Juliett-class submarine

K-77, Juliett-class submarine
Class overview
Operators:	Soviet Navy
Preceded by:	Echo I
Succeeded by:	Charlie class
In commission:	1963–1994
Planned:	35
Completed:	16
Retired:	16
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	3,174 long tons (3,225 t) surfaced; 4,137 long tons (4,203 t) submerged
Length:	90 m (281 ft 9 in)
Beam:	10 m (31 ft 2 in)
Draft:	7 m (23 ft)
Propulsion:	two 4,000 shp (3.0 MW) D-43 and one 1,750 shp (1.30 MW) 2D-42 diesel engines, two 3,000 shp (2.2 MW) PG-141 main and two 500 shp (0.37 MW) PG-140 creep electrical motors, two screws
Speed:	16.8 kn (31.1 km/h) surfaced, 18 knots (33 km/h) submerged (trial)
Range:	9,000 nmi at 8 kn (17,000 km at 15 km/h) surfaced, 18,000 nmi at 7 kn (33,000 km at 13 km/h) with additional fuel, 810 nmi at 2.74 kn (1,500 km at 5.07 km/h) submerged
Endurance:	800 hours submerged, stores for 90 days
Test depth:	235 m (775 ft) test, 365 m (1200 ft) design
Complement:	82 (12 officers, 16 petty officers, 54 men)
Armament:	Four SS-N-3 Shaddock (P-5 or P-6), or SS-N-12 Sandbox (P-500 4K-80 Basalt) nuclear-capable cruise missiles, six 533 mm (21-inch) bow torpedo tubes with 18 torpedoes, four 400 mm (16-inch) stern torpedo tubes with four torpedoes

The Project 651, known in the West by its NATO reporting name Juliett class, was a class of Soviet diesel-electric submarines armed with cruise missiles. They were designed in the late 1950s to provide the Soviet Navy with a nuclear strike capability against targets along the east coast of the United States and enemy combatants (aircraft carriers). The head of the design team was Abram Samuilovich Kassatsier. They carried four nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a range of approximately 300 miles, which could be launched while the submarine was surfaced and moving less than four knots (7 km/h). Once surfaced, the first missile could be launched in about five minutes; subsequent missiles would follow within about ten seconds each. Initially, the missiles were the inertially-guided P-5 (NATO reporting name SS-N-3c Shaddock). When submarine-launched ballistic missiles rendered the P-5s obsolescent, they were replaced with the P-6 (also NATO reporting name SS-N-3a Shaddock, though a very different missile) designed to attack aircraft carriers. A special 10 m² target guidance radar was built into the forward edge of the sail structure, which opened by rotating. One boat was eventually fitted with the Kasatka satellite downlink for targeting information to support P-500 4K-80 "Bazalt" (SS-N-12 Sandbox) anti-ship cruise missiles.

The Juliett class had a low magnetic signature austenitic steel double hull, covered by two inch (50 mm) thick black tiles made of sound-absorbing hard rubber. They had exceptionally high reserve buoyancy, and were divided into eight watertight compartments:

A Juliett-class submarine

1. the forward torpedo room
2. living accommodations for officers and chiefs and the forward batteries
3. the missile control room and batteries
4. the control room
5. crew berthing and batteries
6. the forward engine room containing the diesels and generators
7. the aft engine room with the electric motors
8. the aft torpedo room.

U-461 (actually K-24) in U-boat Museum Peenemünde

Initial plans called for 35 submarines of this class. In fact only 16 were actually built, two - including the lead sub, by the Baltic Shipyard, St. Petersburg and the rest by the Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard in Nizhny Novgorod. They were commissioned between 1963 and 1968, and served through the 1980s. The last one was decommissioned in 1994.

The Juliett was built due to expected delays in the continued production of the nuclear-powered Project 659 Echo I class submarines and 675 Echo II class submarines, with six and eight missile launchers, respectively. The Juliett was actually designed after the Echos.

Units

Juliett' class — significant dates

#	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Status
K-156	St. Petersburg	November 16, 1960	July 31, 1962	December 10, 1963	Decommissioned September 1991 for scrapping[1]
K-85	St. Petersburg	October 25, 1961	January 31, 1964	December 30, 1964	Decommissioned for scrapping[1]
K-70	Nizhniy Novgorod	August 25, 1962	February 6, 1964	December 31, 1964	Decommissioned in 1994 for scrapping[1]
K-24	Nizhniy Novgorod	October 15, 1961	December 15, 1962	October 31, 1965	Decommissioned in 1994, sold to Germany as maritime museum exhibit[1]
K-68	Nizhniy Novgorod	January 25, 1962	April 30, 1963	December 28, 1965	Decommissioned in 1990 for scrapping[1]
K-77	Nizhniy Novgorod	January 31, 1963	March 11, 1965	October 31, 1965	Decommissioned in April 1992 and sold as museum exhibit in U.S.[1] In 2009, the ship scrapped after sinking due to its poor material condition.[2]
K-81	Nizhniy Novgorod	November 20, 1963	August 7, 1964	December 14, 1965	Decommissioned in 1994 for scrapping[1]
K-63	Nizhniy Novgorod	March 25, 1962	July 26, 1963	June 12, 1966	Decommissioned in September 1991 for scrapping[1]
K-58	Nizhniy Novgorod	July 15, 1963	February 2, 1966	September 23, 1966	Decommissioned 1990 for scrapping[1]
K-73	Nizhniy Novgorod	August 1, 1964	May 31, 1966	December 15, 1966	Decommissioned in 1990 for scrapping[1]
K-67	Nizhniy Novgorod	January 31, 1965	October 29, 1966	September 30, 1967	Decommissioned in 1994 for scrapping[1]
K-78	Nizhniy Novgorod	July 25, 1965	March 30, 1967	November 1, 1967	Decommissioned in September 1991 for scrapping[1]
K-203	Nizhniy Novgorod	December 23, 1965	June 30, 1967	December 2, 1967	Decommissioned in September 1992 for scrapping[1]
K-304	Nizhniy Novgorod	August 6, 1966	November 24, 1967	August 21, 1968	Decommissioned in September 1991 for scrapping[1]
K-318	Nizhniy Novgorod	March 29, 1967	March 29, 1968	September 29, 1968	Decommissioned in 1994 for scrapping[1]
K-120	Nizhniy Novgorod	March 25, 1967	July 11, 1968	December 26, 1968	Decommissioned in April 1991 for scrapping[1]

In the movies

The Juliett unit K-77 while at the maritime museum in Providence, Rhode Island, was slightly stage modified and used to act as the Hotel I SSBN K-19 in the National Geographic movie "K-19 Widowmaker" starring Harrison Ford.

References

1. Korabli VMF SSSR, Vol. 1, Part 2, Yu. Apalkov, Sankt Peterburg, 2003, ISBN 5-8172-0072-4
2. http://www.juliett484.org/juliett/news/archive/pressrelease081009.html

External links

• article in English from FAS
• Article in Russian