At over 175 metres long, the world’s largest submarine is almost twice the length of a
standard rugby union pitch, but what’s it like to be inside, and how does it work?
The Dmitriy Donskoy is far narrower than it is long, at 25 metres,
but don’t be fooled by its streamlined design. This submarine can displace 48,000
tonnes of water - that’s over 19 Olympic sized swimming pools filled to the brim.
While it can carry a crew of 160 men at a maximum speed of 27 knots when submerged,
or 22 knots at the surface, it’s not built for traversing the world’s oceans. Instead, it’s built
to sit in hostile environments for months - think the Arctic Circle and you’re on the right tracks.
Power comes from a pair of OK-650 reactors,
which, unlike your car that almost certainly uses an engine or motor,
relies on splitting atoms’ nuclei. Fuel comes from 21-45% enriched uranium-235, and each
reactor produces 190 megawatts of thermal power. With a solar panel producing around 200 watts,
that’s about 1.9 million solar panels’ worth of power, assuming it’s a sunny day.
For car fans, that’s around 50,000 horsepower, or more than 300 modestly powered family hatchbacks.
It was first commissioned in 1980 and is the only remaining submarine of its type in service,
although two still sit on the side as reserves. Another three have been retired, while the seventh
of its type never made it to production. This single submarine is the oldest of the bunch,
with the others being built over the next decade. Its purpose was to defeat enemies during the Cold
War; an answer to America’s Ohio-class submarine, known locally as the Akula, which means shark.
The average ocean depth is over 3,600 metres, and the deepest section in the Mariana Trench is over
11,000 metres deep. You might be surprised that this submarine is only tested to 900 metres, then,
but that’s with good reason. Light struggles to reach these depths, making it almost invisible to
spot, but the pressure is over nine megapascals, or around 90 times that of the surface.
In 1990 Russia began re-work on this giant piece of engineering in a process that took
over a decade. It wasn’t until 2002 that it was relaunched, almost entirely rebuilt,
bringing it in line with modern standards and fitting it with the latest hardware.
It’s capable of launching ballistic missiles anywhere in the world, although this is very much
only used for practice purposes. There are no less than 20 launchers onboard for the RSM-56 Bulava
ballistic missile, which may sound like a bunch of jargon, but let me break that down for you.
Each missile measures around 12 metres in length and two metres in diameter,
weighing over 36 tonnes. It’s good for targets over 8,000 kilometres away.
In other words, it can almost scale the North Pacific Ocean,
reaching the coastline of Japan from the Western sands of California.
Other armament includes four 21-inch torpedo tubes and two 26-inch torpedo tubes.
To keep everything moving, the crews have completed many tests since its relaunch.
27 September 2005 saw the first Bulava missile test from the surface of the White Sea off the
North coast of Russia near to Finland. Its first underwater firing followed on 21 December 2005,
on the Kera Test Range on the far side of Russia.
A further, and this time failed, test in 2009 resulted in a spiralling blue light which was
spotted from Norway and Sweden. Captured in photographs, the people lucky enough to
have seen this said it looked like a blue light emanating from behind the mountains,
stopping mid-air before spiralling outwards. Lasting around 10 minutes,
and covering a large area of northern Norway, one of the country’s famous astronomers had
initially believed it to have been a never before seen variant of the Northern Lights.
2010 saw, once again, successful attempts at shooting targets back at the Kera Test Range.
While crews are trained to deal with immensely powerful weapons,
they’re also expected to live inside the submarine for long spells of time. After all, it’s capable
of staying submerged for 120 days if not more - that’s around four months. You might not expect
such a utilitarian vessel to be so lavishly equipped, but it’s no hostile environment.
Nicknamed the floating Hilton, because accommodation is so good, crews can expect
similar styles of luxury to ships that occupy the water’s surface. Wooden panels line many of
the walls, and plush padded chairs take the place of hard-wearing plastic alternatives.
The doorways are even fully sized, which is a real luxury in the military world.
It doesn’t stop there, though. On rest days,
or even on workdays, the crew can get a full workout in, using the onboard gym,
before taking a dip in the submarine’s indoor swimming pool - yes, an underwater swimming
pool! It might only be around 2 feet deep, but the pool is designed to help relax the workers,
and to provide them with a sense of familiarity. This is all before heading off to the sauna.
But this is soon to become history, as the typhoon class submarine makes way for
the newer, and smaller, Borei class. What this means is that Russia’s typhoon will
likely hold the title for the world’s largest submarine for many years yet,
even beyond its retirement which is set to be sometime during or after 2026.
Looking toward the future, plans have been submitted for another Russian-built
submarine that would absolutely dwarf the typhoon class submarine by comparison.
Twice the length, the suggested vessel is not intended to be a military vehicle,
but rather a transportation device for liquid natural gas under the Arctic ice.
There’s no word on the possibility, or feasibility,
of this yet, but one thing’s for sure. It would be almost immune to piracy,
making it one of the safest ways to carry expensive resources around the world.
If you had the chance, would you venture into the deep seas in a submarine like the typhoon
class Dmitriy Donskoy, or do you prefer to keep your feet safely grounded on terra firma?
Regardless, with or without its history as a military
vessel that has the capability of inflicting huge amounts of damage,
the world’s largest submarine is a sight to behold, and an extraordinary feat of engineering.