History of the Anchar Papa Class Russian Submarine
The Anchar - The fastest submarine ever built
Soviet submarine K-162 was the only vessel of the Soviet
Union's Project 661 Anchar nuclear-powered attack submarine design, best known
in the West by its NATO reporting name Papa class. K-162,
which was renamed K-222 in 1978.[1]
The Papa class was designed as an extremely fast attack submarine
equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles. Its design included ten SS-N-9 missiles in individual tubes forward of the sail,
between the inner and outer hulls which were of titanium alloy. It is
regarded as a predecessor to the Alfa class submarine, and the single submarine of
the Papa class may have tested technologies which were later used in the
Alfa class.
K-222 was laid down on December 28, 1963, and commissioned on December 31, 1969, at Severodvinsk.
She was assigned to the Soviet Red
Banner Northern Fleet for the duration of her career. She was the
world's fastest submarine, reaching a record speed of 44.7 knots (82.8
km/h) on trials. However, that speed came at the price of high costs
during construction, and both excessive noise and significant damage to
external hull features when used.
On September 30, 1980, one of the nuclear reactors of the K-222 was
damaged during maintenance in the shipyard. By 1988 the submarine was
placed in reserve storage, moored at the Belomorsk Naval Base in Severodvinsk.
The boat will be dismantled at Sevmash,
the only facility capable of handling the titanium hull. Dismantling of
this unique sub started on 05 Mar 2010
