Charlie-class submarine


The Project 670 Skat submarine was a nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine built for the Soviet Navy and later operated by the Russian Navy. All Charlie I/II-class submarines are decommissioned. One Charlie-class submarine was used for testing an Oniks missile. Charlie I and its successor Charlie II-class submarines are designed by the Lazurit Central Design Bureau of Gorky.

Background

The Charlie I-class submarine SSGN was first launched at the Krasnoye Sormovo inland shipyard at Gorkiy in 1967 with another ten following over a period of five years. The Charlie Is had two banks of four missile tubes angled upwards on each side of the bow outside the pressure hull. The tubes were covered by large outer doors and the design was to incorporate the P-120 Malakhit medium-range anti-ship missile. Due to delays in the missile development, the missile was substituted with the shorter range P-70 Ametist submerged launch missile which itself was a development of the P-15 Termit surface-launched missile. The missiles were designed for pop up surprise attacks on high value surface targets such as aircraft carriers.
In 1972 to 1979, six improved units called the Project 670M Skat-M were built. The improved Charlie IIs were built at Gorkiy with an insert in the hull forward of the fin. The insert incorporated electronics and launch systems for targeting and firing of the longer range P-120 Malakhit anti-ship missile.
The Charlie Is and IIs returned to port for reload once they had expended their missile payloads. However, the Charlie classs secondary armament of torpedoes and sonar systems provided useful anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare capabilities in addition to their missile launch capabilities.
The last Charlie was retired in 1994. While still operational, one unit of the class was leased to the Indian Navy between 1988 and 1991, mainly for India to gain experience in the operations of a nuclear submarine.

Boats

All boats were scrapped between 1990 and 1994.
#ShipyardLaid downLaunchedCommissionedFleetStatus
leased to India as ChakraKrasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyMay 9, 1964August 2, 1966November 5, 1967to Pacific Decommissioned July 30, 1992 for scrapping
from January 15, 1978 K-212Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyFebruary 6, 1965March 20, 1968December 28, 1968to Pacific Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyDecember 2, 1965July 31, 1968December 30, 1968NorthernDecommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyNovember 25, 1966April 29, 1969October 31, 1969to Pacific Decommissioned June 30, 1992 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyJuly 14, 1966July 16, 1969December 16, 1969to Pacific Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyDecember 29, 1967February 19, 1970September 20, 1970to Pacific Decommissioned July 30, 1992 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyApril 30, 1968March 27, 1971September 15, 1971to Pacific Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyJanuary 17, 1969July 11, 1970December 1, 1970to Pacific Decommissioned June 30, 1992 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiySeptember 6, 1969June 4, 1971November 5, 1971to Pacific Decommissioned June 24, 1991 for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyJanuary 26, 1971April 22, 1972September 15, 1972to Pacific Decommissioned for scrapping
Krasnoye Sormovo, GorkiyNovember 16, 1971September 1972December 26, 1972to Pacific Decommissioned April 19, 1990 for scrapping