Project 651

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Project 651
A Project 651 boat on the surface
A Project 651 boat on the surface
Ship data
country Soviet UnionSoviet Union (naval war flag) Soviet Union
Shipyard Shipyard 112 Gorki (14)

Shipyard 189 Leningrad (2)

Construction period 1960 to 1968
Decommissioning 1980s
Units built 16
Ship dimensions and crew
length
85.9 m ( Lüa )
width 9.7 m
Draft Max. 6.92 m
displacement surfaced: 3174 t
submerged: 4180 t
 
crew 78 men
Machine system
machine 2 × Type 1D43 diesel engines 4000  hp

1 × Type 1DL42 diesel engine 1000 PS
2 × PG-141 electric motors 6000 PS
1 × PG-140 electric motor 200 PS

propeller 2 ×  impellers
Mission data submarine
Diving depth, normal 240 m
Immersion depth, max. 300 m
Top
speed
submerged 		14.5 kn
Top
speed
surfaced 		16 kn
Armament
  • 4 × launch tubes for cruise missiles
  • 6 × torpedo tube (bow) ø 533 mm
  • 4 × torpedo tube (stern) ø 406 mm

ammunition

Sensors

"Arktika-M" - Sonar
MG-13- ESM -System
RLC-101- Radar

The Project 651 , from NATO as Juliett class called, is one for the Soviet Navy built class of submarines . They entered service in the 1960s and remained active until the early 1990s. They are the largest diesel-electric powered submarines built during the Cold War .

Project 651 boats were primarily armed with cruise missiles .

history

development

The development of the submarine class was commissioned in 1956. It was developed in parallel with the boats of Project 659 , which, however, were powered by nuclear power. The reason for building two classes of submarines with the same range of tasks in the same period is that only two shipyards in the Soviet Union were able to build nuclear submarines. A diesel-electric powered submarine class such as Project 651 was a way of integrating a larger number of submarines with modern cruise missile armament into the fleet in a short period of time without further straining the capacities of the special shipyards for nuclear submarines .

The technical requirements for project 651 were decided in January 1957 and the planning by the "Rubin" development office was completed by the end of 1959. The class is based in many aspects on Project 641 ("Foxtrot class"), which was built from 1957 onwards at Soviet shipyards. In order to allow the installation of launch devices for cruise missiles, however, Project 651 had to be significantly widened in comparison.

Initially, up to 72 units of this type were planned. Four should be assigned to the Northern Fleet , seven each to the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Baltic Fleets, and the rest of the Pacific Fleet . In 1962 it was decided to reduce the number to the 16 units actually built in order to concentrate the scarce resources on the construction of nuclear submarines.

Mission profile

The boats of the class should initially pose a threat to American cities on the east coast with their cruise missiles designed for the attack on land targets. But after enough SSBN boats from Project 667A with ICBMs were available for this task, the cruise missiles against land targets on Project 651 were replaced by anti-ship missiles to combat surface ships, especially ships in US carrier combat groups .

technology

hull

Image taken by the US Navy in 1988
K-24, renamed U461 in the Maritime Museum Peenemünde

The construction of the boats corresponded to the Soviet standard in submarine construction: an outer shell that housed a double-walled pressure hull in which the ship systems and crew were housed.

The hull of the first two boats, the K-156 and K-85 , was made of weakly magnetic 45G17YUZ special steel to reduce the signal, an innovation in Soviet submarine construction. However, the difficulties encountered in processing this steel ensured that conventional steel was used again in the other boats. The strength of the pressure hull achieved in this way allowed a maximum diving depth of 300 m; the depth of destruction at which the material most certainly failed is estimated at 600 m.

A total of fourteen ballast tanks were installed to regulate the trim of the boats. Two of these tanks were provided solely in the event that one of the rocket containers leaked and the changed load had to be quickly compensated for. In the pressure hull there were five fuel tanks for diesel, six more were built between the outer shell and the pressure hull. A total of around 670 tons of fuel could be carried in these tanks. Furthermore, 44 tons of fresh water and 17.4 tons of food were on board for up to 90 days. The maximum duration of a continuous dive was 33 days.

The interior of the pressure hull of these two-hulled boats was divided into eight compartments, separated from each other by watertight, lockable transverse bulkheads , from bow to stern:

1. The bow room with the six torpedo tubes, launch controls, exit hatch, space for additional sleeping accommodations
2. Accommodation, mess , battery cells in the lower deck
3. Control rooms and technical systems for cruise missile launch and remote flight control, commanders room, first officer's room, battery cells in the lower deck
4. Headquarters and access to the tower
5. Galley , shower room, the two lower decks contain accumulator cells
6. Diesel engine room
7. E-machine room, air conditioning
8. Stern room with four torpedo tubes and accommodations, launch controls, exit hatch

The hulls of ten boats of the class were covered with a layer of 5 cm thick hard rubber plates, which were supposed to dampen the noise from the boats and absorb the signals from enemy sonar pulses. The first six boats in the class did not receive an edition of this type because it was not yet available at the time of their construction.

drive

The information on the power of the two 6,000 PS (4,413 kW) at 500 revolutions per minute performing PG-141 electric motors vary. With the lead accumulators installed at the shipyard , 14.5 knots could be reached during the underwater journey. They stored enough energy for 27 nm at a speed of 17 kn. The maximum output of these batteries was 9,000 amperes for one hour. However, more powerful silver-zinc accumulators were available in three boats , which were originally intended to be given to the entire class. With them, 18.1 knots could be reached for a short period of time. The maximum output of these batteries was 14,000 amperes for one and a half hours. Four battery sets with 152 silver-zinc accumulator cells each were on board; the lead accumulators had 112 cells per set.

Two PG-140 motors, each with 200 HP (147 kW) at 155 revolutions per minute, acted on the two screws for crawling. However, the boats only reached 2.8 knots. At this speed, a maximum range of 810 nm was achieved.

During sea operations, people mainly used snorkels . To do this, the boat ran at a depth of around eight meters so that the two diesel generators could obtain the necessary oxygen via the snorkel system. These 1D43 marine diesel engines developed 4,000 hp (2,942 kW) at 440 revolutions.

The driving range with the diesels with a maximum fuel supply of 670 t was 18,000 nm at 7 knots. Since the drive was diesel-electric, the diesel engines did not operate the shafts directly, but only supplied the energy required to operate the electric motors.

Armament

Rear nudist ramps and fire control system at the front end of the tower in combat position

Cruise missiles

The main armament of the boats consisted of four cruise missiles , distributed over two launch devices, each with two cylindrical containers. It could SS-N-3 -Flugkörper (SS-N-3C) to attack land targets in coastal areas or, as a standard weapons, the variant SS-N-3 (SS-N-3A) are loaded to attack ship targets. However, only missiles of the same type could be loaded into the four containers of a boat. In the 1980s, the P-5 successor SS-N-12 Sandbox (SS-N-12) was also available.

The cruise missiles could only be launched when surfaced at slow speed, which made the boat vulnerable for the entire period between launch and target contact. They were located in two horizontal launchers in front of and behind the tower structure . The weapons could be launched in volleys or individually, separated from one another at ten-second intervals. In salvos, missiles 1 and 4 or missiles 2 and 3 were launched together to prevent damage to the adjacent missiles during take-off and to achieve a balanced weight distribution between port and starboard.

To launch a missile, the container with this weapon had to be extended upwards by around 20 °. The loading process for the cruise missiles worked in a similar way: the launch container to be loaded was extended, the rocket was delivered on land on a low-loader and hung on a crane . Crew members used guide lines to direct the rocket in front of the container, where it was then slowly lowered. The loading arm was attached to the missile container and the missile pushed into its launch tube. Maxim Wolnow describes the following connection of the missile to the on-board network as critical. The connection of the 24- volt line , which supplied the auxiliary power units of the weapon with the electricity for its ignition, had to be done by hand. Since a current peak could occur and an engine could ignite, the married crew members were sent away before this procedure and only the absolutely necessary personnel carried out this last step.

The fire control was carried out by the missile fire control system "Argument" (NATO identifier: "Front Door" or "Front Piece") at the front of the tower. In use, the system was rotated 180 ° into the combat position. After surfacing, fire readiness was established in around five minutes, after which the starts were made at intervals. To combat targets behind the horizon, the course was monitored by sea scouts Tu-95RT "Bear-D" by radar and this data was transmitted to the submarine so that course corrections could be made if necessary.

Torpedoes

For self-defense, the boats had six bow torpedo tubes for 533 mm torpedoes against surface ships and four stern torpedo tubes for 400 mm torpedoes for anti-submarine defense. The 533 mm torpedoes could only be used up to a depth of about 100 meters for the boats, while the 400 mm torpedoes could also be ejected to depths of up to 250 meters. Different types of 533 mm weapons could be used, including the types 53-56, 53-57, 53-58 and the acoustic SET-53 torpedo, which independently searched for a source of noise and followed it until either its distance fuse triggered the explosion of the warhead or ran out of fuel. The 400 mm MGT-1 and MGT-2 models, which were based on the SET-40 and were able to search for targets independently with active sonar, were used for anti -submarine defense . Decoys of the “Anabar” type could also be fired via the 406 mm tubes.

Since the attack on surface ships with torpedoes was not a priority, the boats were initially only equipped with an ammunition supply of six 533 mm torpedoes in the tubes, while a total of twelve 400 mm torpedoes for anti-submarine defense were on board. Only the last six boats built in Gorky were given additional storage space in the second compartment behind the torpedo room for four additional 533 mm reserve torpedoes by constructing bunks in the compartment so that they could be folded away to replace them To accommodate holding devices for the torpedoes.

The torpedoes were ammunitioned through the torpedo tubes. The complex process made it necessary to flood the front or rear ballast tanks in order to lift the openings of the pipes on the opposite side to above the water surface.

electronics

The main sensor used to search for underwater contacts was an "Arktika-M" sonar . The system's sensor was mounted below the bow torpedo tubes. There was also a medium-frequency torpedo control sonar "Leningrad 651" and a system for underwater telephony .

The "Front Door" fire control radar was installed in the front half of the tower . Various extendable masts were installed in the tower itself, including a “snoop slab” surface search radar and a “stop light” sensor for electronic support measures.

variants

Project 651K

Project 651K was the identifier of a prototype of the installation of an advanced combat information system on the boat K-81. The work was carried out in Severodvinsk from 1972 to 1973 . A powerful antenna was installed on the tower that could receive data from friendly satellites , so that the K-81 could also attack targets with its missiles that were beyond the range of its own radar sensors. The equipment with this system corresponded to the innovations that had been implemented on the nuclear-powered boats of Project 675 from 1968 .

Project 651E

Project 651E is the name of a test model that investigated whether Project 651 could be equipped with a nuclear reactor in the event of war . 1977 to 1985 the boat B-68 in Gorki was equipped with a WAU-6 auxiliary reactor for this purpose . The reactor unit was installed in a horizontal cylindrical container under the stern of the pressure hull. It had an output of around 600 kW and the water displacement increased by around 100 tons. After the prototype was tested in the North Sea, the conversion project was not pursued any further and the B-68 was finally scrapped.

Project 651 submarines

Of the 16 boats, nine were assigned to the Northern Fleet and undertook training and patrol trips with live weapons in the North Atlantic . Four boats were relocated to the Pacific , the rest were distributed to the other operational areas.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the submarines were taken out of service for the first time. After reactivation in 1985, the boats went into reserve until 1988. The final decommissioning took place in the first half of the 1990s.

So went B-124 (ex K-24 ) in 1991 out of service, was sold in 1994 and is now in Peenemunde as a museum ship. K-77 was also demilitarized and sold, was open to visitors in Providence , Rhode Island until April 2007 , and then sank after a storm.

The history of the individual boats is difficult to substantiate due to contradicting information. So K-77 was sold as K-81 and advertised by the operators. Only documents found during the preparation of the interior proved the true identity.

designation Shipyard number Keel laying Launch Commissioning Career
K-24 (since 1987: B-124) 511 10/15/1961 December 15, 1962 10/31/1965 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, sold in 1994, today a museum ship in Peenemünde
K-58 (B-58) 521 07/15/1963 02/12/1966 09/23/1966 Northern fleet, decommissioned in 1990, sunk in 1992 at the berth near Murmansk
K-63 (B-63) 513 04/25/1962 07/26/1963 06/12/1966 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, scrapped in 1991
K-67 (B-67) 524 01/31/1965 October 29, 1966 09/30/1967 Black Sea Fleet, scrapped in 1994
K-68 (B-68) 512 01/25/1962 04/30/1963 12/28/1965 Northern Fleet , Baltic Fleet , from 1979–1985 Project 651E, 1986 Northern Fleet, 1992 out of service, scrapped in 2005
K-70 (since 1987: B-70 / B-270) 514 08/25/1962 02/06/1964 December 31, 1964 Pacific Fleet, scrapped in 1991
K-73 (B-73) 523 08/01/1964 05/31/1966 December 15, 1966 Pacific Fleet, scrapped in 1991
K-77 (B-77) 515 January 31, 1963 03/11/1965 10/31/1965 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, sold in 1994, now a museum ship in the USA, sunk in 2007
K-78 (since 1987: B-78 / B-478) 525 07/25/1965 03/30/1967 11/01/1967 Northern fleet, Baltic fleet from 1987, decommissioned in 1991, sunk in the port of Liepāja in 1992 , scrapped in 1994
K-81 (B-81) 522 11/20/1963 08/07/1964 December 14, 1965 Northern fleet, Baltic fleet from 1981, decommissioned in 1991, sunk in the port of Liepāja in 1992, scrapped in 1994
K-85 (B-85) 553 10/26/1961 January 31, 1964 12/30/1964 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, scrapped in 1988
K-120 (B-120) 534 03/25/1967 07/11/1968 December 26, 1968 Pacific Fleet, scrapped in 1991
K-156 (since 1987: B-156) 552 11/16/1960 07/31/1962 December 10, 1963 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, scrapped in 1988
K-203 (B-203) 531 December 25, 1965 06/30/1967 12/02/1967 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, scrapped in 1994
K-304 (B-304) 532 08/06/1965 11/24/1967 06/21/1968 Northern fleet, from 1987 Baltic fleet, scrapped in 1994
K-318 (B-318) 533 March 29, 1966 03/28/1968 09/29/1968 Black Sea Fleet, scrapped in 1994

Remarks

  1. ↑ J. Apalkow mentions in Корабли ВМФ СССР Том I - Подводные лодки. Часть 1 - Ракетные подводные крейсера стратегического назначения и многоцелевые подводные крейсера стратегического назначения и многоцелевые подводные подводные лодки on p. AB Shirokorad names in Ships of the USSR - Strategic Missile Submarines and Multipurpose Submarines. on p. 109 a water displacement of 4,137 m³ in the submerged state. Maxim Wolnow, on the other hand, mentions 3,750 tons in K-85 on page 149.
  2. ↑ Only the Japanese submarines of the Sen Toku class and the AM class from the Second World War had a greater water displacement.

literature

  • А.Б. Широкорад: Советские подводные лодки послевоенной постройки. (AB Shirokorad: Soviet Post-War Submarine Buildings . ) Moscow 1997, ISBN 5-85139-019-0 (Russian)
  • Ю.В.Апальков: Корабли ВМФ СССР Том I - Подводные лодки. Часть 1 - Ракетные подводные крейсера стратегического назначения и многоцелевые подводные лодки. (For example: J. Apalkow: Ships of the USSR - Strategic Missile Submarines and Multipurpose Submarines. ) Saint Petersburg 2002, ISBN 5-8172-0069-4 (Russian).
  • Максим Вольнов: К-85. Как это было. "Воспоминания о службе на Северном флоте на подводном ракетоносном противоавианосном крейсере К-85". (For example: Maxim Wolnow: K-85. How it was. Memories of the service in the Northern Fleet on the U-cruiser K-85. ) submarinersclub.ru (PDF)

Web links

Commons : Juliett class  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c J. Apalkow: Корабли ВМФ СССР Том I - Подводные лодки. Часть 1 - Ракетные подводные крейсера стратегического назначения и многоцелевые подводные лодки. P. 79.
  2. ↑ Maxim Wolnow: К-85 , p. 42
  3. ↑ Maxim Wolnow: К-85 , p. 43
  4. ↑ deepstorm.ru Project 651 at deepstorm.ru, viewed on May 21, 2012
  5. ↑ Maxim Wolnow: К-85 , p. 141
  6. ↑ Maxim Wolnow: К-85 , p. 82
  7. ^ Raised bug ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Raised stern ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ J. Apalkow: Корабли ВМФ СССР Том I - Подводные лодки. Часть 1 - Ракетные подводные крейсера стратегического назначения и многоцелевые подводные лодки. Pp. 79, 80.
  10. ↑ K-58 . deepstorm.ru; Retrieved May 18, 2012
  11. ↑ K-78 . deepstorm.ru; Retrieved May 18, 2012
  12. ↑ K-81 . deepstorm.ru; Retrieved May 18, 2012