Hotel (class) / (Project 658)

Hotel (Class)/(Item 658) History

After World War II, the Soviet Union struggled to keep pace with, and in some cases outpace, the development of U.S. submarines on the other side of the world. This led the Soviet Navy to develop one of the most powerful submarine fleets of the Cold War between 1947 and 1991. One of the ship classes introduced during this period was the hotel class, known for its dual nuclear power plant propulsion scheme and missile-only armament match.

Eight ships were built to standard and used as successors to the November 1959 class units. They were in turn replaced by the more powerful Yankee class, which emerged (in 34 examples) in the late 1960s.

In shape, the hotel class generally continues to have the established shape of the early WWII pre-Soviet ships. These boats were given a relatively blunt bow and a foresail with a horizontal deck line. The rudder controls and propellers are in their usual stern positions. As with earlier Soviet-designed ballistic missile submarines, vertical missile silos were installed as part of the stern section of the sail.

The ships were built at the Severodvinsk shipyard and entered service around 1960.

104 crew members inside. The propulsion scheme uses 2 pressurized water reactors to power 2 axles. This gives the boat a surface speed of 18 knots and a submerged speed of 26 knots, making it quite fast in the latter specification.

The weapon system revolves around three missiles (vertical silos) that can be fired when the submarine is underwater (though not more than 50 feet or so) and traveling at high speed.

Work on the hotel class began in late 1956 and the program was named "Project 658".

Built three different batches of hotel class, the main difference being their weapons. The ships of Hotel I are based on the R-13 (SS-N-4) "Sark" series of missiles, while the ships of Hotel II are done with support for the R-21 (SS-N-5) "Serbia" series of missiles missile. The Hotel II batch included only seven of the Hotel I ships redesigned between 1961 and 1963 with the new D-4 launch system. A K-145 boat was converted to Hotel III standard in 1969/1970 to test the R-29 missile family (six missiles carried in two 3-cell blocks).

The hull was lengthened for this role, and in return, displacement was increased, and the ship proved to be slower than all of its sister ships - advancing at 22 knots when underwater.

In Cold War submarine design, the Hotel class was influenced by early Soviet efforts - the November class mentioned above. These submarines are noteworthy in their own right, as they were the first Soviet submarines to be powered entirely by nuclear power (rather than a diesel-electric arrangement) and represented a huge development in the Soviet submarine fleet. Nuclear enables ships to stay underwater longer, run quieter than diesel-electric ships, and move almost indefinitely. Combined with a missile-only weapon, the Hotel class becomes a formidable foe that can appear almost anywhere in the world to launch its deadly payload if not first spotted.

Hotel grades also benefit from a proven and improved control scheme, making them more controllable (and quieter) underwater.

All ships in the hotel class were successfully decommissioned and decommissioned between 1987 and 1991. The lead ship, the K-19, entered the Soviet ranks on November 12, 1960, and was the first ship in active service, the last being decommissioned in 1991.

None of these ships survived and were eventually sold as scrap.

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