Herewith curiosities and novelties of Soviet era submarine design.
Thanks in all cases to the H.I. Sutton Internet web site "Covert Shores".
1. "Stalin's Super Sub - Project P-2"
"A monstrously large submarine by any standards, the 5,360 ton P-2 design was to be equipped with both Ballistic Missiles and Cruise Missiles, as well as its own midget submarines."
Fire missiles, cruise and ballistic both, torpedoes fore and aft, launch midget submarines, had deck guns [one dual 57 mm mount and one dual 25 mm mount] and probably could deploy sea mines!
2. "Project 673 submarine Soviet sailless super-sub"
"Sail - - In naval parlance, the sail (American usage) or fin (European/Commonwealth usage) of a submarine is the tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines"
"The Project 673 submarine was designed as an interceptor boat, to be kept in port and sent out in the event of an intruding NATO submarine. It was therefore designed for speed."
"Many design concepts from the Project 673 were put into practice in the Project 705K ALFA Class which entered service in the 1970s."
DESIGN CONCEPTS INCLUDED IN THE ALFA CLASS SUB TO INCLUDE TITANIUM HULL, AUTOMATION, HIGH-SPEED NUCLEAR REACTOR!
3. "Piranha Special Forces submarine"
"The p.865 'Piranha' midget submarine was a dedicated Spetsnaz special operations craft capable of delivering 6 frogmen to a target over 400 miles from its base."
MANY IMAGES OF PIRANHA I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. ONLY SEVERAL PIRANHA WERE EVER BUILT, TITANIUM HULLED AND USED STRICTLY FOR NAVAL COMMANDO OPERATIONS. RANGE HOWEVER LIMITED UNLESS CARRIED OR TOWED TO TARGET BY ANOTHER VESSEL IF POSSIBLE.
coolbert.