Typhoon-class submarine
The Typhoon class, Soviet designation Project 941 "Akula" (), is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines designed and built by the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. With a submerged displacement of 48,000 tonnes, the Typhoons are the largest submarines ever built, able to accommodate comfortable living facilities for the crew of 160 when submerged for months on end. The source of the NATO reporting name remains unclear, although it is often claimed to be related to the use of the word "typhoon" ("тайфун") by General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev of the Communist Party in a 1974  speech while describing a new type of nuclear ballistic missile submarine, as a reaction to the United States Navy's new . The Russian Navy cancelled its Typhoon modernization program in March 2012, stating that modernizing one Typhoon would be as expensive as building two new s. With the announcement that Russia has eliminated the last R-39 Rif (SS-N-20 "Sturgeon") SLBMs in September 2012, only one Typhoon remained in service, "Dmitry Donskoy", which is armed with the more modern RSM-56 Bulava SLBM. It was still in service . Description. Besides their missile armament, the Typhoon class features six torpedo tubes designed  to handle RPK-2 (SS-N-15) missiles or Type 53 torpedoes. A Typhoon-class submarine can stay submerged for 120 days in normal conditions, and potentially more if deemed necessary (e.g., in the case of a nuclear war). Their primary weapons system is composed of 20 R-39 (NATO: SS-N-20) ballistic missiles (SLBM) with a maximum of 10 MIRV nuclear warheads each. Technically, Typhoons were able to deploy their long-range nuclear missiles while moored at their docks. Typhoon-class submarines feature multiple pressure hulls which simplifies internal design while making the vessel much wider than a normal submarine. In the  main body of the sub, two long pressure hulls lie parallel with a third, smaller pressure hull above them (which protrudes just below the sail), and two other pressure hulls for torpedoes and steering gear. This also greatly increases their survivability – even if one pressure hull is breached, the crew members in the other are safe and there is less potential for flooding. The Typhoon is capable of traveling at underwater. History. The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the Russian "Akula" class (Акула), meaning shark. It is sometimes confused with other submarines, as Akula is the name  NATO uses to designate the Russian Project 971 "Shchuka-B" (Щука-Б)-class attack submarines. The project was developed with the objective to match the SLBM armament of s, capable of carrying 192 nuclear warheads, 100 kt each, but with significantly longer range. To accommodate this increase in range, Soviet SLBMs were substantially larger and heavier than their American counterparts (the R-39 Rif is more than twice as heavy as the UGM-96 Trident I; it remains the heaviest SLBM to have been in service worldwide). The submarine had to be scaled accordingly. In the early 1990s, there were also proposals to  rebuild some of the Typhoon-class submarines to submarine cargo vessels for shipping oil, gas and cargo under polar ice to Russia's far flung northern territories. The submarines could take up to 10,000 tonnes of cargo on-board and ship it under the polar ice to tankers waiting in the Barents Sea. These ships – after the considerable engineering required to develop technologies to transfer oil from drilling platforms to the submarines, and later, to the waiting tankers – would then deliver their cargo world-wide. Six Typhoon-class submarines were built between 1976 and 1985. Originally, the submarines were designated  by hull numbers only. Names were later assigned to the four vessels retained by the Russian Navy, which were sponsored by either a city or company. The construction order for an additional vessel (hull number TK-210) was cancelled and never completed. Only the first of these submarines to be constructed, "Dmitriy Donskoy", is still in active service with the Russian Navy, serving as a test platform for the Bulava (SS-NX-32) missile. "Arkhangelsk" (TK-17) and "Severstal" (TK-20) remain in reserve, not currently active with the Russian fleet. All the R-39 missiles have been retired. The Typhoons have been replaced by  the Borei class since 2010-2011. In late December 2008, a senior Navy official announced that the two Typhoon-class submarines, TK-17 "Arkhangelsk" and TK-20 "Severstal", that are in reserve would not be rearmed with the new Bulava SLBM missile system. They could however be modified to carry cruise missiles or to lay mines, or could be used in special operations. In late June 2009, the Navy Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy told reporters that the two submarines would be reserved for possible future repairs and modernisation. In May 2010, the Navy Commander-in-Chief reported that Russia's  Typhoon-class submarines would remain in service with the Navy until 2019. In September 2011, the Russian defense ministry decided to write off all Project 941 "Akula" nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines until 2014. The reasons for decommissioning the Typhoon-class vessels are the restrictions imposed on Russia by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and successful trials of new Borei-class submarine. Despite being a replacement for many types of submarines, the Borei-class submarines are slightly shorter than the Typhoon class ( as opposed to ), and have a smaller crew (107 people as opposed to 160). These changes were in  part designed to reduce the cost to build and maintain the submarines. In addition, the United States and Canada provided 80% of funds for scrapping the older Typhoon-class submarines, making it much more economical to build a new submarine. However, according to other sources at the Russian defence ministry, no such decision has been made; in that case, the submarines would remain with the Russian Navy. In 2013, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency announced that the Navy would scrap two Typhoons, beginning in 2018. They were the TK-17 "Arkhangelsk" and TK-20 "Severstal". As of 2017, the decision  about the scrapping of TK-17 and TK-20 was still not certain. Timeline. TK-208 "Dmitriy Donskoy" (Typhoon #1) TK-17 "Arkhangelsk" (Typhoon #5) TK-20 "Severstal" (Typhoon #6) Notable appearances in media. Probably the best-known fictional Typhoon-class submarine is the stealth-equipped "Red October", the subject of the Tom Clancy novel "The Hunt for Red October" and its 1990 movie adaptation, starring Sean Connery as the fictional Captain Marko Ramius. The 2001 documentary "Mission Invisible" about the Russian submarine "Severstal" was produced by Corona Films for Discovery Channel with the participation of ZED, France 5, ZDF, RTBF, TV5 Monde and the  Scottish Screen Fund. In 2008 National Geographic released a documentary about the scrapping of one of the Typhoons in the series "Break It Down". This boat is TK-13, which was scrapped in 2007–2009.