mchamp@wpi.wpi.edu (Marc J. Champagne) (04/11/89)
From: mchamp@wpi.wpi.edu (Marc J. Champagne)
SOVIET NUCLEAR POWERED ATTACK SUB LOST AT SEA
A Soviet Mike class sub apparently experienced some sort of
engineering accident early this morning in the Norwegian Sea about
270nm off the coast of Norway. The accident apparently happened
while the submarine was submerged. The sub was forced to surface
when a fire resulted. At 2 liferafts were launched before the
submarine sank. Soviet rescue craft and firefighting tugs were
already enroute but could not arrive in time.
The Mike is the Soviet Union's newest class of SSN. It is a one of a
kind submarine, however, and several submarines of an older class
have been produced since the Mike was launched. The Mike was
laid down in 1982 and launched 3 years latter. It carries a crew of
95 men and a variety of weapons including 21" torpedoes, 26"
torpedoes, the SS-N-14 and SS-N-15 rocket boosted torpedoes and
nuclear depth charges, and the SS-N-21 nuclear tipped cruise
missile.
The Mike is (was) an enormous submarine.... 400'2" long with a 39'4"
beam and a submerged displacement of 9700 tons. This makes it
considerably larger than our current 688 class submarines, as well
as larger than our planned Sea Wolf class submarines.
The cause of the fire aboard the Mike can probably be traced to its
nuclear reactor design. The Mike has 2 nuclear reactors.....with
liquid metal (sodium) coolant. The reactors are used to generate
extremely high pressure steam which drives 2 steam turbines to
produce 60,000shp on 1 shaft. In other words, a liquid metal
coolant was used to allow the reactor to generate enormously high
temperatures, which translates into very high pressure steam and
lots of horsepower. The Mike was officially rated at 36-38 knots.
In order to tolerate these speeds and deep operational depths, its
hull was constructed of titanium.
The US experimented with liquid metal cooled reactors (a
sodium-potassium alloy) on the last USS-SeaWolf (SSN-575). It was
found that the coolant was too corosive to contain easily, however,
and the submarine was converted to pressurized water cooling 2 years
latter. It has since been retired and its name assigned to the lead
ship of an upcoming new class of attack submarines.
The Soviet Union will most likely be able to recover the wreck, which
sank in fairly shallow watter. Due to the past dismal performance
of their submarine force, the USSR maintains a fleet of 20 heavy
lift ships (designed to lift wrecks from the ocean floor), 31
submarine salvage/rescue ships, and 92 ocean-going tugs.
Since 1983 **4** Soviet submarines have been lost in accidents at sea.
The last American submarine to be lost in an accident at sea was the
USS-Scorpion about 20 years ago. That accident came on the heals
of the loss of the Thresher, lead ship of the Thresher (now Permit)
class submarines.