The first Typhoon was commissioned with the Soviet Navy in the early 1980's. They were built in Severodvinsk in the White Sea. The Typhoons were built by placing two pressure hulls side-by-side, and then adding a third pressure hull that you can see protruding just below the sail. Because of this construction the Typhoon has a high degree of  survivability . If one pressure hull were flooded the crew could survive in the other pressure hull. 

Typhoon in construction hall

They were intended to operate under the ice so as to avoid the NATO sonar nets that blocked the path to the Atlantic. For this purpose the sail was strengthened to allow for breaking through ice. 

Typhoon in drydock

      Many specialists classify the Typhoon as a second strike weapons platform, meaning that after an nuclear strike on the Soviet Union this submarine would be able to counterattack  in a retaliatory strike. Because these submarines were meant to stay at sea for extended periods of time they had some creature comforts that could not be found on any other Soviet submarines. These comforts included a small swimming pool, video games, and room where the crew could relax. 

Pool on the Typhoon

     To carry out this mission the Typoons carried 20 solid-fuel propellant R-39 (SS-N-20 NATO classification) missiles, with each capable of carrying 10 warheads.  They are arranged in two rows in front of the sail between the main hulls. In addition to the ballistic missiles the Typhoons carried torpedo and other weapons for self-defense. 

One of the missile tubes open.

     Six units were built and put into service with the Soviet Navy. Of those three units still exist, and three were scrapped under the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. Here are the current status of the three remaining Typhoons:


-TK-208 Dmitriy Donskoy was converted to be the test bed for the new Bulava missile system. The Russian Navy has stated that this ship will remain as a test platform in the future.


-TK-17 Arkangelsk and TK-20 Severstal are both being held in reserve, and as recently as last week these submarines will be brought back into service in the near future. In order for that to happen these units would need to be refitted to carry the new Bulava missile or the Sineva missile, which is carried on the Delta-IV's. 


Like with so many things that are said by the Russian leadership, only time will tell if these submarines will ever put to sea again. 

DIA painting of Typhoon with a sub tender.

A New Navy



Putin on board the warship Peter the Great


     This week soon to be president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, announced massive funding for the military. Over the next ten years he plans to spend 23 trillion rubles  ($775 billion US) on defense. While many are skeptical that this would actually happen, if it does it will be good news for a navy that is in dire need of new ships.
      In an article that appeared on the website of the Moscow Komsomolets Putin considers that the Russian Navy should receive 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), 8 ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), 20 multi-role submarines, more than 50 surface combatants, and nearly 100 military satellites. Here is the Russian from the article.

"400 межконтинентальных баллистических ракет наземного и морского базирования, 8 ракетных подводных крейсеров стратегического назначения, 20 многоцелевых подводных лодок, более 50 боевых надводных кораблей, около 100 космических аппаратов военного назначения"

     While the Russian Navy currently has more ships than those planned to be added, most of these ships are not capable of combat operations. Those ships that are added to the fleet will significantly increase the combat capabilities of the Russian Navy. Putin wants a blue water navy that is mainly concentrated in the North and Pacific fleets, and can protect Russia's interests in the Artic.

      According to RIA Novosti this is the current composition of the Russian Navy:



Russian Navy composition





Some other bullets of interest from the article:

Yuri Dolgoruki at sea

- According to Admiral Vysotsky (Commander of the Russian Navy), the Yuri Dolgoruki (Project 955) will join the fleet in 2012, and is expected to join the Pacific Fleet. The Alexander Nevski and Vladimir Monomak will join the fleet later, and construction of the fourth ship of the class will begin in March.

Model of Typhoon class submaine.

- The Typhoon class submarines (Project 941 Akula), Severstal and Arkangelsk,  will remain part of the fleet and will soon be carrying missiles. While the Dmitri Donskoy will remain a test platform for the Bulava.



Oscar class submarine underway



- The Belgorod, and Oscar class submarine (Project 949A) whose construction was halted some years ago, will be converted for special missions.

French Mistral

- The first Mistral will be named Vladivostok and will be based with the Pacific Fleet.

For the Russian speakers here is the article:

http://vlad.mk.ru/article/2012/02/22/674206-rossiya-uvelichivaet-flot-vdvoe.html

In other news from the Russian Navy:

Russia will continue to take part in anti-piracy operations.

Icelandic sub for Russian Navy

Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Sergei Gorshkov

The man who made the Russian Navy what it is today is Sergei Gorshkov. 

Admiral Gorshkov on the cover of Time magazine in 1968

     Starting in 1956 until 1985 Admiral Gorshkov was commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy. Under his leadership the Soviet Navy went from being a mainly coastal force into a force that was able to project power throughout the world.  Here is a quote from him expressing his accomplishment:


"The flag of the Soviet navy now proudly flies over the oceans of the world. Sooner or later, the U.S. will have to understand that it no longer has mastery of the seas."

—Admiral Sergei Gorshkov

     Gorshkov was born in present day Ukraine on Feb, 26, 1910. After finishing schooling there he first attended Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University), but he was then accepted into the Frunze military academy. When he graduated he first served on a minesweeper in the Black Sea Fleet, and then was transferred to the Pacific Fleet for several years. Just prior to the start of the Great Patriotic War (World War Two) Gorshkov returned to the Black Sea fleet and was the commander of squadron of cruisers. 

Hero of the Soviet Union

 During the war Gorshkov distinguished himself in battle, and finished the war with the rank of Vice Admiral. He then commanded the Black Sea Fleet from 1951-1955. For his actions during the war he was awarded the highest military decoration of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Soviet Union.

 In 1956 Gorshkov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy. Under his leadership the Soviet Navy started a massive build-up, and by the 1970's was a force that could challenge the Western naval forces. 

Gorshkov visiting a computer facility

Admiral Gorskov retired in 1985 finally having the fleet that he had dreamed of.  For his accomplishments he was awarded another Hero of the Soviet Union.

He passed away three years later and was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery. 

Headstone of Gorshkov

In his honor the Russian Navy renamed the aircraft carrier Baku, Admiral Gorshkov. 

Admiral Gorshkov 

And currently the Russian Navy is building a new class of frigates named in honor of Admiral Gorshkov. 

Read more: 
New York Times article published when Admiral Gorshkov died. 
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/15/obituaries/sergei-gorshkov-dies-at-78-admiral-built-soviet-navy.html

News From the Week

      Many different sites reported this week about the fire which occurred on the Delta-IV submarine Yekaterinburg in late December 2011. The reason that this is making news now is because it is being reported that the submarine had not offloaded its torpedo's or ballistic missiles prior to entering dry-dock. Before the fire was extinguished the submarine was on the brink of a nuclear disaster, on the scale of Chernobyl. Here is a good explanation of what happened leading up to the fire and during the fire.

The Yekaterinburg with flames coming from the bow section. forums.airbase.ru

This is where the hull was being repaired. You can see where the flames from the picture above were coming from.

     To make it short and sweet the submarine had some damage to its hull and needed to be repaired. The submarine was put in dry dock and repairs were started, shortly after that the fire started. What wasn't said in the above explanation was that the common practice for the Russian Navy is to off load all weapons from the submarine prior to it entering dry dock, but according to sources this was not done.

      In my opinion I find it hard to believe that the weapons were on board. If it was common practice to remove the weapons prior to going into dry dock, then why wasn't it done this time? Let me know what you think.

Here is the article for you Russian speakers out there:

http://kommersant.ru/doc/1867264

In other news:

The Admiral Kuznetsov returned to its home port after a several month cruise in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The Mistral's being built for Russia will be armed with Russian made weapons systems, and more heavily armed than their French counterparts.

The Russian Navy has decided that the Lada class submarines will not be produced further. One submarine is currently serving in the Baltic fleet, and two more were being built, but their construction has been suspended.

Sources: military-today.com, RIA Novosti, http://rpdefense.over-blog.com

The One and Only

        The Russian Navy currently operates only one aircraft carrier. If you want to be picky about it, officially it isn’t called an aircraft carrier. If you translate the Russian literally, then, it is a "heavy aircraft carrying cruiser" (тяжёлый авианесущий крейсер).  This name implies a mission very different from US carriers.  Where US carriers are used to project power and strike sea-based and land targets, the Admiral Kuznetsov is mainly a defensive weapons platform. The Admiral Kuznetsov is intended to support and defend strategic missile-carrying submarines, surface ships, and maritime missile-carrying aircraft of the Russian fleet.

      The official name of the aircraft carrier is Admiral Flota Sovetskovo Soyuza Kuznetsov (Russian: Адмирал флота Советского Союза Кузнецов  Translation:"Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov"), but for obvious reason the ship is often just called Kuznetsov.  The Russian Navy refers to the ship as Project 1143.5. The  Kuznetsov is the only active ship of the Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carriers, with the other unit now belonging to China. 

      The ships were originally built for the Soviet Navy at Nikolayev shipyard in Ukraine.  Admiral Kuznetsov is the first hull of the class and was launched in 1985. She wasn’t commissioned until 1991, and because of financial delays she wasn’t operational until 1995. That same year she went on her first deployment to the Mediterranean Sea to mark the 300^th anniversary of the Russian Navy.

       The ship has gone through several name changes. Originally the ship was to be called Riga, but was then renamed Leonid Brezhnev, and then Tbilisi. Finally, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the ship was named in honor of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union, Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov.

Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov 

       

Here is a drawing showing the general layout of the ship.

  Now let’s take a closer look at some of the systems and construction of the Admiral Kuznetsov.

Su-33 getting ready for take-off

Aircraft:  The Admiral Kuznetsov uses a ski jump in order to launch its fixed wing aircraft.  

The ski jump is at a 12 degree angle, which can be seen clearly in this picture. 

       The ship lacks catapults for launching aircraft and therefore the take-off weight of the aircraft does not allow for heavy bomb loads.  The take-off speed of the aircraft is estimated at around 75-85 mph. Any aircraft heavily loaded with bombs would stall, and fall into the sea.The ship carries a variety of aircraft depending on its current mission. The following aircraft have been used in the past: 

Fixed Wing: 

Su-33 On the deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov

Su-33 (Orginally known as the Su-27K, this is the aircraft carrier version of the Su-27 Flanker). This is a multi-role all-weather fighter, whose primary mission is air defense. The Russian Navy currently operates 19 Su-33's which will reach the end of their service life in 2015. The Russian Navy is then planning on replacing these aircraft with the MiG-29K. While they could just order more Su-33's to replace the aging one currently in the fleet, ordering the MiG-29K makes more sense because it is already being produced for the Indian Navy. 

Su-25

 Su-25UTG Frogfoot: These aircraft are used to train pilots for naval aviation. There are about 10 of them currently operating with the 279th Naval Aviation Regiment. 

 Helicopters:  

Ka-27

Ka-27 Helix: These helicopters are used for anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations.

       The Admiral Kuznetsov uses an arresting wire system similar to what you would see on a US carrier. 

Here is a video of the Admiral Kuznetsov conducting air operations. 

Other Weapons Systems: Besides its aircraft, the Admiral Kuznetsov also has a variety of other weapons systems. According to sources, here are the other weapons that the Admiral Kuznetsov  has.  

12 × P-700 Granit SS-N-19 'Shipwreck' SSM launchers

24 x 3K95 Kinzhal SA-N-9 'Gauntlet' SAM launchers with 8 missiles each

8 x Kashtan air defense modules, each with

2 x 9M311 SA-N-11 'Grison' SAM launchers with 4 missiles each

2 × GSh-6-30 30mm rotary cannon

6 x AK-630 30mm rotary cannon, 6,000 round/min/mount, 24,000 rounds

2 x RBU-12000 UDAV-1 antisubmarine rocket launchers (60 rockets)

Missile tubes for the SS-N-19's. These launchers are located in the bow underneath the flight deck. 

Propulsion: The Admiral Kuznetsov is conventionally powered. There are eight boilers and four steam generators on board that drive four screws. The ships top speed is 29 knots, with a range of 3,800 miles at that speed. However, at a slower speed of 18 knots, the ship has a range of 8,500 miles. 

The  Admiral Kuznetsov is currently on its way back to its Northern Fleet base. Once the Admiral Kuznetsov returns home she will soon be sailing to the shipyards in Severodvinsk, where the ship will undergo a major overhaul.  This looks to be a major overhaul, and the Admiral Kuznetsov will not rejoin the fleet until 2017. However this will extend the ships service life and allow her to serve as planned until 2030-2035. 

Though the Russian Navy has said it plan on building a nuclear aircraft carrier, those plans are in doubt now that they have plans to acquire the French built Mistral's. 

The Russian Navy is growing.

           It has now been two decades since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Following this, the Russian military, and in particular the Russian Navy went into rapid deterioration.  Ships rarely went to see, and many ships rusted away in port. The Russian Navy was no longer a force to be reckoned with on the high seas. Instead images like this were more common.



The rusting hull of a submarine, K-159





Surface ships abandoned and rusting away.

“Due to the lack of funding, the Navy has come close to a numerical minimum required to fulfill its mission,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated during a meeting. 

             Now, however, the Russian Navy has begun to rebuild. Several new submarines are currently undergoing sea trials in the White Sea, and more will be joining the fleet in the near future.  A new ballistic missile will be joining the fleet, as well as new classes of surface ships. According to news reports, roughly  4.7 trillion rubles (158 billion US dollars)  are due to be allocated for the modernization of the Russian Navy between 2012 and 2020 which experts say will help Russia to meet all modern-day threats and challenges. 

              It will be interesting to watch the Russian navy over the next several years and see if all of these plans come to fruition. Russian politicians have made comments like this before, but those turned out to be just words. A detailed plan for the future of the Russian Navy will be ready by June of this year, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.



Here are some interesting links from just this past week concerning the growth of the Russian Navy:

The Russian Navy is growing

The “Yuri Dolgorukiy” will join the fleet this summer 

10 Borei class SSBN’s will join the fleet

French built Mistral to join the fleet

And for the Russian speakers out there here is a link to an article that covers the Russian Navy's growth:

http://ekonbez.ru/news/cat/13949

Sources:

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/british-report-abandoned-russian-subs-pose-nuclear-threat-0683/

http://englishrussia.com/2007/01/04/murmansk-military-objects/

Welcome to the first post of what I hope will be many for the new Russian Navy Report!

In searching the internet for developments that have taken place in the Russian Navy and for historical perspectives on those developments, I have not come across much that was worthy of such a topic. And what a topic it is. The Russian Navy was started under the iron rule of Peter the Great and is currently being brought back to life under the current regime. We have a lot of ground to cover so let’s get started.

I’m going to keep my posts on a schedule. Each Monday I’ll present a post regarding an historical event, person, or weapons systems connected with the Russian Navy. Then, at the end of the week, on Friday, I’ll present an overview of what occurred that week in the Russian Navy.

Now for some news:

The commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, stated, “On June 1 or soon thereafter, we will resume constant patrolling of the world's oceans by strategic nuclear submarines. We've been waiting for this for 26 years.”

For those that can read Russian,here it is:

"Уже 1 июня или чуть позже мы выходим снова на непрерывное боевое патрулирование ракетных крейсеров стратегического назначения", - сказал он. "Мы ждали этого события 26 лет", - сказал командующий ВМФ.

I’m not really sure what he was referring to with the 26 years remark. If you look at the patrol data from the Russian Strategic missile submarines, the only year that they didn’t patrol was in 2002. Twenty six years ago was 1986. In that that year the Soviet Navy had nearly 80 deterrence patrols.

Here is a chart from the Federation of American Scientists that documents the number of patrols from the early 1980’s until 2008.

It’s obvious that the number of patrols decreased significantly, but in recent years, the numbers have been increasing slowly.

The one point I find interesting, is that Admiral Vysotsky said that the Russian Navy would maintain a constant presence at sea with its ballistic missile carrying submarines. That is going to take a lot or resources and it's something the Russian Navy hasn't done in a long time.

It is difficult to find data on when the last time the Russian Navy maintained such a presence at sea, but looking at information provided by the Federation of American Scientists, I would say that 1998 was most likely the last year that the Russian

s maintained a constant at-sea deterrent. Since then most of the Russian ballistic missile submarines have spent most of their time at the pier. Every so often they would conduct training missions lasting about a month.

Here is the current order of battle for the Russian Navy, concerning ballistic missile submarines.

Typhoons: Currently there are three of them. One, the Dmitriy Donskoy, was refitted to be the test bed for the new Bulava missile, two others, Arkhangelsk and Severstal, are in Severodvinsk in reserve status ( If you put the following coordinates in Google maps you can see the two typhoons sitting side by side 64.575061,39.770744)

Here is an example of a Typhoon class submarine. This submarine is TK-202 just prior to its scrapping

The Typhoons will most certainly not be taking part in any deterrence patrols in the near future. The missile which was associated with the Typhoons has been eliminated from the Russian arsenal. As such the boats would have to be overhauled in order to carry the new Bulava missile.

Delta-IV: Currently there are seven units in various states of readiness. All of the units are stationed with the Northern Fleet.

Here is an example of the Delta-IV. This is K-18 "Karelia"

These submarines will likely be the first to patrol. Most have recently finished refitting or are currently being refitted.

Delta-III: The data on these submarines varies widely. With some sources saying as many as six remain active, but the more likely number is three remain active. All of these units are stationed in the Pacific Fleet.

The possibility of the Russian Navy to resume constant at sea strategic patrols, with its current force structure is unlikely in my opinion. The deployment of the submarines will place a huge amount of stress on the fleets, which are only just starting to get the supplies and support that is needed to maintain a fleet of ballistic missile submarines. I will believe it when I see it.

Tell me what you think.