The Tango class was the
NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...
of a
class of diesel-electric
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s that were built in the
Soviet Union to replace the s assigned to the
Black Sea and
Northern Fleets. The Soviet designation of this class was Project 641B and it was also known as the Som (Catfish) class. The first of the class was completed in 1972 at
Gorky. A total of 18 were built in two slightly different versions. The later type was several metres longer than the first, possibly because of the installation of ASW missile equipment.
The
bow sonar installations appear to be similar to those fitted to Soviet nuclear
attack submarines. The propulsion plant was the same as the last subgroup of the Foxtrot class. The Tango class had far more battery capacity, far higher than any previous conventional submarine class in the
Soviet Navy; as a result, pressure hull volume increased. This allowed an underwater endurance in excess of a week before
snorkeling was required.
Coupled with new armament and sensor fit, the Tango class was ideal for ambush operations against Western
nuclear submarines at natural
chokepoints.
Because of its all-hull rubber coating, the sub class was nicknamed "rezinka"
ubber
Construction of this class has now stopped. The ''B-380'' of the Black Sea Fleet was the last to be decommissioned in 2016 and the scrapping began in Inkerman in 2020.
''B-380'' had been in layup in Sevastopol Harbor awaiting either refit or scrapping as of 2008, but during the night of December 14–15, 2019 the floating dock ''PD-16'', which contained ''B-380'', sank. B-380 capsized to port and partially sank, and by 19 December it was still unclear whether the submarine was afloat or resting on the bottom. By 11 May 2020 ''B-380'' was 70% scrapped.
By October 2021, the sail of submarine B-380 had been installed, with the assistance of the Russian Maritime Tradition Club Association, at the Mistral Hotel & Spa, Intra district of Moscow.
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]
Museum ships
File:Tango class SS.svg, Schematic of the Tango class
File:B-307, Togliatti. Russia-1.JPG, ''B-307'', Togliatti
File:Tango b-396 1.JPG, ''B-396'', Moscow
File:Hamburg.U434.gesamt.wmt.jpg, ''B-515'', Hamburg
File:Tango B-396 Torpedo Room 1.JPG, Tango ''B-396'' torpedo room
Three 641B-class submarines operate as museum ships:
* ''B-307'', fully raised on ground – AvtoVAZ Technical Museum
The AvtoVAZ Technical Museum is a museum in the Russian city of Tolyatti. The formal name is now K.G. Sakharov History of Technology Park Complex (Парковый комплекс истории техники имени К. Г. Сахарова) ...
, Tolyatti, Russia
* ''B-396'', afloat in Tushino
Tushino ( rus, Тушино, p=ˈtuʂɨnə) is a former village and town to the north of Moscow, which has been part of the city's area since 1960. Between 1939 and 1960, Tushino was classed as a separate town. The Skhodnya River flows across the ...
reservoir – Moscow Navy Museum
* , afloat near Fischmarkt in Hamburg – museum in Hamburg
The conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
s of stricken ''B-319 and ''B-474'' are on display in Polyarny and Ryazan.
References
*The Encyclopedia Of Warships From World War Two To The Present Day, General Editor Robert Jackson.
External links
RussianWarrior page about the Tango Class
Russian and Soviet navy submarine classes
Submarine classes
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