Russian Typhoon-class sub Dmitry Donskoy, the world's largest in active service, outside St. Many were converted for different uses, including for intelligence-gathering and as cruise-missile and attack submarines.īy 1995, all Yankee-class boats had been decommissioned. Four sailors were killed, and the sub was lost as it was towed back to Soviet territory.īetween 19, the missile silos aboard all Yankee-class boats were rendered inoperable in order to comply with various arms-control agreements. In 1986, sea water leaked into a missile silo aboard K-219, mixing with missile fuel and causing an explosion. Yankee-class subs gave the Soviet Union its first reliable platform for nuclear-armed patrols just outside the territorial waters of its NATO rivals.īut the class did face setbacks. With 12 silos, it was designated " Yankee II." In 1977, one Yankee-class sub, K-140, was converted to a test platform for larger SLBMs. They were armed with six torpedo tubes and 16 silos capable of launching newer R-27 SLBMs. Yankee-class subs were of a new design with a contoured hull designed to minimize resistance. The successor to the Hotel-class was much more capable. Three days later it sank in 18,000 feet of water. Soviet Yankee-class sub K-219 after an internal liquid missile propellant explosion, October 1, 1986. It suffered two fires in 1972, the first of which killed 28 sailors.Īll Hotels were decommissioned between 19. In 1969, K-19 was damaged in a collision with the US submarine USS Gato. Eight died within a week, the other 14 over the next two years. Twenty-two sailors exposed themselves to lethal doses of radiation to fix the leak. In 1961, while on a mission in the North Atlantic, a leak in a coolant pipe almost caused a complete reactor meltdown. The lead boat, K-19, had a troubled history. Hotel-class subs were built hurriedly to keep up with the US Navy, which commissioned the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, in 1954. Subsequent upgrades to the launching systems enabled Hotel-class subs to carry R-21 SLBMs, the first Soviet SLBM that could be fired while submerged. They were originally armed with R-13 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which could only be launched when the sub was surfaced. Their only armament was three missiles carried in silos directly behind the sail, similar to the Soviet Navy's earlier diesel-electric ballistic-missile subs. Hotel-class SSBNs had blunt bows and forward-set sails. Modeled after the November class, the Soviet Union's first nuclear-powered attack submarines, eight Hotel-class boats were built between 19. The first SSBNs to enter service with the Soviet Navy were those of the Hotel class. ![]() Russian Hotel-class sub K-19 photographed 700 miles west of Ireland by an RAF reconnaissance jet as the sub was towed back to Russia, March 11, 1972.
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