Подводные лодки проекта 651 «Джульетта»: характеристики и применение.

Project 651, known in the West by its NATO reporting name Juliett class, was a class of Soviet diesel electric submarines armed with cruise missiles. They were designed in the late 1950s to provide the Soviet Navy with a nuclear strike capability against targets along the east coast of the United States and enemy combatants (aircraft carriers). The head of the design team was Abram Samuilovich Kassatsier. They carried four nuclear capable cruise missiles with a range of approximately , which could be launched while the submarine was surfaced and moving less than Once surfaced, the first missile could be launched in about five minutes; subsequent missiles would follow within about ten seconds each. Initially, the missiles were the inertially guided P 5 (NATO reporting name SS N 3c Shaddock). When submarine launched ballistic missiles rendered the P 5s obsolescent, they were replaced with the P 6 (also NATO reporting name SS N 3a Shaddock, though a very different missile) designed to attack aircraft carriers. A special 10 m2 target guidance radar was built into the forward edge of the sail structure, which opened by rotating. One boat was eventually fitted with the Kasatka satellite downlink for targeting information to support P 500 4K 80 "Bazalt" (SS N 12 Sandbox) anti ship cruise missiles. The Juliett class had a low magnetic signature austenitic steel double hull, covered by thick black tiles made of sound absorbing hard rubber.

In the late 1950s, the Soviet Navy was tasked to neutralize American bases and aircraft carriers. It began construction of a large number of expensive nuclear powered (s) to accomplish this, but could not build enough nuclear reactors to equip them promptly. Even though the Juliett class was inferior to the Echos, it was ordered into production because it did not require resources needed for the nuclear boats. The Juliett class boats are a double hulled design that displaces on the surface and submerged. The boats have an overall length of , a beam of and a draft (ship) of The Julietts have a test depth of and a design depth of The prominent blast deflectors cut out of the outer hull behind the missile launchers make the submarines very noisy at high speed. Their crew numbered 78 men.

The Juliett class is powered by a diesel electric system that consists of two 1D43 diesel engines and a pair of MG 141 electric motors for cruising on the surface. Two additional electric motors are intended for slow speeds underwater and are powered by four banks of lead acid battery cells that are recharged by a 1DL42 diesel generator. The boats are fitted with a retractable snorkel to allow the diesel engines to operate while underwater. On the surface, the submarines have a maximum speed of Using their diesel electric system while snorkeling gives the Julietts a range of at Using just the electric motors underwater, they have a maximum range of at Their best submerged speed on electric motors is , although it reduces their range to They could carry enough supplies for 90 days of operation.