In the last half of the 19th Century
Russia
and
France
developed a close relationship as a counter-balance to the
United Kingdom
. The Russian tended to follow French naval strategic theory, as well as French
warship design theory. France never could out-build the Royal Navy in
battleships, so the Jeune Ecole (Young School) came up with the theory that
rather then loose the battleship building race with the Royal Navy, it would be
better to build masses of small, cheap, expendable craft that could sink an
expensive battleship with a torpedo.
France
began to build a large volume of small, cheap torpedo boats that would use high
speed to close with battleships. Imperial
Russia
also adopted the theory and began mass production of torpedo boats. As the 19th
Century turned into the 20th Century a new form of torpedo boat
emerged as a usable warship. This warship would not use high speed but instead
would use stealth by hiding under the water and the submarine began to be built
in large numbers.
Russia
adopted the new technology.
Not much of the Imperial Russian Navy survived the First World War and those
ships that did survive were in poor repair with unhappy crews. In the 1920s was
in a very precarious financial condition. With the catastrophic damage to the
Russian infrastructure as the result of the First World War followed by the
Russian Civil War, there was very little money to fund the military and what
little money was around went to the Red Army. The navy certainly didn’t have
money for construction of large warships. Because of the financial shackles the
Soviet Navy resorted to the poor man’s weapon, the submarine. Soviet
Russia
and the
German
Weimar
Republic
were the outcasts of
Europe
and they gravitated towards each other.
Germany
certainly had designers with expertise at building submarines and they
couldn’t ply their trade in
Germany
, as submarines were forbidden to
Germany
under the Versailles Treaty. So they went to
Russia
to continue their trade. This helped both countries,
Russia
received technical expertise in submarine design and construction and
Germany
benefited in having their designers continue to evolve the submarine, through
the Russian submarine design and construction. By 1939 the Soviet Navy had a
great number of submarines.
The Second World War wrecked the Soviet industrial
infrastructure, just as the First World War and Russian Civil War had wrecked
the Russian infrastructure. Again
Russia
benefited from German innovation in the form of capture U-Boats like the Type
XXI and more importantly captured German designers. Joseph Stalin
continued the development of the submarine but Stalin was a big navy proponent
and wanted to restart a building program with cruisers and battleships. The
first round was the large number of light cruisers of the Sverdlov
class. When Stalin died in 1953 the big ship navy died with him. Khrushchev
wanted to use high technology to counter the West, missiles and advanced
submarines. Under the new administration the Soviet Navy began to build attack
submarines in record numbers. They started out with improved diesel submarines
patterned after the German Type XXI and given the NATO Code name Whiskey
Class. The first unit appeared in 1950, while Stalin was still
alive but production numbers soared under Krushchev. A total of 236 Whiskey
class diesel submarines were produced with the series production ending in 1957.
Near the end of production a new type of Soviet
submarine was introduced. Concurrently, a larger, longer range attack submarine
with the NATO Code name Zulu
class were produced in much smaller numbers with 26 built. A
third type of attack submarine went the opposite direction with than half the
displacement of the Whiskey
and only one fifth the displacement of the Zulu, the 30 Quebec
class submarines were throw-backs to the WWI and WWII coastal submarines. In the
attack type the Romeo
Class built 1958-1961 was a slightly improved Whiskey. Only 20 were built,
as the larger Zulu class made for a much
better open ocean submarine.
The Foxtrot
class was an improved Zulu with total produced of
62 from 1958 to 1967. The Foxtrot
class was the largest and had the heaviest displacement of any
Soviet attack submarine to that date. Called by the Soviet navy Project
641, NATO gave the code name Foxtrot.
The design marked a further sea change in Soviet naval strategy that started
with the Zulu class. The Whiskey
class displaced 1,050-tons surfaced, 1.350-tons submerged and was not much
different in size than the standard World War Two submarine and had a range of
6,000nm submerged at 5 knots using a snorkel to stay submerged. The following Romeo
class was not much different with a displacement of 1,330-tons surfaced and
1,700-tons submerged and a range of 7,000nm submerged at 5 knots. The little
Quebec
class was only 400-tons displacement surfaced and 540-tons submerged and was
considered a small coastal version of the Whiskey/Romeo
classes.
The strategic change started with the Zulu
class. Not only was it twice the displacement of the Whiskey
class, at 1,900-tons surfaced and 2,350-tons submerged, but also
displayed a large increase in range and submerged speed with a submerged speed
of 8-knots and a submerged range of 9,500nm. The Foxtrot was a larger
improvement over the Zulu
in displacement and range, with a surface displacement of 1,950-tons and
2,400-tons submerged and a submerged range of 11,000nm at 8 knots. The Foxtrot
corrected weaknesses discovered in the Zulu
design, which restricted her maximum depth and submerged speed. The two classes
marked a permanent shift in strategic thinking. It moved away from all previous
strategy of small and mid-size submarines with limited range, designed as
defensive weapons for guarding the sea approaches of the
Soviet Union
to the new strategy of large attack submarines with long range to use as
offensive weapons in deep water. They carried ten 533mm torpedo tubes, six
forward and four aft and could carry 22 torpedoes or as an alternate 44 mines.
Dimensions were 300-ft 3-in long (91.5m), 24-ft 7-in beam (7.5m) and a draught
of 19-ft 8-in (6.0m). Maximum surface speed was 16-knots and maximum submerged
speed was 15.5 knots using a snorkel. The Foxtrot
was a maximum range of 350nm at 2 knots using batteries alone.
Forty five were built between 1958 and 1967 and then no new
Foxtrots
were built for the next four years. The balance of the class was delivered from
1971 and thereafter for a total run of 58 boats for the Soviet Navy. They were
built not just for the Soviet navy but also as an export design to Soviet
clients and non-aligned countries.
India
bought 8,
Libya
6 and
Cuba
6, although
Poland
and the
Ukraine
also acquired some Foxtrot boats
originally commissioned into the Soviet Navy. The Soviet boats were mostly
deployed in the Indian Ocean and
Mediterranean
. The Soviet boats mostly received names Young Communist City Branches (Komsomolets).
Four Soviet Foxtrot
boats were stationed in the waters off
Cuba
during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Destroyers of the USN began dropping practice
depth charges and forced three of the four to the surface. It is fortunate that
the superpowers found a resolution to the crisis what the USN didn’t know was
that the Soviet Foxtrots
were equipped with nuclear tipped torpedoes. From 1995 to 2000 the Soviets
retired their Foxtrots
and the last Indian Foxtrot was retired as
recently as 2010.
Admiralty Model Works Foxtrot
Coming from Admiralty Model Works,
quality components is guaranteed and their 1:700 scale models of the Foxtrot
don’t disappoint. That’s right, models plural not singular. Admiralty
provides two Foxtrot models in the box,
one waterline and one full hull. In 1:700 scale I normally prefer waterline
format but so much of the hull of a submarine is below the surface that I really
like the full hull version to get all of the strangely shaped bow of the Foxtrot.
The full hull version is cast on a resin runner along the centerline but the
waterline version was cast on a resin casting sheet. Both will need minor
sanding to clean up the juncture between the casting mechanism and the model.
The waterline version will need to be sanded lightly along the waterline to
remove the remnants of the casting sheet, while the full hull version needs the
sanding along the centerline of the bottom. Casting quality is excellent with no
voids, blobs, pinholes or other deformities, which can beset casting resin
parts.
With most submarine kits you get the hull casting but few smaller resin
pieces but with the Admiralty Foxtrot
you get the hull casting plus 24 smaller resin pieces. The
attraction for any subject can be based on a number of factors, history, design
significance, architecture as primary factors. The Foxtrot
has a significant position in the evolution of Soviet attack boats but for me,
it is the boat’s architecture that is most attractive, especially the bow. It
certainly has a classic shark profile with a bulbous sonar fitting at the top
and sharp angled cutwater. There is certainly plenty of detail cast into the
model, which is finely cast and not overdone. Primary among these are the very
detailed torpedo tube doors and bow deck fitting resembling a miniature sail.
The inset anchor wells with anchor hawse angled down is another attractive
feature. From the photographs it is difficult to see all of the deck and hull
detail that is present because it is some much in scale as opposed to be
overdone. There are numerous square limber holes along the hull and the deck
detail is rife with fittings, access hatches, panel lines and deck flood slots.
The sail exhibits the start of the trend in Soviet boats towards the
streamlining that came to fruition with the Victor
and Alfa
class attack boats. Sail detail is plentiful with an inset navigation position
at the top of the sail. Admiralty has
even included fittings inside the navigation well. The stern continues in the
same fashion as the bow with plentiful hull and deck detail. The dropping stern,
aft torpedo tubes, large keel and multiple dive plane positions round out the
package of detail on the Admiralty Foxtrot
hull casting. The smaller resin parts come on three resin runners. One has the
rudder and various dive planes. The second one has the radar dome, radar dish,
navigation well binnacle and snorkel muffle, while the third runner has the
snorkel mast. Provided, is a small photo-etch set, which provides the propellers
and various mast and deck fittings. Admiralty
provides many brass rods of various diameters, which are used for the periscopes
and masts.
A superb decal sheet is included, which provide numerous options for the
modeler. The sheet includes various jacks for the Soviet Navy,
Poland
,
Libya
,
Cuba
, Ukrainian Navy and
India
. Sail decals for the ship emblems for four specific boats, two Soviet and two
Polish, are included. Also included are white hull lines, deck access hatch
outlines, hull numbers, Soviet red stars and smaller deck panel outlines. The
instructions come in the form of three back-printed pages. Page one has the
specifications and history. Page two has a parts lay-down and general
instructions. Pages three to five have the assembly instructions presented in
the form of sequenced modules with 9 modules on page three, 10 on page four and
8 on page five. Page six has color for two Soviet boats and two Polish boats.
The instructions are lucid and comprehensive.
Verdict
The Admiralty Model Works 1:700 scale
Project 641 Foxtrot Soviet
diesel attack submarines provides two excellently detailed models of the class,
one waterline and one full hull. The excellent resin castings are further
supplemented with a photo-etch fret, brass rods, superb decals and comprehensive
instructions.
 |
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|
