Foxtrot class submarine
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 Cuban Foxtrot underway |
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| Career |  |
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| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1952 tons surfaced, 2475 tons submerged |
| Length: | 89.9 m (299 feet 6 inches) |
| Beam: | 7.4 m (24 feet 7 inches) |
| Draft: | 5.9 m (19 feet 6 inches) |
| Powerplant: | three Kolomna 2D42M 2000 hp diesel engines, three electric motors; two 1350 hp and one 2700 hp, one 180 hp auxiliary motor |
| Propulsion: | three propeller shafts, each with six bladed propellers |
| Speed: | 16 knots surfaced, 15 knots (28 km/h) submerged, 9 knots (17 km/h) snorkeling |
| Range: | 20,000 nautical miles (40,000 km) surfaced at 8 knots (15 km/h), 11,000 miles (17,700 km) snorkeling, 380 miles (612 km) submerged at 2 knots (4 km/h) |
| Endurance: | three to five days submerged |
| Depth: | 246-296 meters (820-985 ft) |
| Complement: | 12 officers, 10 midshipmen, 56 seamen |
| Armament: | 6 bow torpedo tubes and 4 stern torpedo tubes; up to 22 torpedoes |
The Foxtrot class was the NATO reporting name of a class of diesel-electric patrol submarines that were built in the Soviet Union. The Soviet designation of this class was Project 641.
The Foxtrot class was designed to replace the earlier Zulu class, which suffered from structural weaknesses and harmonic vibration problems that limited its operational depth and submerged speed. The first Foxtrot was laid down in 1957 and commissioned in 1958 and the last was completed in 1983. A total of 60 were built. The manufacturer was Sudomekh, just outside Leningrad, now St. Petersburg.[1]
The Foxtrot class was comparable in performance and armament to most contemporary designs. However, its three screws made it noisier than most Western designs. Moreover, the Foxtrot class was one of the last designs introduced before the adoption of the teardrop hull, which offered much better underwater performance. The Foxtrot class was completely obsolete by the time the last submarine was launched. The Russian Navy retired its last Foxtrots between 1995 and 2000[1], although some may still be in service with other nations.
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[edit] Cuban Missile Crisis
Foxtrots played a central role in some of the most dramatic incidents of the Cuban Missile Crisis. US Navy destroyers dropped Practice Depth Charges near Foxtrot subs near Cuba in efforts to force them to surface and be identified. The US Navy was not aware that these submarines were carrying torpedoes equipped with nuclear warheads. On B-59, the Captain, believing that a war might already be in progress, ordered a nuclear torpedo armed for use; apparently two other high-ranking officers on board, notably Vasiliy Arkhipov, calmed him down.
[edit] Operators
Most saw service in the Soviet Navy. Foxtrots were also built for the Indian (8 units, from 1967 to 1974), Libyan (6 units, from 1978 to 1980), and Cuban (3 units, from 1978 to 1983) navies. Some Soviet Foxtrots later saw service in the Polish, North Korean and Ukrainian navies.
- Soviet Navy (passed on to succesor states)
- Russian navy (ex-Soviet Navy)
- Indian Navy 8 units
- Libyan Navy 6 units
- Cuban Navy 3 units
- Ukrainian Navy (ex-Soviet Navy)
- North Korean Navy
- Polish Navy 2 units (ex-Soviet Navy)
- ORP Wilk (1987-2003)
- ORP Dzik (1988-2003)
[edit] On Display
Several Foxtrots are on display as museums around the world, including:
- B-39 at the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego, California.
- B-143 at the Seafront Maritime Theme Park in Zeebrugge, Belgium.
- B-427 at the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.
- Indian Foxtrot submarine INS Kursura S20 at the Rama Krishna Beach, Visakhapatnam.
- B-413 at Kaliningrad
[edit] In Popular Culture
- In the Stargate SG-1 Season 4 premiere "Small Victories," Replicators take over a Russian Foxtrot.
- In the sci-fi miniseries The Triangle a Foxtrot sub used for a search mission.
[edit] References
- Miller, David (2002). The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 1-84065-375-2.
[edit] External links
- http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/641.htm
- http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/index.html
- http://www.cybermodeler.com/naval/foxtrot/foxtrot.shtml
- HNSA Ship Page: Soviet B-413
[edit] Gallery
Some pictures of a Foxtrot class submarine in front of Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.
 General view |
 Detail |
B-39 at the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego, California
 B-39 at dockside in San Diego |
 Sail, periscopes, and masts of B-39. The lower "windows" are the hydrophones of her sonar system. |
 Stern view |
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