Project 945 "Barracuda" submarines were a series of Soviet third-generation multipurpose nuclear-powered submarines, designed by the Gorky design bureau Lazurit and built at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) between 1976 and 1986. In NATO classification the submarines are designated Sierra. The distinctive feature of the series is a titanium pressure hull, which provided great diving depth and a low magnetic signature. All of the ships built entered service with the Northern Fleet.
History of development
In the early 1970s, the Soviet naval command faced the prospect of the United States acquiring nuclear submarines of the Ohio class (24 ballistic missiles, 14 warheads each) and the Los Angeles class, a new, third generation of multipurpose hunter-killers. In response, in 1973 a concept was put forward for a comprehensive underwater situation awareness system (KSOPO) called "Neptune," whose central element was to be a new generation of multipurpose nuclear submarines. The technical specification for such a boat was formulated in March 1972: the primary targets were enemy submarines and the surface ships of carrier strike groups; a mandatory requirement was that the boats be buildable at plants in the "interior" of the country and then transported to the sea.
Development was entrusted to the Gorky Central Design Bureau TsKB-112 "Lazurit" (the current name was adopted in 1974), whose designers had been working on advanced multipurpose nuclear submarines since the early 1960s. The Krasnoye Sormovo plant, located in Gorky, fully satisfied the requirement of an interior location. The lead ship of the series was laid down on May 8, 1982, and was accepted into the Soviet Navy as early as 1984.
Design and specifications
The fundamental feature of Project 945 is its pressure hull made of titanium alloy. This solution made it possible to increase the maximum diving depth, reduce displacement, and substantially lower the submarine's magnetic field, one of the main factors that give away a submarine's position. The flip side was high cost: for this very reason the subsequent multipurpose nuclear submarines of Project 971 were built of low-magnetic steel. The strength of the titanium hulls was vividly demonstrated in 1992, when the nuclear submarine Kostroma collided in the Barents Sea with an American submarine of the Los Angeles class: the Russian ship sustained only minor damage to its sail, whereas the American boat had to be written off.
The armament of Project 945 includes four 533 mm torpedo tubes and two 650 mm tubes. The series was developed further into the Project 945A "Condor" submarines (NATO designation Sierra-II), in which all six torpedo tubes were standardized to 533 mm caliber, strategic S-10 "Granat" cruise missiles with a range of up to 3,000 km were added, and the maximum diving depth was increased to 600 m. The "Condors" also received Igla-1 / Igla surface-to-air missile systems (8 launchers). Both projects were considered the quietest ships in the Soviet fleet in terms of noise and magnetic signature.
Ships built
Two ships were built under Project 945 "Barracuda": K-239 Karp (the lead ship) and K-276 Kostroma. Two more were built under Project 945A "Condor" between 1986 and 1993: K-534 Nizhny Novgorod (laid down on February 15, 1986, launched on July 8, 1989, commissioned on December 26, 1990) and B-336 Pskov (laid down on July 29, 1989, launched on July 28, 1992, commissioned on December 14, 1993). Project 945B "Mars," whose characteristics approached those of fourth-generation submarines, was canceled: the only ship laid down was cut up on the slipway in 1993. All four active submarines belong to the 7th Submarine Division of the Northern Fleet, based at Vidyayevo (Ura Bay).
The Nizhny Novgorod connection: Lazurit and Krasnoye Sormovo
The entire cycle, from design to construction, was concentrated in Gorky. The design bureau Lazurit (TsKB-112) developed both the basic Project 945 and its 945A modification; N. I. Kvasha served as chief designer of Project 945A. The ships were built at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant. The finished submarines were transported from Nizhny Novgorod to the sea; the possibility of such transportation was in fact one of the original requirements of the 1972 technical specification.
Current status and modernization
In 1998 Karp, the first ship of the series, was withdrawn from the fleet; since 1994 it had been awaiting repair at the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk. In January 2013, at a meeting with the Navy Commander-in-Chief Viktor Chirkov, a decision was made to restore the "Barracudas": a contract for a mid-life overhaul with modernization was concluded with Zvyozdochka. The program provides for replacing the nuclear fuel and all of the electronics and, if necessary, repairing the reactors; it is planned to install new sonar systems, combat information and control systems, a GLONASS/GPS navigation suite, and a weapons system with Kalibr missiles. Independent military expert Dmitry Boltenkov described titanium-hulled nuclear submarines as a "national treasure," noting that thanks to the properties of titanium such ships are capable of serving for up to 100 years. In December 2015, Pskov returned to service with the Northern Fleet after restoration work. Both Project 945A ships are planned to be modernized at Zvyozdochka under Project 945M.