The Sputnik was an experimental hydrofoil river vessel of Project 329, the largest of its class at the time it was built: 300 passengers and four M-50 engines. Built in Gorky in a single unit in 1961 by the design bureau of Rostislav Alekseev. [1][2]
The largest hydrofoil of its time
After the success of the Raketa (hydrofoil) and the Meteor (hydrofoil), the bureau took on a vessel of a fundamentally different scale: the Sputnik held three hundred passengers — four times the Meteor's capacity — and was powered by four M-50 diesel engines. No hydrofoil of that size existed anywhere in the world at the time. [1]
Its size brought complications of its own: the vessel turned out heavy and costly to operate, and river routes where its passenger flow could make it pay off were not found right away. The Sputnik never went into series production. [1][2]
After service
Retired from service, the vessel stood for decades on the embankment in Tolyatti, gradually deteriorating, and became a local landmark — a monument to an era when hydrofoils seemed to be the future of river transport. [1]
Sources
- spkfleet.ru — The Sputnik vessel (archive)
- chkalovsk-zbs.narod.ru — R. E. Alekseev's ships