The “Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky” “Varshavyanka” submarine of Project 636.3 – © Ministry of Defence of Russia
Written by Roman Azanov; Originally appeared at TASS, translated by AlexD exclusively for SouthFront
These are the only diesel submarines in the world that have been used to carry out salvo firing in combat conditions
The commander of one of the “Varshavyanka” was once asked if he wants to serve on a submarine of great size, to which he smiled slyly and replied: “You know, our boats are still missing. These “black holes” in the ocean are hard to identify, easy to lose and impossible to find…” They are small, fast and manoeuvrable. And are considered among the most silent in their class.
For the fact that it is quite problematic to find them in the sea depths, the NATO military unofficially nicknamed the electric-diesel submarines of Project 636.3 “black holes” in the ocean.
The Navy of the Russian Federation has already strengthened its combat power in the Black Sea with these submarines – six boats are serving in the Black Sea Fleet. The Pacific Fleet is eagerly waiting for them. It is planned that by the end of this year the St-Andrew’s flag will be raised on the first of six submarines under construction for our Far Eastern borders. On November 1st, two more were pledged. And it will be able to “silently observe” the events taking place in the Pacific region. However, presently the “Varshavyanka” cause concern in the West, being in the waters of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Seas.
Birth of submarines
The name “Varshavyanka” came from the 1970s, when the boats of Project 877EKM (export versions of the submarines of Project 877 “Halibut”) were supposed to be delivered in large series for export to the Warsaw Pact countries. According to Project 877EKM in the 1983-2000 years, 18 submarines were built, which still successfully serve in India, China, Vietnam and Algeria.
The “Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky” submarine being launched – © Ministry of Defence of Russia
The Russian Navy originally planned to replace its Project 877 boats built in the 1980s with Project 677 “Lada” submarines. However, due to numerous problems with their design, construction and testing in 2010, it was decided to build a series of submarines for the Russian fleet on the basis of Project 636, the production of which, thanks to export contracts, has already been worked out by Russian shipyards.
Now the target construction for the needs of our fleet of submarines of Project 636.3 is carried out at the “Admiralty Shipyards” in St-Petersburg. It is the core enterprise of the industry (as part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) and the centre of non-nuclear submarine shipbuilding in Russia.
Equipping the Pacific Fleet with new boats of Project 636.3 is carried out as part of the active renewal of the non-nuclear component of the submarine forces of the Russian Navy
Nikolai Evmenov
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral
This year St-Petersburg shipyards celebrated their 315th anniversary. They are the undisputed leader in the construction of submarines of this class and since 1983 successfully supply them for export. In just six years, from August 2010 to November 2016, the Black Sea series was built: since 2014, the company has transferred two ships to the fleet annually.
Submarine hull of Project 636.3 in the “Admiralty Shipyards” assembly shop – © Oleg Kuleshov/JSC “Admiralty Shipyards”
At the same time, the construction of a series of submarines takes place under conditions of full production load and large-scale reconstruction of the enterprise. Construction of new facilities and modernisation of existing workshops is carried out without stopping production, and the construction of all orders is clearly in accordance with contractual obligations.
JOURNEY OF UNDERWATER SHIPBUILDING “ADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS”
The first experiment of underwater shipbuilding at the Admiralty Shipyards dates back to 1912, when the hulls for boats of the “Bars” type were manufactured. In 1931, the plant began to build hulls for submarines of the “Shch” type. Before the Great Patriotic War, 69 ships (or a third of the submarine fleet of the USSR at that time) left the slipway. Then in the postwar period, large electric-diesel submarines of Project 611 for ocean trips replaced the small boats. Then came Project 877 submarines, which had very low sonic field characteristics. Today this project is recognised and highly appreciated all over the world.
In the 1970-1990 years, the main achievement for the St-Petersburg shipyards was the construction of titanium, complex-automated nuclear submarines of Project 705 – relatively small, but with high combat efficiency. The “Lyres” could pursue any submarine and break away from any pursuit, only taking about a minute to accelerate to full speed. They were the world’s only mass-produced liquid-metal coolant reactor ships.
The modernised Project 636.3, currently under construction at the shipyards, belongs to the third generation of diesel submarines. It was developed in the Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering “Ruby” team under the leadership of chief designer Igor Molchanov.
Launching ceremony of the “Stary Oskol” submarine – © Yuri Belinsky/TASS
The contract for the construction of the Pacific series of six submarines was signed at the Army-2016 forum. This was a continuation of the long-term plan of the Russian Defence Ministry to strengthen the combat readiness of the Russian Navy and the programme to improve electric-diesel submarines. On the instructions of the military CDB “Ruby” the main systems of the ship of the basic Project 363 were modernised: a complex of torpedo and missiles weapons, information and control systems, radar and sonar systems. A number of improvements were made to the ship-wide systems in order to increase the stealth of the submarine and improve living conditions for the crew.
Silence and immersion
These non-nuclear submarines (by NATO codification – Improved Kilo) are designed to destroy surface ships and vessels, enemy submarines, patrol, reconnaissance, protection of communications in the near sea zone.
“Veliki Novgorod” “Varshavyanka” submarine of Project 636.3 – © JSC “Admiralty Shipyards”
Compared with nuclear “pariahs” they are very small: the strategists of Project 955 exceed the “Varshavyanka’s” in displacement by six times, in one nuclear-powered vessel along the length will fit two and a half diesel submarines. The length of the 636 is about 74m, the width is 10m, maximum displacement does not exceed 4 thousand tons. The durable hull provides the submarine with a working depth of 240m and a maximum depth of 300m.
“Varshavyanka” is a two-hull boat with modern contours, high buoyance and unsinkability. Six compartments separated by waterproof partitions, which, according to the developers, allows her to stay afloat in case of emergency flooding of one of the compartments, while maintaining combat readiness. The crew, the power plant, and other critical systems and mechanisms are housed in a sturdy hull capable of withstanding high water pressure. On the outside there is a “light” hull, giving the submarine a streamlined shape. The use of noise-absorbing elements provides high stealth to the boat.
The ship is equipped with modern means to reduce its noise level to the natural background noise of the ocean, which provides the boat with a guaranteed proactive detection and the ability to attack enemy ships with anti-ship missiles from a distance exceeding its detection, as well as timely evasion of attacks.
“Varshavyanka” submarine during the “Maritime Cooperation” exercise in the Sea of Japan, 2017 – © Yuri Smityuk/TASS
The submarines are equipped with two diesel generators with a capacity of 1500 kW, one main rowing electric motor (about 5500 HP) and one electric motor for cruising speed. In addition, the submarine has two backup diesel engines and two groups of batteries. There is one screw with seven blades.
By the way, the main shaft of the submarine of Project 636 rotates on wooden guides made of the bakaut ironwood. It turns out that this wood has long been used in shipbuilding. Its peculiarity is that it emits a natural lubricant that allows the use the nodes of this wood for 20 years. Not every metal bearing can boast of such a resource.
Aft part of the hull of the 636.3 submarine in the “Admiratly Shipyards” assembly shop – © Ministry of Defence of Russia
The surface speed of the “Varshavyanki” reaches 17 knots (more than 30km/n), underwater it reaches 20 knots. Autonomy of navigation is 45 days with a crew of 52. These submarines have an optimal combination of acoustic stealth and target detection ranges, the latest inertial navigation systems, modern automated information and control systems and powerful high-speed torpedo and missile weapons ensure the world priority of submarines of this class in the field of non-nuclear submarine shipbuilding.
The main “Kalibr”
The main weapons of Project 636.6 are the “Kalibr” missiles. There are six 533-mm torpedo tubes in the nose; ammunition includes 18 torpedoes or 24 mines and the “Kalibr-PL” cruise missiles complex. The range of these sea-based missiles is more than 2,000 km.
According to the Ministry of Defence, missiles of this type have low radar visibility and due to the envelope at ultra-low altitudes of the terrain are difficult to detect by any air defence means. The accuracy of the target, despite the range of application, is several metres. The weight of the “Kalibr” warhead is 500 kg.
The bow end of the hull of the Project 636.3 submarine in the “Admiralty Shipyards” assembly shop – © Oleg Kuleshov/JSC “Admiralty Shipyards”
The complex includes five different missiles developed on the basis of the anti-ship cruise missile 3M 54E “Grenade”. The export version of the complex (Club) can use ammunition of various types with a range of up to 300 km.
The ratio of target detection range and acoustic stealth of the 636s is optimal: “Vashavyanka” can “see” the enemy at the maximum distance, get close to it and not be detected, watch it, and if necessary, use their formidable weapons.
The first combat use of these submarines took place on December 8, 2015 during the Russian military operation in Syria. Located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, the submarine Rostov-on-Don launched missiles of the Kalibr-PL complex at terrorist targets in the Syrian province of Raqqa.
This was the first time in the history of the submarine fleet of the Russian Navy off missile strikes on a real enemy. During 2017, other boats of this project, “Krasnodar” and “Veliky Novgorod”, also showed their high efficiency, inflicted similar strikes on Syrian terrorists.
The anxiety of the West
The United States and Europe have repeatedly acknowledged that Russia has a powerful submarine fleet and invests in its improvement. The new Russian submarines, according to Western admirals and generals, are extremely effective and pose a great danger.
In an interview, the commander of the US Navy in Europe and Africa, Admiral James Fogle, who concurrently heads the Joint command of NATO forces in Naples (Italy), spoke about our “Varshavyanka”: “They are armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, they are very effective combat systems. And from the places where the Russians use them, they can hit any European capital”. “Will they do it? I don’t think so, but nevertheless we need to be aware of where they are at any given time,” he added.
The admiral made the claim that Russia has expanded the presence of its submarines in the North Atlantic Ocean, as well as in the Arctic Ocean. “They let us know that they are there. There are many more of them, and they operate in places where they did not operate before”, he said.
“Stary Oskol” submarine in the Bosphorus Strait – © REUTERS/Murad Sezer
The Daily Telegraph newspaper wrote about how “Varshavyanka” can operate in the territorial waters of the UK, while remaining invisible. According to the sources of the publication, these submarines allegedly pose a security threat by monitoring the movements of the British Fleet in the North Atlantic and connecting to underwater communication cables. The interlocutors of the Daily Telegraph consider this a powerful argument in favour of increasing the funding of the Royal Navy.
“Varshavyanka”: “Take it and use it”
Project 636 has quite good export prospects. And it became possible because the ship has good modernisation capabilities; initially successful layout solutions were laid out. And an important point – its low noisiness, because “noisy boats will not be saved by any modernisation”.
“Stary Oskol” and “Rostov-on-Don” submarines – © REUTERS/Pavel Rebrov
“This is a kind of “Kalashnikov”: it seems to be nothing special, but everything is simple, convenient, clear – take it and use it. And here we have about the same principle. The competitiveness of this project is supported by its constant modernisation. The catalyst for success in the last decade, of course, has been the integration of the Club missile system. As soon as it was first implemented for India, it stimulated a great interest in the ship”, – already in 2014 in an interview with the magazine “Arms Export”, the Deputy General Director of “Ruby” for foreign economic activity Andrei Baranov described the export prospects of this boat.
Experts note that the ships of this class have a significant modernisation reserve, which allows the optimisation of the project for the requirements of the customer. According to the developers, the “Varshavyanka” differs from foreign submarines of its class by its exceptionally powerful universal armament, which is able to fight against surface ships and submarines. It can also strike at ground targets – while such a possibility does not exist in any of the European submarines that are offered for export.
Submarines of Project 636.3 – © Oleg Kuleshov/JSC “Admiralty Shipyards”
With the construction of the Pacific series of ships of this class for the Russian Navy will be much larger, and these “black holes” will operate in those places of the world’s oceans where they did not operate before. At the same time, it is still secretive, fast and quiet.
Do like Russian submarines.
Not forgetting, one of these submarines and a frigate cornered one of the UK Astute class, attack submarines. When the US, France and the UK were using cruise missiles, to demolish a Syrian building, that was due to be demolished. The astute, thanks to the Russian electro-diesel, could not unleash it’s arsenal on Syria.
More old antiquated lada junk , right mike and mike .
Shhh. These Russian subs are very very quiet. In fact one snuck into Halifax harbor in Nova Scotia and took this photo. :D https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71e29968e98b01977bb45a6e49edbb333d43e44ef8d2e543ad49907bb0686429.jpg
Yet are they antigravitic? The real super subs are capable of low earth orbit, and interplanetary travel with the proper minor modifications
Not this class of submarine. The Torpedoes would be useless, and not enough power to create anti matter. This brings up the question of dark energy, it seems to be expanding the Cosmos and space time at an increasing rate? Yet can not be detected:/ This would be repulsion of matter and it’s gravity from “voids” in space. May be best to research anti-Hydrogen first.What happens when you flip the spin?
Did you see the US Navy released patents for anti-gravity ships and portable fusion generators? The only modifications needed are proper insulation, magnetic seals for air exchange (atmospheric reentry) and antigravitic stabilization pods. That’s where the sensor pods and exotic scalar and torsion field weapons, laser array systems, ect, come into play. Thomas Townsend Brown did great antigravitic work using electromagnetic equipment in the 50’s, he is still unheard of to this day. Check out the US Navy’s secret space program, William Tompkins talks about this, so does Corey Goode, who claims to have served on the USSS Arnold Sommerfeld in the 80’s- a deep space 100 meter long cylindrical expeditionary interplanetary research vessle.
I read about that recently.
A Navy researcher in Maryland initially applied for the patent and was turned down because the patent office thought he was nuts.
Someone from the navy contacted the patent office and requested they grant the patent because the Chinese are rumoured to be working on these technologies.
The Navy doesn’t have the technology however they fear the Chinese might so they applied for a patent to beat the Chinese to it just in case the Chinese beats the USA to the technology and try to commercialize it.
Make sense?
No, what does make sense is that the United States aerospace corporations at the end of world war 2 set up deals with nordic extraterrestrials who gave the US Navy technologies to help them fight the nazi’s who went to antartica with the aid of negative reptilian beings. Intergalactic Proxy wars. You think Syria is the only proxy war going on in the universe?
All righty then.
You have obviously overlooked the latest upgraded sub of this class, which is the 636.363 and features the ‘Infinite Improbability Drive’. The IID has replaced all previous forms of propulsion and according to Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox this allows it to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It really has added a new dimension to Planetary and Galactic travel. It is of course Dolphin friendly where 4 = 2 to the power of 2
Good to hear dolphin friendly. but what about whale friendly! This reply is being sent to you at 2 to the 8th power, from far far away : This is Orion nebula, you should check out the fantastic views here. Much more fantastic than your single yellow dwarf star, excluding Saturn of course. :) 2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37,41,43,47,53,59,61,67,71,73,79,83,89,97 I will get back to you later with blue prints embedded on the carrier frequency.
Whales are crazy about these new subs, because of old Russian navy tradition to drink vodka under water. So these subs party with whales and bring a lot of vodka to the party. In fact, the subs have huge vodka generator aboard. Read the news line from this video and you will understand how it works on example of new Russian artificial intellect tank. https://youtu.be/p-ZA7qWL7fA
We also have submarines who are even better that these “holes”. Ours are completely invisible and you don’t hear a shit.
yes yes.. no one seen them or hear about them yet :)
…except demands for more money!
Probably a dumb question (not being a squid and all) but does the US make any subs for export? Do we even make diesel-electric subs anymore? It would seem they’re still useful, but I never noticed if we make anything besides big nuke subs for ourselves.
The article mentions stealth quite a bit. Does the author mean quiet relative to other Russian (or diesel-electric) subs, or quiet considering all other subs? I would imagine a nuke sub would be quiet (relative to diesel-electric on diesel) or relative to smaller subs. But how about a diesel-electric on batteries vs. a nuke sub? Is there something about the nuke subs power train or hull size that can make it louder/quieter that other subs? Just talking about noise – there’s obviously dozens of other considerations for deciding if one sub type is harder to find in a particular situation than another. I thought they could detect and track subs from aircraft/helicopters based on the faint bulge they make on the surface even when rather deep.
Also many whales have been detected by faint bulge. Diesel subs can cruise close to a coast with ground clutter. Indeed hard to spot because they are wearing a rubber condom. Does this answer your MAD question?
I’m a sub guy and can answer some of this.
US only makes nuke boats and none are for export. Diesel boats are slower than nukes so they are primarily defensive in nature. A US nuke boat can leave port and be anywhere in the world in a relatively short time frame. They can theoretically go max speed for an unlimited time frame. (Unlimited relative to a single deployment. They do need refuelling after many years of service)
Generally, electric propulsion is the quietest. US nuke boats are very quiet as well but not compared to an electric. When a diesel comes up to the surface to charge, they can fully surface or use the snorkel and only stick an air mast above the waterline. This is relatively noisy and exposes the sub to detection from the air as well. Nuke powertrain noise is very variable across designs so the differences are beyond the scope of what I’ll mention.
Air can track a sub by sonar (dipped or dropped sonobuoies), magnetic detection, radar and visually. Visual indicators can include bioluminescence and the hump you mention. That is called a Bernoulli hump. Those are pretty hard to see though. Both of these visual detections vary by depth and speed.
Hope that helps.
I’m an ASW guy and I can tell you that nuclear subs are easier to detect, and thus destroy, than diesel electric subs. This is because nuke subs need to continually run machinery in order to cool the nuclear reactor that powers them.
Diesel electric subs, in submerged electric mode, don’t emit this continual sound signature.
If you were trying to hide silently underwater, your chances of avoiding detection are much better in a diesel electric sub.
So if I wanted to, say… smuggle a couple of metric tonnes of powdered sugar from Mexico through the Gulf in my home-brew sub, I probably shouldn’t go with the plans on the internet to make one from an old lawn-mower engine and a 10′ PVC snorkel. Damn… this is going to screw up my retirement plans.
Been away for a few days, MikeH. Belated thanks for the informative answer!
They wanted to bring the blacks into Slavic land to destroy it in one single blow.
They have failed. The Whites, out of the ashes 20 years affter the collapse of the soviet union. are now the most powerful millitary force on this planet. Out of the ashes the Russians. Its best to make friends with them. The Muslims where Smart.
What you on about,’ blacks into slavic’?
Russia is currently recruiting its army from Africa because it can’t get enough young patriots to join up for mother Russia
….oh and the ones, white ones, who get press ganged into the army,go mad and insane with the bullying, as one did recently shooting dead 8 of his ‘colleagues’
What a joke! Where did you found that Russia recruits Africans for it’s army? Russian army is conscription army. Nobody cares you are patriot or not, but you have to serve in Russian army 1 year.
They’re trying to update themselves, by turning away from conscription
They don’t pay well though about 500 dollars a month
But thats the point isn’t it there’s a bunch of folks who don’t serve, only the thick,stupid and poor serve, those who can’t get out of conscription
You can’t build a modern army in the 21st century like Russia has, thats why they’re 3rd rate crap, good a bombing hospitals in a third world cesspool like Assad Syria, but no good at going toe to toe with NATO in central Europe
You have wrong info. Such situation with recruits was in 90s. Since Putin came to the power, situation slowly changed until 2008 and developed really fast after war with Georgia. Last 10 years, children of all my colleagues and friends served in Russian Armed Forces and no one said he would not.
“Russia is currently recruiting its army from Africa”(c) boby boy, you’re not in the kinder garden. There’s no point embarrassing yourself with such ridiculous lies.
Haha, what a nice propaganda bit! Apart from being “optimal” in all respects and, of course, “unsinkable”… for those readers who haven’t caught on yet: “anxiety for the West” (whatever ‘the West’, Russia’s perpetual and illusionary enemy might actually be). Laughable. I think the entire ‘West’ now needs fresh underwear and will never again consider attacking Russia (which they don’t anyway). Well, the US, you never know.
More exiting then palying Tic Tac Toe.