K-64 was a
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
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Mathematics
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*Nuclear ...
-powered
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
submarine, head ship of its
Alfa Class. The K-64 Designation was first given to the first Alfa Class Submarine.
Fate
In 1972, the submarine suffered a major reactor problem in the form of a leak of liquid metal
coolant
A coolant is a substance, typically liquid, that is used to reduce or regulate the temperature of a system. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, chemically inert and neither causes nor promotes corrosi ...
. The superheated metal solidified on contact with the colder outside air, freezing and damaging internal components of the reactor. The submarine was removed from service and towed to
Severodvinsk
Severodvinsk ( rus, Северодвинск, p=sʲɪvʲɪrɐdˈvʲinsk) is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina, west of Arkhangelsk, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the ...
. At the dockyard, the damage to the reactor was deemed too extensive for repair and the decision was made to salvage as much as they could. K-64 was split in half, its bow section (including control spaces) was taken to
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and used for training new Soviet submariners.
[Cold War Submarines (First Edition), Page 142, Norman Polmar and K.J. Moore, 2004]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:K-064
Ships built in the Soviet Union
Cold War submarines of the Soviet Union
Maritime incidents in 1972
1972 in the Soviet Union
Ships built by Sevmash