The largest submarine in the history of mankind was created by Soviet designers from the Rubin Design Bureau from 1972 to 1980. By 1976, design work was completed, and the boat was laid on Sevmash. However, it was more likely a heavy cruiser than a boat. A silhouette of a shark was painted on the nose of the submarine, and later it appeared on the sleeve of the sailors who served on this ship.
The illustration shows the silhouettes of nuclear submarines, first American: Sea Wolf, Virginia, Ohio, Kilo, then our projects 209 and 212. At the bottom is the silhouette of the Shark. Its length is 173 meters, displacement underwater 48 thousand tons.
“Shark” in official documents was called modestly - nuclear submarine - project 941. These boats were called “Typhoon” by L.I. Brezhnev during the XXVI Congress of the CPSU in 1981, he did not want to give the real name of the new submarine created in response to the launch by the Americans of the Ohio program with Trident missiles on board.
The largest submarine owes its size to the missiles that they were going to equip it with. P-39s were three-stage, their warhead was divided into ten independently guided warheads of one hundred kilotons. In addition, there were twenty of them.
The design of the submarine was unique. If a conventional submarine has one strong and one outer light hull, located in each other in the likeness of a nesting doll, then in this project there were two main and three additional ones. Missile mines were located in front of the wheelhouse, which also represented a novelty in underwater shipbuilding. The torpedo compartment was enclosed in a separate building, as was the central heating station, and the mechanical aft compartment.
But this largest submarine in the world was unique not only in its design scheme, but also in its driving and operational qualities. One of the points of the technical specification contained a requirement for the draft of the ship in the surface position, small enough so that it could pass in shallow water. To fulfill this condition, it was necessary to equip the submarines with very large tanks of the main ballast, which were filled with water when immersed. This design feature allowed the Shark to float even at the North Pole, breaking through more than two meters of ice below.
The material for making durable cases is titanium; the lungs were made of steel. Special rubber coating improved driving performance and reduced noise, making it difficult for a potential enemy to detect a submarine cruiser with anti-submarine defense forces. Permissible immersion depth was 500 meters.
The largest submarine in the world had an appropriate power plant - almost two and a half million horses, and this is even hard to imagine, but allowed to keep the course under water at 25 knots. There were additional engines for performing complex maneuvers and emergency backups.
Combat posts were alternately held by 160 sailors of midshipmen and officers. Living conditions on board were comfortable, the crew could fully relax in the pool and play sports in the gym.
The largest submarine could make semi-annual autonomous trips.
After the end of the Cold War, Russia's military doctrine changed. The Shark submarine, as a tool for delivering a preventive strike, was unnecessary. In total, six were built, one in the ranks, two are in reserve.
Like many other examples of unique military equipment from the Cold War, the largest submarine did not take part in hostilities, which is good. She contributed to maintaining a balance of power, and perhaps this helped to maintain peace on our planet.
