Charlie-class submarine

Class overview
Builders:	Gorky
Operators:	Soviet Navy  Indian Navy
Preceded by:	Echo class submarine
Succeeded by:	Papa class submarine
General characteristics
Displacement:	Charlie I class: Surfaced:4000tons Submerged:4900tons Charlie II class: Surfaced: 4300tons Submerged:5100tons
Length:	Charlie I class: 95m (311ft) Charlie II class: 103m (340ft)
Beam:	Charlie I+II class:10m (32ft 10in)
Draught:	Charlie I+II class: 8m (26ft 3in)
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.^{[citation needed]} 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 8m (26 ft 3in) 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. India's Arihant class submarine is believed to resemble a Charlie II boat.^[3]

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.

References

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.