This submarine is over half a century old and has seen 30 years of active duty, and she looks like she has done every single one, on her creased black hull are the marks of many missions, even the Tamir 5L with the Feniks Sonar antennas mounted on top of the hull is bent up. This was also the first time ever that all four commanders would be given the ability to fire a nuclear tipped torpedo without direct authorization from Moscow. The journey to Cuba would take three weeks and they knew nothing of the political situation in which they were being sent. Captains Nikolai Shumkov, Yuri Karetanov, Alexei Dubivko and Valatin Sivitsky were based with the Northern fleet. President John F Kennedy in addressing the nation spoke these words while four submarines of the foxtrot class were headed towards Cuba under strict secrecy. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere” – John F Kennedy Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. “This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. The stage would be set where World War 3 could have started and one man would save it. In 1962 four submarines of this class would become infamous in their dash to Cuba. The foxtrots were one of the work horses for long range operations easily capable of operating off the east coast of the united states from bases in the arctic for up to two weeks and returning back without needing to refuel, such was their range that at around 8 knots these submarines could almost circumnavigate the globe, however their speed was slow not much better than the older world war submarines just 15 knots on the surface Submerged they were capable of 16 knots but this would drain the batteries very quickly so operational cruising speed would have been around 5 to 8 knots. The submarines were capable of diving deeper than their older cousins with the ability to dive to around 300 meters, this meant they could get under the thermocline in most ocean areas the thermocline is a layer where warm and cold water meet. Like her sisters B-821 is a conventionally powered that is to say a diesel on the surface and batteries powering electric motors while submerged, this means she is not fully independent of the surface like a nuclear powered boat, instead she must come to the surface periodically to re charge herīatteries much like the older German U boats had to during world war two, but she is fitted with a snorkel mast, this allows the submarine to remain at periscope depth and charge the batteries. The B-821 was built by yard 196 in the naval town of Leningrad now St Petersburg, she was laid down in October 1964, launched in February 1965.ĭuring her career she would serve both the Northern and Baltic fleets, however she would also serve several years in the Mediterranean being based in Alexandria Egypt, her 30 year career came to an end on July 3 rd 1995, she was sold to the Belgian maritime museum at Zeebrugge and was opened to the public in 1996, however in 2020 the venture finally closed, she was towed to Ghent and subsequently cut up for scrap. ![]() The first Foxtrot was laid down in 1957 and the class would still be in active service over half a century later with the last submarine paying off while in Ukrainian service in 2014. ![]() B-821 and her seventy-four other sisters would become one of the most produced post World War 2 submarines and would go on to see service in many different navies across the World. Looking quite out of place in a tiny marina in the town of Zeebrugge Belgium is the former Russian project 641 NATO code name Foxtrot class submarine B-821.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |