PROBLEMS IN THE SOVIET SUBMARINE SERVICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00927A004700120002-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: REPORT

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Q
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DAMAGED F-CLASS SUBMARINES AT ROSTA SHIPYARD NEAR MURMANSK
ESCAPE EQUIPMENT ON SOVIET SUBMARINES
J-class Cruise -Missile Submarine
R-class Torpedo Attack Submarine
PRUT-CLASS SUBMARINE RESCUE SHIP
Ur derjnzdter Obser cition
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29 January 1965
Next to revealing state secrets, the greatest
sin against Soviet security regulations is appar-
ently the exposure of any deficiency in the work-
ings of Soviet-built and -operated equipment. A
faithful reader of the Soviet press would hardly
be aware that airplanes crash and ships are lost
at sea. In 1955, when the battleship Novorossisk
struck a mine and carried some 900 crew members
to their death, the Soviet public was never in-
formed. Despite stringent security measures, how-
ever, the word sometimes filters out. There have
been several reports of submarine accidents rang-
ing from fuel explosions to collisions. Vessels
and crews have been lost. Some of this can be
blamed on ice, fog, and darkness but much must be
attributed to inadequate training and faulty equip-
ment design.
The Dangerous Q-class
One costly experiment with
the Q-class torpedo attack sub-
marine earned it the nickname
of "cigarette lighter" among So-
viet submariners. Of the 30
which were built between 1954
and 1957, about 10 had a closed-
cycle diesel propulsion system
which used liquid oxygen. Al-
though sound in principle, this
system is highly explosive un-
less handled with a degree of
cleanliness and caution not char-
acteristic of the Soviet Navy.
All officers who serve on these
Qs receive a 20-percent bonus--
known as "death pay"--and each
year of their service is cred-
ited as 18 months toward longev-
ity pay increases and pensions.
The conventional Qs had no
such built-in problems, but at
least one was lost because of
faulty navigation. It collided
with a destroyer in the ap-
proaches to Tallinn in October
1956, was cut in two, and sank
immediately. Four men escaped;
27 bodies were recovered with
the submarine a month later.
Trouble With Nuclear Submarines
Service on the USSR's early
nuclear submarines also was haz-
ardous, apparently because US
successes spurred Soviet polit-
ical planners to insist on crash
design and construction pr I rams.
inat e first nuclear
subs had "serious deficienc es
because of their boilers."
was even more crit-
tca a have atomic submarines
but submariners have nothing
good to say about them."
Specific reports talk of
troubles with reactors and ven-
tilation systems. One crew
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V40011 NMW-
SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM
Soviet Rescue Chamber or Bell
Closeup of Soviet Diving or Recompression Chamber used
to bring divers up from the depths
Diving Platform used by
Soviet Rescue and Salvage Divers
Escape Training Tower,
probably near Leningrad
Soviet Escape Suit
New US Escape Hood
(Steinke Hood)
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reportedly had to be hospitalized
for radiation sickness, and an
officer is said to have been
killed in a reactor accident-
In 1959,
a nuclear submarine was
una a to surface for a prolonged
period and nearly all crew mem-
bers were affected by the foul
air.
Because of such incidents,
all personnel on nuclear sub-
marines apparently received a
special bonus, known as "child-
lessness pay," equal to their
regular salary. They also earned
three years' longevity for every
year served on one of these units.
These regulations may have been
abandoned as new and presumably
improved nuclear submarines have
been commissioned, but the So-
viets still customarily send a
rescue ship with nuclear sub-
marines on long-range patrols.
One suggestion of continuing
difficulty is a recent report
that the Soviets are still having
trouble in purifying water suf-
ficiently for pressurized water
reactors of the type used in sub-
marines.
Other Submarine Casualties
Seamanship seems to have
been the chief cause of accidents
involving the W-class torpedo
attack submarines, which were
designed and built from well-
tested components. In 1957 one
ran aground in the Black Sea at
a depth of 200 feet. Fortunately
for the crew, a destroyer managed
to attach a line and pull the
submarine to the surface. A few
cases of carbon dioxide poison-
ing were the only casualties.
Perhaps most casualties
have occurred in the Northern
Fleet, which has the largest
number of submarines and the
worst of ice and visibility con-
ditions. In 1957 and 1958 two
collisions--one with a tug and
one with a destroyer--reportedly
caused heavy damage to submarines
and killed five or six men. In
1961 a submarine apparently was
lost with all hands in the Bar-
ents Sea, and in 1962 two North-
ern Fleet submarines reportedly
suffered heavy damage and per-
sonnel casualties from ice. The
hulk of an F-class submarine at
Rosta is believed to have been
salvaged after a collision with
a merchant ship in early 1964.
Some F- and Z-class subma-
rines, used on the longest cruises
into the Pacific, the Atlantic,
and the Mediterranean, have been
photographed returning from
clandestine patrols on the sur-
face. They were apparently un-
able to avoid observation by
diving because of damage, per-
haps caused by heavy seas, to
the air induction systems in
their sails.
Numerous minor breakdowns
and accidents have also been
noted. An F-class submarine op-
erating in the vicinity of the
Quarantine Line near Cuba during
the 1962 crisis was unable to
submerge and was escorted back
to its home port by a rescue
tug. A W-class submarine on pa-
trol near Japan in early 1963
also was unable to submerge and
had to return to Soviet waters
on the surface. In early 1963
an F-class submarine en route
from the Baltic, where it was
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vlwo~ v.r
SOVIET SUBMARINE DAMAGE CONTROL TRAINING
Fire Fighting
Blocking Off a Leak in the Pressure Hull
UNUSUAL TWIN-HULL SALVAGE LIFTING SHIP AT KRONSHTADT, NEAR LENINGRAD
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NO FOREIGN DISSEM
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built, to the Northern Fleet
damaged its bow in a collision
with a Finnish merchant ship
and was forced to return to
Leningrad. In August 1963 a
submarine being towed into Nak-
hodka appeared, to an observer,
to have a rebuilt stern, possi-
bly the result of a collision.
Design and Damage Control
Photographs of damaged So-
viet submarines show that a
most vulnerable area is the
after section of the sail from
the deck to the snorkle exhaust.
Soviet designers may have re-
duced the cross bracing and the
thickness of the skin of the
sail too much in their efforts
to decrease topside weight.
Rescue and Salvage ships
The Soviets now have some
60 rescue and salvage tugs, sub-
marine rescue ships, and other
auxiliaries of this type. Most
of this fleet has been built or
converted since 1960, when the
Soviets began modifying deck
hatches on older submarines for
bell or chamber rescue opera-
tions. Best equipped for rescue
work is the 2,120-ton Prut-class
rescue ship which is equipped
with two diving chambers, two
rescue chambers, an observation
chamber, heavy mooring buoys,
and air compressors. Several
840-ton T-58 minesweepers have
also been converted to rescue
ships and equipped with a rescue
bell and a diving bell.
Buoyancy characteristics
of the W-class submarine have
been analyzed and it has been
determined that vessels of this
class can surface with one or
two of their six compartments
completely flooded. Other So-
viet submarine classes are es-
timated to have from five to
nine watertight compartments.
These too may be able to sur-
face with two compartments
flooded.
In general,Soviet damage-
control capabilities are compa-
rable to those of the US. The
Soviets probably can plug or
shore up several small punctures
in the pressure hulls of their
submarines while operating at
sea.
Rescue Training
Use of rescue equipment is
apparently a regular part of the
training program for Soviet sub-
mariners. Escape towers--high
structures resembling water tow-
ers--have been built at at least
one submarine school and appar-
ently on the hull of one sub-
marine at Leningrad and another
at Sevastopol. These allow crew
members to practice escape by
flooding one compartment, opening
a hatch, and floating or swimming
to the surface. Their breathing
apparatus consists of a close-
fitting rubber hood, an oxygen
cylinder, and a canister for ab-
sorbing carbon dioxide. Similar
equipment was used earlier by
the US and UK but has generally
been replaced by buoyant free-
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breathing hoods containing only
an initial charge of compressed
air.
Despite this individual
training, however, the USSR does
not subscribe wholeheartedly to
the British theory that trapped
submariners can best be saved
through their own efforts.
Rather, like the US, it tries
when possible to rescue person-
nel in rou s b use of divin
bells.
pointed
out last December that salvage
tugs and other support vessels
are always at sea in areas where
Soviet submarines are patrolling
and that rescue operations can
be conducted at depths down to
200 meters (656 feet). (SECRET
NO FOREIGN DISSEM)
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