The Project 670 ''Skat'' submarine (

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

classification Charlie class) was a

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

cruise missile submarine A cruise missile submarine is a submarine that carries and launches cruise missiles (SLCMs and anti-ship missiles) as its primary armament. Missiles greatly enhance a vessel's ability to attack surface combatants and strike land targets, and alt ...

built for the Soviet Navy and later operated by the Russian Navy. All Charlie I/II-class submarines are decommissioned. One Charlie-class submarine was used for testing an Oniks missile.Проект 670
/ref> Charlie I and its successor Charlie II-class submarines are designed by the

Lazurit Central Design Bureau The Lazurit Central Design Bureau (russian: Центральное конструкторское бюро "Лазурит") is a company based in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. It is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. The Lazurit Central Desi ...

of Gorky.

Background

The Charlie I-class submarine (Project 670 ''Skat'')

SSGN A cruise missile submarine is a submarine that carries and launches cruise missiles (SLCMs and anti-ship missiles) as its primary armament. Missiles greatly enhance a vessel's ability to attack surface combatants and strike land targets, and alt ...

was first launched at the Krasnoye Sormovo inland shipyard at Gorkiy in 1967 with another ten 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 A submarine hull has two major components, the ''light hull'' and the ''pressure hull''. The light hull (''casing'' in British usage) of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure ...

. The tubes were covered by large outer doors and the design was to incorporate the

P-120 Malakhit The P-120 Malakhit (russian: П-120 «Малахит» 'Malachite'; NATO reporting name: SS-N-9 Siren, GRAU designation: 4K85) is a Russian medium range anti-ship missile used by corvettes and submarines. Introduced in 1972, it remains in service ...

(SS-N-9 Siren) medium-range anti-ship missile. Due to delays in the missile development, the missile was substituted with the shorter range

P-70 Ametist The P-70 ''Ametist'' (NATO reporting name SS-N-7 Starbright, GRAU designation 4K66; russian: П-70 «Аметист» ' Amethyst') was an anti-ship missile carried by Soviet and Indian Project 670 submarines, as well as the Soviet Project 661 An ...

(SS-N-7 Starbright) submerged launch missile which itself was a development of the

P-15 Termit The P-15 ''Termit'' (russian: П-15 "Термит"; en, termite) is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's MKB Raduga, Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was ''Styx'' or SS-N ...

(SS-N-2 Styx) surface-launched missile. The missiles were designed for pop up surprise attacks on high value surface targets such as

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s. 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 insert in the hull forward of the fin. The insert incorporated electronics and launch systems for targeting and firing of the longer range

anti-ship missile. The Charlie Is and IIs returned to port for reload once they had expended their missile payloads. However, the Charlie classs secondary armament of torpedoes and sonar systems provided useful anti-ship and

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

capabilities in addition to their missile launch capabilities. The last Charlie was retired in 1994. While still operational, one unit of the class was leased to the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

between 1988 and 1991, mainly for India to gain experience in the operations of a

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...

Boats

* 11 Project 670 (Charlie I) submarines were built between 1968 and 1973. ''K-43'' was leased to the

as ''Chakra'' from 1988 to 1992. sank near

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ( rus, Петропавловск-Камчатский, a=Петропавловск-Камчатский.ogg, p=pʲɪtrɐˈpavləfsk kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj) is a city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultur ...

in 1983 with 16 fatalities, but was raised and used as a harbour training hulk. On 13 September 1985, sank at her moorings. She was again raised and decommissioned. * 6 Project 670M (Charlie II) submarines were built between 1973 and 1980. All boats were scrapped between 1990 and 1994.

References

External links

Article in Russian from Encyclopedia of Ships

Article in Russian

{{Ship classes of the Indian Navy Submarine classes Russian and Soviet navy submarine classes Nuclear submarines of the Soviet Navy

Background

Boats

References

Further reading

External links