Yankee-class submarine explained

The Yankee class, Soviet designations Project 667A Navaga (navaga) and Project 667AU Nalim (burbot) for the basic Yankee-I, were a family of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. In total, 34 units were built: 24 in Severodvinsk for the Northern Fleet and the remaining 10 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur for the Pacific Fleet. Two Northern Fleet units were later transferred to the Pacific.

The Yankee-class were subject to a wide variety of modifications; these ships have a different designation to the original model.

Design

The Yankee-class nuclear submarines were the first class of Soviet ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) to have thermonuclear firepower comparable with that of their American and British Polaris submarine counterparts. The Yankee class were quieter in the ocean than were their predecessors, and had better streamlining that improved their underwater performance. The Yankee class were actually quite similar to the Polaris submarines of the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy. These boats were all armed with 16 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) with multiple nuclear warheads as nuclear deterrents during the Cold War, and their ballistic missiles had ranges from 1500nmi2500nmi.

General characteristics (Yankee I)

Operational history

The Yankee-class SSBNs served in the Soviet Navy in three oceans: the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean beginning in the 1960s. During the 1970s about three Yankee-class were continually on patrol in a so-called "patrol box" in the Atlantic Ocean just east of Bermuda[1] and off the US Pacific coast. This forward deployment of the SSBNs was seen to balance the presence of American, British, and French nuclear weapons kept in Western Europe and on warships (including nuclear submarines) in the surrounding Atlantic Ocean, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic.

The lead boat K-137 Leninets received its honorific name on 11 April 1970, two and one half years after being commissioned.

One Yankee-class submarine,, was lost on 6 October 1986 after an explosion and fire on board. This boat had been at sea near Bermuda, and she sank from loss of buoyancy because of flooding. Four of her sailors died before rescue ships arrived. The events surrounding the loss of this boat has continued to be controversial.

At least one other boat in this class was involved in a collision with a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine.

Because of their increasing age, and as negotiated in the SALT I, START I and START II treaties that reduce nuclear armaments of the United States and the Soviet Union, all boats of Yankee class were disarmed, decommissioned and sent to the nuclear ship scrapyards.

Variants

There were eight different versions of the Yankee-class submarines:

Yankee-class submarines[2] !First entered Service!NATO reporting name!Project Name and Number!Image!Class!Main Payload!Numbers built!Notes
1967Yankee-I667А "Навага"SSBN16 x Р-27 Зыбь34Baseline; first Soviet sub to carry SLBMs in hull, as opposed to the sail. Some were later disarmed and operated as SSNs; sometimes classed as SSNX
1975Improved Yankee-I667АУ "Налим"SSBN16 x Р-27У13 convertedУ/U for Improved (; Uluchshen)
1977Yankee-II667АМ "Навага-М"SSBN12 x Р-311 convertedFirst Soviet sub to carry solid-fueled SLBMs. Subsequently theorized as emergency satellite-launcher or to strike ships in aircraft carrier battle groups
1987Yankee Notch667АТ "Груша"SSGN/SSN32-40 x РК-55 Гранат (SS-N-21 Sampson)3 converted + 4 unfinishedLengthened by 12m (39feet) to 141.5m (464.2feet); 8 more torpedo tubes in waist
1989 (program cancelled)Yankee Sidecar667М "Андромеда"SSGN12 x П-750 Метеорит (SS-NX-24 Scorpion)1 convertedDelivered as an attack sub due to missile program cancellation. 153m (502feet) long, 13,650 tons full displacement
1984Yankee Pod667АК "Аксон-1"SSANTowed array sonar, pod, other sensor systems1 convertedK-403 Kazan. The tailfin-pod is similar to those of the Щука- and Щука-Б SSNs
1996Yankee Big Nose09780 "Аксон-2"SSANTowed array sonar, Irtysh-Amphora spherical sonar array1 converted + 1 unfinished (K-415)Further modified K-403 Kazan. Tail now resembles those of the 667BDRM and 949А submarines. The Irtysh-Amphora would later equip the lead boat of the Yasen-class
1991Yankee Stretch09774/667АН"Research" SubmarineПалтус-class midget submarine1 converted (K-411)160m (530feet) long. Stated to be an oceanographic vessel, but believed to be a spy sub similar to USS Jimmy Carter

In addition, Soviet/Russian classification includes the Delta-class submarines within the same family of Project 667; Deltas being Project 667B onwards.

Units

Yankee class — significant dates!#!Project!Shipyard!Laid down!Launched!Commissioned!Status
K-137667A, 667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskNovember 4, 1964September 11, 1966November 6, 1967Decommissioned April 3, 1994 for scrapping[3]
K-140667A, 667AMSEVMASH, SeverodvinskSeptember 19, 1965August 23, 1967December 30, 1967Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-26667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskDecember 30, 1965December 23, 1967September 3, 1968Decommissioned July 17, 1988 for scrapping
K-32667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskFebruary 25, 1966April 25, 1968October 26, 1968Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-216667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskJune 6, 1966August 6, 1968December 27, 1968Decommissioned 1985 for scrapping
K-207667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskNovember 4, 1966September 20, 1968May 30, 1968Decommissioned May 30, 1989 for scrapping
K-210667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskDecember 16, 1966December 29, 1968August 6, 1969Decommissioned July 17, 1988 for scrapping
K-249667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskMarch 18, 1967March 30, 1969September 27, 1969Decommissioned July 17, 1988 for scrapping
K-253667A, 667ATSEVMASH, SeverodvinskJune 26, 1967June 5, 1969November 28, 1969Decommissioned for scrapping
K-395667A, 667ATSEVMASH, SeverodvinskSeptember 8, 1967July 28, 1969December 5, 1969Decommissioned for scrapping
K-339667ALeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskFebruary 23, 1968June 23, 1969December 24, 1969Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-408667A, 667ATSEVMASH, SeverodvinskJanuary 20, 1968September 10, 1969December 25, 1969Decommissioned July 17, 1988 for scrapping
K-411667A, 667ANSEVMASH, SeverodvinskMay 25, 1968January 16, 1970August 31, 1970Decommissioned for scrapping
K-418667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskJune 29, 1968March 14, 1970September 22, 1970Decommissioned March 17, 1989 for scrapping
K-420667A, 667MSEVMASH, SeverodvinskOctober 12, 1968April 25, 1970October 29, 1970Decommissioned for scrapping
K-423667A, 667ATSEVMASH, SeverodvinskJanuary 13, 1969April 7, 1970November 13, 1970Decommissioned for scrapping
K-434667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskFebruary 23, 1969May 29, 1970November 30, 1970Decommissioned March 17, 1989 for scrapping
K-426667ASEVMASH, SeverodvinskApril 17, 1969August 28, 1970December 22, 1970Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-236667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskNovember 6, 1969August 4, 1970December 27, 1970Decommissioned September 1, 1990 for scrapping
K-415667A, 667AK-2SEVMASH, SeverodvinskJuly 4, 1969September 26, 1970December 30, 1970Decommissioned August 6, 1987 for scrapping
K-403667A, 667AK-1SEVMASH, SeverodvinskAugust 18, 1969March 25, 1971August 12, 1971Decommissioned – Scrapping underway in 2010
K-389667ALeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskJuly 26, 1970June 27, 1971November 25, 1971Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-245667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskOctober 16, 1969August 9, 1971December 16, 1971Decommissioned March 14, 1992 for scrapping
K-219667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskMay 28, 1970October 8, 1971December 31, 1971Lost October 3, 1986
K-252667ALeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskDecember 25, 1970September 12, 1971December 31, 1971Decommissioned March 17, 1989 for scrapping
K-214667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskFebruary 19, 1970September 1, 1971February 8, 1972Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-228667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskSeptember 4, 1970May 3, 1972September 30, 1972Decommissioned September 3, 1994 for scrapping
K-258667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskMarch 30, 1971May 26, 1972September 30, 1972Decommissioned June 16, 1991 for scrapping
K-241667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskDecember 24, 1970June 9, 1972October 23, 1972Decommissioned June 16, 1992 for scrapping
K-444667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskApril 8, 1971August 1, 1972December 23, 1972Decommissioned September 30, 1994 for scrapping
K-446667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskNovember 7, 1971August 8, 1972January 22, 1973Decommissioned March 17, 1993 for scrapping
K-451667AUSEVMASH, SeverodvinskFebruary 23, 1972April 29, 1973September 7, 1971Decommissioned June 16, 1991 for scrapping
K-436667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskNovember 7, 1972July 25, 1973December 5, 1973Decommissioned March 14, 1992 for scrapping
K-430667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, KomsomolskJuly 27, 1973July 28, 1974December 25, 1974Decommissioned January 12, 1995 for scrapping

Popular culture

In Tom Clancy's 1986 techno-thriller Red Storm Rising, the entire Yankee-class of SSBNs are proposed to be taken out of service and scrapped by the Soviet Union as part of the Maskirovka I, in part to have the United States to do likewise with its own first-generation George Washington class, Ethan Allen class and Lafayette class SSBNs, and allay NATO misgivings of the USSR's intentions.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Title unknown . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060329044818/http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051230/MIDOCEAN/112300121 . March 29, 2006 .
  2. Web site: DEEPSTORM.RU . Deep Storm . 23 November 2023.
  3. Korabli VMF SSSR, Vol. 1, Part 1, Yu. Apalkov, Sankt Peterburg, 2003,

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