Charlie class submarine

Class overview
Builders:	Gorky
Operators:	Soviet Navy  Indian Navy
Preceded by:	Echo class submarine
Succeeded by:	Papa class submarine
General characteristics
Displacement:	Charlie I class: Surfaced:4000tons Submerged:4900tons Charlie II class: Surfaced: 4300tons Submerged:5100tons
Length:	Charlie I class: 95m (311ft) Charlie II class: 103m (340ft)
Beam:	Charlie I+II class:10m (32ft 10in)
Draught:	Charlie I+II class: 8m (26ft 3in)
Propulsion:	Charlie I+II class: one pressurized water-cooled reactor powering two steam turbines delivering 11,185kW (15,000shp) to one shaft.
Speed:	Surfaced: 20knots Submerged: 24knots
Range:	Unlimited except by food supplies
Complement:	Charlie I class: 100 Charlie II class: 98
Armament:	Charlie I+II class: Six 533 mm (21in) tubes all bow for a max load of 12 torpedoes. Usually a mix of 2 kT anti-ship nuclear torpedoes, 2 Tsakra (SS-N-15 Starfish) 15kT anti-submarine torpedoes, Charlie I's with 4 anti-ship/submarine HE torpedoes, Charlie II's with 8 anti-ship/submarine torpedoes or a total of 24 AMD-1000 ground mines.

The Charlie class submarine is a nuclear powered cruise missile submarine built for the Soviet Navy and later operated by the Russian Navy.

Background

The Charlie I class submarine (Project 670 Skat) SSGN was first launched at the Krasnoye Sormovo inland shipyard at Gorkiy in 1967 with another 10 following over a period of five years. The Charlie Is had two banks of four missile tubes angled upwards on each side of the bow outside the pressure hull. The tubes were covered by large outer doors and the design was to incorporate the P-120 Malakhit (SS-N-9 Siren) medium range anti ship missile. Due to delays in the missile development, the missile was substituted with the short range P-70 Ametist (SS-N-7 Starbright) submerged launch missile which itself was a development of the P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) surface launched missile.^{[citation needed]} The purpose of the missiles was to be used for pop up surprise attacks on high value surface targets such as aircraft carriers.

In 1972 to 1979, six improved units called the Project 670M SKAT-M (Charlie II class) were built. The improved Charlie IIs were built at Gorkiy with an 8m (26 ft 3in) insertion in the hull forward of the fin to incorporate electronics and launch systems for targeting and firing of the long range P-120 Malakhit anti-ship missile.

The Charlie Is and IIs had to return to port for reload once they had expended their payloads, although the secondary armament of torpedoes and sensor suite of sonar systems meant that they provided useful anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

The last Charlie was retired in 1994. While still operational, one unit of the class was leased to the Indian Navy between 1988 and 1991, mainly for India to gain experience in the operations of a nuclear submarine. India's Arihant class submarine is believed to resemble a Charlie II boat.^[1]

Ships

• 11 Project 670 (Charlie I) submarines were built between 1968 and 1973. K-43 was leased to the Indian Navy as the Chakra from 1988 to 1992. K-429 sank near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1983 with 16 fatalities, but was raised and used as a harbour training hulk.
• 6 Project 670M (Charlie II) submarines were built between 1973 and 1980.

All ships were scrapped between 1990 and 1994.

Charlie I class — significant dates

#	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fleet	Status
K-87 from January 15, 1978 K-212	Gorkiy	February 6, 1965	March 20, 1968	December 28, 1968[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-25	Gorkiy	December 2, 1965	July 31, 1968	December 30, 1968[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-325	Gorkiy	September 6, 1969	June 4, 1971	November 5, 1971[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-429	Gorkiy	January 26, 1971	April 22, 1972	September 15, 1972[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned for scrapping
K-43 leased to India as Chakra	Gorkiy	May 9, 1964	August 2, 1966	November 5, 1967[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned July 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-121	Gorkiy	November 25, 1966	April 29, 1969	October 31, 1969[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned June 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-313	Gorkiy	July 14, 1966	July 16, 1969	December 16, 1969[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-308	Gorkiy	December 29, 1967	February 19, 1970	September 20, 1970[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned July 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-320	Gorkiy	April 30, 1968	March 27, 1971	September 15, 1971[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
K-302	Gorkiy	January 17, 1969	July 11, 1970	December 1, 1970[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned June 30, 1992 for scrapping
K-201	Gorkiy	November 16, 1971	September 1972	December 26, 1972[2]	Pacific	Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping

Charlie II class — significant dates

#	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fleet	Status
K-458 .	Gorkiy	February 12, 1974	June 30, 1975	December 29, 1975[2]	Northern	Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
K-452	Gorkiy	December 30, 1972	June 1973	December 30, 1973[2]	Northern	Decommissioned May 30, 1998 for scrapping
K-479	Gorkiy	December 20, 1975	May 6, 1977	September 30, 1977[2]	Northern	Decommissioned July 5, 1992 for scrapping
K-503	Gorkiy	February 7, 1977	September 22, 1978	December 31, 1978[2]	Northern	Decommissioned June 30, 1993 for scrapping
K-508	Gorkiy	December 10, 1977	October 3, 1979	December 30, 1979[2]	Northern	Decommissioned August 4, 1995 for scrapping
K-209	Gorkiy	December 20, 1979	September 16, 1980	December 30, 1980[2]	Northern	Decommissioned 1996 for scrapping

References

1. ^ Von Kospoth, Nicolas (2009-07-28). "India's INS Arihant Makes First Contact with Water". Defense Professionals Daily. http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/364/. Retrieved 2009-09-10. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Podvodnye Lodki, Yu.V. Apalkov, Sankt Peterburg, 2002, ISBN 5-8172-0069-4

• Article in Russian from Encyclopedia of Ships
• Article in Russian
• Page in English from FAS
• The Encyclopedia Of Warships, From World War Two To The Present Day, General Editor Robert Jackson.