DISCONTINUED N700130 SOVIET SUBMARINE PROJECT 629 (NATO NAME GOLF I)

The Golf class (Project 629) is a type of Soviet diesel-electric submarines, capable of carrying ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. The first unit of this class entered service in 1958. A single ship of this type was approx. 98-99 m long, with a width of approx. 8 m and an underwater displacement of approx. 3,500 tons. The underwater maximum speed did not exceed 12-13 knots. The armament consisted of 3 ballistic missile launchers and 6 533 mm torpedo tubes. The Golf class units are structurally based on the Foxtrot class of hunting submarines. Both classes have a very similar structure of the fuselage, propulsion system and probably many common elements of electronic equipment. The Golf class, however, had three ballistic missile launchers behind the conning tower. Originally used SS-1 missiles, but they were quickly replaced by SS-N-4 missiles capable of carrying a single atomic warhead with a power of 1 Mt to 2 Mt. In total, 23 Golf-class ships were built at the shipyards in Severodvinsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Over the years, the Golf ships were rebuilt for other purposes, and three ships, for example, were converted to command ships between 1973 and 1979 and are included in Project 629R.