Of the seven planned Typhoons, six were built throughout the 1980s and retired less than 10 years later in the 1990s. Televisions (a luxury in the Soviet Navy) were also set up throughout the boat, playing Soviet movies, television shows and propaganda for the crew's entertainment.īut just as these behemoth war machines entered service with the Soviet Navy, their time rapidly began to wind down. You didn't misread that - Typhoons were actually built with small two-foot-deep swimming pools to improve crew morale on long deployments, along with saunas and a lounge area with plush rocking chairs. Unlike any other submarine ever built, each Typhoon also came with a unique and somewhat enviable feature - a lounge for sailors, including a swimming pool and a sauna. Instead of utilitarian steel furniture with minimal padding, a Typhoon's interior features wooden-paneled walls, comfortable padded chairs, raised ceilings and full-sized doorways, and a fully-stocked gym. Instead of constantly traversing the world's oceans, Typhoons were built to sit under the Arctic Circle for months at a time, waiting to punch through the ice in order to launch their deadly payloads of nuclear-tipped missiles.īecause of their designated operating locations, these subs could often escape harassment by American and British hunter/killer submarines constantly prowling around the Atlantic Ocean looking for Soviet warships to mess with.īecause of the length and duration of their missions, Typhoons were designed with crew comfort in mind. In fact, the accommodations aboard a Typhoon were so luxurious that sailors in the Soviet (and later, Russian) navy nicknamed these gargantuan vessels "floating Hiltons." Two nuclear reactors give these warships the power they need to operate, allowing for a maximum speed of around 27 knots underwater (31 mph). Typhoons carry their missiles in front of their gigantic (and almost comically oversized) sail instead of behind it, as Delta-class and American Ohio-class boats do. Should a breach occur - whether by collision or attack - the crew inside the other pressure hulls would be safe and the sub would still be operational. The Dmitriy Donskoi (TK-208) serves with the Northern Fleet.Inside the Typhoon's hulking mass existed a pair of longer pressure hulls from older Delta-class ballistic missile submarines and three more smaller hulls placed around the boat to protect other critical points like engineering spaces and the torpedo rooms. This Covert Shores Recognition Guide Covers over 80 classes of submarines including all types currently in service with World Navies.Ī single TYPHOON Class submarine remains in service with the Russian Navy. Get The essential guide to World Submarines Saunas are standard on larger Russian submarines but the swimming pool is unique. The crew space is comparatively spacious and includes a sauna and a swimming pool. Under its armored outer hull are several smaller pressure hulls containing the people and machinery. The TYPHOON Class was built for the Soviet Navy during the Cold War as the ultimate survivable nuclear deterrence platform. The TYPHOON submarine would tower over this. Looking at plans for detached 2-story homes this size shows that a representative house is about 40 ft (12 m) wide. The average US home is around 2,300 square feet (sources vary, context is everything). It shows it compared to the US Navy's largest submarine and an average US house. These are impressive but in case you find it difficult to picture just how big that is I made this quick graphic. It's length is 175 m (574 ft 2 in) and its beam is 23 m (75 ft 6 in). It's overall dimensions are much more than any other submarine (although a few Russian types are longer). The iconic Pr.971 'Akula' (NATO: TYPHOON Class) is the largest submarine ever built.
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