Yankee-class submarine


The Yankee class, Soviet designations Project 667A Navaga and Project 667AU Nalim 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 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 with multiple nuclear warheads as nuclear deterrents during the Cold War, and their ballistic missiles had ranges from.

General characteristics (Yankee I)

  • Length:
  • Beam:
  • Draught:
  • Surface displacement: 7,760 tonnes
  • Full displacement: 11,500 tonnes
  • Speed:
  • Power plant: 2 VM-4 reactors
  • Hull: Low magnetic steel
  • Crew: 114
  • Compartments: 10
  • Armament:
  • *4 torpedo tubes for 14 Type 53 torpedoes or mines.
  • *2 torpedo tubes for 4 Type 40 torpedoes
  • *16 SS-N-6 liquid-fueled ballistic missiles

    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 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 in the surrounding Atlantic Ocean, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic.
The lead boat 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:
First entered serviceNATO reporting nameProject name and numberImageClassMain payloadNumbers builtNotes
1967Yankee-I667А "Навага"SSBN16 × 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 × Р-27У13 convertedУ/U for Improved
1977Yankee-II667АМ "Навага-М"SSBN12 × 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 × РК-55 Гранат 3 converted + 4 unfinishedLengthened by to ; 8 more torpedo tubes in waist
1989 Yankee Sidecar667М "Андромеда"SSGN12 × П-750 Метеорит 1 convertedDelivered as an attack sub due to missile program cancellation. 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 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 long. Stated to be an oceanographic vessel, but believed to be a spy sub similar to

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

Units

#ProjectShipyardLaid downLaunchedCommissionedStatus
667A, 667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk4 November 196411 September 19666 November 1967Decommissioned 3 April 1994 for scrapping
667A, 667AMSEVMASH, Severodvinsk19 September 196523 August 196730 December 1967Decommissioned 19 April 1990 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk30 December 196523 December 19673 September 1968Decommissioned 17 July 1988 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk25 February 196625 April 196826 October 1968Decommissioned 19 April 1990 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk6 June 19666 August 196827 December 1968Decommissioned 1985 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk4 November 196620 September 196830 May 1968Decommissioned 30 May 1989 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk16 December 196629 December 19686 August 1969Decommissioned 17 July 1988 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk18 March 196730 March 196927 September 1969Decommissioned 17 July 1988 for scrapping
667A, 667ATSEVMASH, Severodvinsk26 June 19675 June 196928 November 1969Decommissioned for scrapping
667A, 667ATSEVMASH, Severodvinsk8 September 196728 July 19695 December 1969Decommissioned for scrapping
667ALeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk23 February 196823 June 196924 December 1969Decommissioned 19 April 1990 for scrapping
667A, 667ATSEVMASH, Severodvinsk20 January 196810 September 196925 December 1969Decommissioned 17 July 1988 for scrapping
667A, 667ANSEVMASH, Severodvinsk25 May 196816 January 197031 August 1970Decommissioned for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk29 June 196814 March 197022 September 1970Decommissioned 17 March 1989 for scrapping
667A, 667MSEVMASH, Severodvinsk12 October 196825 April 197029 October 1970Decommissioned for scrapping
667A, 667ATSEVMASH, Severodvinsk13 January 19697 April 197013 November 1970Decommissioned for scrapping
667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk23 February 196929 May 197030 November 1970Decommissioned 17 March 1989 for scrapping
667ASEVMASH, Severodvinsk17 April 196928 August 197022 December 1970Decommissioned 19 April 1990 for scrapping
667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk6 November 19694 August 197027 December 1970Decommissioned 1 September 1990 for scrapping
667A, 667AK-2SEVMASH, Severodvinsk4 July 196926 September 197030 December 1970Decommissioned 6 August 1987 for scrapping
667A, 667AK-1SEVMASH, Severodvinsk18 August 196925 March 197112 August 1971Decommissioned for scrapping
667ALeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk26 July 197027 June 197125 November 1971Decommissioned 19 April 1990 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk16 October 19699 August 197116 December 1971Decommissioned 14 March 1992 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk28 May 19708 October 197131 December 1971Lost 3 October 1986
667ALeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk25 December 197012 September 197131 December 1971Decommissioned 17 March 1989 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk19 February 19701 September 19718 February 1972Decommissioned 24 June 1991 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk4 September 19703 May 197230 September 1972Decommissioned 3 September 1994 for scrapping
667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk30 March 197126 May 197230 September 1972Decommissioned 16 June 1991 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk24 December 19709 June 197223 October 1972Decommissioned 16 June 1992 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk8 April 19711 August 197223 December 1972Decommissioned 30 September 1994 for scrapping
667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk7 November 19718 August 197222 January 1973Decommissioned 17 March 1993 for scrapping
667AUSEVMASH, Severodvinsk23 February 197229 April 19737 September 1971Decommissioned 16 June 1991 for scrapping
667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk7 November 197225 July 19735 December 1973Decommissioned 14 March 1992 for scrapping
667AULeninskiy Komsomol Shipyard, Komsomolsk27 July 197328 July 197425 December 1974Decommissioned 12 January 1995 for scrapping