| Russian Foxtrot-Class Submarine "Scorpion" |
| Life in a Soviet Sub 78 crew shared 2 showers and 3 toilets, for up to 3 months at sea. Only officers had their own bunks. Ordinary sailors "hot bunked." 27 bunks in the aft torpedo room were shared by 54 crew! 3 shifts per day: duty, maintenance and sleep. Galley produced 4 cooked meals per day. Crew were allowed a daily glass of white wine. ubmariners were closely-screened volunteers, an elite group in the largely-conscript Soviet Navy. They spent 10 of their 30 days shore leave convalescing in a sanatorium. Foxtrot class was the largest conventional (diesel-electric, non-nuclear) Soviet sub. It searched for and tracked enemy forces during the Cold War, extensively in the Pacific Ocean. Its nuclear-tipped torpedoes could destroy a port or a battle group. 79 Foxtrots were built between 1958-1984 for both the Soviet Navy and others countries including India, Libya, Cuba and Poland. 3 diesel engines generate power for electric motors that drive the 3 propellers. At periscope depth, air for the diesels can be sucked from the surface using a snorkel. Below that, 4 gigantic battery banks take over. To dive, the ballast tanks are flooded with water (negative buoyancy). To surface, compressed air from 56 bottles expels the water (positive buoyancy). The Foxtrot dives and surfaces quite horizontally. At more that 30 degrees it loses control! Crew could evacuate in survival suits via torpedo tubes, the conning tower or the aft escape hatch. Even from 820 feet down, they had a reasonable chance of reaching the surface alive. |
 |