Oolite Bulletins

Ever wondered what it was like inside a Soviet 'boomer' submarine?

Heres a photo set from English Russia. A guided tour of the star of Hunt for Red October. Now you can see how close or not close Hollywood got in the speculations of what one looked like.

Only 3 of the 6 originally built are left. Now they sit, tied to a dock in Polyarny, quietly rotting away. Waiting in line to have the reactor cores taken out, and be broken up for scrap. Someday. There's a huge long line in front of them. Interesting to see that the reactor control board is still running, and that gauge in the reactor room is reading mid scale. The plants are still active even if shut down. Cooling water has to circulate even if they are just sitting there.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=2525

Thanks for the link - the vitriol in the comments section was quite amazing! (and sad)

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

It seems a shame that such great vessels are in their current situation. Sad. They were, and still are, significant naval achievements.

Definitely, the ships that had over half the world scared for 20 years or more...

CptnEcho wrote:

It seems a shame that such great vessels are in their current situation. Sad. They were, and still are, significant naval achievements.

Well, I don't share your admiration. First of all they are brutal and oversized weapons. And I definitely prefer to see them rot over having them used.

Now if only the other side would see the light and follow suit.. <heavy sigh>

CptnEcho wrote:

It seems a shame that such great vessels are in their current situation. Sad. They were, and still are, significant naval achievements.

I think that Sea Shepherds should buy one and go hunting the Japanese and Icelandic whaling ships!!

Judging by the video of the Ady Gil, Id say Sea Shephard should save their money.

JazHaz wrote:

I think that Sea Shepherds should buy one and go hunting the Japanese and Icelandic whaling ships!!

No thanks. They endanger the lives of too many people with the equipment they already have. If it were up to me, they would be put ashore permanently.


As for the sub, it's interesting to see just how much the equipment differ from that on an US sub - not a single XBox to be seen!

CheeseRedux wrote:

As for the sub, it's interesting to see just how much the equipment differ from that on an US sub - not a single XBox to be seen!

They did have that arcade submarine game though!

Diziet Sma wrote:

Now if only the other side would see the light and follow suit.. <heavy sigh>

Oh, don’t worry. They’ll also be bankrupt in a few years. Well, more clearly bankrupt than now.

Commander McLane wrote:

CptnEcho wrote:

It seems a shame that such great vessels are in their current situation. Sad. They were, and still are, significant naval achievements.

Well, I don't share your admiration. First of all they are brutal and oversized weapons. And I definitely prefer to see them rot over having them used.

While they may not be operational now, I think their nuclear reactor specifications are capable of powering an entire city.

Imagine, a powerplant that can be sailed to disaster zones to aid with relief efforts. If that isn't practical, how about an oceanic research vessel?
Or an oceanic pirate hunter?

As for their being weapons platforms. A weapon that deterred both sides from going to war seems to have served its purpose, in my opinion.
The Mutually Assured Destruction idea may not have universal support, but it did work. So, if it's "stupid" but still works, it's not "stupid" according to Murphy's Laws.

The ships are now old and rusting. If it were cost-effective to revitalize them, update their equipment and give them new missions, I'd encourage doing so.

Imagine, a Typhoon class Luxury Yacht.

Commander McLane wrote:

CptnEcho wrote:

It seems a shame that such great vessels are in their current situation. Sad. They were, and still are, significant naval achievements.

Well, I don't share your admiration. First of all they are brutal and oversized weapons. And I definitely prefer to see them rot over having them used.

I sympathise with both of you.

Clearly they were machines built to be able to inflict terrifying carnage upon a political foe, and nuclear missiles are amongst the most indiscriminate and horrifying weapons mankind has ever unleashed, much to our shame...

...However, there is a poignancy in seeing a vessel, through no fault of its own, slowly being allowed to decay. Though it is nothing more than a collection of bolts, panels and wiring, somehow they are more than just the sum of their parts. We have a tendency to imprint our emotions on ships, planes, cars. It is us that defines their purpose, not them.

If we find them horrifying, it's only a mirror to mankind itself.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

...However, there is a poignancy in seeing a vessel, through no fault of its own, slowly being allowed to decay. Though it is nothing more than a collection of bolts, panels and wiring, somehow they are more than just the sum of their parts. We have a tendency to imprint our emotions on ships, planes, cars. It is us that defines their purpose, not them.
...
Drew.

Well said.

It's a sad fact that most of the technological advances in our modern world are primarily due to the efforts of people trying to find more interesting ways of killing each other and stopping the enemy doing the same back.

Like I said somewhere before, I'm a child of the Cold War, brought up through my formative years with the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation. I look back on the terror and uncertainty of waking up to a mushroom cloud with a very strange romantic nostalgia. Why? Because I'm also a big fan of military technology, no matter what its purpose was.

Without wars there would be no airliners, computers, fast cars, land rovers, humvees, digital watches (hee hee) etc. True, there would be less guns, killing and so on and much fewer boxes being shipped back from Afghanistan.

The technophobe in me loves all the technology. The Cold War bred the F-16, F-14, SR-71 (ooh), MiG-29, SU-27, MiG-25, Tu-95, B-52, M1-A1, AH-64A, Tornado, Mi-24 Hind and, yes, the Typhoon class. All pinnacles of their particular design philosophy.

I think it's sad to see these great machines rotting in a graveyard. Nothing makes me sadder than the aircraft graveyard in Tucson, Arizona. F-14s and B-52s (amongst others) lying slowly rusting to nothing. Never again to soar majestically into the sunset...