Foxtrot-class submarine

Foxtrot class

A Cuban Foxtrot underway
Class overview
Builders:	Sudomekh, Leningrad
Operators:	Soviet Navy /  Russian Navy  Libyan Navy  Cuban Revolutionary Navy  Indian Navy  Polish Navy  Ukrainian Navy
Preceded by:	Zulu-class submarine
Succeeded by:	Tango-class submarine
Built:	1957–1983
In service:	1958–2014
In commission:	1958–2003
Completed:	74
Lost:	1
Preserved:	7
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	1,952 long tons (1,983 t) surfaced 2,475 long tons (2,515 t) submerged
Length:	89.9 m (294 ft 11 in)
Beam:	7.4 m (24 ft 3 in)
Draft:	5.9 m (19 ft 4 in)
Propulsion:	3 × Kolomna 2D42M 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) diesel engines 3 × Electric motors, two 1,350 hp (1,010 kW) and one 2,700 hp (2,000 kW) 1 × 180 hp (130 kW) auxiliary motor 3 shafts, each with 6-bladed propellers
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h) surfaced 15 knots (28 km/h) submerged 9 knots (17 km/h) snorkeling
Range:	20,000 nmi (37,000 km) at 8 kn (15 km/h) surfaced 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) snorkeling 380 nmi (700 km) at 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged
Endurance:	3-5 days submerged
Test depth:	246–296 m (807–971 ft)
Complement:	12 officers, 10 warrants, 56 seamen
Armament:	10 × torpedo tubes (6 bow, 4 stern) 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.

Silhouette of a Foxtrot Submarine

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 keel was laid down in 1957 and commissioned in 1958 and the last was completed in 1983. A total of 58 were built for the Soviet Navy at the Sudomekh division of the Admiralty Shipyard (now Admiralty Wharves), St. Petersburg.^[1] Additional hulls were built for other countries.

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. Also, although the Foxtrot was larger than a Zulu class submarine, the Foxtrot class had 2 of its 3 decks dedicated to batteries. This gave it an underwater endurance of 10 days, but the weight of the batteries made the Foxtrot's average speed a slow 2 knots at its maximum submerged time capability. Due to the batteries taking up 2 decks, onboard conditions were crowded with space being relatively small even when compared to older submarines such as the much older American Balao-class submarine. 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,^[2] units were scrapped and disposed of for museum purposes.^[3] During the division of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, in 1997 one Foxtrot class submarine (later renamed as Zaporizhzhia) was passed to Ukraine as it was not operational since 1991. The ship never effectively served in the Ukrainian Navy and was under repair. In 2005 Ukrainian Ministry of Defence wanted to sell it, but was unsuccessful. Following successful post-repair trials in June 2013, it was recognised as operational.^[4] However on March 22, 2014 it was surrendered to or captured by Russia as part of the Russian annexation of Crimea.^[5] Russia decided not to accept it due to its age and operational unsuitability. Its subsequent status was unknown.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Foxtrots played a central role in some of the most dramatic incidents of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Navy deployed four Foxtrot submarines to Cuba. US Navy destroyers dropped practice depth charges near Foxtrot subs near Cuba in efforts to force them to surface and be identified. Three of the four Foxtrot submarines were forced to surface, one eluded US forces.^[1]

Units

Following is a list of the 58 submarines built during the Soviet Project 641.

A museum ship, INS Kursura S20.^[6]

Inside a Foxtrot museum ship

Torpedo room of a Foxtrot museum ship

Opened torpedo tube in a Foxtrot

Control room of a Foxtrot museum ship

Operators

Most saw service in the Soviet Navy. Foxtrots were also built for the Indian Navy (eight units, from 1967 to 1974), Libyan (six units, from 1978 to 1980), and Cuban (six units, from 1978 to 1983) navies. Some Soviet Foxtrots later saw service in the Polish and Ukrainian navies.

• Soviet Navy (passed on to successor states)
• Russian navy (ex–Soviet Navy)
• Indian Navy Variants known as the Kalvari class, now decommissioned (INS Kursura converted into a museum)^[7]
• Libyan Navy 6 units (2 left but probably abandoned)^[8]
• Cuban Navy 6 units
• 

  A Libyan foxtrot
  Polish Navy 2 units (ex–Soviet Navy)
  • ORP Wilk (1987–2003)
  • ORP Dzik (1988–2003)
• Ukrainian Navy 1 unit (Zaporizhzhia), has been taken over by Russian forces during the 2014 Crimean crisis.

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, United States.
• B-143 at the Seafront Maritime Theme Park in Zeebrugge, Belgium. (to be scrapped in 2019) ^[9]
• B-413 at Kaliningrad, Russia.
• B-427 at the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, United States.
• B-440 at Vytegra, a port on the Volga–Baltic Waterway in Russia.^[10]
• U-475 Black Widow at Strood, Kent, United Kingdom
• Indian Foxtrot submarine INS Kursura S20 at the Rama Krishna Beach, Visakhapatnam, India.

References

• Miller, David (2002). The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 1-84065-375-2.
• А.Б. Широкорад: Советские подводные лодки послевоенной постройки (A.B. Shirokorad: Sowjet Submarines built after WWII) Moscow, 1997, ISBN 5-85139-019-0 (Russian)
• Y. Apalkow: Корабли ВМФ СССР. Многоцелевые ПЛ и ПЛ спецназначания ("Ships of the USSR - Multi-purpose submarines and Special submarines"), St Petersburg, 2003, ISBN 5-8172-0069-4 (Russian)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Foxtrot class submarines.

• https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/641.htm
• https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/index.html
• HNSA Ship Page: Soviet B-413
• Foxtrot Class Submarines - Complete Ship List (English)
• Project 641 at deepstorm.ru (Russian)
• Photos and history of the submarine Foxtrot in Rochester UK