Soviet submarine K-56 (1965)

Last updated
A starboard view of a Soviet Echo II class guided missile submarine underway on the surface. Submarine Echo II class.jpg
A starboard view of a Soviet Echo II class guided missile submarine underway on the surface.
History
Naval Ensign of the Soviet Union (1950-1991).svgSoviet Union
NameK-56
Builder Sevmash
Laid down30 May 1964
Launched10 August 1965
Commissioned26 August 1966
Decommissioned1992
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Class and type Echo-class submarine
Displacement
  • 5,000 long tons (5,080 t) surfaced
  • 6,000 long tons (6,096 t) submerged
Length115 m (377 ft 4 in)
Beam9 m (29 ft 6 in)
Draught7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Propulsion2 × pressurized water nuclear reactors, 30,000 shp (22,400 kW) turbines, two shafts
Speed
  • 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) surfaced
  • 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) submerged
Complementabout 90 officers and men
Armament

K-56 was a Project 675 (also known by the NATO reporting name of Echo II class) nuclear submarine of the Soviet Navy.

Contents

Her keel was laid down by the Sevmash shipyard. She was commissioned into the Soviet Pacific Fleet.

Collision incident

On 13 June 1973, K-56 had completed test launches of her SS-N-3 Shaddock missiles in the Sea of Japan and was returning to port accompanied by the Kresta I-class cruiser Vladivostok. She was carrying observers on board, including her Division Commander, Captain First Rank L.F. Suchkov, civilian technicians from Leningrad, and a team from her sister boat, K-23, that included her commanding officer, Captain Second Rank L. Homenko. These 36 guests were housed in the second compartment.

At approximately 01:00, the boat, running on the surface, rounded Cape Povorotny in Peter the Great Gulf. The navigation crew noted a surface contact on radar about 75 kilometres (40 nmi; 47 mi) ahead, moving toward them at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph). Since that was the only contact, and it would be about two hours before the submarine and the contact's combined speeds would bring them near each other, the captain felt no concern.

The boat's RLS "Albatross" radar set had been used at full power throughout the day for the missile launches and now needed maintenance, which required that it be placed in "hot standby." The captain gave permission for the radar to be secured, and relied on the lookouts to spot any hazards.

Two hours later, the radar was re-energized and four contacts were immediately detected. The operators became confused, attempting to plot courses for the contacts. Three minutes after the radar came on, lookouts spotted a ship's navigational lights. The bridge ordered evasive action, but two minutes later, the research ship Academician Berg, traveling at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph), struck K-56 on the starboard side, tearing a four-meter hole through the hull into the first and second compartments.

As the second compartment rapidly flooded, the officers within shut the watertight doors to prevent flooding the adjacent compartments. When the seawater flooded the battery well, many of the officers and civilians in the second compartment were killed by chlorine gas.

The 22 sailors in the first compartment were able to fight the flooding and retain a pocket of air until K-56's captain ran his boat aground on a sandbar.

The next day, salvage ships lifted K-56 from the sand bar onto pontoons, and towed her to dock.

The investigating board ruled that the collision of Academician Berg with K-56 was a "navigation incident with serious consequences."

A civilian expert from Leningrad, 16 officers, five warrant officers, and five sailors were killed.

Related Research Articles

Soviet submarine <i>K-19</i> Ballistic missile submarine

K-19 was the first submarine of the Project 658 class, the first generation of Soviet nuclear submarines equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles, specifically the R-13 SLBM. The boat was hastily built by the Soviets in response to United States' developments in nuclear submarines as part of the arms race. Before she was launched, 10 civilian workers and a sailor died due to accidents and fires. After K-19 was commissioned, the boat had multiple breakdowns and accidents, several of which threatened to sink the submarine.

Juliett-class submarine Soviet diesel-electric cruise missile submarine

Project 651, known in the West by its NATO reporting name Juliett class, was a class of Soviet diesel-electric submarines armed with cruise missiles. They were designed in the late 1950s to provide the Soviet Navy with a nuclear strike capability against targets along the east coast of the United States and enemy combatants. The head of the design team was Abram Samuilovich Kassatsier. They carried four nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a range of approximately 300 nautical miles (560 km), which could be launched while the submarine was surfaced and moving less than four knots (7.4 km/h). Once surfaced, the first missile could be launched in about five minutes; subsequent missiles would follow within about ten seconds each. Initially, the missiles were the inertially-guided P-5. When submarine-launched ballistic missiles rendered the P-5s obsolescent, they were replaced with the P-6 designed to attack aircraft carriers. A special 10 m2 target guidance radar was built into the forward edge of the sail structure, which opened by rotating. One boat was eventually fitted with the Kasatka satellite downlink for targeting information to support P-500 4K-80 "Bazalt" anti-ship cruise missiles. The Juliett class had a low magnetic signature austenitic steel double hull, covered by two inches (51 mm) thick black tiles made of sound-absorbing hard rubber.

Soviet submarine <i>K-222</i> Nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine

K-222 was the sole Project 661 "Anchar" nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. Although the Soviets saw K-222 as an unsuccessful design, upon completion it was the world's fastest submarine and the first to be built with a titanium hull.

Yankee-class submarine Soviet ballistic missile submarine class

The Yankee class, Soviet designations Project 667A Navaga (navaga) and Project 667AU Nalim (burbot) for the basic Yankee-I, were a family of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. In total, 34 units were built: 24 in Severodvinsk for the Northern Fleet and the remaining 10 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur for the Pacific Fleet. Two Northern Fleet units were later transferred to the Pacific.

Alfa-class submarine Nuclear-powered attack submarine class

The Alfa class, Soviet designation Project 705 Lira, was a class of nuclear-powered attack submarines in service with the Soviet Navy from 1971 into the early 1990s, with one serving later with the Russian Navy until 1996. They were among the fastest military submarines ever built, with only the prototype submarine K-222 exceeding them in submerged speed.

Japanese aircraft carrier <i>Shinano</i> Aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Shinano was an aircraft carrier built by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II, the largest such built up to that time. Laid down in May 1940 as the third of the Yamato-class battleships, Shinano's partially complete hull was ordered to be converted to an aircraft carrier following Japan's disastrous loss of four of its original six fleet carriers at the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. The advanced state of her construction prevented her conversion into a fleet carrier, so the IJN decided to convert her into a carrier that supported other carriers.

K-131 was a Project 675 of the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet, she was also redesignated K-192.

Soviet submarine <i>K-3 Leninsky Komsomol</i> First soviet nuclear submarine

К-3 was a project 627 "Кит" submarine of the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet, the first nuclear submarine of the Soviet Union. The vessel was prototyped in wood, with each of five segments scattered between five different locations about Leningrad, including the Astoria Hotel. She was built in Molotovsk, launched on 9 August 1957, commissioned in July 1958, and homeported at Zapadnaya Litsa on the Kola Peninsula. K-3 was designed by Vladimir Peregoudov. Her initial captain was Leonid Osipenko, and the executive officer was Lev Zhiltsov, who had the important task of assembling the first crew.

Echo-class submarine Soviet cruise missile submarine class

The Echo class were nuclear cruise missile submarines of the Soviet Navy built during the 1960s. Their Soviet designation was Project 659 for the first five vessels, and Project 675 for the following twenty-nine. Their NATO reporting names were Echo I and Echo II. All were decommissioned by 1994.

USS <i>Blower</i> Submarine of the United States

USS Blower (SS-325), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1950. She was named after the blower, a type of pufferfish of the United States East Coast and West Indies. During World War II, She completed three war patrols, all in the Indian Ocean, Java Sea, and South China Sea.

Soviet submarine <i>S-178</i> Submarine used by the Soviet Navy

С-178 (S-178) was a Project 613B diesel submarine of the Soviet Navy. On October 21, 1981, in the Sea of Japan, the submarine under the command of Valery Marango was hit by a cargo ship. The collision killed 32 sailors.

Italian submarine <i>Iride</i> Submarine of the Royal Italian Navy

Italian submarine Iride was a Perla-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s. Originally, she was named Iris until July 1936, but was renamed shortly before her launch.

K-64 was the lead ship of the Project 705 nuclear-powered attack submarines of the Soviet Navy.

The S-99 experimental submarine was the only ship of the Project 617 class that the Soviet Union built during the early Cold War. She was the only Soviet submarine which used a German Walter turbine fueled by high-test peroxide (HTP). Entering service in 1956, the boat was assigned to a training unit of the Baltic Fleet. S-99 was badly damaged by a HTP explosion in 1959 and was not repaired. The submarine was decommissioned in 1964 and subsequently scrapped.

Soviet cruiser <i>Kronstadt</i> Soviet Navys Kresta II-class cruiser

Kronstadt was a Project 1134A Kresta II-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy, named for the Kronstadt naval base. The first ship of her class, the ship served during the Cold War, from 1969 to 1991. She served with the Northern Fleet, with her shakedown cruise being through the Mediterranean Sea. After colliding with a destroyer in 1975, she spent five years being repaired and modernized. She was decommissioned in 1991 before being sold for scrap two years later due to reduced naval funding and deteriorating conditions.

Soviet frigate <i>Retivyy</i>

Retivyy was a Project 1135 Burevestnik-class Guard Ship or Krivak-class frigate. With an armament based around the URPK-4 Metel anti-submarine missile system, the vessel served with the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet and Russian Navies. The ship was launched on 14 August 1976 by A.A. Zhdanov in Leningrad, the second of the class built by the shipyard. After joining the fleet, the vessel took part in the search for the crew of the crashed Lockheed P-3 Orion AF 586. In 1981, the vessel sailed as part of a task force along the west coast of the United States to test and measure American defences. Decommissioned on 4 August 1995, the vessel was subsequently sold to a South Korean company to be broken up.

Admiral Nakhimov was a Project 1134A Kresta II-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy, named for Russian naval commander Pavel Nakhimov. The third ship of her class, the ship served during the Cold War, from 1971 to 1991. She served with the Northern Fleet for the duration of her career, often operating in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in order to show the flag. She was decommissioned in 1991 before being sold for scrap due to reduced naval funding in 1993.

Soviet cruiser <i>Marshal Voroshilov</i> Soviet Kresta II-class cruiser

Marshal Voroshilov was a Project 1134A Berkut A class cruiser of the Soviet Navy, which briefly became part of the Russian Navy after being renamed Khabarovsk in 1991. The fifth ship of her class, the ship served mostly during the Cold War, from 1973 to 1992.

Soviet destroyer <i>Minsk</i> Destroyer of the Soviet Navy

Minsk was one of six Leningrad-class destroyer leaders built for the Soviet Navy during the 1930s, one of the three Project 38 variants. Completed in 1939, the ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and played a minor role in the Winter War against Finland in 1939–1940. After the start of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Minsk covered minelaying operations and provided naval gunfire support to Soviet units. She escorted ships during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn, Estonia, in late August. The ship was sunk by German dive bombers on 23 September, although her wreck was salvaged in 1942 and repaired. Minsk was recommissioned in 1943 but the repairs were not completed until the following year. The ship was reclassified as a training ship in 1951, then became a target ship in 1958 and was sunk that year.

Slavny was one of 18 Storozhevoy-class destroyers built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Although she began construction as a Project 7 Gnevny-class destroyer, Slavny was completed in 1941 to the modified Project 7U design.

References

    Bibliography