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Originally Posted by The Bandit
great link, had an interesting time reading it and I didn't know that the tandem screws weren't contra-rotating.
I agree with you that Victor II is probably the Soviet equivalent to the USS Jack, which trialed contra-roatating screws for the USN (somewhat unsuccessfully due to the weight of her direct drive sapping most of the efficiency, but she did keep the setup for her whole service life).
Papa would have JUST been launched in December of 68 and had a hell of a test process to go through (didn't commission until December 69). The Papa and the Alfa after it were way more anti-carrier platforms than anything else but I don't think there was a torpedo in existence that could catch the Papa in that time period.
Mike, being titanium is sort of a different ball of wax than the Akula and sort of like an Alfa successor in terms of automation and design concepts. Out of all the titanium boats the Mike was the first one that was really stressed for deep diving, and while I don't think she had any problems there, its my understanding the conclusion that was reached was that there wasn't as much value as you would think to diving that deep. I mean it likely could escape some / most / all-non nuclear weapons of the day but it wasn't any more stealthy (hit 3000ft. and then disappear) so basically not worth the trouble vs. how hard it was to construct a boat that could dive that deep.
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The Mike's basically where you see the transition between the Sierra and the Akula, it's worth including for the novelty alone I think. Fair point on the Papa though, I didn't catch that it just misses the bus on 1968. Maybe 1984, a la RSR? :v
Somewhat related: while looking for what sonar the Mike had (Shark Gill, same as the other attack boats of that era), I found this:
https://translate.google.com/transla...oruzhenie.html Supposedly, it's the Russian perspective on the effectiveness of their sonars and the acoustic performance of American submarines. Given the Russian interest in selling submarines, take it with a grain of salt, but still interesting.