The Victor class, Soviet designations Project 671 ''Yorsh'', Project 671RT ''Syomga'' and Project 671RTM/RTMK ''Shchuka'', ( NATO reporting names Victor I, Victor II and Victor III, respectively), are series of nuclear-powered

attack submarine An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "m ...

s built in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and operated by the Soviet Navy. Since the 1960s, 48 units were built in total, of which the last remaining are currently in service with the Russian Navy. The Victor-class submarines featured a teardrop shape, allowing them to travel at high speed. These vessels were primarily designed to protect Soviet surface fleets and to attack American

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN � ...

s. Project 671 began in 1959 with the design task assigned to SKB-143 (one of the predecessors of the Malakhit Marine Engineering Bureau).

Versions

Project 671 ''Yorsh'' (Victor I)

Soviet designation Project 671 ''Yorsh'' (

ruffe The Eurasian ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America, reportedly with unfortun ...

)—was the initial type that entered service in 1967; 16 were produced. Each had six

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...

s for launching

Type 53 torpedo Type 53 is the common name for a family of 53 cm (21 inch) torpedoes manufactured in Russia, starting with the 53-27 torpedo and continuing to the modern UGST (Fizik-1), which is being replaced by the Futlyar. With the exception of the UGS ...

es and

SS-N-15 The RPK-2 Vyuga (, ''blizzard''; NATO reporting name: SS-N-15 Starfish), also designated as 81R, is a Soviet submarine-launched, nuclear-armed anti-submarine missile system, launched exclusively through torpedo tubes. The system was designed in ...

anti-submarine missiles and mines could also be released. Subs had a capacity of 24 tube-launched weapons or 48 mines (or a combination). They were long. All disposed.

Project 671RT ''Syomga'' (Victor II)

Soviet designation Project 671RT ''Syomga'' ( atlantic salmon)—entered service in 1972; seven were produced in the 1970s. These were originally designated Uniform class by NATO. They had similar armament to the Victor I class and were the first Soviet submarines to introduce raft mounting for

acoustic quieting Acoustic quieting is the process of making machinery quieter by damping vibrations to prevent them from reaching the observer. Machinery vibrates, causing sound waves in air, hydroacoustic waves in water, and mechanical stresses in solid matter. ...

. Production was truncated due to a decision to develop the improved Victor III class. They were long. All disposed.

Project 671RTM/RTMK ''Shchuka'' (Victor III)

Soviet designation Project 671RTM/RTMK ''Shchuka'' ( pike)—entered service in 1979; 25 were produced until 1991. Quieter than previous Soviet submarines, these ships had four tubes for launching SS-N-21 or SS-N-15 missiles and Type 53 torpedoes, plus another two tubes for launching

SS-N-16 RPK-6 ''Vodopad'' (, "waterfall") is a Soviet 533 mm anti-submarine missile deployed operationally since 1981. RPK-7 ''Veter'' (, "wind") is a 650 mm version, deployed operationally since 1984. Both missiles are given the same United States Navy d ...

missiles and

Type 65 torpedo The Type 65 is a torpedo manufactured in the Soviet Union/Russia. It was developed for use against US Navy aircraft carrier battle groups, as well as large merchant targets such as supertankers and advanced enemy submarines. It is now typically f ...

es. 24 tube-launched weapons or 36 mines could be on board. The Victor III class caused a minor furor in NATO intelligence agencies at its introduction because of the distinctive pod on the vertical stern-plane. Speculation immediately mounted that the pod was the housing for some sort of exotic silent propulsion system, possibly a

magnetohydrodynamic drive A magnetohydrodynamic drive or MHD accelerator is a method for propelling vehicles using only electric and magnetic fields with no moving parts, accelerating an electrically conductive propellant (liquid or gas) with magnetohydrodynamics. The flu ...

unit. Another theory proposed that it was some sort of weapon system. In the end, the pod was identified as a hydrodynamic housing for a reelable towed passive

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

array; the system was subsequently incorporated into the and SSNs. In October 1983 the towed array of , a Victor III operating west of Bermuda, became tangled with the towed array of US frigate . ''K-324'' was forced to surface, allowing NATO forces to photograph the pod in its deployed state. The Victor-III class was continuously improved during construction and late production models have a superior acoustic performance. They were long. 21 disposed.

Units

Incidents

* In 1981 collided with a Victor III-class submarine—'' K-324''—while attempting to photograph the odd pod on the back. The event was covered up by the

Reagan Administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...

and never made public, though it nearly cost the lives of the sailors on USS ''Drum''. The incident was declassified and disclosed by the

Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory ove ...

in February 1993. * On 21 March 1984, '' K-314'' collided with the aircraft carrier in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

. Neither ship was significantly damaged. * The Soviet cargo ship ''Bratstvo'' collided with the Soviet submarine ''K-53'' of the Victor I-class in position Latitude 35 deg 55 min North and Longitude 005 deg 00 min West, at the exit from the

Gibraltar Strait The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Med ...

in Alboran Sea, on 18 (as per ship's time) or 19 (as per submarine time) September 1984. * On 6 September 2006, the Victor III-class ''Daniil Moskovskiy'' suffered an electronics fire while in the Barents Sea, killing two crew members. The boat was 16 years old and was overdue for overhaul. It was towed back to Vidyayevo. She continued to serve into the latter 2010s and was reportedly formally decommissioned on 28 October 2022.https://www-deepstorm-ru.translate.goog/DeepStorm.files/45-92/nts/671RTM/K-414/K-414.htm?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

In media

* A depiction of a Victor III-class submarine (

Valentin Zukovsky This is a list of allies of ''James Bond'' who appear throughout the film series and novels. MI6 M M is a Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy, and the head of the Secret Intelligence Service. Fleming based the character on a number of people ...

's nephew Nikolai's own submarine) was used prominently in the ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...

'' film ''

The World Is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Michael Apted, from an o ...

'' as a key element in the film's antagonists ( Elektra King and Viktor "Renard" Zokas) plan.