Brief Operational History

The Foxtrot submarine is a diesel-electric long range patrol submarine first built in 1958 to replace the older Whiskey and Zulu class boats.  They have since become the most widely produced class of submarine in the world.  They are larger than the Zulu class, but are fitted with the less powerful engines of the Golf class.   Despite this they have somewhat better performance than their predecessor.  The Foxtrot is divided into three sub-types that differ only in powerplant.  The last version of these is believed to have been used as a prototype for the Tango class submarine.

The Foxtrot became one of the most successful Soviet submarines and have been seen on patrol all over the world.  Since 1968 the Foxtrot has been sold or given to a variety of friendly countries.  Three Soviet fleets operated Foxtrots, and both the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean squadrons have Foxtrots attached to them.  As of 1984 there were 28 of these boats with the Northern fleet, 5 with the Baltic fleet, and 27 in the Pacific fleet.  The Soviets also kept 15 boats in the Northern and Pacific reserve.  They are still in service with the Russian Republic.

The Foxtrot class has not been free of problems however, the first accident was a collision with the Italian liner Angelino Lauro in the Bay of Naples on 10 January 1970.  Some time later the submarine was seen at a Soviet anchorage in Morocco with 26 feet of its bow damaged.  A second Foxtrot was also involved in an accident shortly after.

It can carry either 22 of the 533mm (21 inch) torpedoes or up to 44 AMD-1000 ground mines.  They are also capable of using the standard 533mm (21 inch) nuclear anti-shipping torpedo with a 15 kiloton yield.

Foxtrots in foreign service included eight given to India (the first foreign recipient) between 1968 and 1975.  Cuba received three boats between 1979 and 1984.  The Cuban versions have lower grade electronics and weapons kits, but the Indian versions are identical to the Soviet models.

Tactical Use and Limitations

The Foxtrot submarines are traditional ocean patrol submarines that were intended to interdict advancing warships and cut of the sea lanes in the event of war.  The boats would also patrol designated areas far from the Soviet coast line forming a defensive barrier.  In either of these roles the submarines would hunt down and destroy hostile submarines (particularly ballistic missile boats) and surface ships.  When armed with nuclear tipped torpedoes the submarine would also have been effective against hostile carrier battle groups. 

Foxtrots were an improvement over the Zulu, Whiskey, and Romeo classes in that it offered a greater patrol range.  Its 'Herkules' sonar array was of particular importance as it was a marked improvement over the earlier Soviet detection systems.

Still the submarine has a number of limitations.  Like many Soviet submarines of the era the Foxtrot was considered to be very loud when compared to Western boats or the later nuclear powered submarines.  The boats also can not operate for as long as their nuclear powered counterparts which came on line in the early 1960's.  The Foxtrot has a submerged non-snorkeling endurance of five to seven days if it operates at very slow speeds (1-2 knots) which does not compare well with nuclear powered boats.

Deployment Chronology

Here you can see what submarines the Foxtrot replaced and what submarine eventually replaced it.  You can find out more about these submarines by clicking on the links below.   It should be noted that although the Foxtrot was replaced by the more modern Tango class, it served alongside them for many years.

Sources Cited

There have been many books published regarding Russian and Soviet submarines.  We have listed a few of the most informative sources available to us in this section.  They were all used in compiling the information on this page and should be available at your local library.  We hope you can find them as useful as we have.

• Soviet Submarines - Design, Development, and Tactics, by Jan Breemer, published by Jane's Information Group, Surrey, United Kingdom, 1989

• The Encyclopedia of World Sea Power, Edited by Chris Bishop, published by Crescent Books, New York, 1988

• Russian Military Power,  Edited by Ray Bonds, published by Bonanza Books, New York, 1982