Whiskey-class submarine

Template:Infobox ship image Template:Infobox ship class overview Template:Infobox ship characteristics

Whiskey-class submarines (known in the Soviet Union as Projects 613, 640, 644, and 665) are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines that the Soviet Union built in the early Cold War period.

DesignEdit

File:Whiskey I class SS.svg

Silhouette of a Whiskey-class submarine with twin 57 mm deck guns and twin 25 mm conning tower guns

File:Whiskey Long Bin class SSG.svg

Silhouette of a Whiskey Long Bin-class submarine

File:Whiskey Twin Cylinder class SSG.svg

Silhouette of a Whiskey Twin Cylinder-class submarine

The initial design was developed in the early 1940s as a sea-going follow-on to the S-class submarine. As a result of war experience and the capture of German technology at the end of the war, the Soviet Union issued a new design requirement in 1946. The revised design was developed by the Lazurit Design Bureau based in Gorkiy. Like most conventional submarines designed between 1946 and 1960, the design was heavily influenced by the World War II German Type XXI U-boat.<ref>Friedman, pp. 396–397</ref>

Patrol variantsEdit

Between 1949 and 1958 a total of 215 submarines of this type were commissioned into the Soviet Navy. The vessels were initially designed as coastal patrol submarines. These patrol variants are known in the west as Whiskey I, II, III, IV, and V and were called Project 613 in the Soviet Union.

Whiskey I − twin [[25 mm automatic air defense gun M1940 (72-K)|Template:Convert]] guns mounted on the conning towerTemplate:Sfn
Whiskey II − twin [[57 mm AZP S-60|Template:Convert]] guns and twin 25 mm gunsTemplate:Sfn
Whiskey III − guns removedTemplate:Sfn
Whiskey IV − 25 mm guns and fitted with a snorkelTemplate:Sfn
Whiskey V − no guns - streamlined conning tower and snorkel, most Whiskey-class were modified to this variantTemplate:Sfn

Missile variantsEdit

File:Whiskey Twin Cylinder submarine.jpg

Whiskey Twin Cylinder submarine

In the 1950s and 1960s, some Whiskey submarines were converted to guided missile submarines, with the capability to fire one to four SS-N-3 Shaddock cruise missiles. In 1956, the first prototype was ready. It was a regular Whiskey class modified with a launch tube aft of the sail containing a single SS-N-3c. This vessel was known in the West as Whiskey Single Cylinder. Between 1958 and 1960, six additional Whiskey-class submarines were converted to carry guided missiles. These boats had two missile tubes behind the sail, and were known in the west as the Whiskey Twin Cylinder, and Project 644 boats by the Soviets.<ref name="ReferenceA">Burov, V.N. Otechestvennoye Voyennoye Korablestroyeniye v Tretem Stoletii Svoyey Istorii, Sudostroyeniye, Sankt Peterburg, 1995. 5-7355-0508-4</ref>

Between 1960 and 1963, six boats received an extended sail that could contain four Shaddock missiles. These were called Whiskey Long Bin in the West and Project 665 in the Soviet Union.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> All guided missile variants of the Whiskey class carried the P-5/ NATO SS-N-3c Shaddock land-attack missile, and had to surface in order to fire their missiles. The boats of the single and twin cylinder class also had to raise their missile tubes, which were normally positioned horizontally.

The "Long Bin" boats did not handle well, with the launch tubes causing stability problems, and water flow around the missile fittings was very noisy.<ref>Weir and Boyle 2003</ref> All were soon retired from service. Some were converted to Project 640 radar picket boats (called Whiskey Canvas Bag in the West).Template:Sfn While others were converted for intelligence-gathering missions.Template:Sfn In the Soviet Navy, the patrol variants of this class were replaced by the Template:Sclass2. The guided missile variants were replaced by the Template:Sclass2.

Production programmeEdit

File:Submarine Monument Surabaya 2.JPG

Indonesian Navy Whiskey-class submarine KRI Pasopati mounted on pedestal in Surabaya riverside

The Soviet Union built a total of 236 or 215 Whiskeys (sources vary; it appears the initial 21 Chinese-built boats are often included with the Soviet boats). Vice Admiral Burov, head of the Soviet Defense Ministry's Shipbuilding Institute from 1969 to 1983, confirms 215 units built.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Year	Gorkiy	Nikolayev	Baltic	Komsomolsk	Total
1951	1	–	–	–	1
1952	4	5	–	–	9
1953	19	11	–	–	30
1954	29	14	–	1	44
1955	37	18	8	4	67
1956	26	15	4	4	49
1957	–	9	3	2	14
1958	–	–	1	–	1
Total	116	72	16	11	215

OperatorsEdit

The Whiskey-class had a long service life, with 45 still on the active list of the Soviet Navy in 1982. All Whiskey-class submarines are now decommissioned.Template:Sfn Template:Efn

Template:Flaglist − 4 vessels were left behind by the Soviets in 1961 following their expulsion from the country.Template:Sfn Only two were operational in 1991.Template:Sfn Three were sold as scrap metal while as of 2022, the Albanian government was considering converting the remaining submarine into a museum ship<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flag − 2Template:Sfn
Template:CHN − Upwards of 26Template:Sfn as the Type 6603Template:Sfn or Type 03.Template:Sfn 3Template:Sfn or 5Template:Sfn were transferred from the Soviet Union as kits and reassembled in China from the mid-1950s; these may have been Whiskey IVs.Template:Sfn The remainder, at least 15,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn were built in China from Soviet components;Template:Sfn these may have been Whiskey Vs.Template:Sfn
Template:EGY − 7Template:Sfn
Template:IDN − 14Template:Sfn
Template:PRK − 4 vessels,Template:Sfn remained in the Korean People's Army Navy inventory as late as 2004Template:Sfn
Template:Flag − 4Template:Sfn
Template:URS − 20 were still in active service in 1991Template:Sfn

Incidents involving Whiskey-class submarinesEdit

On 27 January 1961, Template:Ship was lost due to accidental flooding while the boat was submerged. The valve that should have prevented water from entering the snorkel did not work properly.Template:Citation needed
In 1961, when Enver Hoxha decided to expel all Soviet personnel from Albania, four submarines were sabotaged by their former crews before being abandoned.Template:Efn They were later repaired by Chinese technicians and returned to service in 1964.Template:Sfn
On 24 November 1972, the Template:Sclass Template:HNoMS of the Royal Norwegian Navy had "contact" with what they presumed was a Whiskey-class submarine, after 14 days of "hunt" in Sognefjord. Military documents released in 2009 confirmed this episode.<ref>[1] Aftenposten (Norwegian Language) (including pictures)</ref>
On 21 October 1981, Template:Ship was run down by the merchant vessel Refrizherator-13 in Golden Horn Bay, Vladivostok.Template:Cn
On 27 October 1981, Template:Ship ran aground in Swedish territorial waters near the Karlskrona naval base.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 19 June 1984, a Whiskey-class submarine was caught in a fishing-net and surfaced within the Norwegian exclusive economic zone (EEZ).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 14 December 1989 a decommissioned Whiskey-class submarine under tow for scrapping in Nakskov was sunk Template:Convert west of Bornholm. Attempts to raise it in 1991 failed and it sunk nearby in deeper water.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}Template:Reliable source</ref>

On 5 February 2007, the decommissioned Template:Ship took on water and sank off the coast of Denmark while being towed to become part of a naval museum.<ref>Dansk Dykkerservice ApS (Danish Language) Template:Webarchive (including pictures)</ref>
In 2009 a previously unknown and unidentified sunken Whiskey-class submarine was discovered within Sweden's EEZ close to the island of Gotland. It was a decommissioned submarine which sank while under tow to be scrapped in Denmark. News of the discovery was not made public until March 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Surviving examplesEdit

S-189 is preserved as a museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Template:Ship (ex-S-290) is preserved in Surabaya, Indonesia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:As of, Albania's #105 existed at Pasha Liman Base in south Albania, though it was deteriorating.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>