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Dmitriy Donskoy (TK-208; Russian: Дми́трий Донско́й ТК-208) is a Russian Navy nuclear ballistic missile submarine, designated Project 941 Akula class (NATO reporting name Typhoon). With the decommissioning and scrapping of its Typhoon sister boats (TK-202, TK-13, Simbirsk, Arkhangelsk, Severstal, and TK-210), it is the largest submarine in the world in active service.
Hull number TK-208 was the lead vessel of the Soviet third generation Project 941 Akula class (NATO reporting name Typhoon) of ballistic missile submarines. it was laid down at the Sevmash shipyard, Tsekh No. 55, in Severodvinsk on 30 June 1976 and launched in September 1980. At 175 metres in length, it became the world's largest submarine, a record held along with other Typhoon-class submarines.
In 1990, it entered the dry dock in Severodvinsk for upgrades and repairs. Due to both economic and technological problems, the completion was severely postponed. In 2000, work on the submarine was intensified.
In June 2002, now serving in the Russian Navy, TK-208 finally left the Severodvinsk dry dock. After 12 years of overhaul and modifications, it had now received the name Dmitriy Donskoy, named after the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy (1359–1389), the reputed founder of Moscow. The twenty launchers for the R-39 missiles it originally carried were replaced with launchers for the most advanced submarine-launched ballistic missile to date, the RSM-56 Bulava. Although it was built as a third generation submarine, the vessel is now referred to as a fourth-generation submarine due to its extensive modifications.
The first launch of a Bulava missile was carried out by Dmitriy Donskoy on 27 September 2005. The vessel was surfaced and fired the missile from a point in the White Sea. On 21 December 2005, the new missile system was tested underwater for the first time. It successfully hit a target on the Kura Test Range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
In August 2009, Patriarch Kirill visited the submarine and met the crewmen.
On 9 December 2009, Dmitriy Donskoy launched a Bulava missile. The third stage of the missile failed, and it was visible in Norway making a glowing spiral in the sky.
On 7 October 2010, the submarine launched another Bulava ballistic missile from the White Sea. Targets at the Kura Test Range in the Russian Far East were successfully hit. The submarine was reported active as of 2020 and had been upgraded to carry the RSM-56 Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile. However, the scope of that upgrade was unclear.
Dmitriy Donskoy and the rest of the Typhoons are to be replaced by the Russian fourth-generation submarine class, the Borei class. In 2021 it was reported that the submarine would remain in service until at least 2026.
The Typhoon class, Soviet designation Project 941 Akula (Russian: Акула, meaning "shark", NATO reporting name Typhoon), is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines designed and built by the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. With a submerged displacement of 48,000 tonnes, the Typhoons are the largest submarines ever built, able to accommodate comfortable living facilities for the crew of 160 when submerged for months on end. The source of the NATO reporting name remains unclear, although it is often claimed to be related to the use of the word "typhoon" ("тайфун") by General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev of the Communist Party in a 1974 speech while describing a new type of nuclear ballistic missile submarine, as a reaction to the United States Navy's new Ohio-class submarine.
The Russian Navy cancelled its Typhoon modernization program in March 2012, stating that modernizing one Typhoon would be as expensive as building two new Borei-class submarines. With the announcement that Russia has eliminated the last SS-N-20 Sturgeon SLBMs in September 2012, only one Typhoon remains in service, Dmitry Donskoy, which is armed with the more modern RSM-56 Bulava SLBM.
Besides their missile armament, the Typhoon class features six torpedo tubes designed to handle RPK-2 (SS-N-15) missiles or Type 53 torpedoes. A Typhoon-class submarine can stay submerged for 120 days in normal conditions, and potentially more if deemed necessary (e.g., in the case of a nuclear war). Their primary weapons system is composed of 20 R-39 (NATO: SS-N-20) ballistic missiles (SLBM) with a maximum of 10 MIRV nuclear warheads each. Technically, Typhoons were able to deploy their long-range nuclear missiles while moored at their docks.
Typhoon-class submarines feature multiple pressure hulls, similar to the World War II Japanese I-400-class submarine, which simplifies internal design while making the vessel much wider than a normal submarine. In the main body of the sub, two long pressure hulls lie parallel with a third, smaller pressure hull above them (which protrudes just below the sail), and two other pressure hulls for torpedoes and steering gear. This also greatly increases their survivability – even if one pressure hull is breached, the crew members in the other are safe and there is less potential for flooding.
The Typhoon is capable of traveling at 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) underwater.
The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the Russian Akula class (Акула), meaning shark. It is sometimes confused with other submarines, as Akula is the name NATO uses to designate the Russian Project 971 Shchuka-B (Щука-Б)-class attack submarines. The project was developed with the objective to match the SLBM armament of Ohio-class submarines, capable of carrying 192 nuclear warheads, 100 kt each, but with significantly longer range. To accommodate this increase in range, Soviet SLBMs were substantially larger and heavier than their American counterparts (the R-39 Rif is more than twice as heavy as the UGM-96 Trident I; it remains the heaviest SLBM to have been in service worldwide). The submarine had to be scaled accordingly.
In the early 1990s, there were also proposals to rebuild some of the Typhoon-class submarines to submarine cargo vessels for shipping oil, gas and cargo under polar ice to Russia's far flung northern territories. The submarines could take up to 10,000 tonnes of cargo on-board and ship it under the polar ice to tankers waiting in the Barents Sea. These ships – after the considerable engineering required to develop technologies to transfer oil from drilling platforms to the submarines, and later, to the waiting tankers – would then deliver their cargo world-wide.
Six Typhoon-class submarines were built. Originally, the submarines were designated by hull numbers only. Names were later assigned to the four vessels retained by the Russian Navy, which were sponsored by either a city or company. The construction order for an additional vessel (hull number TK-210) was cancelled and never completed. Only the first of these submarines to be constructed, Dmitriy Donskoy, is still in active service with the Russian Navy, serving as a test platform for the Bulava (SS-NX-32) missile. Arkhangelsk (TK-17) and Severstal (TK-20) remain in reserve, not currently active with the Russian fleet. All the R-39 missiles have been retired. The Typhoons have been replaced by the Borei class since 2010-2011.
In late December 2008, a senior Navy official announced that the two Typhoon-class submarines, TK-17 Arkhangelsk and TK-20 Severstal, that are in reserve would not be rearmed with the new Bulava SLBM missile system. They could however be modified to carry cruise missiles or to lay mines, or could be used in special operations. In late June 2009, the Navy Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy told reporters that the two submarines would be reserved for possible future repairs and modernisation. In May 2010, the Navy Commander-in-Chief reported that Russia's Typhoon-class submarines would remain in service with the Navy until 2019. In September 2011, the Russian defense ministry decided to write off all Project 941 Akula nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines until 2014. The reasons for decommissioning the Typhoon-class vessels are the restrictions imposed on Russia by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and successful trials of new Borei-class submarine.
Despite being a replacement for many types of submarines, the Borei-class submarines are slightly shorter than the Typhoon class (170 m (560 ft) as opposed to 175 m (574 ft)), and have a smaller crew (107 people as opposed to 160). These changes were in part designed to reduce the cost to build and maintain the submarines. In addition, the United States and Canada provided 80% of funds for scrapping the older Typhoon-class submarines, making it much more economical to build a new submarine. However, according to other sources at the Russian defence ministry, no such decision has been made; in that case, the submarines would remain with the Russian Navy.
In 2013, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency announced that the Navy would scrap two Typhoons, beginning in 2018. They were the TK-17 Arkhangelsk and TK-20 Severstal. As of 2017, the decision about the scrapping of TK-17 and TK-20 was still not certain.
History
→ Soviet Union → Russia
Name: 2000 onwards: Dmitriy Donskoy
Namesake: Dmitriy Donskoy
Builder: Sevmash
Yard number: 711
Laid down: 30 June 1976
Launched: September 1980
Commissioned: 29 December 1981
In service: 9 February 1982
Status: Active
General characteristics
Class and type: Typhoon-class submarine
Propulsion: 2 × OK-650 reactors
Armament:
20 × Bulava SLBMs
4 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes
2 × 650 mm (26 in) torpedo tubes
General characteristics
Type: Ballistic missile submarine
Displacement:
23,200–24,500 t (22,830–24,110 long tons) surfaced
48,000 t (47,240 long tons) submerged
Length: 175 m (574 ft 2 in)
Beam: 23 m (75 ft 6 in)
Draught: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
