History of the Typhoon |
Statistics |
|
The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the Soviet Akula class (Акула), meaning shark. It is sometimes confused with other submarines, as Akula is the name NATO uses to designate the Russian Project 971 Shchuka-B (Щука-Б)-class attack submarines. The project was developed with the objective to match the SLBM armament of Ohio-class submarines, capable of carrying 192 nuclear warheads, 100 kt each, but with significantly longer range. To accommodate this increase in range, Soviet SLBMs were substantially larger and heavier than their American counterparts (the R-39 Rif is more than twice as heavy as the UGM-96 Trident I; it remains the heaviest SLBM to have been in service worldwide). The submarine had to be scaled accordingly.
In the early 1990s, there were also proposals to refit some of the Typhoon-class submarines to submarine cargo vessels for shipping oil, gas and cargo under polar ice to Russia's far flung northern territories. The submarines could take up to 10,000 tonnes of cargo on-board and ship it under the polar ice to tankers waiting in the Barents Sea. These ships – after the considerable engineering required to develop technologies to transfer oil from drilling platforms to the submarines, and later, to the waiting tankers – would then deliver their cargo world-wide. Six Typhoon-class submarines were built between 1976 and 1985. Originally, the submarines were designated by hull numbers only. Names were later assigned to the four vessels retained by the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During the time of the Russian Federation, these boats were to be sponsored by either a city or company. The construction order for an additional vessel (hull number TK-210) was cancelled and never completed. In late December 2008, a senior Navy official announced that the two Typhoon-class submarines, TK-17 Arkhangelsk and TK-20 Severstal, that were in reserve would not be rearmed with the new Bulava SLBM missile system. They could potentially yet be modified to carry cruise missiles or to lay mines, or could be used in special operations. In late June 2009, the Navy Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy, told reporters that the two submarines would be reserved for possible future repairs and modernisation. In September 2011, the Russian defense ministry decided to write off all Project 941 Akula nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines until 2014. The reasons for decommissioning the Typhoon-class vessels are the restrictions imposed on Russia by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and successful trials of the new Borei-class submarine. Despite being a replacement for many types of submarines, the Borei-class submarines are slightly shorter than the Typhoon class (170 m (560 ft) as opposed to 175 m (574 ft)), and have a smaller crew (107 people as opposed to 160). These changes were in part designed to reduce the cost to build and maintain the submarines. In addition, the United States and Canada provided 80% of funds for scrapping the older Typhoon-class submarines, making it much more economical to build a new submarine. In 2013, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency announced that the Navy would scrap two Typhoons, beginning in 2018. They were the TK-17 Arkhangelsk and TK-20 Severstal. As of 2017, the decision about the scrapping of TK-17 and TK-20 was still not firm. On 20 July 2022, it was reported that Dmitriy Donskoy was withdrawn from the Russian Navy. This was an earlier-than-expected decommission date, as it was stated in 2021 that the submarine was expected to remain in service until 2026 as a weapons test platform. However sources suggested in 2022 that the 2026 date was not in the Russian Navy plan. On 6 February 2023, it was reported she was decommissioned. |
|
