Nuclear submarines. The history of the creation of the first Soviet nuclear submarine The first nuclear submarine

In the book "Pioneers of the Russian submarine fleet" (VN Lavrov Publishing house "Shipbuilding". St. Petersburg. 2013), the seventh chapter is devoted to the first Soviet nuclear submarine, its creators, the first crew and individual episodes of more than 30 years of service this nuclear submarine as part of the Navy of the USSR and Russia.
Neither in this book, nor in a number of other sources dedicated to the pioneers of the atomic fleet, there is (or very little) materials about the creators and creators of the world's first nuclear submarines, as well as about the circumstances of the birth of the very idea of using atomic energy to support the movement of warships and primarily submarines. Only one thing is known - the idea originated in the USA. The American press called Admiral H. Rikover "the father of nuclear submarines". For a long time, the name of Rickover was always mentioned first when it came to the creation of nuclear submarines.
In the early 60s of the XX century, a scandal erupted: American scientists Ross Gunn and Philip Hauge Abelson said that Admiral Rickover had illegally appropriated the authorship of the idea and priority in creating the world's first nuclear submarine. This "splashed out" on the pages of newspapers and magazines, and not only American ones. The situation was discussed in the US Congress. A special commission of the Congress was created, which, having studied the history of the creation of a nuclear submarine, prepared proposals and submitted them for approval by the Congress. In a special resolution on the priority in the creation of a nuclear boat, adopted in July 1963, the following is written:
“Dr. Ross Gunn began work in the Department of the Navy on the development of atomic energy on March 20, 1939. In June 1939, Ross Gunn filed a report with the Bureau of Shipbuilding on the use of atomic energy for submarine propulsion.
Dr. Philip Abelson has been working since 1941 to separate uranium isotopes to create the atomic bomb. In 1944, he submitted a report to the design department on the use of atomic energy for the movement of ships, especially submarines, and began working with Gann on the problem at the Marine Research Laboratory.
In 1945 and 1946, Gann and Abelson made a report to Congress on the possibility of creating a nuclear submarine. The pioneering work of Gann and Abelson led to the actual creation of the Nautilus nuclear submarine. Admiral H. Rikover, relying on the reports of Abelson and Gann, achieved the practical implementation of the first nuclear submarine. Congress informs the American people of the Abelson and Gann priority. "
Thus, everything fell into place. The above quote is taken from the book by Yu.S. Kryuchkov "Submarines and their creators" (publishing house "Step-info", Nikolaev, 2007
American mechanical engineer R. Gann in 1938-1939 put forward the idea of creating an atomic engine for underwater navigation. At the beginning of 1939, he, together with Captain 1st Rank Cooley, presented the drawings of the "uranium fission chamber".
In June 1941, R. Gann, together with F. Abelson, developed a method for separating the isotope U235. This method was proposed to the leaders of the "Manhattan Project" and was successfully applied in the production of explosives for the first atomic bombs. In 1944, Gunn and Abelson presented a report on the development of methods for using atomic energy to move ships of the Navy. After the defeat of Japan, R. Gann was awarded the Order for his participation in the development of the atomic bomb.

American scientist (physicist and geochemist) F. Abelson during the Second World War worked in the electromechanical department headed by R. Gann. His scientific research was in the field of nuclear physics, biophysics, organic chemistry. Since 1944, Abelson, together with Gann, began to work on the problem of using nuclear energy for the propulsion of nuclear submarines. In 1946 Abelson presented a draft design of the nuclear submarine. He placed the nuclear reactor outside of a strong hull in the inter-board space in the aft part. Abelson attached this draft to a detailed report prepared in the same year. The work of Abelson and Gann formed the basis for the creation of the first nuclear installation for a submarine, which was noted in the above resolution of the US Congress.

F. Abelson

American naval engineer H.G. Ricover graduated from the Annapolis Naval Academy in 1922. During the Second World War, already in the rank of captain of the 1st rank, H. Rikover headed one of the departments of the Shipbuilding Directorate. In 1947, he was appointed assistant to the head of this Directorate and at the same time headed the Department of Atomic Energy. Having familiarized himself with Abelson's project and R. Gann's works, Captain 1st Rank Rickover became an active supporter of the idea of creating a nuclear submarine. In the period 1947-1949, despite the opposition of officials, H. Rikover, with a group of specialists selected by him, developed his project of a nuclear submarine with a pressurized water reactor. In 1950, under the leadership of Rikover, construction began on the prototype of the Mark I boat reactor. In the next year, 1951, the first in the world nuclear submarine "Nautilus" with a pressurized water-cooled reactor "Mark-II" was laid. Thus, Rikover was the immediate leader of the creation of the first nuclear submarine in the world, which entered service in 1954. In the future, all nuclear submarines of the US Navy were built and operated under the watchful eye of Rear Admiral (since 1953) H.G. Ricover. In 1954, Ricover proposed to the US Navy leadership to build a large submarine with two reactors and the latest radar equipment to monitor the situation in the ocean zone. This is how the nuclear submarine of the Triton radar patrol appeared. Since 1957, Rikover directed the development of a nuclear power plant for submarines - missile carriers of the "George Washington" class.

Vice Admiral H.G. Ricover

For work on the creation of nuclear submarines, Vice Admiral (since 1958) H. Rickover was awarded a special Gold Medal in 1959, and President John F. Kennedy, by personal decree, left Rickover on indefinite naval service. The "father" of the nuclear submarine fleet died in 1986.

Launching of the nuclear submarine "Nautilus". H. Rikover aboard the Nautilus.

The first nuclear submarines of the Soviet Union and the United States

Shortly after Christmas break in 1959, Admiral Ralph posted the following notice at the entrance to his office: “I am Commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, I promise a box of Jack Daniels whiskey to the first submarine commander who has presented proof that the enemy submarine was exhausted by the pursuit and forced to surface ". This was not a joke. The admiral, as at the racetrack, relied on the miracle of American military thought - a nuclear submarine. The modern submarine produced its own oxygen and was able to stay under water throughout the entire voyage. Soviet submariners could only dream of such a ship. During a long voyage, their crews were suffocating, submarines were forced to surface, becoming easy prey for the enemy.

The winner was the crew of the submarine "USS Grenadier", tail number "SS-525", which chased the Soviet submarine for about 9 hours and forced it to surface off the coast of Iceland. The commander of the US submarine, Lieutenant-Commander Davis, received the promised box of whiskey from the hands of the admiral. They had no idea that very soon the Soviet Union would present their gift to them.

In 1945, the United States openly demonstrated to the world the destructive power of its new weapons, and now it must have a reliable means of delivery. By air, since it was with Japan, it is fraught with great risk, which means that the only reasonable way to deliver nuclear cargo should be a submarine, but one that can secretly never surface, strike a decisive blow for this, a nuclear submarine was ideally suited. The creation of such a submarine was a daunting task at the time, even for the United States. Less than a year later, at a shipyard in New London, Connecticut, the first nuclear-powered ship, USS Nautilus, hull number SSN-571, was laid down. The project was carried out in an atmosphere of such utmost secrecy that intelligence information about it came to Stalin's desk only two years later. The Soviet Union again found itself in the role of a catch-up. In 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb was tested, and in September 1952, Stalin signed a decree on the creation of nuclear submarines in the USSR.

Domestic designers, as it happened more than once, were forced to go their own way, as the circumstances were difficult for the Soviet Union as a whole and for Soviet military science in particular. In the USSR, work of defense significance was always led by people unknown to the general public, about whom the newspapers did not write. The design of the submarine was entrusted to the designer V. N. Peregudov. The technical design of the first nuclear submarine was approved.

Technical characteristics of the nuclear submarine of project 627 "K-3", code "Kit":

Length - 107.4 m;

Width - 7.9 m; Draft - 5.6 m; Displacement - 3050 tons; Power plant - nuclear, power 35000 hp; Surface speed - 15 knots; Submerged speed - 30 knots; Immersion depth - 300 m; Swimming autonomy - 60 days; Crew - 104 people; Armament: Torpedo tubes 533 mm: bow - 8, stern - 2.

The idea of the combat use of the submarine was as follows: a submarine armed with a giant torpedo is taken by tugs from the basing point to the diving point, from where it continues to sail under water to a given area. Upon receipt of the order, the nuclear submarine fires a torpedo shot, attacking enemy naval bases. During the entire autonomous voyage, the ascent of the nuclear-powered ship is not planned, the means of protection and counteraction are not provided. After completing the task, she becomes practically defenseless. An interesting fact, the first nuclear submarine was designed and built without the participation of the military. The only torpedo with a thermonuclear charge of the submarine had a caliber of 1550 mm and a length of 23 m. It immediately became clear to the submariners what would happen to the submarine when this super-torpedo was launched. At the moment of launch, the entire water mass will be shot together with the torpedo, after which an even larger mass of water will enter the hull and will inevitably create an emergency trim. To level it, the crew will have to blow through the main ballast systems and an air bubble will be released to the surface, allowing the nuclear submarine to be immediately detected, which means its immediate destruction. In addition, the specialists of the main headquarters of the Navy found that not only in the United States, but all over the world there are only two military bases that can be destroyed with such a torpedo. Moreover, they had no strategic significance.

The giant torpedo project was buried. Life size dummies destroyed. The change in the project of the nuclear submarine took a whole year. Shop No. 3 became a closed production. Its workers did not even have the right to tell their relatives where they work.

In the early 1950s, hundreds of kilometers from Moscow, the GULAG built the first nuclear power plant, the purpose of which was not to produce electricity for the national economy - it was a prototype of a nuclear installation for a nuclear submarine. The same prisoners built a training center with two stands in a pine forest. For six months, all the fleets of the Soviet Union recruited the crew of the future nuclear submarine, super-conscript sailors and officers. Not only health and military training were taken into account, but also a virgin biography. The recruiters had no right to pronounce the word atom. But somehow a rumor spread in a whisper where and to what they were invited. Getting to Obninsk has become a dream. All were dressed in civilian clothes, the military chain of command was abolished - everyone addressed each other only by their first and patronymic names. The rest is strict military order. The personnel were assigned as if they were on a ship. On questions from outsiders, the cadet could answer anything but not that he was a submariner. It was always forbidden to pronounce the word reactor. Even at lectures, teachers called it a crystallizer or apparatus. The cadets practiced a variety of actions to leak the release of radioactive gas and aerosols. The most significant problems were eliminated by the prisoners, but the cadets also got it. Nobody really knew what radiation was. In addition to alpha, beta and gamma radiation, there were harmful gases in the air, even household dust was activated, no one thought about it. Traditional 150 grams of alcohol were considered the main medicine. The sailors were convinced that this was how they filmed the radiation picked up during the day. Everyone wanted to go sailing and were afraid to be written off even before the submarine was launched.

The lack of coordination between departments always hindered any project in the USSR. So on the crew of the first nuclear submarine and on the entire submarine fleet as a whole, two strikes are made. The Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal Zhukov, who, with all due respect to his land services in the navy, understood little, issued an order halving the wages of overtime conscripts. Practically trained specialists began to file resignation reports. Of the six recruited crew of the first nuclear submarine, only one remained who loves his job more than welfare. With the next blow, Marshal Zhukov canceled the second crew of the nuclear submarine. With the advent of the submarine fleet, an order was established - two crews. After many months of march, the first went on vacation, and the second took up combat duty. The tasks of submarine commanders have become much more complicated. They had to come up with something in order to find time for the crew to rest, without canceling combat duty.

The first nuclear-powered ship was built by the whole country, although most of the participants in this unprecedented business did not even suspect about their involvement in the unique project. In Moscow, they developed a new steel that allowed the boat to dive to an unimaginable depth for that time - 300 m; reactors were manufactured in Gorky, steam turbine units were provided by the Leningrad Kirovsky plant; the architecture of K-3 was worked out at TsAGI. The crew was trained at a special stand in Obninsk. A total of 350 enterprises and organizations "brick by brick" built a miracle ship. Its first commander was Captain 1st Rank Leonid Osipenko. If not for the secrecy regime, his name would have thundered throughout the Soviet Union. After all, Osipenko tested the real first "hydrospace ship", which could go into the ocean for three whole months with only one surfacing - at the end of the cruise.

And at the Severodvinsk Machine-Building Plant, the finished nuclear submarine "K-3", laid down on September 24, 1954, was already waiting for its first crew. The interiors looked like works of art. Each room was painted in its own color, colors of bright shades are pleasing to the eye. One of the bulkheads is made in the form of a huge mirror, and the other is a picture of a summer meadow with birches. The furniture was made by special order from precious wood and, in addition to its direct purpose, could be turned into an object of help for emergency situations. So a large table in the wardroom, if necessary, was transformed into an operating room.

The design of the Soviet submarine was very different from the American submarine. On the USS Nautilus, the usual principles of diesel submarines were repeated, only a nuclear installation was added, and the Soviet submarine K-3 had a completely different architecture.

On July 1, 1958, it was time for launching. A canvas was stretched over the conning tower, hiding the forms. As you know, sailors are superstitious people, and if a bottle of champagne does not break on the side of the ship, they will remember this at critical moments during the voyage. Panic arose among the members of the selection committee. The entire cigar-shaped hull of the new ship was covered with a layer of rubber. The only hard place on which the bottle can break is a small fence of the horizontal rudders. Nobody wanted to take risks and take responsibility. Then someone remembered that women break champagne well. The young employee of KB "Malakhit" confidently swung her arms, and everyone took a deep breath of relief. This is how the firstborn of the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet was born.

In the evening, when the nuclear submarine entered the open sea, a strong wind arose, which in gusts blew away all the diligently installed camouflage from the hull, and the submarine appeared before the eyes of the people on the shore in its original form.

On July 3, 1958, the boat, which received the tactical number K-3, entered sea trials in the White Sea. On July 4, 1958, at 10 hours 3 minutes, for the first time in the history of the Russian fleet, atomic energy was used for the movement of the ship.

The tests were completed on December 1, 1958. During them, the power of the power plant was limited to 60% of the nominal. At the same time, a speed of 23.3 knots was reached, which was 3 knots higher than the calculated value. For the successful mastering of new technology, for the first time after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the commander of K-3 L.G. Osipenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Currently, his name has been assigned to the training center for the training of nuclear submarine crews in Obninsk.

In January 1959, the K-3 was transferred to the Navy for trial operation, which ended in 1962, after which the nuclear submarine became a "full-fledged" warship of the Northern Fleet.

During sea trials, the nuclear submarine was often visited by Academician Anatoly Petrovich Aleksandrov, who considered the creation of the K-3 to be the main brainchild of his life (the boat was so dear to him that he bequeathed his coffin to be covered with the first K-3 naval flag) , GK of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet Gorshkov S.G. On December 17, 1965, the first cosmonaut of the Earth, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Yu.A. Gagarin. The first nuclear submarine began to develop the Arctic region almost immediately. In 1959, K-3 under the command of Captain 1st Rank L.G. Osipenko sailed 260 miles under the Arctic ice. On July 17, 1962, this nuclear submarine made the transition to the North Pole, but float to the surface.

An interesting fact - when the Americans opened the archives of the Cold War, it was discovered that a very short time after the launch of the first nuclear submarine "K-3" Captain 1st Rank of the US Navy Berins held his submarine at the mouth of the channel leading to the port of Murmansk. He approached the Soviet port so close that he was able to observe the sea trials of a Soviet but diesel submarine equipped with ballistic missiles. The Americans did not know about the Soviet nuclear submarine then.

The nuclear submarine "K-3" turned out to be excellent in all respects. In comparison with the American submarine, she looked more impressive. After passing all the required tests, the Project 627 K-3 nuclear submarine was named Leninsky Komsomol and on July 4, 1958, it became part of the USSR Navy. Already in the summer of 1962, the crew of the Leninsky Komsomol repeated the feat of the Americans, who in 1958 made a trip to the North Pole on the first US nuclear submarine USS Nautilus, and then repeated it on other nuclear submarines.

In June 1967, the submarine conducted tests on surfacing in ice and breaking ice from 10 to 80 cm. There was minor damage to the hull and antennas. Subsequently, from July 11 to July 21, 1962, the boat completed a special Task - an Arctic cruise with the crossing of the North Pole at 00 hours 59 minutes 10 seconds Moscow time on July 17, 1962. During the historical campaign, the submarine surfaced three times in openings and ruins.

During its glorious combat path, the Leninsky Komsomol submarine performed 7 combat services, took part in the exercises of the Warsaw Pact countries "North", participated in the exercises "Ocean-85", "Atlantic-85", "North-85", six once announced by order of the KSF "Excellent PL". 228 crew members were awarded government orders and medals, and four of them received the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev personally presented awards to the submariners for the Arctic campaign. The captain of the nuclear submarine Lev Zhiltsov became a Hero of the Soviet Union. The entire crew, without exception, received orders. Their names became known throughout the country.

After the exploit in the ice, the nuclear submarine "Leninsky Komsomol" became the modern "Aurora" and the subject of numerous delegations' visits. Propaganda window dressing has almost completely replaced military service. The captain of the submarine was sent to study at the Academy of the General Staff, experienced officers were dismantled by headquarters and ministries, and the sailors, instead of servicing complex military equipment, took part in all kinds of congresses and conferences. Soon it was necessary to pay for it in full.

According to Soviet intelligence, it became known that an American submarine was secretly patrolling in the neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The leadership of the USSR Navy hastily began to discuss who to send there and it turned out that there were no free warships nearby. We remembered the K-3 nuclear submarine. The submarine was hastily manned with a combined crew. A new commander was appointed. On the third day of the cruise, the aft horizontal rudders were de-energized on the submarine, and the air regeneration system failed. The temperature in the compartments rose to 40 degrees. A fire broke out in one of the combat units, and the fire rapidly spread through the compartments. Despite persistent rescue efforts, 39 submariners died. According to the results of the investigation carried out by the command of the Navy, the actions of the crew were recognized as correct. And the crew was presented with state awards.

But soon a commission from Moscow arrived on the Leninsky Komsomol submarine, and one of the staff officers found a lighter in the torpedo compartment. It was suggested that one of the sailors climbed there to smoke, which was the reason for the disaster of the nuclear submarine. The award sheets were torn to shreds, and penalties were announced instead.

That tragedy of the "Leninist Komsomol" did not become the property of our common memory either in 1967 or in the "era of glasnost"; they do not really know about it even today. A modest, unnamed monument was erected to the sailors who burned down on K-3, far from crowded places: "To the submariners who died in the ocean on 09/08/1967" And a small anchor at the foot of the slab. The boat itself is living out its days at the pier of the shipyard in Polyarny.

The rivalry between the superpowers in the submarine fleets was intense. The struggle was in terms of power, size and reliability. Multipurpose nuclear submarines have appeared carrying powerful nuclear missiles, for which there are no flight range limits. Summing up the confrontation, we can say that in some ways the US naval forces were superior to the Soviet navy, but in some ways they were inferior.

So, Soviet nuclear submarines were faster and more buoyant. Dive and underwater speed records are still held by the USSR. About 2,000 enterprises of the former Soviet Union were involved in the production of nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles on board. During the years of the Cold War, the USSR and the United States threw 10 trillion dollars into the furnace of the arms race. No country could withstand such waste.

The Cold War has sunk into oblivion, but the concept of defense capability has not disappeared. For 50 years after the first-born "Leninsky Komsomol" was built 338 nuclear submarines, 310 of which are still in service. The operation of the Leninsky Komsomol nuclear submarine continued until 1991, while the submarine served on an equal basis with other nuclear-powered ships. After the decommissioning of the K-3, the submarine is planned to be converted into a museum ship; the corresponding project has already been developed at the Malakhit Design Bureau, but for some unknown reason the ship remains inactive, gradually becoming unusable.

THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE FIRST SOVIET ATOMIC SUB

V.N. Peregudov

In 1948, the future academician and three times hero of labor, Anatoly Petrovich Aleksandrov, organized a group tasked with developing nuclear power for submarines. Beria closed the work so as not to be distracted from the main task of the bomb.

In 1952, Kurchatov instructed Aleksandrov, as his deputy, to develop a nuclear reactor for ships. 15 options were developed.

Engineer-Captain 1st Rank Vladimir Nikolaevich Peregudov was appointed chief designer of the first Soviet nuclear submarines.

For a long time, the issue of reliability of steam generators (Design Bureau of Henrikh Hasanov) was on the agenda. They were designed with some overheating and gave an advantage in efficiency over the American ones, and, consequently, a gain in power. But the survivability of the first steam generators was extremely low. The steam generator was allowed to leak after 800 hours of operation. Scientists were required to switch to the American scheme, but they defended their principles, including from the then commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Chabanenko.

Military, D.F. Ustinov and all doubters were convinced by carrying out the necessary modifications (replacing the metal). Steam generators began to operate for tens of thousands of hours.

The development of reactors went in two directions: water-moderated and liquid-metal. An experimental boat with a liquid metal carrier was built, showed good characteristics, but low reliability. The submarine of the type "Leninsky Komsomol" (K-8) was the first among the dead Soviet nuclear submarines. On April 12, 1970, she sank in the Bay of Biscay in a cable fire. In the course of the disaster, 52 people were lost.

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Since the first nuclear submarine, the American Nautilus, 98.75 m long, launched in 1954, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge. And to date, the creators of submarines, as well as aircraft manufacturers, have already 4 generations of submarines.

Their improvement went from generation to generation. The first generation (late 40s - early 60s of the XX century) - the childhood of nuclear-powered ships; at this time, there was a formation of ideas about the appearance, an elucidation of their capabilities. The second generation (60s - mid 70s) was marked by the massive construction of Soviet and American nuclear submarines (nuclear submarines), the deployment of the Cold War submarine front throughout the World Ocean. The third generation (until the early 90s) is a silent war for dominance in the ocean. Now, at the beginning of the XXI century, atomic submarines of the fourth generation are in absentia rivalry among themselves.

Write about all types of nuclear submarines - you get a separate solid volume. Therefore, here we list only some of the record achievements of some submarines.

Already in the spring of 1946, employees of the research laboratory of the US Navy Gann and Abelson proposed to equip the captured German submarine XXVI series with an NPU with a reactor cooled by a potassium-sodium alloy.

In 1949, the United States began construction of a ground-based prototype for a ship-based reactor. And in September 1954, as already mentioned, the world's first nuclear submarine SSN-571 ("Nautilus", project EB-251A), equipped with an experimental installation of the S-2W type, was commissioned.

The first nuclear submarine "Nautilus"

In January 1959, the first Soviet nuclear submarine, Project 627, was commissioned by the Soviet Navy.

The submariners of the opposing fleets tried their best to wipe each other's nose. At first, the advantage was on the side of potential opponents of the USSR.

So, on August 3, 1958, the same "Nautilus" under the command of William Anderson reached the North Pole under the ice, thereby fulfilling the dream of Jules Verne. True, in his novel, he made Captain Nemo surface at the South Pole, but we now know that this is impossible - submarines do not float under the continents.

In 1955-1959, the first series of Skate-type nuclear-powered torpedo submarines was built in the USA (project EB-253A). Initially, it was planned to equip them with compact helium-cooled fast reactors. However, the “father” of the American nuclear fleet, H. Rikover, put reliability above all else, and the Skates received pressurized water reactors.

A prominent role in solving the problems of controllability and propulsion of nuclear-powered ships was played by the high-speed experimental submarine "Albacor" built in the USA in 1953, which had a "cetacean" hull shape close to optimal for underwater navigation. On it, however, there was a diesel-electric power plant, but it also made it possible to test new propellers, controls at high speeds and other experimental developments. By the way, it was this boat, which accelerated under water to 33 knots, that for a long time also held the speed record.

The solutions worked out on the Albacore were then used to create a series of high-speed torpedo nuclear submarines of the US Navy of the Skipjack type (project EB-269A), and then nuclear submarines - carriers of ballistic missiles “George Washington” (project EB-278A ).

"George Washington" could, in case of urgent need, launch all rockets with solid-fuel engines within 15 minutes. At the same time, unlike liquid-propellant rockets, this did not require pre-filling the annular gap of the mines with seawater.

A special place among the first American nuclear submarines is occupied by the anti-submarine "Tallibi" (project EB-270A), commissioned in 1960. A full electric propulsion scheme was implemented on the submarine, for the first time a sonar complex with a spherical bow antenna of increased size and a new layout of torpedo tubes were used for a nuclear submarine: closer to the middle of the sub's hull length and at an angle to the direction of its movement. The new equipment also made it possible to effectively use such a novelty as the SUBROK rocket torpedo, launched from under the water and delivering a nuclear depth charge or anti-submarine torpedo to a range of 55-60 km.

American submarine Albacore

"Tallibi" remained the only one of its kind, but many of the applied and tested technical means and solutions were used on serial nuclear submarines of the "Thresher" type (project 188).

Appeared in the 60s and a special-purpose nuclear submarine. To solve reconnaissance tasks, the Khalibat was re-equipped, at the same time the nuclear submarine of the Triton radar patrol (EB-260A project) was built in the USA. By the way, the latter is also notable for the fact that of all the American nuclear submarines it was the only one that had two reactors.

The first generation of Soviet multipurpose nuclear submarines of projects 627, 627A, having good speed qualities, were significantly inferior in stealth to American nuclear submarines of that period, since their propellers "made noise throughout the ocean." And our designers had to work hard to eliminate this shortcoming.

The second generation of Soviet strategic forces is usually counted from the commissioning of strategic missile submarine cruisers (project 667A).

In the 70s, the United States carried out a program to re-equip Lafayette-class nuclear submarines with the new Poseidon S-3 missile system, the main feature of which was the appearance of multiple warheads on ballistic missiles of the submarine fleet.

Soviet specialists responded with the creation of the D-9 naval intercontinental ballistic missile system, which was supplied to the Project 667B (Murena) and 667BD (Murena-M) submarines. Since 1976, the first submarine missile carriers of the 667BDR project have also appeared in the USSR Navy, which also had naval missiles with multiple warheads in service.

Murena-M missile carrier

In addition, we have created "fighter boats" of projects 705, 705K. In the early 80s, one of these boats set a kind of record: for 22 hours it chased a potential enemy's submarine, and all attempts by the commander of that boat to throw the pursuer off the tail were unsuccessful. The pursuit was stopped only by order from the shore.

But the main thing in the confrontation between the shipbuilders of the two superpowers was the "battle for decibels". By deploying stationary underwater surveillance systems, as well as using efficient sonar stations with flexible, extended towed antennas on submarines, the Americans detected our submarines long before they reached their starting position.

This continued until we created third-generation submarines with low-noise propellers. At the same time, both countries began to create strategic systems of a new generation - Trident (USA) and Typhoon (USSR), which ended with the commissioning in 1981 of the lead missile carriers of the Ohio and Shark types, about which talk in more detail, since they claim to be the largest submarines.

2. Russian roots of the creator of Nautilus

The "father of the nuclear fleet" Hayman Rikover was born in 1900 in the town of Makuv Mazowiecki, which was part of the Russian Empire before the October Revolution. The surname Rikover comes from the name of the village of Ryki, located near Warsaw. In the United States, the creator of the world's first nuclear submarine ended up at the age of six, his family was forced to emigrate.

3. Huge mass

Due to the too high specific gravity of the atomic installation on the submarine, it was not possible to locate part of the weapons and equipment envisaged by the project. The main reason for the weighting was biological shielding, which includes lead, steel and other materials - about 740 tons in total. As a result, all Nautilus armament consisted of six bow torpedo tubes with an ammunition load of 24 torpedoes, despite the fact that the design of the submarine was supposed to be a larger number.

4. Too much noise

One of the main shortcomings of the submarine was a terrible noise. The cause of its occurrence was strong fluctuations of an unknown nature. The waves generated by Nautilus caused the submarine's structures to vibrate with a frequency of about 180 Hertz, which was dangerously close to the vibration values of the boat's hull. If these vibrations coincided, the submarine could collapse. During the tests, it was found that noise, which was created already at a speed of eight knots, and vibration were an obstacle to the normal launch and control of torpedoes. At a speed of 15-17 knots, the submarine's crew was forced to communicate by shouting. The high noise level rendered sonar useless already at four knots.

5. Reached the North Pole

On August 3, 1958, Nautilus became the first ship to reach the North Pole on its own. To conquer this geographical point, special equipment was installed on the submarine, which made it possible to determine the state of the ice, and a new compass, which operated in high latitudes. Before the campaign, William Anderson, who was in charge of the operation, obtained the latest maps and directions with the depths of the Arctic and even made an air flight, repeating the route planned for Nautilus.

On July 22, 1958, the submarine left Pearl Harbor with the aim of reaching the North Pole. On the night of July 27, the ship arrived in the Bering Sea, and two days later it was already on the outskirts of the Arctic Ocean in the Chukchi Sea. On August 1, the submarine sank under the Arctic pack ice and two days later Nautilus reached its goal - the North Geographic Pole of the Earth.