Submarines: Akula On Fire

Strategy Page ^ | November 13, 2006 | Strategy Page Staff

[texas booster]

On November 2nd, a Russian Akula (Bars, in Russian) nuclear attack submarine caught fire while undergoing refurbishment in a north (Arctic) coast shipyard. The sub did not have any nuclear fuel aboard. The fire started when a welder's torch ignited some rags, which quickly spread to temporary wood planking, laid down to protect the compartment floor during reconstruction. The fire spread quickly, and the workers fled. The compartment was no longer airtight, because of the construction work, so sealing it off did not work. Eventually water and foam had to be used. Several firemen were injured from toxic fumes, created when the fire reached plastic material in open cable conduits.

The Akulas are large boats, displacing about 10,000 tons on the surface, and carry twelve Granat (SS-N-21) cruise missiles, which have a 3,000 kilometer range and usually contain a nuclear warhead. It is a recent design, and one of the quietist in the Russian fleet. The damaged boat, the K-317 "Panther", previously had a captain who received an award for staying on the tail of a U.S. SSBN for 150 hours straight in the late 1990s. The K-317 has been in service for fifteen years.

[texas booster]

... previously had a captain who received an award for staying on the tail of a U.S. SSBN for 150 hours straight in the late 1990s ...

Staying a week on one of our boomers tail?

Any experts shed any light on this?

[RexBeach]

That sounds like a lot of baloney. I know Akulas are fast and quiet, but a week tailing a boomer undetected?

[Brad from Tennessee]

Link below talks about the decrepit condition of Russian submarine fleet and other issues:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060301faessay85204/keir-a-lieber-daryl-g-press/the-rise-of-u-s-nuclear-primacy.html

[DCBryan1]

Bullshit, unless the "tailing" was using a periscope to observe a boomer at port....also HIGHLY doubtful.

[stevie_d_64]

Akula's...Large???

What edition of Jane's did they look at???

Granet's are torpedo tube launched cruise missles...Just like the harpoon, and tomahawks...

The author's must be confusing this sub with a russian "boomer" type boat...

Akula's are their small, super-fast, small crewed, attack types...I don't think they built too many of them, probably only about 11-12, each with a little improvement on the predecessor...

Geesh, they can't get it right even if they tried...

Maybe thats the plan...Knowing the real experts are out here seeing through the BS, and reading between the lines...

Oh well another one bites the dust...

As for the tracking boast???

I seriously doubt a boomer, who has a sting itself, in real life would have allowed 150 hours of tracking on itself...

Akula or not...It would have been easily dealt with...

And they know it...

[rjones0604]

Notice that the report didn't say the boat had trailed one of our boomers, but rather the captain had...
I'm a former submarine sonar tech (1971-1975); served on a fast-attack and a boomer. I've tried to stay on top of submarine developments since I got out. That being said, it's difficult to imagine any soviet nuclear boat being able to track one of our boomers for that long of a time and remain undetected. Now, a Russian diesel boat might be able to detect one of our nucs, but that would require the diesel boat to be 'running on the batteries' and not using its diesel. I doubt it could remain running on its batteries and still keep up with a boomer for 150 hours; boomers on patrol typically run slow (3 knots or so) but maintaining 3 knots on a diesel boat for 150 hours seems a bit much.

Rob

[DCBryan1]

Check out the following website:

MAP with descriptions:
http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=64576159&x=39806503&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2

Coordinates: 64°34'35"N 39°48'18"E

[Nathan Zachary]

"The fire started when a welder's torch ignited some rags, which quickly spread to temporary wood planking, laid down to protect the compartment floor during reconstruction. The fire spread quickly, and the workers fled."

Oops. No monthy wages for you, Yuri.

[GOPJ]

Notice that the report didn't say the boat had trailed one of our boomers, but rather the captain had...

What's the difference?

[rjones0604]

The difference is that a different type of submarine might be able to detect (and possibly trail) one of our nucs, but it's highly unlikely that a soviet nuc boat would be able to pull this off. Nuc boats (especially soviets) make a decent amount of 'threshold level' noise as long as the primary plant (the reactor and its associated support systems) are up and running, making it very difficult for them to sneak up on us. If the captain of the boat in the article had previously be the CO of a diesel boat, he might have been able to detect one of our boomers, but I seriously doubt he could track it for 150 hours.

Rob

[Billthedrill]

There's two "Akulas," one that we code-named that (it means "shark" in Russian) and one that the Russians did. Different boats. The earlier one was an attack boat, this one's a boomer. Confusing as all git out.

On my wall I have a beautiful picture of one of the earlier ones broaching - can't say how I got it but it was pretty exciting.

[GulfBreeze]

I'm getting visions of Steve Martin as Inspector Crusoe when he was interviewing the Russian.

[theFIRMbss]

>and the workers fled

But probably not far enough to miss out on a special bonus . . .

[Freelance Warrior]

(1) That was not an "Akula" (Bars) but Victor III multi-role nuclear-powered submarine(NATO classification). The Russian name for the submarine is "Project 671 RTM" or "Shchuka" (pike-fish)

(2) The submarine wasn't been refurbished, but being desassempbled for utilisation on the program "Global partnership". The works were done on Canada's account

(3) Russian sources claim that was a "volume fire of diesel fuel vapors"

(4) This class of submarines was manufactured in 1975-1995. Interesting facts on it's service:

• 1985, spying on the US frigate "McCloy" (name needs checking) which gave the USSR info on US-made hauled anti-submarine detectors.

• participating in the operations "Aport" and "Atrina" in the North Atlantic

• 1985, "simulated attack" (don't know the details) on the US carrier "America" in the Atlantic.

(5) Photos of the submarine where the fire was:

The sources ar in Russian, to be named on demand.

[texas booster]

Great sleuthing. I was reading Strategy Page and, as we FReepers do, copied it blindly expecting that Strategy Page had already vetted the story for accuracy.

I googled for Russian submarine fires and was amazed. It seems that Russian subs catch fire faster than the kindling at my fall bonfires.

Lets face it. Newspapers types are either: overworked or lazy. They cut n' paste faster than we do. One faulty story can race across the world on AP or Reuters and never be corrected or updated.

However, I found several stories that included the line:

... The Akula-class nuclear submarine K-317 "Panther" was docked at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region ...

That is a pretty specific descriptor. Are you sure that your picture is not of the K-414 Daniil Moskovky, that caught fire on Sept 7th, or another Victor III sub?

[Freelance Warrior]

Sorry, that was my fault, not the Strategy Page's. The mentioned fire happened a year ago. As for the "Strategy page" story, I found a Russian report that was the source.

I'll post a photo of the sub at sea from it

[sukhoi-30mki]

Akulas are much more larger than corresponding Western SSNs due to their double hull construction.The Granits weigh about 9 times heavier than the Harpoon & about 5 times more than the Tomahawk & can only be launched via 650mm torpedo tubes(unlike the 533mm for the American weapons) or VLS.

[webheart]

Lets face it. Newspapers types are either: overworked or lazy. They cut n' paste faster than we do. One faulty story can race across the world on AP or Reuters and never be corrected or updated.

That is a very sage statement, or should I say, "understatement." The fact of the matter is that very many faulty stories can and do race around the world, and are accepted as fact instantly, never having been proven or disproven, and never challenged. Then, the same stories are used to buttress further stories, ad infinitum, to the point where the stories are not even news, but opinion containing some fact. It really is a sad state of affairs. But I digress....

[r9etb]

The fire started when a welder's torch ignited some rags, which quickly spread to temporary wood planking, laid down to protect the compartment floor during reconstruction. The fire spread quickly....

There's horse manure oozing out of this account. A burning rag simply will not ignite planks into an unquenchable inferno, unless there's something really flammable (oil, for example) on or around the planks.

I wonder what the real story is.

[r9etb]

Russian sources claim that was a "volume fire of diesel fuel vapors"

Makes a lot more sense than the "burning rag on planks" version.