The nuclear-powered strategic submarine Dmitri Donskoioften referred to as “largest submersible in the world” with its 175 meters long and its water displacement of 48,000 tons, will retire from the Russian navy after forty years of good and loyal service, announced this Wednesday, July 20 the official agency Ria Novosti from Moscow.
“The submarine Dmitri Donskoi has been removed from the fleet and will be scrapped,” told the agency a senior official of the “military-industrial complex” who wished to remain anonymous. He specified that the name of the submersible has already been assigned to another Russian nuclear submarine under construction, the Borei-A class, or project 955A, referring to the class of nuclear-launched submarines. generation (SSBN) gear under development in Russia.
The nuclear-powered strategic submarine Dmitri Donskoi entered service at the very beginning of the 1980s. It belongs to a class of Soviet submersibles developed in the middle of the Cold War, the 941 Akula (“shark”) project; the code name that the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) assigned to this class was “Typhoon”. It was designed by military engineers to compete with the new American Ohio-class submarines.
Speed and Stealth
Capable of carrying several strategic missiles that could be fitted with nuclear charges, the Typhoons were feared for their speed and, above all, their stealth, as they were extremely quiet when diving. The Soviet Union had six in total. the Dmitri Donskoi underwent its last modernization in 2002. It was mainly used for testing the new Bulava missile by the Russian Navy.
This model of submarine was made famous by the novel Red October, by the American writer Tom Clancy, published in 1984, and especially by its film adaptation in 1990 (Hunting for Red October), starring Sean Connery as the Soviet commander who wants to defect and move West.