The Soviet Navy's Project 651 (NATO reporting name: Juliett) was a class of Soviet diesel-electric cruise-missile submarines. They were designed in the late 1950s to provide them with a nuclear strike capability against targets along the east coast of the United States and enemy combatants (aircraft carriers). The head of the design team was Abram Samuilovich Kassatsier. They carried four nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a range of approximately , which could be launched while the submarine was surfaced and moving less than . Once surfaced, the first missile could be launched in about five minutes; subsequent missiles would follow within about ten seconds each. Initially, the missiles were the inertially-guided P-5 (NATO reporting name SS-N-3c Shaddock). When submarine-launched ballistic missiles rendered the P-5s obsolescent, they were replaced with the P-6 (also NATO reporting name SS-N-3a Shaddock, though a very different missile) designed to attack aircraft carriers. A special 10 m2 target guidance radar was built into the forward edge of the sail structure, which opened by rotating. One boat was eventually fitted with the Kasatka satellite downlink for targeting information to support P-500 4K-80 "Bazalt" (SS-N-12 Sandbox) anti-ship cruise missiles. The Juliett class had a low magnetic signature austenitic steel double hull, covered by thick black tiles made of sound-absorbing hard rubber.

Background and description In the late 1950s, the Soviet Navy was tasked to neutralize American bases and aircraft carriers. It began construction of a large number of expensive nuclear-powered (s) to accomplish this, but could not build enough nuclear reactors to equip them promptly. Even though the Juliett class was inferior to the Echos, it was ordered into production because it did not require resources needed for the nuclear boats.Friedman, p. 344; Vilches Alarcón, pp. 13–14

The Juliett-class boats are a double-hulled design that displaces on the surface and submerged. The boats have an overall length of , a beam of and a draft of . The Julietts have a test depth of and a design depth of . The prominent blast deflectors cut out of the outer hull behind the missile launchers make the submarines very noisy at high speed. Their crew numbered 78 men.Pavlov, p. 60; Vilches Alarcón, p. 13

Propulsion and performance The Juliett class is powered by a diesel-electric system that consists of two 1D43 diesel engines and a pair of MG-141 electric motors for cruising on the surface. Two additional electric motors are intended for slow speeds underwater and are powered by four banks of lead-acid battery cells that are recharged by a 1DL42 diesel generator. The boats are fitted with a retractable snorkel to allow the diesel engines to operate while underwater.Hampshire, p. 24

On the surface, the submarines have a maximum speed of . Using their diesel-electric system while snorkeling gives the Julietts a range of at . Using just the electric motors underwater, they have a maximum range of at . Their best submerged speed on electric motors is , although it reduces their range to . They could carry enough supplies for 90 days of operation.Pavlov, p. 60Friedman, p. 402

Armament To carry out the Julietts' mission of destroying American carrier battle groups and bases, they were fitted with two pairs of missile launchers, one each fore and aft of the sail. The launchers were used by the surface-launched SS-N-3 Shaddock family of long-range, turbojet-powered, cruise missiles. The P-5D version was codenamed SS-N-3c by NATO and was a dedicated land-attack missile that could be equipped with either a high-explosive or nuclear warhead; it was withdrawn from service in 1965–1966. The P-6 (SS-N-3a) variant was a radar-guided anti-ship missile that could also be fitted with high-explosive and nuclear warheads.Vilches Alarcón, pp. 12, 18, 22; Polmar & Noot, p. 289

The more traditional armament of the Julietts consisted of six torpedo tubes mounted in the bow and four torpedo tubes in the stern. Due to space limitations, no reloads were provided for the bow tubes, but each stern tube had two reloads for a total of twelve.

Fire control and sensors

The submarines relied upon aircraft for their long-range anti-ship targeting which they received via the Uspekh-U datalink system. Their own Argument missile-guidance radar (NATO reporting name: Front Door) controlled the P-6 missiles until they were out of range via a datalink codenamed Front Piece. The missiles' onboard radar would detect the targets and transmit an image back to the submarine via video datalink so the crew could select which target to attack, after which the missile relied upon its own radar for terminal guidance. The Argument radar has a massive antenna that was stowed at the front of the sail and rotated 180° for use. The Front Piece antenna was mounted on top of the Argument antenna.Polmar & Moore, p. 97; Hampshire, pp. 26–27

The boats are fitted with Artika-M (MG-200) and Herkules (MG-15) sonars, Feniks-M (MG-10) and MG-13 hydrophones and an Albatros RLK-50 search radar (NATO reporting name: Snoop Tray). They are also equipped with a Nakat-M Electronic warfare support measures system.Hampshire, p. 25

Initial plans called for 35 submarines of this class but only 16 were built, two - including the lead sub, by the Baltic Shipyard, St. Petersburg and the rest by the Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard in Nizhny Novgorod. They were commissioned between 1963 and 1968 and served through the 1980s. The last one was decommissioned in 1994.

The Juliett class was built due to expected delays in the continued production of the nuclear-powered Project 659 s and 675 s, with six and eight missile launchers, respectively. The Julietts were designed after the Echos.

Units + Construction dataNameShipyardLaid downLaunchedCommissionedFateK-156Baltic Shipyard, LeningradNovember 16, 1960July 31, 1962December 10, 1963Decommissioned September 1991 for scrappingKorabli VMF SSSR, Vol. 1, Part 2, Yu. Apalkov, Sankt Peterburg, 2003, K-85October 25, 1961January 31, 1964December 30, 1964Decommissioned for scrappingK-70Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard, GorkyAugust 25, 1962February 6, 1964December 31, 1964Decommissioned in 1994 for scrappingK-24October 15, 1961December 15, 1962October 31, 1965Decommissioned in 1994, sold to Germany as maritime museum exhibit, displayed as "U-461" at Peenemünde.K-68January 25, 1962April 30, 1963December 28, 1965Decommissioned in 1990 for scrappingK-77January 31, 1963March 11, 1965October 31, 1965Decommissioned in April 1992 and sold as museum exhibit in U.S. Sank after a storm in 2007 and subsequently scrapped.K-81November 20, 1963August 7, 1964December 14, 1965Decommissioned in 1994 for scrappingK-63March 25, 1962July 26, 1963June 12, 1966Decommissioned in September 1991 for scrappingK-58July 15, 1963February 2, 1966September 23, 1966Decommissioned 1990 for scrappingK-73August 1, 1964May 31, 1966December 15, 1966Decommissioned in 1990 for scrappingK-67January 31, 1965October 29, 1966September 30, 1967Decommissioned in 1994 for scrappingK-78July 25, 1965March 30, 1967November 1, 1967Decommissioned in September 1991 for scrappingK-203December 23, 1965June 30, 1967December 2, 1967Decommissioned in September 1992 for scrappingK-304August 6, 1966November 24, 1967August 21, 1968Decommissioned in September 1991 for scrappingK-318March 29, 1967March 29, 1968September 29, 1968Decommissioned in 1994 for scrappingK-120March 25, 1967July 11, 1968December 26, 1968Decommissioned in April 1991 for scrapping

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External links

article in English from FAS Article in Russian