N700016 SOVIET SUBMARINE PROJECT 671 RTM SCHTUKA (NATO NAME VICTOR III)

The Victor III-class (or Project 671RTM) ships were Soviet nuclear powered fighter submarines (ANNs) that began entering service in 1978. In total, 26 ships of this class were built, of which probably 1 to 3 ships are still in service. A single unit of this type was 106 m long and 10 m wide, with an underwater displacement of up to about 6,300 tons. The maximum underwater speed was up to 30-31 knots, although there is information that it reached 32-33 knots. The armament probably consisted of 2 bow 533 mm torpedo tubes and 4 bow 659 mm torpedo tubes. Victor III class submarines (Project 671RTM) were an evolutionary development of the Victor I class, and most of all the Victor II class. Compared to their predecessors, they were slightly lengthened, their underwater displacement increased, as well as the number of crew members - according to different sources went up by 5 or 7 people. The units were also adapted to fire SS-N-16 missiles, and later - SS-N-21 missiles. What's more, they received much better electronic equipment and were even better soundproofed, thanks to the use of more perfect anechoic coatings. The last feature was in fact systematically improved with each new ship of this type built, which makes the last ships of the Victor III class more difficult to detect than the ships from the beginning of production. In addition, they have an atypical eight-blade propeller and a special hydrodynamic container on the stern tail, dedicated to a towed passive sonar. Undoubtedly, units of this class were successful hunting submarines of considerable combat value. They were built by the Admiralty Shipyard in what was then Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and the Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard.