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.

Yasen Class

Yasen class internal layout

It can be a little confusing when looking up information on this class of Russian submarine. There are many different names that this class has been called.

First the Russian Navy refers to the project as Project 885 Yasen (Russian: Проект 885 "Ясень", Yasen means ash tree). The class is also sometimes referred to as the Severodvinsk class because this is the lead ship in the class. There is also the term Graney class, but this has been used less and less.

Severodvinsk getting underway

The lead ship of this class was launched in September of 2011, and later that month put to sea for sea trials. It is expected that the Severodvinsk will join the fleet in the latter half of 2012. The second boat of the class, Kazan, is currently under construction.  

Yasen Class in drydock

The Severodvinsk was initially laid down in 1992 and was delayed for financial reasons. The price of the lead ship is believed to be more than one billion US dollars. The follow-on ships of the class will feature upgraded weapons and electronics packages.

 

The Yasen class submarines are multi-role submarines that were developed from lessons learned from the Akula, Oscar, and Alfa class submarines.

 

According to several naval analysts this class will be the quietest Russian submarine ever built, but that has yet to be confirmed.

K-329 Severodvinsk can be seen in Google Earth at 64°34′31″N 39°48′02″E / 64.575181°N 39.800550°E.

Russia is planning to built 10 of these submarines, to replace older Soviet submarines.

Here is a layout for the Russian speakers out there.

NATO vs. Russia

During the cold war NATO assigned reporting names for Soviet/Russian submarines. This was done in order to streamline reporting among the NATO allies. So that France didn't call a ship on thing, and Germany call it something completly different.  The names were often derived from the NATO alphabet.

Here is a list of the reporting names for Soviet/Russian submarines and ships.

Painting of an ALFA class submarine.

The practice for surface ships was to name the class after the lead ship of that class.

Everything went according to the plan until the late 1980's when the Typhoon class submarine came out. This class caused confusion in reporting circles because it is called Typhoon by NATO, but Akula by the Soviets.

After the fall of the Soviet Union NATO adopted the process of calling the class after the lead ship in the class. That's why we now have the Severodvinsk class and Borei class submarines. But even these are often called by different names.

 K-152

     The Nerpa is an Akula II class submarine that has now been leased to the Indian Navy for a period of 10 years. This was a deal that was many years in the making, with coutless delays, and it's interesting that this isn't the first time that a nuclear powered vessel has been transferred between navy's ( K-43 a Charlie class SSGN was leased to the Indian Navy as the Chakra from 1988 to 1992).

 

      The submarine was originally laid down in 1993 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Because of financial difficulties and the loss of specialist's the submarines construction was delayed. Construction did not begin again until 2004 when it was reported that the Indian Navy expressed interest in acquiring the ship. For the next several years there were many conflicting reports about if the ship was going to serve with the Russian Navy or with the Indian Navy. Still there were many delays, and the submarine didn't start sea trials until 2008.

     
While on sea trials in 2008, a fire suppression system went off and killed 20 people and injuring many more. This was the worst submarine accident in the Russian Navy since the Kursk.

 The ship was returned to the ship yards to undergo further repairs.

 

     Finally in late 2009 the submarine was commissioned into the Russian Navy. An Indian crew was being trained at this time to eventually take over operations on board the submarine. The transfer was completed at the end of 2011, and the submarine was renamed INS Chakra.

 Here are some of the specifications according to RIA Novosti:

A New President (well kind of)

       The news out of the Russian Navy this week has been slow. I'm guessing that this is because of the elections and protests dominating the news. In case you hadn't heard Vladimir Putin was elected to a third term as president of the Russian Federation. That means for the next six years he will be the head of the Russian military.

Putin

     So in light of that here are a few of the stories that I found from the past week: 

Typhoon at sea

       The Russian Navy has said that it will not modernize the Typhoon class submarines (the picture in the article depicts an Akula class submarine, which the Russian call the Typhoon. Akula is the NATO reporting name for submarine pictured in the article.) The main reason for not wanting to modernize lies in the fact that a full refit of one of the Typhoons could pay for two new Borei class submarines. The reports on whether or not these submarines will stay commissioned with the fleet vary widely. With some sources saying that they will remain in service until 2019. In my opinion besides the Dmitri Donskoy, which is being used to test the Bulava missile, the ships will be scrapped.  For more information about the Typhoons see my earlier blog post here. 

      

IL-38 May

      The Northern Fleet now has a modernized version of the IL-38 May. The aircraft were upgraded and fitted with a new system called Novella. Here are some of the new capabilities:

"The Novella system includes a digital computer manned by two operators. The system also has a new high resolution thermal imaging system, a magnetic anomaly detection system, an optical detection system (including laser, TV and thermal channels), gravitational anomaly detector and other equipment."