![]() A single R-39 packed ten one-hundred-kiloton warheads, each independently targetable so that a single missile could strike ten different targets within reasonably close range of one another. Because the Akulas carried only twenty missiles to the twenty-four missiles of the Ohio class, each Soviet missile had to carry more nuclear warheads than the American Trident C-4. The Cold War arms race was above all a competition, and warhead count was important. With a range of 4,480 nautical miles, the R-39 could strike any point in the continental United States. The R-39 Rif (NATO code name: SS-NX-20 “Sturgeon”) was a huge three stage ballistic missile fifty-three feet long and weighing eighty-four tons. As a result the submarines were designed with a reinforced hull that was capable of breaking through polar ice, a large reserve buoyancy to help it surface through ice and a pair of shielded propellers to protect them from collisions with ice.Īnother result was the development of a new nuclear-tipped missile with a long enough range to strike the the United States from arctic bastions. The Akulas were designed to launch their missiles from relatively close to the Soviet Union, allowing them to operate north of the Arctic Circle, where Soviet air and naval forces could protect them. The Soviet leadership decided it needed a submarine of its own to respond to the looming threat, and the Akula class was born. Navy’s impending Ohio-class fleet ballistic-missile submarines, which would be 564 feet long and pack 192 nuclear warheads. The Soviet Union had gotten wind of the U.S. The sub has spent its post-Cold War career as a test bed for a new generation of Russian submarine technologies and missiles, and was instrumental in testing the buggy Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile.The Akula (“Shark”) class, or Project 941 as it was known during development, was designed to form the basis of the Soviet Union’s nuclear deterrent forces at sea. Russia built five Typhoons in total, but today, only Donskoy remains in service. The first submarine in the Typhoon class, Dmitri Donskoy (TK-208), entered service in 1981. Petersburg’s Rubin Design Bureau to squeeze in such unprecedented perks as a solarium, swimming pool, and sauna. Although most subs are relatively spartan in amenities, the sheer size of the Typhoons made it possible for engineers at St. The Typhoon-class submarines displaced 23,200 tons in order to accommodate a payload of 20 RSM-52 ballistic missiles. The subs (code name: Akula) were designed to be 566 feet long, 76 feet wide, and nearly 38 feet tall. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union embarked upon a new nuclear weapons program (code name: Typhoon) to develop a new missile-firing submarine and nuclear missiles. Just how big are we talking? Each u-boat stretched to nearly 600 feet long and was wider than the average American house-and almost three times as tall, to boot. These Cold War giants still stand as the largest subs ever built. If you’ve ever seen The Hunt for Red October, you’re probably familiar with Russia’s truly massive Typhoon-class submarines. The missile-firing submarines were designed to operate in the Arctic under pack ice.Ī typical Typhoon was more than 1.5 times longer than a football field and three times as tall as the average American house. Russia’s Typhoon-class submarines were true Cold War leviathans. Photo credit: Georges DeKeerle - Getty Images
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