The appearance of a series of Soviet multipurpose nuclear submarines with a steel hull of Project 971 Shchuka-B (NATO designation - Akula) "caused shock among representatives of Western naval intelligence". This is written by American national defense expert Harry Kazianis in an article for 19fortyfive.
Submarines of Project 971 Shchuka-B were a strategic and technological breakthrough of the highest level. Their appearance, which meant the end of the era of superiority of the US Navy and its NATO allies, was ahead of Western experts' forecasts.
The West did not assume that the USSR could create a submarine with such low acoustic signature for at least another 10 years. As a result, they had to quickly revise the doctrine and technology of anti-submarine warfare.
Soviet engineers put the stealth of the submarine above other indicators - speed and maximum immersion depth. As a result, submarines of Project 971 Shchuka-B turned out to be very effective and continue to serve in the Russian Navy in the XXI century.
According to Kazianis, the developers at the Malakhit Design Bureau created one of the most successful submarine projects in modern history. Its feature is a double-hull design.
The inner hull houses the crew, reactor and all critical systems. The outer hull is lighter, with a significant distance between them, which increases the survivability of the submarine.
Another achievement of the creators of the Akula was the low acoustic signature. The USSR secretly received complex multi-coordinate milling machines with numerical control (CNC) from Toshiba Corporation and Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The new equipment produced large propellers with a large angle of inclination.
As a result, the blades of submarines cut through the water with less cavitation. It is believed that this illegal transfer of technology allowed the USSR to make a leap in the development of noise reduction technologies.
The lead submarine K-284 became part of the Pacific Fleet of the USSR Navy in 1984. Now submarines of Project 971 Shchuka-B are equipped with Kalibr-PL missiles.
Akula specifications:
- Surface speed - 11.6 knots
- Submerged speed - 33 knots
- Working depth - 520 m
- Maximum depth - 600 m
- Autonomy - 100 days
- Crew - 73 people
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