Anyone ever been inside a Foxtrot?

Kapitan · 01-09-16, 09:27 AM

Project 641 Foxtrot

Foxtrot Class submarine

(Above)Submarine B21 or B821 now moored as a museum in Zeebrugge Belgium

Project 641 Foxtrot not to be confused with the later 641B (som) Tango is a class of diesel electric submarines Built at the Leningrad yard 196 from 1957 to 1983 as total of 74 submarines were constructed for the soviet and later foreign navies.

IMG_0267

IMG_0268

(This is the only known surviving Zulu class submarine in the world located in Amsterdam The Netherlands)

Originally derived from the Zulu class (Above) the Foxtrot was to become the mainstay of soviet conventional submarines throughout the cold war, and despite being completely obsolete by the mid 1960's construction continued right up until 1983 with foreign nations such as Libya, India and Cuba all purchasing vessels.
This type of submarine also found its way into the Polish and Ukrainian navy which up until the Crimea problems of March 2014 Ukraine was the only country operating a single Foxtrot named Zaporizhiya all other foxtrots have been decommissioned and mostly scrapped with just a few surviving as Museums.

Foxtrot Class submarine

Foxtrot Class submarine

The space is so tight and cluttered there was no way to get a clean shot of the entire engine room

Foxtrot is renown for its loudness this is in part due to the submarine being triple screw, they are powered by three 2000hp diesel engines (above) charging batteries for the two 1350hp and single 2700hp electric motors (Below), each propellor has 6 blades and as the submarine does not have a tear dropped hull (something that comes about with the kilo class) this submarine was fairly slow by today’s standards achieving 16knots on the surface while submerged she could do around 15knots.

Foxtrot Class submarine
This is one of the electric motor control units underneath our feet would have been or maybe still is banks of batteries to allow the submarine to stay submerged for up to 5 days

Foxtrot Class submarine

At 90meters in length they are a full 15 feet longer than the British Trafalgar class submarines

Known as Bolshaya (Large) these were ocean going submarines (Above) indeed four such submarines were involved directly with the Cuban missile crisis these submarines could travel 20,000nm at a speed of 8 knots, despite being large 90 meters long 7.5meters wide and a draft of 6meters the submarines are still cramped, but the can dive fairly deep for a conventional submarine around 300meters.

Armed with torpedoes the submarine packs a punch with 6 forward tubes and 4 aft (Pictures below)(most of the tubes aft were later sealed on many boats), I can say they are not a tight squeeze to get into even if you are 140kg! (22 Stone) but with kit for escaping or special forces deployment then the 21inch diameter is a bit tight.

Foxtrot Class submarine

(The aft torpedo room of a foxtrot B21 known as B821 she is moored in Zeebrugge Belgium)

Foxtrot Class submarine B821

(The forward torpedo room showing the old style torpedo’s)

Having been onboard a Foxtrot I will say that you do get the feeling you’re in a time warp it is defiantly old and dated, and you do get a good sense of just how out dated these machines would have been even in the 1980's when the Kilos were coming out this submarine was already long obsolete.

Foxtrot Class submarine

Foxtrot Class submarine

The command and control station (Above both) is also fairly dated even in the 1970's this type of command room wasn’t the most advanced and still relied on people opening and closing valves by hand much like their world war two fore bearers but they were expendable and cheap to build and maintain.

Foxtrot Class submarine B821

Foxtrot Class submarine B821

And as you can see above the SONAR and other stations are dated the SSAZ screen is vintage, but they did their job and like all soviet stuff lasted well beyond their use by dates.

What was their mission? Well they were mainly designed to blockade coastlines and also operate in the deep ocean far away from home a role which since the advent of nuclear powered submarines became less and less relevant as the cold war progressed, the foxtrots would generally operate in the Greenland Iceland UK gap (GUIK) when they first came on the scene they also ventured a lot further in 1962 we saw four foxtrots deployed to Cuba during the crisis.
As the cold war progressed and designs changed the role of these submarines changed not really much use in the front line they were then sent to other fleets mainly the Black sea and Baltic allowing them in time of war to deny the shipping lanes around the areas and also blockade certain key ports in the Kattegat and Norway As the 1970’s drew to a close and the 80’s opened up its clear the Russians with a little help figured we could hear their submarines and the whole concept of the Bastion idea came about.
In this role the foxtrot was to again blockade and stop any landing by NATO troops onto Warsaw pact soil and to hunt merchant traffic as they knew foxtrots had very limited ASW capability.
This meant that the foxtrots were expendable Out dated obsolete these submarines could be sacrificed if needed but it doesn’t mean the crews would be.

A project called 940 Lenok known to NATO as India class SSAG was a type of special operations and rescue submarine both were scrapped in the 1990’s but they carried two DSRV’s and also decompression chambers and medical facilities they were often seen going to the aid of stricken submarines.
So how does it know where to find the downed submarine?

Foxtrot Class submarine

Provided obviously the crew are still alive and are in water that hasn’t crushed the boat and that all other parameters are met the stricken submarine would release a red and white buoy (above) marking the position of the downed submarine.

So where are they all now?
Most of the submarines of this class have been scrapped however a few do still survive as museums.

B21 or B821 as she is known was laid down on the 29/10/1964 launched 16/02/1965 she served with both the Northern and Baltic fleets being decommissioned on the 03/07/1995 after nearly 30 years’ service with the Soviet and Russian navy, she is now housed in Zeebrugge Belgium.

Soviet foxtrot class Submarine

Soviet foxtrot class Submarine

The submarine above is the B49 or known as U475 Black widow she is moored in Rochester Kent England she is not open to the public sadly and it is believed that the owner is Mr. John Sutton, this submarine was used in the 2014 film Black sea starring Jude law, as you can see the submarine is in a state of disrepair as I believe he is awaiting funds to restore her so the public once again can enjoy the submarine.

Other Foxtrots on display:

B427 Long Beach California
B39 “scorpion” San Diego California (Next to RMS Queen Mary)
B440 Russia
B413 Kaliningrad
S40 Kursura Visakhapatnam India

danasan · 01-09-16, 09:30 AM

Thank you for this guided tour!

Jimbuna · 01-09-16, 09:55 AM

Never been in one but now I feel like I have....great shots

I'll move this into the the subs & naval discussions area of the forum.

Aktungbby · 01-09-16, 11:36 AM

nice!

I wonder what will become of the 2011 'refurbished' Zaporizhzhia retaken by russia's acquisition of the Crimea?

GT182 · 01-09-16, 12:00 PM

Makes the USS Nautilus look like a toy. I was thru the Nautilus in Groton CT back in 2002. Very impressive to say the least for the time she was in service.

Kapitan · 01-09-16, 01:44 PM

The Zaporizhzhia Was taken over by the Russian black sea fleet, she was refused for active duty citing major mechanical defects too costly to repair and as too obsolete she was meant to be handed back to Ukraine to become a museum ship however that is now on hold as the cease fire in Ukraine has not been signed or abided by.

Likely outcome is she is probably going to be scrapped.

vienna · 01-09-16, 02:08 PM

Have been aboard the Foxtrot moored in Long Beach, CA. She is moored alongside the Queen Mary (the WWII era ship) and is open for unguided tours. Over the years she has been on exhibit, she has suffered a bit of neglect since she is a privately owned and operated exhibit. Also, there really hasn't been much advertising done to make her presence known to the general public. For a number of years now, unless you go down to see the Queen Mary and stumble upon the Foxtrot, you wouldn't even know its there and open for boarding...

<O>

Mr Quatro · 01-09-16, 02:57 PM

Thanks Kapitan for your attention to details ... 90 meters, uh?

I was looking for something that would fit in my back yard

Kapitan · 01-09-16, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Quatro

Thanks Kapitan for your attention to details ... 90 meters, uh?

I was looking for something that would fit in my back yard

Despite being just 90m long we did spend at least 4 hours going stem to stern on this thing.

Jimbuna · 01-10-16, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kapitan

Likely outcome is she is probably going to be scrapped.

Rgr that

01-09-16, 09:27 AM	#1
Kapitan Sub Test Pilot Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK + Canada Posts: 7,090 Downloads: 68 Uploads: 7	Anyone ever been inside a Foxtrot? Project 641 Foxtrot Foxtrot Class submarine (Above)Submarine B21 or B821 now moored as a museum in Zeebrugge Belgium Project 641 Foxtrot not to be confused with the later 641B (som) Tango is a class of diesel electric submarines Built at the Leningrad yard 196 from 1957 to 1983 as total of 74 submarines were constructed for the soviet and later foreign navies. IMG_0267 IMG_0268 (This is the only known surviving Zulu class submarine in the world located in Amsterdam The Netherlands) Originally derived from the Zulu class (Above) the Foxtrot was to become the mainstay of soviet conventional submarines throughout the cold war, and despite being completely obsolete by the mid 1960's construction continued right up until 1983 with foreign nations such as Libya, India and Cuba all purchasing vessels. This type of submarine also found its way into the Polish and Ukrainian navy which up until the Crimea problems of March 2014 Ukraine was the only country operating a single Foxtrot named Zaporizhiya all other foxtrots have been decommissioned and mostly scrapped with just a few surviving as Museums. Foxtrot Class submarine Foxtrot Class submarine The space is so tight and cluttered there was no way to get a clean shot of the entire engine room Foxtrot is renown for its loudness this is in part due to the submarine being triple screw, they are powered by three 2000hp diesel engines (above) charging batteries for the two 1350hp and single 2700hp electric motors (Below), each propellor has 6 blades and as the submarine does not have a tear dropped hull (something that comes about with the kilo class) this submarine was fairly slow by today’s standards achieving 16knots on the surface while submerged she could do around 15knots. Foxtrot Class submarine This is one of the electric motor control units underneath our feet would have been or maybe still is banks of batteries to allow the submarine to stay submerged for up to 5 days Foxtrot Class submarine At 90meters in length they are a full 15 feet longer than the British Trafalgar class submarines Known as Bolshaya (Large) these were ocean going submarines (Above) indeed four such submarines were involved directly with the Cuban missile crisis these submarines could travel 20,000nm at a speed of 8 knots, despite being large 90 meters long 7.5meters wide and a draft of 6meters the submarines are still cramped, but the can dive fairly deep for a conventional submarine around 300meters. Armed with torpedoes the submarine packs a punch with 6 forward tubes and 4 aft (Pictures below)(most of the tubes aft were later sealed on many boats), I can say they are not a tight squeeze to get into even if you are 140kg! (22 Stone) but with kit for escaping or special forces deployment then the 21inch diameter is a bit tight. Foxtrot Class submarine (The aft torpedo room of a foxtrot B21 known as B821 she is moored in Zeebrugge Belgium) Foxtrot Class submarine B821 (The forward torpedo room showing the old style torpedo’s) Having been onboard a Foxtrot I will say that you do get the feeling you’re in a time warp it is defiantly old and dated, and you do get a good sense of just how out dated these machines would have been even in the 1980's when the Kilos were coming out this submarine was already long obsolete. Foxtrot Class submarine Foxtrot Class submarine The command and control station (Above both) is also fairly dated even in the 1970's this type of command room wasn’t the most advanced and still relied on people opening and closing valves by hand much like their world war two fore bearers but they were expendable and cheap to build and maintain. Foxtrot Class submarine B821 Foxtrot Class submarine B821 And as you can see above the SONAR and other stations are dated the SSAZ screen is vintage, but they did their job and like all soviet stuff lasted well beyond their use by dates. What was their mission? Well they were mainly designed to blockade coastlines and also operate in the deep ocean far away from home a role which since the advent of nuclear powered submarines became less and less relevant as the cold war progressed, the foxtrots would generally operate in the Greenland Iceland UK gap (GUIK) when they first came on the scene they also ventured a lot further in 1962 we saw four foxtrots deployed to Cuba during the crisis. As the cold war progressed and designs changed the role of these submarines changed not really much use in the front line they were then sent to other fleets mainly the Black sea and Baltic allowing them in time of war to deny the shipping lanes around the areas and also blockade certain key ports in the Kattegat and Norway As the 1970’s drew to a close and the 80’s opened up its clear the Russians with a little help figured we could hear their submarines and the whole concept of the Bastion idea came about. In this role the foxtrot was to again blockade and stop any landing by NATO troops onto Warsaw pact soil and to hunt merchant traffic as they knew foxtrots had very limited ASW capability. This meant that the foxtrots were expendable Out dated obsolete these submarines could be sacrificed if needed but it doesn’t mean the crews would be. A project called 940 Lenok known to NATO as India class SSAG was a type of special operations and rescue submarine both were scrapped in the 1990’s but they carried two DSRV’s and also decompression chambers and medical facilities they were often seen going to the aid of stricken submarines. So how does it know where to find the downed submarine? Foxtrot Class submarine Provided obviously the crew are still alive and are in water that hasn’t crushed the boat and that all other parameters are met the stricken submarine would release a red and white buoy (above) marking the position of the downed submarine. So where are they all now? Most of the submarines of this class have been scrapped however a few do still survive as museums. B21 or B821 as she is known was laid down on the 29/10/1964 launched 16/02/1965 she served with both the Northern and Baltic fleets being decommissioned on the 03/07/1995 after nearly 30 years’ service with the Soviet and Russian navy, she is now housed in Zeebrugge Belgium. Soviet foxtrot class Submarine Soviet foxtrot class Submarine The submarine above is the B49 or known as U475 Black widow she is moored in Rochester Kent England she is not open to the public sadly and it is believed that the owner is Mr. John Sutton, this submarine was used in the 2014 film Black sea starring Jude law, as you can see the submarine is in a state of disrepair as I believe he is awaiting funds to restore her so the public once again can enjoy the submarine. Other Foxtrots on display: B427 Long Beach California B39 “scorpion” San Diego California (Next to RMS Queen Mary) B440 Russia B413 Kaliningrad S40 Kursura Visakhapatnam India __________________ DONT FORGET if you like a post to nominate it by using the blue diamond Find out about Museum Ships here: https://www.museumships.us/ Flickr for all my pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131313936@N03/ Navy general board articles: https://www.navygeneralboard.com/author/aegis/ Last edited by Kapitan; 01-09-16 at 09:46 AM.

01-09-16, 09:30 AM	#2
danasan Elite Spam Hunter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Flensburg / Germany Posts: 1,141 Downloads: 39 Uploads: 0	Thank you for this guided tour! __________________ "I invite you to go inside this submergible hole in the water where you can nicely hide from destroyers."

01-09-16, 09:55 AM	#3
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 181,265 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Never been in one but now I feel like I have....great shots I'll move this into the the subs & naval discussions area of the forum. __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!! GWX3.0 Download Page - Donation/instant access to GWX (Help SubSim)

01-09-16, 11:36 AM	#4
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 27,870 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	nice! I wonder what will become of the 2011 'refurbished' Zaporizhzhia retaken by russia's acquisition of the Crimea? __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness; and I'm not too sure about the Universe" Last edited by Aktungbby; 01-09-16 at 12:48 PM.

01-09-16, 12:00 PM	#5
GT182 Ocean Warrior Join Date: May 2005 Location: New Castle of Delaware Posts: 3,231 Downloads: 658 Uploads: 0	Makes the USS Nautilus look like a toy. I was thru the Nautilus in Groton CT back in 2002. Very impressive to say the least for the time she was in service. __________________ Gary No Borders, No Language, No Culture =s No Country I'm a Deplorable, and proud of it.

01-09-16, 01:44 PM	#6
Kapitan Sub Test Pilot Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK + Canada Posts: 7,090 Downloads: 68 Uploads: 7	The Zaporizhzhia Was taken over by the Russian black sea fleet, she was refused for active duty citing major mechanical defects too costly to repair and as too obsolete she was meant to be handed back to Ukraine to become a museum ship however that is now on hold as the cease fire in Ukraine has not been signed or abided by. Likely outcome is she is probably going to be scrapped. __________________ DONT FORGET if you like a post to nominate it by using the blue diamond Find out about Museum Ships here: https://www.museumships.us/ Flickr for all my pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131313936@N03/ Navy general board articles: https://www.navygeneralboard.com/author/aegis/

01-09-16, 02:08 PM	#7
vienna Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Anywhere but the here & now... Posts: 7,507 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	Have been aboard the Foxtrot moored in Long Beach, CA. She is moored alongside the Queen Mary (the WWII era ship) and is open for unguided tours. Over the years she has been on exhibit, she has suffered a bit of neglect since she is a privately owned and operated exhibit. Also, there really hasn't been much advertising done to make her presence known to the general public. For a number of years now, unless you go down to see the Queen Mary and stumble upon the Foxtrot, you wouldn't even know its there and open for boarding... <O> __________________ __________________________________________________ __

01-09-16, 02:57 PM	#8
Mr Quatro Navy Seal Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 6,772 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Thanks Kapitan for your attention to details ... 90 meters, uh? I was looking for something that would fit in my back yard __________________ pla•teau noun a relatively stable level, period, or condition a level of attainment or achievement Lord help me get to the next plateau ..