NEWS: The Ship That Inspired "The Hunt For Red October" Is To Be Destroyed, page 1

posted on Jan, 20 2005 @ 04:22 PM

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The submarine that was the basis for Tom Clancy's "Hunt For Red October" is set to be demolished by Russia. The submarine and its author sparked a whole new genre of books known as the techno thriller. The Red October, a Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine will be shredded using funds from Japan. Russian now only has 3 of what are called the largest submarines in the world and can carry as many as 20 SLBM's.

story.news.yahoo.com
MOSCOW (AFP) - Red October, the Soviet sub featured in a Tom Clancy book and subsequent movie, was to meet a giant chainsaw and be decommissioned for good, according to local reports.

According to the Izvestia newspaper, the world's largest and one of the most celebrated subs was the star of 1990s fans of Cold War thrillers as it disappeared -- in the "Hunt for Red October" novel and movie -- off the US coast on a secret mission that nearly sparked thermonuclear war.

In fact the craft with 20 intercontinental ballistic missiles has been quietly resting in a Barents Sea port, waiting to meet its maker, the newspaper quoted navy officials as saying.

Ironically, the United States would pay the decommissioning costs because Russia's post-Soviet military is too poor to foot the bill, Izvestia said.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

I still have a first edition copy of the book. Clancy sparked a whole new following of the high technology military. The book was also noteworthy for the fact that the government tried to prevent publication because Clancy had dug up information that they thought should have been classified. in fact the premise of the story was based around a mutiny that actually had occurred aboard a Soviet destroyer.

[edit on 1/20/05 by FredT]

FredT

posted on Jan, 20 2005 @ 04:26 PM

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Just for an FYI, here are the specs on the Akula or Project 941 SSBN (NATO Codename: Typhoon)

Soviet Designation 941 Akula
US-Designation Typhoon
Development began December 1973
Design Bureau Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering "Rubin"
Chief designer S.H. Kovalev
Builders Nr. 402 Severodvinsk
Construction and Outfit March 1977-September 1989
Service time December 1981-
Number of ships 6
Armament D-19 launch system with
20 R-39 missiles
2-650mm torpedo tubes
4-533mm torpedo tubes
Power Plant 2 pressurized water reactors, 190 MW each
2 steam turbines, 50.000 hp each
Propellers 2×7 blade fixed-pitch shrouded
Length 170-172 meters
Beam 23-23.3 meters
Draft 11-11.5 meters
Displacement 23,200-24,500 tons Surfaced
33,800-48,000 tons Submerged
Maximum diving depth 500 meters
Speed 12-16 knots Surface
25-27 knots Submerged
Crew 150 men (50 officers)
Endurance 90-120 days
Typhoon

kazi

posted on Jan, 20 2005 @ 04:43 PM

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FredT---any idea what's happening to the reactor. They've dumped at least 15, so far, into the Kara sea.

FredT

posted on Jan, 20 2005 @ 05:08 PM

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kazi, I have no idea and the story does not go into alot of deatil, do you have a link for the Kara sea dumpinfs, might make for another good story.

kazi

posted on Jan, 20 2005 @ 11:41 PM

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FredT you can find it at Soviet reactors dumped at sea, goggle,. There's quite a bit of it, a lot put out by Greenpeace. I still don't know how to insert websites on the replies. but it's my new mission.

Seems the artic ocean should be hot for a couple hundred years.

[edit on 20-1-2005 by kazi]