The Russian Navy cancelled its modernization program in March 2012, stating that modernizing one Typhoon would be as expensive as building two newBorei-class submarines.[10] A total of six boats of the Typhoon class had been built and a seventh was started but never finished.[11] Three boats weredecommissioned in the 1990s and were scrapped in the 2000s, another two were placed in reserve in 2004 and are currently decommissioned. With the announcement that Russia has eliminated the lastR-39 Rif (SS-N-20 "Sturgeon")submarine-launched ballistic missiles in September 2012, only one Typhoon remained in service,Dmitry Donskoy, which was refitted with the more modernRSM-56 BulavaSLBM for testing. She continued to serve until February 2023, when she was decommissioned. In March 2025 it was announced thatDmitry Donskoy will be turned into a museum ship in Saint Petersburg.
Typhoon class general arrangements: 1 - outer hull; 2 - 533 mm forward torpedo tubes; 3 - pressure hull (forward); 4 - stowable forward hydroplanes; 5 - escape hatches; 6 - torpedo compartment pressure hull; 7 - sonar compartment; 8 - 20 x R-39 ballistic missile tubes; 9 - control room; 10 - escape capsules; 11 - retractable devices; 12 - Fin; 13 - radio room; 14 - reactor compartment; 15 - hangar / payload doors for towed communication buoy; 16 - protrusions to prevent ice damaging the propellers; 17 - turbine compartment; 18 - machine compartment, 19 - hydrodynamic vortex smoothing protrusions; 20 - vertical stabiliser; 21 - rudders; 22 - ducted propeller; 23 - aft hydroplanes; 24 - sonar; 25 - stowable thrusters; 26 - missile compartment; 27 - crew compartment; 28 - 2 x OK-650 nuclear reactors; 29 - propeller shaft; 30 - horizontal stabiliser; 31 - pressure hull (forward); 32 - main pressure hull (starboard); 33 - main pressure hull (port); 34 - pressure hull (fin); 35 - pressure hull (aft); 36 - rapid dive tank; i - attack periscope; ii - navigation periscope; iii - radio sextant; iv - radar/ESM system; v - snorkel; vi & viii - radio communications; vii - direction finding; ix - satellite communication/positioning antenna; x - hull mounted towed sonar array
Soviet – subsequently Russian – nuclear submarines are identified by the letter "K" followed by a number (for example, the lead boat of theYasen class, theSeverodvinsk, is K-560). K stands forCruiser: (Крейсер). The sheer displacement of the Typhoon-class boats, comparable to several aircraft carrier classes, led to their classification as Heavy Cruisers (Тяжелый Крейсер).
Typhoon-class submarines featured multiplepressure hulls 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. Its ballistic missiles were placed between the two main pressure hulls, their launch tubes enclosed only by the outer, "light" hull.
The Typhoon was capable of traveling at 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) submerged.[13]
Size comparison of common World War II submarines with the Typhoon classSoviet Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine, with inset of an American football field graphic to convey a sense of the enormous size of the vessel
The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the SovietAkula class (Акула), meaningshark. It is sometimes confused with other submarines, as Akula is the name NATO uses to designate the Russian Project 971Shchuka-B (Щука-Б)-class attack submarines. The project was developed with the objective to match the SLBM armament ofOhio-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 adversaries (the R-39s is more than twice as heavy as theUGM-96 Trident I; it remains the heaviest SLBM to have been in service worldwide). The submarine had to be scaled accordingly.[11]
In the early 1990s, there were also proposals torefit some of the Typhoon-class submarines tosubmarine 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 (9,800 long tons; 11,000 short tons) of cargo on-board and ship it under the polar ice totankers waiting in theBarents 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.[14]
Six Typhoon-class submarines were built between 1976 and 1985. Originally, the submarines were designated by hull numbers only. Names were later assigned to the four vessels retained by theRussian Navy after thedissolution of the Soviet Union. During the time of the Russian Federation, these boats were to be sponsored by either a city or company. The construction order for an additional vessel (hull number TK-210) was cancelled and never completed.
In late December 2008, a senior Navy official announced that the two Typhoon-class submarines,Arkhangelsk andSeverstal, that were in reserve would not be rearmed with the new Bulava SLBM missile system. They could potentially yet be modified to carrycruise missiles or to laymines, or could be used in special operations.[citation needed] In late June 2009, the Navy Commander-in-Chief, AdmiralVladimir Vysotskiy, told reporters that the two submarines would be reserved for possible future repairs and modernisation.[15] In September 2011, the Russian defense ministry decided to write off all Project 941Akula nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines until 2014. The reasons fordecommissioning the Typhoon-class vessels are the restrictions imposed on Russia by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and successful trials of the newBorei-class submarine.[16]
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 forscrapping the older Typhoon-class submarines, making it much more economical to build a new submarine,[17] TK-13, which was scrapped in 2007–2009.[18]
On 20 July 2022, it was reported thatDmitriy Donskoi was withdrawn from the Russian Navy. This was an earlier-than-expected decommission date, as it was stated in 2021 that the submarine was expected to remain in service until 2026 as a weapons test platform.[19] However, sources suggested in 2022 that the 2026 date was not in the Russian Navy plan.[2]On 6 February 2023, it was reported she was decommissioned.[20] On 19 March 2025, it was announced thatDmitriy Donskoi is planned to be preserved as amuseum ship at theCentral Naval Museum inSaint Petersburg.[21]
10 February 1982: Entered 18th division (Zapadnaya Litsa), NOR.
December 1982: Transferred from Severodvinsk to Zapadnaya Litsa.
1983–1984: Tests of D-19 missile complex. Commanders: A.V.Olkhovikov (1980–1984).[citation needed]
3 December 1986: Entered Navy Board of the Winners of the Socialist Competition.
18 January 1987: Entered MoD Board of Glory.[citation needed]
20 September 1989 – 1991: Repairs and refit at Sevmash to Project 941U. 1991 refit cancelled.
1996: Returned to 941U refit.
2002: NamedDmitriy Donskoy.
26 June 2002: End of refit.
30 June 2002: Start of testing.
26 July 2002: Entered sea trials, re-entered fleet, without missile system.
December 2003: Sea trials; refitted to carry a newBulava missile system. New missile system expected to be operational by 2005.
9 October 2005: Successfully launched SS-NX-30 Bulava SLBM from surface.
21 December 2005: Successfully launched SS-NX-30 Bulava SLBM from submerged position on move.
7 September 2006: Test launch of the Bulava missile failed after several minutes in flight due to some problems in the flight control system. The missile fell into the sea about a minute after the launch. The sub was not affected and was returning to Severodvinsk base submerged. Later reports blamed the engine of the first stage for the failure.
25 October 2006: Test launch of the Bulava-M missile in theWhite Sea failed some 200 seconds after liftoff due to the apparent failure of the flight control system.
28 August 2008: Underwent successful testing at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast. More than 170 men worked with theDmitriy Donskoy, 100 of them employed at the Sevmash plant and 70 at other companies.
20 July 2022: Decommissioned
A Typhoon-class submarine on the surface in 1985
TK-17Arkhangelsk (Typhoon #5)
19 February 1988: Entered 18th division (Zapadnaya Litsa) NOR.
September 1991, damaged after a SLBM exploded in the launch silo.[28][29]
8 January–9 November 2002: Refit at Sevmash.
In July 2002, crew petitioned Main Navy Headquarters to adopt the nameArkhangel'sk (renamed on 18 November 2002).
Commander: 2002-2003 V. Volkov.
17 February 2004: Took part in military exercises with PresidentVladimir Putin aboard.
Decommissioned in 2006 and preserved. Apparent proposal to convert to cruise missile role being considered in 2019 but deemed unlikely.[30]
TK-20Severstal (Typhoon #6)
28 February 1990: Entered 18th division (Zapadnaya Litsa), NOR.
25 August 1996: Successfully launched SLBM
November 1996: Successfully launched SLBM from the North Pole.
24 July 1999: Took part in parade on Navy Day in Severomorsk, NOR.
Typhoon-class submarine TK-202 covered with iceNovember–December 1999 – distant cruise.
^Waller, Douglas C. (March 2001)."Essay - The Hunt for Big Red"(PDF).Wake Forest Magazine.48 (3):28–31.Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 October 2009. Retrieved13 October 2009.
^Ласточкин, Олег (26 June 2009)."Стратегические АПЛ "Тайфун" останутся в боевом составе ВМФ РФ" ["Typhoon" strategic nuclear submarines will remain in the combat composition of the Russian Navy].RIA Novosti (in Russian).Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved14 August 2011.
