Project 941 "Shark" - the largest submarine in history

The largest submarine in the history of mankind was created by Soviet designers from the Design Bureau "Rubin" in the period from 1972 to 1980. By 1976, the design work was completed, and the boat was laid on Sevmash. However, it was rather a heavy cruiser than a boat. On the nose of the submarine, the silhouette of the shark was drawn, and later it appeared on the sleeve of the sailors who served on this ship.

The illustration shows the silhouettes of nuclear submarines, first American: "Sea Wolf", "Virginia", "Ohio", "Kilo", then our projects are 209 and 212. At the bottom is the silhouette of the Shark. Its length is 173 meters, displacement in the underwater position of 48 thousand tons.

"Shark" in official documents was called modestly - APL - project 941. He called these boats "Typhoon" LI. Brezhnev during the 26th Congress of the CPSU in 1981, he did not want to disclose the real name of the new submarine created in response to the Americans launching the Ohio program with Trident missiles on board.

The largest submarine owes its size to the missiles that were going to arm it. The P-39s were three-stage, their main part was divided into ten independently launched warheads of one hundred kilotons. In addition, there were twenty.

The design of the submarine cruiser was unique. If a conventional submarine has one rugged and one outer lightweight body housed in each other in the likeness of a nesting doll, then in this project there were two main and three additional ones. The missile shafts were located ahead of the wheelhouse, which also represented a novelty in underwater shipbuilding. The torpedo compartment was housed in a separate housing, like the PCU, and a mechanical aft compartment.

But this is the world's largest submarine was unique not only in the design scheme, but also in its running and performance qualities. One of the points of the technical task contained a requirement for the draft of the ship in the above-water position, small enough that it could pass in shallow water. To fulfill this condition, it was necessary to equip the nuclear submarines with very voluminous main ballast tanks, which were filled with water when submerged. This feature of the design allowed the "Shark" to float even at the North Pole, breaking more than two-meter thickness of ice from below.

The material for the manufacture of strong bodies is titanium, the lungs were made of steel. The coating of special rubber improved driving performance and reduced noise, making it difficult to detect an underwater cruiser by the forces of anti-submarine defense of a probable enemy. The allowed immersion depth was 500 meters.

The largest submarine in the world had a proper power plant - almost two and a half million horses, and it's even hard to imagine, but it allowed to keep the course underwater at 25 knots. There were additional engines for performing complex maneuvers and emergency duplication.

Combat posts occupied alternately 160 sailors midshipmen and officers. The living conditions on board were comfortable, the crew could fully rest in the pool and play sports in the gym.

The largest submarine could make half-yearly autonomous campaigns.

After the end of the Cold War, the military doctrine of Russia changed. The "Shark" nuclear submarine, as a tool for preemptive strike, proved to be unnecessary. A total of six were built, one in the ranks, and two in reserve.

Like many other examples of unique military equipment during the Cold War, the largest submarine did not take part in the hostilities, which is good. She contributed to the maintenance of the balance of power, and, perhaps, this helped preserve peace on our planet.