Soviet submarine K - 222 Soviet submarine " K - 162 was the world ' s fastest submarine . The first submarine constructed with a titanium hull , she was the only vessel of the Soviet Union ' s Project 661 " Anchar nuclear - powered attack submarine design . The boat is best known in the West by its NATO reporting name Papa class . " K - 162 " was renamed K - 222 in 1978 . Design . This project was intentionally forced to be highly innovative , as it was forbidden to reuse the past technical solutions . While enforcing innovation , this also slowed the development . Project 661 began in 1959 , with design task assigned to OKB - 16 , one of the two predecessors ( the other being SKB - 143 ) of the famous Malachite Central Design Bureau , which would eventually become one of the three Soviet / Russian submarine design centers , along with Rubin Design Bureau and Lazurit Central Design Bureau ( " Lazurit " is the Russian word for lazurite ) . " K - 222 " was designed as an extremely fast attack submarine , and was the first submarine built with a titanium hull . She was armed with 10 SS - N - 7 Starbright ( П - 70 « Аметист » ) missiles in individual tubes forward of the sail , between the inner and outer hulls , which were both of titanium alloy . Similar in design to the Charlie class submarine , " K - 222 " was designed to intercept and attack aircraft carrier groups . Like the Charlie class and the later Oscar class submarine s , her cruise missiles could only be reloaded in port , making her one of the Soviet Navy ' s " one shot " boats . " K - 222 " had two water - water reactors , designed to be as compact as possible . Unusually , there were no diesel generators , using the powerful battery as the emergency power source . She is regarded as a predecessor to the Alfa and Sierra classes , and may have tested technologies which were later used in those classes . History . " 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 submerged speed of on trials . Her unofficial maximum speed , reached 30 March 1971 , is . However , " K - 222 " s high speed came at the price of high costs during construction , and both excessive noise and significant damage to external hull features when used . Though officially named , within the Soviet Navy the boat was commonly referred to as the " Golden Fish " , in reference to her cost of development and construction . On September 30 , 1980 , one of " K - 222 " s nuclear reactors was damaged during maintenance in the shipyard . By 1988 , she was placed in reserve at the Belomorsk Naval Base in Severodvinsk . Beginning on 5 March 2010 the boat was dismantled at Sevmash , the only facility capable of handling the titanium hull . In an unusual move , the scrapping was performed with the reactors and nuclear fuel still on board , as no provisions had been made in the design for the reactor ' s removal . The scrapping also began before the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( EBRD ) chose an international consultant for the fuel ' s unloading . K - 222 in Popular Culture . A Submarine Class Papa is named in the Tom Clancy novel Red Storm Rising : " Two propellers , cruise missiles , quick as a thief " engaged in offensive operations against a NATO convoy .