Victor III (Project 671RTM Shchuka) SSN
As a replacement for the Soviet Union's earlier diesel-electric submarines, work began in 1967 on Project 671-class nuclear attack submarines. The idea behind the Project 671s was to use a more hydrodynamic teardrop shape to give better underwater performance, while nuclear propulsion would give them high speed. The intention of the 671s was to hunt down and sink American ballistic missile submarines before they could launch, and support Soviet surface fleets; should war break out with NATO, it would also be utilized to sink merchant ships, though this was not its main purpose. Its main armament consisted of six torpedo tubes, capable of launching wire-guided torpedoes, antiship missiles, or mines. The class was named the Yorsh-class (named for the ruffe fish); NATO gave it the reporting name Victor.
Though the Yorsh (Victor-I) and subsequent Syomga (Victor-II) classes were successful and reliable attack submarines, its noisy nuclear plant made it easy to track by NATO antisubmarine forces. To improve this, the Soviets began to produce the definitive Shchuka (Pike) class, codenamed Victor-III by NATO, in 1979. Improvements to the nuclear powerplant, a more quiet double-propeller, and reduction in size of its flooding ports improved its chances against detection, while it added a pod atop the stern fin for a towed sonar array, allowing it a much better chance of survival than using active search for targets. (The pod was initially thought to be a silent magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system by NATO; this inspired Tom Clancy to write "The Hunt for Red October.")
Had war broken out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s, the Victor-IIIs would have been the primary attack submarine used by the Soviet Navy. They were gradually replaced by the quieter and more advanced Sierra and Akula class, though four Victors are still in service with the Russian Navy today.
I built this kit in high school from a 1/350 Dragon model. It turned out rather well, and has survived five or six moves in remarkably good shape, aside from a missing propeller. The dark gray over light gray scheme is inaccurate; it should be a darker gray over anticorrision dark red. In my defense, that's the scheme that the model company used...
Victor III (Project 671RTM Shchuka) SSN
As a replacement for the Soviet Union's earlier diesel-electric submarines, work began in 1967 on Project 671-class nuclear attack submarines. The idea behind the Project 671s was to use a more hydrodynamic teardrop shape to give better underwater performance, while nuclear propulsion would give them high speed. The intention of the 671s was to hunt down and sink American ballistic missile submarines before they could launch, and support Soviet surface fleets; should war break out with NATO, it would also be utilized to sink merchant ships, though this was not its main purpose. Its main armament consisted of six torpedo tubes, capable of launching wire-guided torpedoes, antiship missiles, or mines. The class was named the Yorsh-class (named for the ruffe fish); NATO gave it the reporting name Victor.
Though the Yorsh (Victor-I) and subsequent Syomga (Victor-II) classes were successful and reliable attack submarines, its noisy nuclear plant made it easy to track by NATO antisubmarine forces. To improve this, the Soviets began to produce the definitive Shchuka (Pike) class, codenamed Victor-III by NATO, in 1979. Improvements to the nuclear powerplant, a more quiet double-propeller, and reduction in size of its flooding ports improved its chances against detection, while it added a pod atop the stern fin for a towed sonar array, allowing it a much better chance of survival than using active search for targets. (The pod was initially thought to be a silent magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system by NATO; this inspired Tom Clancy to write "The Hunt for Red October.")
Had war broken out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s, the Victor-IIIs would have been the primary attack submarine used by the Soviet Navy. They were gradually replaced by the quieter and more advanced Sierra and Akula class, though four Victors are still in service with the Russian Navy today.
I built this kit in high school from a 1/350 Dragon model. It turned out rather well, and has survived five or six moves in remarkably good shape, aside from a missing propeller. The dark gray over light gray scheme is inaccurate; it should be a darker gray over anticorrision dark red. In my defense, that's the scheme that the model company used...