Project 667B

Project 667B

K-472 Project 667B

Ship data country  Soviet Union Shipyard Shipyard 402 Severodvinsk Shipyard 199 Komsomolsk Construction period 1970 to 1977 Decommissioning 1990s to 2003 Units built 18th

Ship dimensions and crew length 139 m ( Lüa ) width 11.7 m Draft Max. 8.4 m displacement surfaced: 8,900 t submerged: 11,000 t   crew 120 men

Machine system machine Main drive: 2 × OK-700 - pressurized water reactors 180 MW th propeller 2 five-leaf

Mission data submarine Diving depth, normal 320 m Immersion depth, max. 400 m Top speed submerged 25 kn (46 km / h) Top speed surfaced 15 kn (28 km / h)

Armament 12 × R-29 starter tanks 4 × torpedo tubes ∅ 533 mm 2 × torpedo tubes ∅ 400 mm Sensors MGK-100- "Kerch" - Sonar MRP-10M- "Saliw-P" - ESM system MRK-50- "Kaskad" - Radar MRK-57- "Korma" radar

Project 667B , with the code name Murena ( Russian Мурена , German: Moray ), was a class of Soviet ballistic missile submarines . It was designated as the Delta class by NATO . Project 667B formed the technical basis for the subsequent projects 667BD , 667BDR and 667BDRM .

Planning and construction

After the submarines of Project 667A were unsuitable to accommodate and use modern ICBMs with greater ranges, the Soviet leadership decided to build a new class of submarines. The use of these weapons with their extended range also appeared therefore imperative to support the submarines before launching the missile from waters of NATO anti-submarine were controlled associations to keep.

In this way, the second strike capacity of the Soviet Union was to be ensured, since NATO units would not be able to destroy the missile submarines in the event of war before they could use their weapons to retaliate. Unlike the boats from Project 667A, the new submarines could no longer carry out the classic second or retaliatory strike only after a completed nuclear attack on their own country, but the other forces of the Soviet Union and its allies in an ongoing nuclear exchange support directly in order to influence the outcome of the conflict in their favor.

From 1963, the D-9 complex had been developed for the missile deployment of submarines, which should allow a range increase by three times the previous value. In 1965 the construction of a new type of submarine with the complex was approved. The planning for Project 667B was carried out by the Rubin Development Bureau and was completed before the R-29 missile was operational, so it had to be implemented when the first Project 667B boats were built at the Severodvinsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyards had already started.

technology

hull

Drawing of the starboard view of Project 667B. The characteristic hump of the rocket deck does not fall in a continuous line towards the stern, as in the successor classes, but is interrupted by an intermediate step at the point where the hatch for the towed antenna is.

Project 667B was 139 meters long and designed with a double hull for the pressure hull, making the boats more resistant to damage than their western counterparts. The 13-meter-long and 30-ton rockets were housed in two rows of six silos each. As with the previous model, Project 667A, it made the most sense to position the heavy missile compartment in the middle of the boats behind the tower. The dimensions of the ICBMs forced the architects of Project 667B to make the actual pressure hull no longer round in cross-section as in Project 667A, but rather ellipsoidally and to shift the originally same ratio of width to height in favor of a greater height. Nevertheless, the rocket shafts protruded well beyond the pressure hull, so that they had to be combined in a hump behind the tower, which decisively shaped the characteristic appearance of the boats.

The pressure hull itself was divided into ten watertight, lockable compartments:

• 1: Torpedo room with torpedo tubes, reserve torpedoes, front exit hatch, first battery set, control units for the sonar system
• 2: Accommodation on two decks and second battery pack on the third deck
• 3: Control center with control instruments, radio room and access to the tower
• 4: Missile Division 1 with eight missile silos
• 5: Missile Department 2 with four missile silos and pump systems for missile fuel
• 6: Technical department with tanks for diesel fuel
• 7: Reactor department with the two WM reactors positioned one behind the other
• 8: front machine department with turbines, condensers, electric motors
• 9: rear machine department with turbines, condensers, electric motors
• 10: stern area with rear exit hatch, access lock, steering gear for the stern rudder and trigger for the emergency buoy

drive

Was the main energy source of Project 667B, as with Project 667A, OK-700 reactor complex with two World Cup-4B - pressurized water reactors . The two reactors generated 180 MW of thermal energy, which was used to generate steam that powered two GTSA turbines. The turbines could each transmit up to 20,000 HP (14,710 kW) to the two shafts , which moved the submarine forward at a top speed of 25 knots over the two propellers in diving mode. Alternatively, two DG-460 diesel engines could each provide 460 kW of drive energy by burning diesel fuel with oxygen from the air. In addition, a snorkel was also available, which was rather unusual in nuclear-powered submarines .

Both energy sources could also charge the lead accumulators in the fuselage via a generator .

Range

Project 667B was no longer subject to range restrictions due to its nuclear drive. Only the supplies of food and consumables carried for the crew limited the service life of the boats to an estimated 80 days.

Armament

The main offensive armament of Project 667B consisted of twelve R-29 intercontinental ballistic missiles which, together with their control systems, formed the D9 missile complex. The D-9 complex contained an "Alpha" type computer system that automatically transferred the launch settings to the weapons and, for the first time, included an authorization system that only allowed a missile to be launched if the corresponding clearance was given to the boat by the high command. All twelve rockets could then be launched in quick succession from a water depth of up to 55 meters and each could transport a nuclear warhead with an explosive force of 800 kT up to a distance of 7,700 km . The rocket also carried a number of decoys in the second stage of the propulsion section, which were released when they burned down, unfolded, producing radar echoes that were intended to distract an enemy from the real rocket.

After a few years in service, some boats received the improved D-9D complex during their regular repairs.

For self-defense, each boat carried four bow torpedo tubes in caliber 533 mm and two in caliber 400 mm. 16 torpedoes for the 533-mm tubes and four 400-mm weapons could be carried on board. The 533 mm torpedo models SET-65, SAET-60, 53-65K or 53-65M could be used in addition to the 400 mm SET-40.

Sensors and communication systems

Project 667B was equipped with an Almas-B combat information system , a Tobol-B navigation system and a Molnija-L communication system.

The sonar system on Project 667B was taken over by Project 667A, was developed between 1960 and 1963, and had the code name "Kerch" and the identifier MGK-100. The system's cylindrical receiving and transmitting antennas were installed below and above the bow torpedo tubes.

An MT-70-8 and a PSNG-8M periscope were installed on the tower, plus a periscope for astronomical navigation and a radiometric sextant of the “Saiga” type (NATO: Cod Eye).

Project 667B was equipped with a retractable radar sensor of the type MRK-50 "Kaskad" (NATO: Snoop Tray 2), combined with an MRK-57 "Korma", to search for surface contacts, which worked in the X-band . In addition, a system for friend-foe recognition of the type "Nichrome-M" was installed.

The extendable mast with the “Sintes” (NATO: Pert Spring) sensor for the “Tobol-B” navigation system was located on the tower immediately behind the bridge watch.

An extendable mast with an ESM sensor type MRP-21 "Saliw-P" (NATO: Brick Pulp) was installed at the rear edge of the tower.

Project 667B had several redundant communication systems that allowed contact with headquarters and friendly forces. For this purpose, several transmitting antennas for radio communication were installed on the tower and a receiving antenna (NATO: Park Lamp) could receive messages on long wave and long wave .

For long-range communication when submerged at an extremely low frequency , the boats had a “Parawan” towed antenna. This antenna could be unwound from a winch that was located immediately behind the missile shafts. The winch was mounted under a hatch between the pressure hull and the outer hull and could release the antenna, which, held in suspension by a small floating body, could be towed behind the boat.

disposal

The disposal of the boats in Project 667B consisted of three steps: securing and storing the reactor section, scrapping the boats and, if required by the START disarmament treaties , rendering the rocket launcher unusable. The work was initially financed by the Soviet Union and later by Russia as an obligation under the START contracts, but also financially supported by the USA as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program. The work is carried out for boats of the Northern Fleet by the “Nerpa” and the “Svyosdotschka” shipyards. The boats of the Pacific fleet are scrapped by the "Zvezda" shipyard.

units

Two Soviet shipyards built a total of 18 project 667B submarines. These were shipyard 402 " Sevmasch " in Severodvinsk and shipyard 199 in Komsomolsk on the Amur . Because of the ever increasing dimensions of the submarines with ballistic missiles and the location of the shipyard on a river, Project 667B was the last Soviet SSBN class that could be produced at shipyard 199.

K-279

→ Main article : K-279

K-279, hull number 310, was laid down on March 30, 1970 in Severodvinsk and launched on December 20, 1971. It was assigned to the Northern Fleet and was initially used for numerous tests of the new missile system. An R-29 rocket launched from the boat in July 1977 exploded after launch due to a manufacturing fault. In 1984 the boat collided with an iceberg at a depth of 197 meters at a speed of 7 knots . The upper part of the bow was dented and K-279 could only be intercepted by the crew at a depth of 287 meters. On March 12, 1994 the boat was decommissioned and in 2002 it was scrapped by the " Svyosdotschka " shipyard.

K-447

The boat was laid on March 18, 1971 in Severodvinsk with the hull number 311 and was launched on December 31, 1972. It was assigned to the Northern Fleet. Between 1974 and 1975 it carried out a 78 day patrol. On December 11, 1975, the boat was moored near the shipyard, waiting for the hull to be demagnetized. A heavy storm tore K-447 loose and the boat drifted from the dock into the canal towards the open sea. While trying to secure the boat, six seamen who were used as mooring lines on the forecastle were caught in a wave and washed overboard. The next day they could only be recovered dead. The boat subsequently took part in numerous exercises and carried out several rocket launches. It was given the additional name Kislovodsk in 2000 , carried out its last mission in 2002 and was decommissioned in 2004. Scrapping began that same year.

K-450

K-450 was laid down under hull number 312 on July 30, 1971 in Severodvinsk and launched on April 15, 1973. It did its service in the Northern Fleet. In 1983, its missile system was modernized to the D-9D complex. In 1993, the K-450 was decommissioned and scrapped in 1999.

K-385

The boat with hull number 324 was laid on October 20, 1971 in Severodvinsk and was launched on June 18, 1973. It was stationed in the Gadschijewo naval base of the Northern Fleet. On November 30, 1994 it was decommissioned and in 2003 it was scrapped at the "Svyosdotschka" shipyard.

K-457

K-457 was laid down on December 31, 1971 in Severodvinsk with hull number 325 and was launched on August 25, 1973. She took part in several Northern Fleet exercises during her service. On December 10, 1986 she was rammed by the Kalininsk and had to call at the shipyard for emergency repairs. It was decommissioned in 1999 and scrapped in 2000.

K-465

The boat was laid down under the hull number 326 on March 22, 1972 in Severodvinsk and was launched on December 2, 1973. She belonged to the Northern Fleet. It collided with an unknown object on April 9, 1982 while diving at a depth of 99 meters and was not ready for use again until mid-1983 after repairs. It was decommissioned in 1994 and scrapped in 2000.

K-460

K-460 was laid down on June 5, 1972 in Severodvinsk with hull number 337 and launched on February 7, 1974. After a missile malfunction on K-279, K-460 was selected in 1977 to perform a missile launch and rule out a design flaw in the weapon. In 1988 the boat and the tower scraped against an ice sheet at a depth of 25 meters and tore off one of its antennas. The service of K-460 in the Northern Fleet ended March 28, 1998. The boat was scrapped in 2000 at the "Nerpa" scrap yard.

K-472

The boat with hull number 338 was laid down on August 10, 1972 Severodvinsk and was launched on April 26, 1974. During its service with the Northern Fleet, the boat drove a total of seven long-range patrols and carried out several rocket launches. It was decommissioned in 1995 and scrapped in 2000 by the "Svyosdotschka" shipyard.

K-475

K-475 with hull number 339 was laid down on October 17, 1972 in Severodvinsk and launched on June 25, 1974. The boat was assigned to the Northern Fleet. During a patrol on a diving trip on May 19, 1988, it rammed an iceberg at a depth of around 50 meters and was damaged at the bow. It was decommissioned in 1995 and scrapped in 2000 at the "Svjosdotschka" shipyard.

K-171

The boat with hull number 340 was laid on January 24, 1973 in Severodvinsk and was launched on August 4, 1974. It was initially assigned to the Northern Fleet, but was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1976. On December 28, 1978, during maintenance work in the reactor room in the home port, an incident occurred when several hundred liters of water spilled over the housing of the switched-off reactor. The officer in charge decided to hide the incident from his superiors. He started the reactor in order to simply let the water evaporate due to the rising temperature of the reactor shell. When nothing happened, he and two other sailors went into the reactor chamber to look. The air pressure in the chamber, which had meanwhile increased due to the evaporating water, made it impossible to open the bulkhead to the room from the inside again, so that all three were killed by the high temperatures in the reactor room. K-171 was decommissioned on March 28, 1995 and scrapped from 1999 by the “Stern” shipyard near Bolshoi Kamen .

K-366

The boat was laid down on March 6, 1973 as the first of the class in Komsomolsk am Amur with hull number 221 and was launched on June 8, 1974. It was assigned to the Pacific Fleet in Vilyuchinsk and conducted several patrols before decommissioning September 28, 1993.

K-417

K-417 with hull number 222 was laid on May 9, 1974 in Komsomolsk am Amur and was launched on May 6, 1975. It belonged to the Pacific Fleet and was stationed in Vilyuchinsk. After its decommissioning on January 12, 1995, it was scrapped in 1998 by the “Stern” shipyard near Bolshoi Kamen.

K-477

The boat was laid down on December 5, 1974 in Komsomolsk am Amur under the hull number 223 and was launched on July 13, 1975. Shortly after its commissioning with the Pacific Fleet, K-477 carried out a missile launch with a training warhead from silo number 12 and was now to receive a missile with a nuclear warhead as a replacement. Shortly after the loading process was completed in September 1977, human error caused damage to the propulsion section of the nuclear missile, which resulted in missile fuel leakage and ignition. The fire could only be reached with difficulty with on-board resources and could not be extinguished and since it was feared that an uncontrolled engine start could occur and the rocket could take off, the commander let the K-447 run out at full speed in order to suffocate the fire with a dive. The US Department of Defense was informed to be on the safe side, but the missile did not take off; instead, hours later, on September 8, its propulsion section in the silo exploded and the nuclear warhead was thrown overboard. The warhead was later recovered from a depth of around 50 meters and K-477 repaired. The boat was operational again the next year, but collided with K-171 during an exercise and was damaged again. After another repair, K-477 was put back into service. On March 28, 1995, the boat was finally taken out of service and was scheduled for scrapping.

K-497

K-497 with hull number 224 was laid down on March 19, 1974 in Komsomolsk am Amur and was launched on April 29, 1976. The boat did its service in the Pacific Fleet and was decommissioned on March 28, 1995 and scheduled for scrapping.

K-500

The boat was laid down on July 25, 1975 in Komsomolsk am Amur and was launched on July 14, 1976. Its modernization to the new D-9D missile complex began in 1985 and coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union, so it was not completed until 1994. In January 2003 a facility for unloading fuel rods was put into operation on the premises of the "Zvezda" shipyard with work on K-500, hull number 225.

Even if, according to other sources, the boat was not taken out of service until 2004, this work marks the end of the boat's service life.

K-512

K-512 was laid down on January 21, 1976 in Komsomolsk am Amur under hull number 226 and was launched on September 26 of that year. It was assigned to the Pacific Fleet and was given the additional name of 70 years Komsolsk in 1988, which was cast again in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union . On March 28, 1995, the boat was decommissioned and scheduled for scrapping.

K-523

The boat with the hull number 227 was laid on July 1, 1976 in Komsomolsk am Amur and was launched on May 3, 1977. It was modernized to the D-9D missile complex between 1985 and 1994, but was decommissioned on March 28, 1995. In 1997 it was towed into a naval storage facility and prepared for scrapping.

K-530

K-530 was laid down on November 5, 1976 in Komsomolsk am Amur under the hull number 228 and was launched on July 23, 1977. The boat went on several patrols. On one of these missions in 1985, the team managed to escape a NATO anti-submarine group after initial discovery. Due to the overload during the mission, a steam-powered generator on K-530 failed. After further missions, including a successful rocket launch, the boat was decommissioned in 1995 and scrapped in 2001 by the “Stern” shipyard near Bolshoi Kamen.

Evidence and references

Remarks

1. ↑ 13,700 tons in submerged condition according to SA Spirichin: surface ships, vehicles and submarines built at shipyard No. 402. p. 135.
2. ↑ Project 667B is occasionally described with a lower sea endurance of only 70 days, for example at atrinaflot.narod.ru.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael MccGwire: Perestroika and Soviet national security. Pp. 30, 31.
2. ↑ J. Apalkow: Ships of the USSR - Strategic missile submarines and multipurpose submarines. P. 19.
3. ↑ 667B at atrinaflot.narod.ru, viewed on August 15, 2011
4. ↑ Russia: CTR Program Destruction and Dismantlement on nti.org, viewed on August 10, 2011
5. ↑ Specifics of the Multi-Purpose Nuclear Submarine Dismantlingat FGUP MP "Zvezdochka" and Needs for Upgrades. (PDF; 229 kB) p. 1.
6. ↑ History of Zvezdochka State Machine-Building Enterprise in nti.org, spotted on August 8 2011th
7. ^ Norman Polmar: Submarines of the Russian and Soviet navies, 1718–1990. P. 190.
8. ↑ ^{a b c d} Specifics of the Multi-Purpose Nuclear Submarine Dismantlingat FGUP MP Zvezdochka and Needs for Upgrades. (PDF; 229 kB) p. 11.
9. ↑ A Kiselev: SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL HANDLING AT FAR EASTERN PLANT “ZVEZDA”. (PDF; 81 kB) p. 3.
10. ↑ History of the operation of the K-500 at deepstorm.ru, viewed on August 5, 2011

literature

• 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).
• С.А. Спирихин: Надводные корабли, суда и подводные лодки постройки завода №402. (For example: SA Spirichin: Surface ships, vehicles and submarines built at shipyard No. 402. ) Arkhangelsk 2004, ISBN 5-85879-155-7 (Russian).
• Norman Polmar: Submarines of the Russian and Soviet navies, 1718–1990. US Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 0-87021-570-1 (English).
• Michael MccGwire: Perestroika and Soviet national security. Brookings Institution, 1991, ISBN 0815755538 (English).

Web links

Commons : Delta I class  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Project 667B at deepstorm.ru (Russian)
• Project 667B at atrina.flot.narod.ru (Russian)