History and Deployment of the Project 705/Alfa class submarine

In the 1950's submarine designers in the United States and the Soviet Union began discussing the concept of the 'interceptor' submarine. Such a submarine would be able engage enemy shipping and then evade enemy torpedoes by traveling at high speeds and diving to depths that torpedoes could not reach. The United States eventually abandoned the concept in favor of slower, quieter submarines, but the idea appealed to the naval theorists in the Soviet Union who sought a method of countering the carrier battlegroups employed by the United States.

A requirement for a 1500 ton interceptor submarine with a speed of at least 40 knots was issued by the Soviet navy in 1957. As design work continued it was found that the desired submarine would have to be much larger than originally planned, so in 1963 significant changes were made in the design which was designated Project 705. Construction of the submarine began at the Sudomekh shipyard in Leningrad in 1965.

It was the first Soviet submarine to have a hull made of titanium, a metal that had been rejected by the US Navy as being too costly. This gave the hull great strength and enabled the boat to dive deeper than any other attack submarine.

The submarine was also the first Soviet design to be powered by nuclear reactors that used a molten lead-bismuth mixture as a coolant. This allowed the reactors to operate at much higher temperatures and generate more power than a conventional pressurized water design. Unlike the pressurized water reactors the liquid-metal designs could not be refueled without the coolant becoming solid which destroyed the reactor. Still the liquid-metal reactor had a stated operational life of 70 years.

Other problems with the liquid-metal cooled reactor design became evident when the coolant on K-377 was allowed to solidify during trials. The reactor was destroyed and the boat was broken up soon after. A total four of the seven Alfa's would suffer failures of their liquid metal reactors.

Project 705 was also noteworthy for incorporating many automated systems in its design. This reduced the number of crewmembers required to operate the submarine, but also meant that they all would have to be highly trained specialists. This meant that the crew would be composed entirely of officers rather than conscript sailors.

The high degree of automation also meant that only two of the six crew compartments were manned when the vessel is underway. The remaining four were operated remotely from the submarine's control room.

The first Project 705 submarine joined the Northern Fleet in 1971 to undergo several years of trials. This continued until 1974 when the liquid metal coolant in the boat's reactor was allowed to solidify. The boat was then withdrawn from service and broken up sometime later. Western analysts who followed the short operational career of the submarine were led to believe that the boat (which they code-named 'Alfa') was only a one time experimental vessel similar to the Papa class. They were soon proven wrong as series production of the Alfa began in the 1974.

Work on the production boats took longer than usual, but by 1979 three Alfa class submarines entered service with the Northern Fleet with another two boats under construction.

The rate of production cause a great deal of alarm the West. The Soviets did little to ease their concerns when they began construction of a sixth Alfa in 1981.

Alfa Submarines Service Data
Boat	Year Began	Commissioned	Stricken
K-377	1967	1971	1974
K-316	1974	1979	1995
K-373	1976	1978	In reserve
K-123	1977	Uncertain	1995
K-432	1978	1982	1994
K-463	1978	1982	1987
K-493	1981	1983	1997

Soon thereafter an Alfa made a high speed run underneath a NATO convoy that was performing an exercise. The submarine made a great deal of noise which allowed the NATO vessels to make very precise measurements of its speed and depth. The results of which showed that the torpedoes of the time would not be able to counter the Alfa. The incident was a deliberate display of performance calculated to unnerve the West who quickly rushed to develop a weapon to stop the Alfa. The weapon would be the British Spearfish torpedo and the Mk. 48 ADCAP and Mk. 50 torpedoes developed by the United States.

Despite this amazing performance the Alfa was fraught with operational problems unknown to the West. Most of the difficulties were related to the use of the liquid-metal cooled reactor. In 1982 the reactor on K-316 was destroyed when it was accidentally shut down and its metal coolant solidified. Its reactor was later removed and replaced with another after a lengthy rebuilding process.

To prevent further incidents a special facility was developed at Bolshaya Lopatka in Zapadnaya Litsa where the submarines were based. The facility kept the molten coolant heated using superheated steam whenever the reactors were shut down. A small ship was also kept on station for the same purpose. Unfortunately the shore based facility encountered mechanical problems and completely broke down in the early 1980's. The fleet then decided to leave the reactors of the submarines running at all times.

Production of the Alfa ended in 1983 with the commissioning of K-493. All six of the submarines were assigned to the Northern fleet where they were to assist the fleet in breaking into the North Atlantic if hostilities broke out between NATO and the Soviet Union.

In the late 1980's the Soviet navy began to place greater emphasis on slower, quiet submarines like the Sierra. Such submarines were less costly and were comparable to Western boats. The advent of long range ballistic missiles employed on the Delta IV and Typhoon classes also eliminated the need to breakout into the North Atlantic as they could launch from 'bastions' close to the Soviet coastline. This change in doctrine caused the Soviets to begin phasing out the expensive Alfa class boats.

The first of these was K-463 which was decommissioned in 1987 and stricken the following year. The next boat to be withdrawn from active service was K-123. It had its reactor replaced with a VM-4 pressurized water reactor from a retired Victor I submarine and was used for testing purposes until it was decommissioned in 1995. The four remaining Alfa submarines were decommissioned between 1990 and 1992. Most were scheduled to be broken up in the mid-1990's, but three remained in Zapadnaya Litsa as of 1997. One of these was still listed by the Russians as being in reserve status.

The Alfa was the first Soviet effort at creating an 'interceptor' submarine. It was designed to attack NATO battlegroups with its torpedoes. When the submarine was then attacked it would escape any enemy torpedoes by diving and using its high speed. It could then make another attempt at a later time. The Alfa was a substantial force multiplier because countering it would require the opposing force to dedicate several ships or submarines to the pursuit.

As stated earlier, the Alfa class submarine was a great advance over existing submarines of the day. It could swim faster and dive deeper than any other military submarine in the world. This greatly worried NATO strategists who were forced to develop new torpedoes that could catch the Alfa at such depths and speeds.

Despite these amazing capabilities the submarine suffered from many operational limitations that eventually led to it being withdrawn from service. The first of these were the liquid metal reactors that had to be kept hot at all times. At first this was done by a special facility in the port where they were based, but when it failed it was decided to keep them running at all times. It was an expensive decision, but a needed one to keep the boats in operation. The cost of manufacturing the boats was another major factor. Titanium is difficult to work under normal conditions, using it to make a submarine is a difficult and costly proposition.

The Alfa was the Soviet attempt to create an 'interceptor' submarine that could dive deeper and swim faster than any other boat in the water. As such it was a unique vessel that represented its own branch of the Soviet nuclear powered attack submarine family. In this section you can find out more about the submarines that the Alfa succeeded in service and more about the submarine that followed it by clicking on the links below.

The Alfa followed the...	'Alfa' Class Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine	The Alfa was followed by...
'Victor' Class Nuclear Attack Submarine	'Alfa' Class Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine	'Mike' Class Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine

There are many books available that discuss Russian and Soviet submarines. We have used just a few of these in compiling this information for you, and they are listed below. If you would like to read more about this subject look for these books in your local library. We hope you will find these sources as useful as we have.