Hotel class submarine
 
Hotel II-class submarine
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Hotel class |
| Builders: | Severodvinsk |
| Operators: |
 Soviet Navy
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| Preceded by: | November class |
| Succeeded by: | Yankee class |
| Completed: | 8 |
| Retired: | 8 |
| Preserved: | 0 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Nuclear submarine |
| Displacement: | Hotel II class : 5,500 long tons (5,588 t) submerged |
| Length: | 114 m (374 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 9.2 m (30 ft 2 in) |
| Draught: | 7.31 m (24 ft 0 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × pressurized water reactors, 2 shafts |
| Speed: |
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| Complement: | 104 |
| Armament: |
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The Hotel class is the general NATO classification for a type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine that was originally put into service by the Soviet Union around 1959. The Soviet designation was Project 658.
Development of the submarine, designed to carry the D-2 launch system and R-13 missiles, was approved on 26 August 1956. Work on the design began in September 1956, the technical project was completed in the first quarter of 1957.
The duties of the chief designer of Project 658 were originally assigned to the chief engineer of OKB-18, P.Z. Golosovskiy. In February 1958 project management was transferred to I.V. Mikhaylov, who in October 1958 had replaced S.N. Kovalev. From the outset the deputy of the chief designer was I.D. Spasskiy.
The Hotel design was based on the Project 627 November-class submarine, the first Soviet nuclear submarines. They were modified by adding the missile compartment from the Golf-class submarines. Additionally, the Hotels had small horizontal hydroplanes for better maneuverability, and more reliable electro-hydraulic command control surfaces for high-speed underwater operations with reduced noise.
The D-2 launch system on the Hotels placed three R-13 missiles in vertical containers directly behind the sail. The submarine had to be surfaced to launch, but all three missiles could be fired within 12 minutes of surfacing.
The first Hotel-class submarine, K-19, was laid down on 17 October 1958, and would be commanded by Captain Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev, only to suffer numerous setbacks and accidents. The last of the eight Hotel submarines was launched 1 April 1962. All of them were built at Severodvinsk State Shipyard 402 (now known as the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise - SEVMASH - in Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk) shipyardRussia.
Beginning in 1961 and ending in 1963, all Hotels but one (K-145) were equipped with the new D-4 launch system, which could launch missiles from a depth of 16 m (52 ft). The modified submarines received the NATO reporting name Hotel II. They were armed with R-21 (SS-N-5 Serb) missiles, with a range of 1,200 km (650 nmi). The installation of the D-4 launching system required some structural changes of the submarine; before launch, the launch tube had to be flooded. The chief designer of the modification was S.N. Kovalev.
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Wikipedia