Sergei Kovalev (engineer)
Sergei Nikitich Kovalev was a Russian engineer and architect who designed nuclear submarines for the Soviet Navy while leading the Rubin Design Bureau.
Career
He was the chief designer for the following submarines: Project 658, 658M, 667A Navaga, 667B, 667BD, 667BDR, 667BRDM, and most famously project 941 Akula.92 submarines were built to Kovalyov's designs. The only nuclear submarine designed by Rubin during the Cold War for which Kovalyov wasn't the chief designer was Project 685 Plavnik, the bureau's only SSN.
Later life
Kovalev remained semi-active in naval engineering throughout his life, designing ice-resistant platforms for hydrocarbon exploration on the Arctic shelf in later years.An accomplished painter in his retirement, he was made an honorary member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists.
Awards and memberships
Kovalev was given numerous awards for his service to the Soviet Union, including:- Hero of Socialist Labor, twice: 1963, 1974
- Order of Lenin, four times: 1963, 1970, 1974, 1984
- Lenin Prize, 1965
- State Prize of the Soviet Union, 1978
- Order of the October Revolution, 1979
- Medal for Distinguished Labor
- Order for Merit to the Fatherland, twice
- Order of Naval Merit
- State Prize of the Russian Federation, 2007
Memberships
- Academy of Sciences of the Soviet, full member
- Russian Academy of Sciences, full member
- Saint Petersburg Union of Artists, honorary member