Echo II class submarine

Echo class is the NATO reporting name assigned to the submarines created by six projects of the Soviet Navy. Echos are nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines, which are known in the Soviet and Russian Navies as Podvodnaya Lodka Atomnaya Raketnaya Krylataya (PLARK). (The United States Navy gives them the hull classification symbol SSGN.) Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 480 pixelsFull resolution (3000 × 1799 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 480 pixelsFull resolution (3000 × 1799 pixel, file size: 1. ... NATO reporting names are unclassified code names for Soviet and Chinese military equipment. ... The Soviet Navy (Russian: Военно-морской флот СССР, Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR, literally Naval military forces of the USSR) was the naval arm of the Soviet armed forces. ... The Soviet Navy (Russian: Военно-морской флот СССР, Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR, literally Naval military forces of the USSR) was the naval arm of the Soviet armed forces. ... The United States Navy, also known as the USN or the U.S. Navy, is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ... The United States Navy uses hull classification symbols (sometimes called hull codes) to identify the types of its ships. ...

Projects 659 and 659T are known as the "Echo-I" class and projects 675, 675M, 675MU, and 675MKV are designated the "Echo-II" class. All six are externally very similar; Echo-IIs are about ten feet longer than Echo-Is.

All are decommissioned and laid up at various sites awaiting disposal.

General Characteristics

• Displacement:
  • I: 3731 tons surfaced, 4920 tons submerged;
  • II: 4450 tons surfaced, 5760 tons submerged
• Length: I: 111.2 m; II: 115.4 m
• Beam: I: 9.2 m; II: 9.3 m
• Draught: I: 7.6 m; II: 6.7 m
• Diving Depth: 300 m
• Speed: I: 29 knots ; II: 23 knots
• Crew: I: 120 officers and men; II: 130 officers and men
• Powerplant: Two 70MWt VM-A reactors
• Armament:
  • 4 SS-N-3 Shaddock or SS-N-12 Sandbox antiship cruise missiles,
  • 4 533mm anti-ship/anti-submarine torpedo tubes.

The VM-A reactor was the nuclear fission reactor used in pairs to power the Soviet Navys Project 658 and 701 (Hotel), Project 659 and 675 (Echo), and Project 627 Кит (November) first-generation submarines. ... The SS-N-12 Sandbox was a liquid-fueled, rocket powered, supersonic cruise missile used by the Soviet Navy in the 70s. ...

Accidents

The Echo class had been involved in numerous accidents

June 1970, Echo-II (K-108), collision with USS Tautog (SSN-639) off Kamchatka Penn., fatalities unknown

14 June 1973, Echo-II (K-56), collision with "Academic Berg", 27 dead

26 September 1976, Echo-II (K-47), fire in compartment 8, Barents Sea, 8 dead

21 August 1980 an Echo I class (K-222), reactor fire, 90 naut. mil. E of Okinawa, 9 dead

18 June 1984 an Echo-II (K-131), fire in compartment 8, 13 dead

10 August 1985 an Echo-II class (K-431), reactor explosion while refueling, Chasma Bay, 10 dead

26 June 1989 an Echo-II (K-192), reactor accident, off Bear Island, Barents Sea, fatalities unknown.

[1] Two ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Tautog, for the tautog, a small, edible, sport fish, also called blackfish or oysterfish, found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. ...

References

• Article in Russian Language on Project 659
• Article in Russian Language on Project 675
• article in English from FAS