Typhoon-Class Submarine

The Typhoon class, known in Russian service as Project 941 Akula, is a class of Soviet nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, the lead boat commissioned in 1981, and at roughly one hundred seventy meters long the largest submarines ever built by any navy, a size driven by the need to carry twenty large solid-fuel R-39 ballistic missiles along with the extensive crew accommodations, including reported amenities such as a sauna and small swimming pool, needed to sustain long patrols. Its double-hull design, with two complete pressure hulls arranged side by side within a single outer hull, gave the class exceptional damage resistance and allowed a comparatively shallow draft for its enormous displacement, features intended to let it operate for extended periods under Arctic ice as a survivable platform for the Soviet Union's sea-based nuclear deterrent. Only six Typhoon-class submarines were ever built, and most were retired or scrapped after the Cold War's end as Russia shifted toward smaller, less expensive ballistic missile submarine designs, though one boat was retained for missile-testing duties well into the twenty-first century.