B-427 (Foxtrot-class Attack Submarine)
After World War II, the Soviet Union followed the example of most postwar navies, and extensively copied the advanced Type XXI U-boat. The Soviet version of this was the Project 611 class, codenamed Zulu-class by NATO. However, the Zulus were not very structurally sound, so a better version was needed, which became the Project 641s, codenamed Foxtrot-class.
The Foxtrots were diesel-electric attack submarines, with emphasis given on endurance rather than speed or range: with huge battery compartments, the Foxtrots could stay submerged for 10 days without difficulty. However, the need for such large batteries also made the ship heavier than probably necessary, and crew comfort suffered--Foxtrot crews actually had fewer crew amenities than World War II-era US fleet submarines. The Foxtrots were also found to be less hydrodynamic than contemporary submarines, due to its wartime-style hull design, were abysmally slow submerged, and noisy--all of which might prove lethal in a shooting war.
Nonetheless, the Foxtrots were reliable, and safer than early Soviet nuclear-powered submarines; only one was lost, B-37, and that was due to crew error rather than a fault of the design. It was also cheaper to operate. 74 would be built from 1957 to 1983. Although they were probably obsolete by the late 1960s, their reliability, and the fact that they were still useful in the shallower waters of the Baltic and North Seas, kept the Foxtrots in production. 56 were built for the Soviet Navy, while the others were split between Poland, Libya, Cuba, and India. The last was withdrawn from Russian service in 2000, while Cuba may still have its three in commission. Six are currently preserved as museum ships. None are known to have fired a shot in anger.
This particular boat is B-427, buit in 1971; it served in both the Soviet and Russian Navies, mainly in the Pacific, until 1994. After retirement, it was leased to the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, from 1995 to 1998. (Because B-427 was leased rather than sold, it was still technically in commission with the Russian Navy. The caretaker, a former Royal Australian Navy submariner, had to be commissioned into the Russian Navy to keep the lease legal under maritime law.) In 1998, B-427 was sold to the company which owned the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. B-427 was subsequently shipped to Long Beach and put on display forward of the Queen Mary's berth. It was nicknamed "Scorpion," though the submarine never had that name--the Soviet Union rarely if ever named its submarines, though the Russian Navy does.
Unfortunately for B-427, the submarine was not maintained (an issue the company had with the Queen Mary), and the submarine began to deterioriate. By 2012, rust had broken through and B-427 began to list to starboard, enough that the submarine was closed to the public. By 2015, the damage was enough that the hull itself was holed, and a family of raccoons was found living in the control room. After reacquiring the Queen Mary in 2021, the city of Long Beach has been looking for buyers to scrap B-427.
B-427 is probably not much longer for the world. When we saw it in June 2023, it was obviously in extremely poor shape, with severe rusting at the waterline which has spread across the ship, and its paint faded. It would take far more money to repair it than it would be to simply tow it out of the Queen Mary's breakwater and scrap it--incidentally, a fate shared with B-39, a Foxtrot that used to be displayed just down the coast in San Diego, which was scrapped in 2022. For now, B-427 is barely afloat, a testament to what happens when a museum ship is not well maintained.
B-427 (Foxtrot-class Attack Submarine)
After World War II, the Soviet Union followed the example of most postwar navies, and extensively copied the advanced Type XXI U-boat. The Soviet version of this was the Project 611 class, codenamed Zulu-class by NATO. However, the Zulus were not very structurally sound, so a better version was needed, which became the Project 641s, codenamed Foxtrot-class.
The Foxtrots were diesel-electric attack submarines, with emphasis given on endurance rather than speed or range: with huge battery compartments, the Foxtrots could stay submerged for 10 days without difficulty. However, the need for such large batteries also made the ship heavier than probably necessary, and crew comfort suffered--Foxtrot crews actually had fewer crew amenities than World War II-era US fleet submarines. The Foxtrots were also found to be less hydrodynamic than contemporary submarines, due to its wartime-style hull design, were abysmally slow submerged, and noisy--all of which might prove lethal in a shooting war.
Nonetheless, the Foxtrots were reliable, and safer than early Soviet nuclear-powered submarines; only one was lost, B-37, and that was due to crew error rather than a fault of the design. It was also cheaper to operate. 74 would be built from 1957 to 1983. Although they were probably obsolete by the late 1960s, their reliability, and the fact that they were still useful in the shallower waters of the Baltic and North Seas, kept the Foxtrots in production. 56 were built for the Soviet Navy, while the others were split between Poland, Libya, Cuba, and India. The last was withdrawn from Russian service in 2000, while Cuba may still have its three in commission. Six are currently preserved as museum ships. None are known to have fired a shot in anger.
This particular boat is B-427, buit in 1971; it served in both the Soviet and Russian Navies, mainly in the Pacific, until 1994. After retirement, it was leased to the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, from 1995 to 1998. (Because B-427 was leased rather than sold, it was still technically in commission with the Russian Navy. The caretaker, a former Royal Australian Navy submariner, had to be commissioned into the Russian Navy to keep the lease legal under maritime law.) In 1998, B-427 was sold to the company which owned the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. B-427 was subsequently shipped to Long Beach and put on display forward of the Queen Mary's berth. It was nicknamed "Scorpion," though the submarine never had that name--the Soviet Union rarely if ever named its submarines, though the Russian Navy does.
Unfortunately for B-427, the submarine was not maintained (an issue the company had with the Queen Mary), and the submarine began to deterioriate. By 2012, rust had broken through and B-427 began to list to starboard, enough that the submarine was closed to the public. By 2015, the damage was enough that the hull itself was holed, and a family of raccoons was found living in the control room. After reacquiring the Queen Mary in 2021, the city of Long Beach has been looking for buyers to scrap B-427.
B-427 is probably not much longer for the world. When we saw it in June 2023, it was obviously in extremely poor shape, with severe rusting at the waterline which has spread across the ship, and its paint faded. It would take far more money to repair it than it would be to simply tow it out of the Queen Mary's breakwater and scrap it--incidentally, a fate shared with B-39, a Foxtrot that used to be displayed just down the coast in San Diego, which was scrapped in 2022. For now, B-427 is barely afloat, a testament to what happens when a museum ship is not well maintained.