Charlie-class submarine

Class overview

Name:	Charlie class
Builders:	Gorky
Operators:	Soviet Navy Indian Navy
Preceded by:	Echo class
Succeeded by:	Papa class
General characteristics
Displacement:	Charlie I class: Surfaced:4000tons Submerged:4900tons Charlie II class: Surfaced: 4300tons Submerged:5100tons
Length:	Charlie I class: 95 m (312 ft) Charlie II class: 103 m (338 ft)
Beam:	Charlie I+II class:10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Draught:	Charlie I+II class: 8 m (26 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:	Charlie I+II class: one pressurized water-cooled reactor powering two steam turbines delivering 11,185kW (15,000shp) to one shaft.
Speed:	Surfaced: 20knots Submerged: 24knots
Range:	Unlimited except by food supplies
Complement:	Charlie I class: 100 Charlie II class: 98
Armament:	Charlie I+II class: Six 533 mm (21in) tubes all bow for a max load of 12 torpedoes. Usually a mix of 2 kt anti-ship nuclear torpedoes, 2 Tsakra (SS-N-15 Starfish) 15 kt anti-submarine torpedoes, Charlie I's with 4 anti-ship/submarine HE torpedoes, Charlie II's with 8 anti-ship/submarine torpedoes or a total of 24 AMD-1000 ground mines.

The Charlie class submarine was a nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine built for the Soviet Navy and later operated by the Russian Navy. All Charlie I/II class submarines are decommissioned. One Charlie was used for testing an Oniks missile.^[1]^[2] Charlie I and its successor Charlie II classes submarines are designed by Lazurit Central Design Bureau ("Lazurit" is the Russian word for lazurite).

Background

The Charlie I class submarine (Project 670 Skat) SSGN was first launched at the Krasnoye Sormovo inland shipyard at Gorkiy in 1967 with another 10 following over a period of five years. The Charlie Is had two banks of four missile tubes angled upwards on each side of the bow outside the pressure hull. The tubes were covered by large outer doors and the design was to incorporate the P-120 Malakhit (SS-N-9 Siren) medium range anti ship missile. Due to delays in the missile development, the missile was substituted with the short range P-70 Ametist (SS-N-7 Starbright) submerged launch missile which itself was a development of the P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) surface-launched missile. The missiles were designed for pop up surprise attacks on high value surface targets such as aircraft carriers.

In 1972 to 1979, six improved units called the Project 670M SKAT-M (Charlie II class) were built. The improved Charlie IIs were built at Gorkiy with an 8 m (26 ft 3 in) insert in the hull forward of the fin. The insert incorporated electronics and launch systems for targeting and firing of the long range P-120 Malakhit anti-ship missile.

The Charlie Is and IIs returned to port for reload once they had expended their missile payloads. However, the Charlie class's secondary armament of torpedoes and sonar systems provided useful anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare capabilities in addition to their missile launch capabilities.

The last Charlie was retired in 1994. While still operational, one unit of the class was leased to the Indian Navy between 1988 and 1991, mainly for India to gain experience in the operations of a nuclear submarine.

Ships

11 Project 670 (Charlie I) submarines were built between 1968 and 1973. K-43 was leased to the Indian Navy as the Chakra from 1988 to 1992. K-429 sank near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1983 with 16 fatalities, but was raised and used as a harbour training hulk.
6 Project 670M (Charlie II) submarines were built between 1973 and 1980.

All ships were scrapped between 1990 and 1994.

*Charlie I* class — significant dates
#	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fleet	Status
K-43 leased to India as Chakra	Sormovo, Gorkiy	May 9, 1964	August 2, 1966	November 5, 1967^[3]	to Pacific (1980)	Decommissioned July 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-87 from January 15, 1978 K-212	Sormovo, Gorkiy	February 6, 1965	March 20, 1968	December 28, 1968^[3]	to Pacific (1978)	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-25	Sormovo, Gorkiy	December 2, 1965	July 31, 1968	December 30, 1968^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-121	Sormovo, Gorkiy	November 25, 1966	April 29, 1969	October 31, 1969^[3]	to Pacific (1983)	Decommissioned June 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-313	Sormovo, Gorkiy	July 14, 1966	July 16, 1969	December 16, 1969^[3]	to Pacific (1986)	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-308	Sormovo, Gorkiy	December 29, 1967	February 19, 1970	September 20, 1970^[3]	to Pacific (1985)	Decommissioned July 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-320	Sormovo, Gorkiy	April 30, 1968	March 27, 1971	September 15, 1971^[3]	to Pacific (1979)	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-302	Sormovo, Gorkiy	January 17, 1969	July 11, 1970	December 1, 1970^[3]	to Pacific (1988)	Decommissioned June 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-325	Sormovo, Gorkiy	September 6, 1969	June 4, 1971	November 5, 1971^[3]	to Pacific (1978)	Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-429	Sormovo, Gorkiy	January 26, 1971	April 22, 1972	September 15, 1972^[3]	to Pacific (1977)	Decommissioned for scrapping
K-201	Sormovo, Gorkiy	November 16, 1971	September 1972	December 26, 1972^[3]	to Pacific (1974)	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping

*Charlie II* class — significant dates
#	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fleet	Status
K-458 .	Sormovo, Gorkiy	February 12, 1974	June 30, 1975	December 29, 1975^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-452	Sormovo, Gorkiy	December 30, 1972	June 1973	December 30, 1973^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned May 30, 1998 for scrapping
K-479	Sormovo, Gorkiy	December 20, 1975	May 6, 1977	September 30, 1977^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned July 5, 1992 for scrapping
K-503	Sormovo Gorkiy	February 7, 1977	September 22, 1978	December 31, 1978^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned June 30, 1993 for scrapping
K-508	Sormovo Gorkiy	December 10, 1977	October 3, 1979	December 30, 1979^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned August 4, 1995 for scrapping
K-209	Sormovo, Gorkiy	December 20, 1979	September 16, 1980	December 30, 1980^[3]	Northern	Decommissioned 1996 for scrapping

References

↑ Проект 670М
↑ Проект 670
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Podvodnye Lodki, Yu.V. Apalkov, Sankt Peterburg, 2002, ISBN 5-8172-0069-4

Sources

Article in Russian from Encyclopedia of Ships
Article in Russian
Page in English from FAS
The Encyclopedia Of Warships, From World War Two To The Present Day, General Editor Robert Jackson.

Charlie-class submarine

Charlie I	K-25 K-43 K-121 K-201 K-212 K-302 K-308 K-313 K-320 K-325 K-429

Charlie II	K-209 K-452 K-458 K-479 K-503 K-508

List of Soviet and Russian submarines List of Soviet and Russian submarine classes

Soviet and Russian submarines after 1945

Ballistic missile nuclear submarines – SSBN	658 Hotel 667A Yankee 667B Delta I 667BD Delta II 667BDR Delta III 941 Typhoon 667BDRM Delta IV 955 Dolgorukiy

Cruise missile nuclear submarines – SSGN	659 Echo I 675 Echo II 670 Charlie I 670M Charlie II 661 Papa^S 949 Oscar I 949A Oscar II

Nuclear attack submarines – SSN	627A November 671 Victor I 671RT Victor II 671RTM Victor III 705/705K Alfa 945 Sierra I 945A Sierra II 685 Mike^S 971 Akula 885 Severodvinsk

Conventional ballistic missile submarines – SSB	AV611 Zulu IV 629 Golf

Conventional cruise missile submarines – SSG	644/665 Whiskey (missile) 651 Juliett

Conventional attack submarines – SS or SSK	611 Zulu 613 Whiskey 615 Quebec 617 Whale^S 633 Romeo 641 Foxtrot 641B Tango 877 Kilo 636 Improved Kilo 677 St. Petersburg Kalina

Auxiliary submarines – SSA	690 Bravo 940 India 1710 Beluga^S 1840 Lima^S 1910 Uniform 865 Losos Sarov^S

S Single ship of class

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