Typhoon Class Submarine: The Largest Submarine Ever Built
There were however some surprising additions. Please let's talk about the inside swimming pool I really figure or like this it was like a plunge pool or something, if they had additions they would make these long dives a bit more manageable each submarine cave with a small swimming pool sauna and gym and when I say a swim ball I really mean a 2 meter long pool. So you're not really doing any laps in it but plunging into cold water after a sauna has always been a much-loved Russian tradition so well why not unlike most other submarines.
The typhoon-class have two central pressurized hulls instead of just one with three smaller above them one for the torpedo room at the front, one in the middle for the control room and one of the back for the rudder machinery. The two main pressurized holes were a unique design and each housed one reactor and one turbine which would enable the submarine to continue operating if one hull was compromised and needed to be locked down but this was a design forced upon them by the vast size of the missiles that were to be carried. It would have been simply impossible for a delta class submarine to carry what be typhoons did it certainly.
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| Typhoon Class Submarine : Image Source Wikipedia - Bellona Foundation |
It was a big boy but it's size really wasn't what NATO was worried about when the submarine appeared as I said earlier this was a ballistic missile submarine not particularly fast no particularly agile. It wasn't the class submarines that both the Soviets and the Americans were using while it certainly had the capability to defend itself if attacked underwater. Its primary use was to act as a mobile nuclear launch pad capable of punching through thick ice firing its missiles off quickly before disappearing again with little trace. Now I've spoken a lot about the size of the submarine and much of it is because of the R-39 known to NATO as the SS-N-20 Sturgeon each which had 10 nuclear warheads.
This was an intercontinental missile with a fearsome reputation weighing 75 tons each with a length of 16 meters and a diameter of 2.4 meters 7.9 feet. You begin to understand why this was the biggest submarine ever constructed dead ten of these 75-ton missiles are born with ten nuclear warheads in them is it's absurd these missiles at a range of 5,200 miles 8300 kilometers and had a blast yield of between 100 and 200 kilo tons each warhead alone and was five to ten times more powerful than what was dropped on Nagasaki at the end of World War II and there were 200 of them. Now if you know ending the world wasn't enough it also came with six torpedo tubes with a casual 22 torpedoes on the submarine if underwater combat was required. I do feel be like hey guys stop attacking me or I will blow up the world now not only did these submarines carry an arsenal capable of destroying significant portions of the world's the engines themselves when you clear the typhoon class submarines ran on to pressurized nuclear reactors using twenty to forty five percent enriched uranium which in turn power to steam engines which could each produce thirty seven megawatts power this total of seventy four megawatts would be enough to power seven thousand four hundred homes in New York City.
The submarine could travel at a reported maximum speed of 22.2 knots or 25.7 mph or 41.5 km/hr while on the surface and 27 knots or 31 mph or 50 km/hr when submerged. Now I say these numbers are reported because official speeds have never been released by the Soviets or later the Russians of course whether they remain classified just like everything else but if these are roughly accurate it would make it slightly faster than the American Ohio-class submarines, there's one story in particular involving a typhoon submarine that was almost passed into legend at this point but it remains frustratingly underreported in September 1991 TK 17 known as Arkhangelsk was ordered to execute a test launch of one of its R39s without the nuclear weapons of course.
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| Typhoon Class Submarine : Illustration |
Captain Igor Grishko of ordered his submarine into the white sea close to the Finnish border and set coordinates for a target thousands of miles away on the Checotah Peninsula this was nothing more than a routine maneuver and one that this submarine had done many times before as the countdown reached 1 it's fair to assume that nobody on board had any inkling as to what was about to happen instead of the swoosh of a missile soaring to the surface. They were greeted with the worst possible noise a Submariner can hear an explosion rocked the submarine alarms began blaring frantically.
Now you don't need me to tell you that being onboard a submerged submarine after an explosion must be pretty hellish doing so while also carrying two nuclear reactors and live nuclear warheads. A whole lot of them would not only be catastrophic for the crew it could also spell doom for the surrounding area captain Igor Grishko have ordered the ballast tanks be blown an emergency system that shoots in the submarine quickly to the surface at this point the full damage was not known but after surfacing the crew were able to assess the carnage simply by looking down into the submarine from the open hatch and it wasn't a pretty sight. Several fires were raging towards the bow unfortunately exactly where the other 19 are 39 still sat instead of launching the missile had partially exploded within its tube and its rocket fuel was quickly spreading across the surface of the boat.
Now at this point spare a thought for captain Grishko. You have a closely guarded state secret under your control which is now on fire flames that were quickly moving towards the nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons on board it wasn't clear how many had died already but the fate of the 160 men who remains lay in his hands along with the unimaginable fear of several nuclear explosions his actions that day remained some of the most courageous and quick thinking by any captain you're likely to ever see with a gaping hole in their submarine you'd think that the worst possible course of action would be to dive I mean if you punch a hole in a heavy object in water is going to sink. The captain Grisko, he was thinking differently so the disbelief of the crew he ordered the submarine dive once again and warns those in the front hull to expect flooding with extraordinary skill and courage the crew of the submarine carried out his order perfectly and guided the stricken submarine beneath the surface.
Once again when the submarine resurfaced moments later the fires had been extinguished still in serious danger as the Arkhangelsk managed to limp home and the threat of nuclear disaster eventually disappeared many throughout the Soviet Navy felt captain Grishko should be commended for his extraordinary quick thinking but he never was. This was a very politically sensitive time in the Soviet Union coming just a month after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. The missile test had been planned to demonstrate an air of normality but such a close call was not the kind of event that the Soviets wish to publicize and it was quickly swept under the carpet captain Igor Grishko died in 2018 aged 67 his heroic actions still shrouded in secrecy.
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| Russian Navy |
So we know that one of these Titans remains in active service but have we seen the last of this type of mega submarine. This is of course pretty difficult to predict but right now it seems pretty unlikely the type in class submarines were designed to carry the kind of weapons that just don't exist anymore. Nuclear missiles are significantly more compact so something of that size doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because there's you know not the Cold War anymore yes the Soviets needed something to carry around that amount of weaponry but as we said earlier kind of the title of largest submarine in the world was a pretty big draw to them but the reality is we've moved from the age of enormous weaponry to something much more discreet where stealth and speed is a lot more important than size the type in class submarines may have entered the world.
The only time when the technology and political drive was there to do so another reason they began to fall out of favor was the huge costs associated not just with building them but with the general upkeep their replacement the Borei-class submarines cost about half as much and still pack a hell of a punch in recent years emanated from the Kremlin about refitting The Dmitry Donskoy – a modern use but this remains to be seen the days of the typhoon class might soon be over and we may never see the likes of it again.
If you can forget the fact that they were essentially designed to destroy the world we can only marvel at such creations or has this habit of pushing humanity to unimaginable Heights and what lurks menacingly deep in the oceans during the 80s and 90s in particular was exactly that so I really hope you enjoyed this blog at Advanced Tech World.
Click Here For Part - I : Project Akula Part - I
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