Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
November-class submarine
The November class, Soviet designation Project 627 Kit (Russian: Кит, lit. 'whale', NATO reporting name November) was the Soviet Union's first class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, which were in service from 1958 through 1990. All but one have been disposed of, with the K-3, the first nuclear-powered submarine built for the Soviet Navy, being preserved as a memorial ship in Saint Petersburg.
This class of submarines was built as a result of a 1952 requirement to build an attack submarine with the ability to fire nuclear-tipped torpedoes at coastal American cities.
More than 135 Soviet organizations (20 design bureaus, 35 research institutes, 80 works) participated in the design and construction of this completely new type of submarine in 1952–1958. The chief designer was V.N. Peregudov and the research supervisor was academician A.P. Alexandrov. The class was originally tasked with entering American naval bases and using the battery-powered T-15 torpedo with thermonuclear warhead, to destroy them once in range. (The T-15 torpedo had the following specifications: calibre 1,550 mm, length 23.5 m, range 40–50 km.) However, after expert opinions of Soviet naval specialists were considered, the role of the class changed to torpedo attacks on enemy warships and transport ships during actions along the ocean and distant sea routes. Reflecting this change of mission, the final design of Project 627 was developed with eight 533 mm torpedo tubes instead of the initial plan for one 1,550 mm and two 533 mm torpedo tubes. Project 627/627A submarines could launch torpedoes from 100 m depth. By 1963 this class was still in service but had been overtaken by later technology.
The November class were double-hulled submarines with streamlined stern fins and nine compartments (I – bow torpedo, II – living and battery, III – central station, IV – diesel-generator, V – reactor, VI – turbine, VII – electromechanic, VIII – living, IX – stern). Three compartments equipped with bulkheads to withstand 10 atm pressure could be used as emergency shelters.
The November-class attack submarines were considerably noisier than diesel submarines and the early American nuclear-powered submarines, despite the streamlined torpedo-like hull, limited number of holes in the hull, special low-noise variable-pitch propellers, vibration dampening of main equipment, and antisonar coating of the hull (used for the first time on nuclear-powered submarines). Soviet reactors were superior to American ones in compactness and power-to-weight ratio, but the vibrations of Soviet reactors were much more pronounced. Novembers detected submarine targets during active service (for example, there were 42 detections in 1965 when regular cruises of Soviet nuclear-powered submarines began).[citation needed] The Soviet hydroacoustic equipment on the Novembers was not intended for submarine hunting, and had relatively limited capabilities.
The reliability of the first Soviet nuclear-powered submarines was relatively low because of the short service life of the steam generators in the main propulsion machinery, which caused an increase of the radioactivity level in the second loop of the reactor after several hundred hours of reactor operation. Machinery problems were the main reason why Project 627/627A submarines were not used during the Cuban Missile Crisis in autumn 1962.[citation needed] The reliability of the steam generators became better over the course of construction development, handling technical problems and training of crews, so Novembers began to frequently perform Arctic under-ice cruises and patrol missions to trace nuclear delivery vessels in Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s. Despite the common opinion about the dangers of radiation in the first Novembers, the background radiation levels in the compartments was usually normal because of relatively effective iron-water radiation protection of the reactor compartment and radiation monitoring.[citation needed]
The first submarine of the class (Project 627), K-3 Leninskiy Komsomol was first underway under nuclear power on 4 July 1958 and became also the first Soviet submarine to reach the North Pole in July 1962, four years after USS Nautilus. Project 627 had much better performance specifications (for example, submerged speed and depth) than the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus.[citation needed] The first commander of K-3 Leninskiy Komsomol was Captain 1st Rank L.G. Osipenko (future admiral and Hero of the Soviet Union).
All other Novembers except K-3 Leninskiy Komsomol belonged to modified project – project 627A. The main visual differences of project 627A were a bow sonar dome in the keel and a hydrophone antenna over the torpedo tubes. The Project P627A design armed with nuclear cruise missile system P-20 was developed in 1956–1957 but not finished, equipment and mechanisms were used for building the usual attack submarine of project 627A (submarine K-50).
Hub AI
November-class submarine AI simulator
(@November-class submarine_simulator)
November-class submarine
The November class, Soviet designation Project 627 Kit (Russian: Кит, lit. 'whale', NATO reporting name November) was the Soviet Union's first class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, which were in service from 1958 through 1990. All but one have been disposed of, with the K-3, the first nuclear-powered submarine built for the Soviet Navy, being preserved as a memorial ship in Saint Petersburg.
This class of submarines was built as a result of a 1952 requirement to build an attack submarine with the ability to fire nuclear-tipped torpedoes at coastal American cities.
More than 135 Soviet organizations (20 design bureaus, 35 research institutes, 80 works) participated in the design and construction of this completely new type of submarine in 1952–1958. The chief designer was V.N. Peregudov and the research supervisor was academician A.P. Alexandrov. The class was originally tasked with entering American naval bases and using the battery-powered T-15 torpedo with thermonuclear warhead, to destroy them once in range. (The T-15 torpedo had the following specifications: calibre 1,550 mm, length 23.5 m, range 40–50 km.) However, after expert opinions of Soviet naval specialists were considered, the role of the class changed to torpedo attacks on enemy warships and transport ships during actions along the ocean and distant sea routes. Reflecting this change of mission, the final design of Project 627 was developed with eight 533 mm torpedo tubes instead of the initial plan for one 1,550 mm and two 533 mm torpedo tubes. Project 627/627A submarines could launch torpedoes from 100 m depth. By 1963 this class was still in service but had been overtaken by later technology.
The November class were double-hulled submarines with streamlined stern fins and nine compartments (I – bow torpedo, II – living and battery, III – central station, IV – diesel-generator, V – reactor, VI – turbine, VII – electromechanic, VIII – living, IX – stern). Three compartments equipped with bulkheads to withstand 10 atm pressure could be used as emergency shelters.
The November-class attack submarines were considerably noisier than diesel submarines and the early American nuclear-powered submarines, despite the streamlined torpedo-like hull, limited number of holes in the hull, special low-noise variable-pitch propellers, vibration dampening of main equipment, and antisonar coating of the hull (used for the first time on nuclear-powered submarines). Soviet reactors were superior to American ones in compactness and power-to-weight ratio, but the vibrations of Soviet reactors were much more pronounced. Novembers detected submarine targets during active service (for example, there were 42 detections in 1965 when regular cruises of Soviet nuclear-powered submarines began).[citation needed] The Soviet hydroacoustic equipment on the Novembers was not intended for submarine hunting, and had relatively limited capabilities.
The reliability of the first Soviet nuclear-powered submarines was relatively low because of the short service life of the steam generators in the main propulsion machinery, which caused an increase of the radioactivity level in the second loop of the reactor after several hundred hours of reactor operation. Machinery problems were the main reason why Project 627/627A submarines were not used during the Cuban Missile Crisis in autumn 1962.[citation needed] The reliability of the steam generators became better over the course of construction development, handling technical problems and training of crews, so Novembers began to frequently perform Arctic under-ice cruises and patrol missions to trace nuclear delivery vessels in Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s. Despite the common opinion about the dangers of radiation in the first Novembers, the background radiation levels in the compartments was usually normal because of relatively effective iron-water radiation protection of the reactor compartment and radiation monitoring.[citation needed]
The first submarine of the class (Project 627), K-3 Leninskiy Komsomol was first underway under nuclear power on 4 July 1958 and became also the first Soviet submarine to reach the North Pole in July 1962, four years after USS Nautilus. Project 627 had much better performance specifications (for example, submerged speed and depth) than the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus.[citation needed] The first commander of K-3 Leninskiy Komsomol was Captain 1st Rank L.G. Osipenko (future admiral and Hero of the Soviet Union).
All other Novembers except K-3 Leninskiy Komsomol belonged to modified project – project 627A. The main visual differences of project 627A were a bow sonar dome in the keel and a hydrophone antenna over the torpedo tubes. The Project P627A design armed with nuclear cruise missile system P-20 was developed in 1956–1957 but not finished, equipment and mechanisms were used for building the usual attack submarine of project 627A (submarine K-50).