November class

November class is the NATO classification of the Soviet Union's first type of nuclear-powered submarine in April 1958. In the Soviet Union, they were known as Project 627 in Russian проект 627 "Кит" (Whale).

History of Design

On September 12, 1952, the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers I. Stalin signed a decree "On the design and construction of object 627". Thus begins the works for the creation of a nuclear-powered submarine, which was supposed to be a response to the construction by the US nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.

Between 1952 and 1958 more than 135 Soviet organizations (20 design bureaus, 35 research institutes, 80 workshops) worked on the design and construction of this completely new type of submarine. The chief designer was V.N. Peregudov and development supervisor academician A.P. Alexandrov.

The USSR Navy was not involved in the development of project 627 submarines. The First Main Directorate of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union acted as a customer, which considered this project as a means of transporting nuclear weapons to the coasts of the United States. Thus the original design contemplated its use to destroy an adversary naval base by means of a single T-15 torpedo. This torpedo had a diameter of 1,550 mm, a length of 23,500 mm, a range of 40 to 50 km, and a 100-megaton thermonuclear warhead. For her defense she carried two 553 mm torpedo tubes that could only be reloaded in port. But after listening to the naval specialists, their mission was changed to a more traditional attack on ships and freighters across the ocean. For this new mission, eight 553 mm torpedo tubes were installed instead of what was previously planned. These submarines were capable of firing torpedoes from 100m deep.

Construction

The first project 627 submarine entered service in 1957. A series of 12 project 627A boats were built in parallel. Significant improvements were introduced during the construction process, especially in the sense of increasing the reliability of the main plant.

Layout

Unlike the Nautilus, which had the traditional shape of submarines at that time, project 627 was conceived with a shape optimized for submerged navigation. The prow had a rounded arc of ellipse shape. For most of the length the hull was cylindrical in shape with a shallow hydrodynamic sail quite near the bow and a pronounced stern. Two propellers placed in the horizontal plane. This difference is due to the fact that the US tested nuclear propulsion in a conventional submarine at the same time that it tested one form in a diesel submarine, the USS Albacore.

They were double-hulled submarines and had nine compartments. Fore and aft.

1. torpedo room
2. Accommodation and batteries
3. Command bridge
4. Diesel auxiliary engines and generators
5. Reactor room
6. Turbine room
7. Electromechanics
8. Accommodation
9. Stern Section

Three of the compartments equipped with bulkheads capable of withstanding a pressure of 10 atm. could be used as shelter.

Morphology

Measures were taken to reduce noise: The hull was given a hydrodynamic shape, the number of scuppers in the hull was limited, and it was covered with acoustic insulation. The vibrations of the machinery were isolated, and the propellers were specially designed. But despite this they were noisier than US diesel submarines and nuclear submarines. The reason is due to nuclear reactors; the Soviet ones were more compact and powerful, but their vibrations were more pronounced. However despite its noise and the fact that the hydroacoustic equipment was not intended for underwater hunting, and possessed limited capability, not even the then new low-noise American Thresher-class attack submarines could provide continuous tracking of this first generation of Soviet nuclear-powered submarines.

Power plant

In order to improve reliability, all the main machinery was duplicated. It had two propellers and two VM-A model water-cooled nuclear reactors. But the reliability of this power plant was relatively poor due to the short service life of the steam generators. After several hundred hours of operation, the steam generators developed fissures, so part of the refrigerant from the main circuit passed to the secondary, which caused an increase in the level of radioactivity in this circuit. Problems with the machinery were the main reason why the Project 627/627A submarines were not used during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962. The reliability of the steam generators improved in the course of the construction of new submarines of the same series, as well as the handling of technical problems and training of the crews, for which they began to carry out frequent cruises under the Arctic ice and patrol missions to locate nuclear ships in the Atlantic Ocean in the decade 1960s. Despite common opinion about the dangers of radiation in early November, background radiation levels in compartments used to be normal due to relatively effective radiation shielding. of iron and water from the reactor compartment and radiation monitoring.

The increase in speed submerged made it necessary to use automatic control systems: to stabilize the heading the «Курс» system, ("Kurs"), and to stabilize the depth: the «Стрела» system », ("Strela").

Livability

A major problem was the regular working conditions during a long stay underwater without contact with the atmosphere and the proximity of operating nuclear reactors. To solve it, a complex air conditioning and ventilation system was used. But the system for absorbing carbon dioxide and recycling oxygen turned out to be flammable. This became a source of frequent problems and several disastrous fires, notably the K-8 being lost to gusts of regeneration air fire.

Variants

The first submarine of the class (project 627), K-3 "Leninskiy Komsomol" first activated nuclear power on July 4, 1958, and also became the first Soviet submarine to reach the North Pole in July 1962, four years after the USS Nautilus. The first commander of the K-3 was Captain 1st Rank L.G. Osipenko (future admiral and Hero of the Soviet Union).

fig 21. Project 627

After the K-3, modifications were made to the design - project 627A of which 12 submarines were built. These variations were also applied to the K-3. The main visual differences from Project 627A were a forward sonar dome on the keel and a hydrophone antenna on the torpedo tubes. Between 1956 and 1957 work was carried out on the design of the project P627A armed with the P-20 nuclear cruise missile system, but it was not cancelled, and the equipment and mechanisms were used to build a normal project 627A attack submarine, the K-50 submarine).

fig 2. Project 627A

Another modification of the original project was made, project 645. It only affected a ship, the submarine K-27, launched on April 1, 1962. It was built to use a pair of reactors cooled by liquid metal, model VT- 1. There were some additional differences between the 627 and 627A projects: they were three meters longer, the cone-shaped bow of the hull, new antimagnetic steel alloys, the somewhat different configuration of the compartments, a quick-loading mechanism for each torpedo tube (for first time in the world). A reactor cooled by liquid metal has a better efficiency than a reactor cooled by water. The technical maintenance of reactors at the naval base is much more complicated. An auxiliary system is needed to keep the coolant at a certain temperature, even though the reactor is off because otherwise it runs the danger of freezing, solidifying.

fig 3. Project 645

In addition, the project 627 design was the basis for later nuclear submarines armed with Hotel class ballistic projectiles.

Service history

The submarine K-159 already discharged (rebaptized as B-159 in 1989) in Gremikha Bay of the Sea of Barents, August 28, 2003, ready to to tow the shipyard for its dismantling. He would sink during that trip.

The November class served in the Soviet Navy in the Northern Fleet (in the 3rd submarine division, later in the 17th submarine division). Four of them K-14, K-42, K-115 and K-133 were transferred to the Pacific Fleet in the 1960s. K-14, K-42 and K-115 made the crossing under the ice of the Arctic, while the K-133 transferred to the Far East via the southern route through the Drake Strait (covering 21,000 miles during 52 days of submerged operation). The surviving ships were retired between 1986 and 1990. Several of them have since been scrapped. All surviving helmets continue to be put-up at Russian naval bases (K-14, K-42, K-115 and K-133 of the Pacific Fleet, K-11 and K-21 of the Northern Fleet). There are plans to convert the first submarine of the class, the K-3, into a St. Petersburg museum ship similar in shape to USS Nautilus, but the hull of the submarine remains at Polyarny due to economic reasons. and the opposition of some environmental organizations.

Member units

The November class was made up of 14 (1 + 12 + 1) submarines: Project 627 (K-3 "Leninskiy Komsomol"), Project 627A (K-5, K-8, K-11, K-14, K-21, K-42 "Rostovskiy Komsomolets", -50 K, K-52, K-115, K-133, K-159, K-181), Project 645 (K -27). K is short for Kreyserskaya podvodnaya lodka (literally "submarine cruise").

Comparison

The main adversaries of project 627(A) were the US designs: "Nautilus" "Skate" "Skipdzhek". The "Nautilus" and "Skate" they were built before Project 627 (1955-1958 years) there were a number of advantages of the latter in speed, armament and immersion depth. Comparing it with the ships built at the same time, the class of "Skipdzhek", Project 627 are larger ships, they were still better armed, not inferior in speed, but noisier.