Russia's Alfa Class Sub Could Out Run & Out Dive Anything (But Had a Fatal Flaw)

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by speed150mph

Secondly, I've heard stories that some of the alfa hulls were suffering from metal fatigue after diving deep, and that this coupled with the maintenance issues with the reactor is what caused them to be decommissioned and scrapped. Can anybody confirm this?

This is true. Titanium while lighter and as strong as steel, lacks the flexibility many good steel alloys possess. While titanium can withstand pressures that would crush steel, titanium and its alloys are much more brittle and have fewer compression cycles before metal fatigue sets in. For all of the raw power Alfas possessed, because of the design choices made in their construction, they were doomed to have shorter life spans.