Akula/Typhoon Class

[stevesingo]

Stumbled across this...

http://imgur.com/a/xi3P3

Quite something

[wildman0609]

awesome,

Felt quite sad to see them scrapped at the end of the article though.

[StephenP]

Really interesting and a great find!

Satellite photo of the pair mothballed in Severodvinsk....
http://goo.gl/maps/n4pGL

[T66ORA]

Great find thanks for sharing.

This looks like the Russia version on a British manoeuvring room, spent many a month in there, 2 knots 200 feet.

[Raoul Duke]

That was fascinating, thanks for sharing!

[strudel]

Wow they're big, bigger than I expected! I'd love to have a nosey around one.

[QuantumTokoloshi]

Quite an engineering achievement. The authors view on Soviet submarine capabilities at the end of the cold war is also quite a departure from the accepted norm.

[Hooli]

I like Soviet engineering, it's properly old School like the Vulcan etc. Modern western stuff doesn't seem as real somehow.

[rhinochopig]

T66ORA said:

Great find thanks for sharing.

This looks like the Russia version on a British manoeuvring room, spent many a month in there, 2 knots 200 feet.

Front ?

[Godalmighty83]

So massive and advanced they crippled the Soviet Union with their immense price tag.

Can you imagine a Royal Navy admiral proposing a 50kt Battleship built from titanium and then a politician saying 'no, one wont do, build six'.

[twister]

Fascinating read, but also a reminder of how much time has passed since the "good old days" of the cold war - as an 80's teen with an interest in wargaming, military sims etc, following the latest NATO and Warsaw Pact developments were as much a part of my childhood as playing football and making mix tapes from the top 40 each weekend, so to read about these near mythical beasts now being good only for the scrapheap makes me feel old...

[tobinen]

Good read. The scale becomes apparent with the guys standing at the rear of it between the screws.

[V8 Fettler]

Bronze screws would have some value down at the scrappy metal recycling centre.

Does Russia have the capability to decommission the reactors?

[Hooli]

V8 Fettler said:

Does Russia have the capability to decommission the reactors?

I think I've read they've got them all stored safely outdoors, by the sea up in an arctic port somewhere.

[hidetheelephants]

Hooli said:

V8 Fettler said:

Does Russia have the capability to decommission the reactors?

I think I've read they've got them all stored safely outdoors, by the sea up in an arctic port somewhere.

Several ones they just cut them out and dumped them in the sea, although that was back in the cold war.

[rhinochopig]

Godalmighty83 said:

So massive and advanced they crippled the Soviet Union with their immense price tag.

Can you imagine a Royal Navy admiral proposing a 50kt Battleship built from titanium and then a politician saying 'no, one wont do, build six'.

Wrong sub. The Alphas was the Ti hulled, lead-biz NSRP powered, small interceptor SSNs. Typhoons were bombers and made of steel IIRC and they didn't do anywhere near 50kts.

The lead-biz design was a total disaster though as it required massive shore side services to stop the plant freezing when it was shutdown.

Alphas cost the UK a lot of money as the Spearfish torp was born out of fears of the Alpha being untouchable by the period weapon systems. Think the US ran a similar torp programme too.

[V8 Fettler]

rhinochopig said:

Godalmighty83 said:

So massive and advanced they crippled the Soviet Union with their immense price tag.

Can you imagine a Royal Navy admiral proposing a 50kt Battleship built from titanium and then a politician saying 'no, one wont do, build six'.

Wrong sub. The Alphas was the Ti hulled, lead-biz NSRP powered, small interceptor SSNs. Typhoons were bombers and made of steel IIRC and they didn't do anywhere near 50kts.

The lead-biz design was a total disaster though as it required massive shore side services to stop the plant freezing when it was shutdown.

Alphas cost the UK a lot of money as the Spearfish torp was born out of fears of the Alpha being untouchable by the period weapon systems. Think the US ran a similar torp programme too.

It's Alfa, you know how important that is on here.

[HarryW]

Great find, great read, really interesting. Ta.

[HarryW]

The text covers the confusion, but these were Typhoon class SSBN's. The Akula class were SSN's and folklore has it the real seed for the hunt for the Red October film/ book.

[hidetheelephants]

rhinochopig said:

Wrong sub. The Alphas was the Ti hulled, lead-biz NSRP powered, small interceptor SSNs. Typhoons were bombers and made of steel IIRC and they didn't do anywhere near 50kts.

The lead-biz design was a total disaster though as it required massive shore side services to stop the plant freezing when it was shutdown.

Alphas cost the UK a lot of money as the Spearfish torp was born out of fears of the Alpha being untouchable by the period weapon systems. Think the US ran a similar torp programme too.

The US had the ADCAP programme for the Mk48, for extra speed, better sensors etc.