A little secret of a little boat

[Kapitan]

Laid down in 1988 at the Gorky ship yard the submarine with yard number 607 was to become the lone vessel in a special class of submarines, this submarine was not planned for the export market but destined for the Black sea fleet.
Little attention was paid to this submarine as it was just another in a series of submarines launched in one class, however this submarine had a little secret.

In early 1980 a new type of submarine had been laid down designed to replace the elderly Foxtrot and Tango class conventionally powered submarines that still filled the Soviet navy inventory, these now old outdated and obsolete submarines were reaching the end of their lives and were in dire need of replacement.

The tender went out to CKB Rubin to design this craft, the design bureau of CKB Rubin has pedigree it has designed some of the earliest submarines dating back to 1901 and is responsible for some of the behemoths of the cold war such as the mighty Project 949 and 949A Oscar class, and the now infamous Project 941 Typhoon.
The new design would not be on the same scale it would be a modest size and modest cost it would be a fresh clean sheet design no more would the design follow the earlier Foxtrot, Romeo or Tango class submarines of the past this submarine would have a tear dropped hull and a single rather than twin or triple screws making her quieter than her ancestors.

However one submarine will be different belonging to the early Project 877 design one submarine would be modified in such a way that she gained her own unique designation Project 877V.
Launched in 1989 the submarine travelled from Gorky through inland waterways to reach the black sea, little if any attention was paid to her as she was one of many submarines of the same type and it wouldn’t be until 1995 that the truth of this boat would come out.

Just two years later in march 1992 the boats crew mutinied and swore allegiance to the Ukraine and seized the vessel although she was unable to move it really put the wind up the duma she would not go to sea again until 1995, in 1997 she gained her name Alrosa which is the name of the mining company that sponsor her.

She would eventually sail in 2011 to Kronstadt and along the way become the first Russian submarine to engage with NATO forces off the coast of Spain during submarine rescue exercise Bold Monarch, she returned to the black sea in 2012.

In 2014 her status as the lone active submarine in the Black sea fleet was coming to an end (the earlier Tango class had since been decommissioned) she was to be joined by five more improved kilo class submarines Project designation 636 and the newest which is B262 Staryy Oskol designated project 636.3

Alrosa is now showing her age and is nearly 30 years old, she remains the lone submarine fitted with a pump jet propulsion system the newer 877’s are fitted with 6 blade screws and the 636’s fitted with the standard 7 blade making her unique in design.

Alrosa is slated for de-activation around 2020 when she will be 30 years old she has served the Soviet and Russian navy in the Black sea well and is likely to serve a few more years yet however not even the CKB Rubin design team could have dreamt of what was to come.

Until 2016 the most numerous class of Russian submarine indeed any submarine was the project 641 foxtrot with a total of 74 built between 1958 to 1983, with some remaining in active service until 2014.

Today the Kilo class projects 877 and 636 number 62 boats with more under construction, and the numbers are likely to surpass 74 this submarine has proved very popular with 3rd world and upcoming countries as a cheap inexpensive submarine to maintain and operate however none will be built with the pump jet it seems that Alrosa will be the only one.

This has led to much speculation that the system has not worked and that the revert back to traditional screws means that the pump jet trials were unsuccessful, in my view maybe the cost of the project with the timing came at the wrong time, but also perhaps the lack of manoeuvrability with the submarine could have also played a role, it is unclear how successful this system was.

What we do know is that the USN and RN with their Seawolf, Virginia, Trafalgar (except HMS Trafalgar) and the Astute all have this type of system.
With the new Project 667 Lada boats no longer being produced and having been produced with conventional screws I don’t see this system as a big success perhaps I am wrong but given no more were built one can only assume.

But what cannot be ignored is the success of the Kilo class submarine and the fact it will remain around for decades to come.


























The last picture is a normal screw for the Kilo class

[Mr Quatro]

Good reporting Kapitan, as always your love for submarines stands out.
You should write a book with diagrams and pictures ... take your time for it will always be of interest to other arm chair sailors.

As for the mention of the Virginia SSN class and the British SSN Astute class I found this note near the end: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astute-class_submarine

In 2012, during the joint exercise Fellowship, Astute performed simulated battles with the latest United States Navy Virginia-class submarine, USS New Mexico. It was reported that the Americans were "taken aback" by Astute's capabilities. Royal Navy Commander Iain Breckenridge was quoted, "Our sonar is fantastic and I have never before experienced holding a submarine at the range we were holding USS New Mexico. The Americans were utterly taken aback, blown away with what they were seeing"