Typhoon class submarine

A Typhoon-class submarine

The Typhoon-class submarine is a ballistic missile, nuclear-powered submarine (SSBN) deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. With a displacement of up to 48,000 tons, the Typhoon is the largest submarine class ever built. The name Typhoon comes from the Russian word for storm ("Tayfun"), which Leonid Brezhnev used in a 1974 speech when he described a new type of nuclear ballistic missile submarine. The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the Russian Akula-class (the Russian word for "Shark", although NATO uses the name Akula class to designate Russian Bar-class subs).

Typhoon-class subs feature multiple pressure hulls that simplify internal design while making the vessel much wider than a normal submarine (in the main body of the sub, two Delta-class pressure hulls lie parallel with a third, smaller pressure hull above them). Typhoon subs are quieter (partly due to the vessels' massive size) and yet more maneuverable than their predecessors. Additionally, the Typhoon class features six torpedo tubes: two are designed to handle SS-N-15 missiles or Type 53 torpedoes, and the other four are designed to launch SS-N-16 missiles, Type 65 torpedoes, or mines.

Six Typhoon class submarines were built with each carrying 20 R-39 (SS-N-20) missiles with 10 nuclear warheads each. The construction of an additional vessel was cancelled. Two or three of these boats are still in service with the Russian Navy.

A fictional modified Typhoon-class submarine, the Red October, is the subject of the Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October.

General characteristics

• Length: about 175 m (574 ft)
• Beam: 23 m (75 ft)
• Draft: 12 m (38 ft)
• Displacement:
  • Surfaced: 23,200-24,500 tons
  • Submerged: 33,800-48,000 tons
• Propulsion:
  • 2 pressurized-water nuclear reactors
  • 2 propellers
• Crew: 163
• Armament:
  • 6 torpedo tubes (20 anti-submarine missiles and torpedoes)
    • 4 630 mm torpedo tubes
    • 2 533 mm torpedo tubes
  • 20 RSM-52 ballistic missiles
• Speed:
  • Surfaced: 12 knots
  • Submerged: 27 knots (about 50 km/h, 31 mph)
• Maximum Depth: 400 m
• Commissioned: December 12, 1981

See also

• ICBM
• Nuclear warfare
• Nuclear strategy
• Submarine
• Submarine launched ballistic missile

References

• National Geographic: Typhoon class (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/k19/sub_detail_sov5.html)
• NATO Code Names for Submarines and Ships (http://www.ais.org/~schnars/aero/nato-shp.htm)
• Haze Gray (http://www.hazegray.org/features/russia/typhoon.htm)
• NRDC Nuclear Notebook - Russian Nuclear Forces, 2004 (http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/nukenotes/ja04nukenote.html)

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