Foxtrot class submarine
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Career | |
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General Characteristics | |
Displacement: | 1952 tons surfaced, 2475 tons submerged |
Length: | 89.9 meters (299 feet 6 inches) |
Beam: | 7.4 meters (24 feet 7 inches) |
Draft: | 5.9 meters (19 feet 6 inches) |
Powerplant: | three Kolomna 2D42M 2000 hp diesel engines, three electric motors; two 1350 hp and one 2700 hp, one 180 hp auxiliary motor |
Propulsion: | three propeller shafts, each with six bladed propellers |
Speed: | 16 knots surfaced, 15 knots submerged, 9 knots snorkeling |
Range: | 20,000 miles surfaced at 8 knots, 11,000 miles snorkeling, 380 miles submerged at 2 knots |
Endurance: | three to five days submerged |
Depth: | 246-296 meters (820-985 feet) |
Complement: | 12 officers, 10 midshipmen, 56 seamen |
Armament: | 6 bow torpedo tubes and 4 stern torpedo tubes; up to 22 torpedoes |
The Foxtrot class was the NATO reporting name of a class of diesel-electric patrol submarines that were built in the Soviet Union. The Soviet designation of this class was Project 641.
The Foxtrot class was designed to replace the earlier Zulu class, which suffered from structural weaknesses and harmonic vibration problems that limited its operational depth and submerged speed. The first Foxtrot was laid down in 1957 and commissioned in 1958 and the last was completed in 1983. A total of 60 were built. Most saw service in the Soviet Navy. Foxtrots were also built for the Indian (8 units, from 1967 to 1974), Libyan (6 units, from 1978 to 1980), and Cuban (3 units, from 1978 to 1983) navies[1]. Some Soviet Foxtrots later saw service in the Polish, North Korean and Ukrainian navies.
The Foxtrot class was comparable in performance and armament to most contemporary designs. However, its three screws made it noisier than most Western designs. Moreover, the Foxtrot class was one of the last designs introduced before the adoption of the teardrop hull, which offered much better underwater performance. The Foxtrot class was completely obsolete by the time the last submarine was launched. The Russian Navy retired its last Foxtrots between 1995 and 2000[2], although some may still be in service with other nations.
Several Foxtrots are on display as museums around the world, including:
- B-39 at the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego, California
- B-427 at the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.
- Indian Foxtrot submarine at the Rama Krishna Beach, Visakhapatnam.
[edit] References
- Miller, David (2002). The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 1-84065-375-2.
[edit] External links
- http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/641.htm
- http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/index.html
[edit] Gallery
submarine museum, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, at Visakhapatnam. |
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Foxtrot-class submarine |
Project 641 |
Project 641I, for export to India |
Project 641I, for export to Libya |
Project 641K, for export to Cuba |
List of Soviet and Russian submarines List of Soviet and Russian submarine classes |