Russia to scrap Red October sub

The hunt for Red October can be called off: Russia will scrap the submarine that some say inspired the famous Cold War novel and film.

In a twist of fate, a massive, menacing submarine similar to the Soviet vessel that Sean Connery commanded in the US blockbuster will be scrapped using American funds from the Nunn-Lugar Threat Reduction programme, newspaper Izvestia reported today.

At 565 feet, the submarine – a Typhoon-class craft identified only by the serial number 712 – was one of the biggest nuclear missile-carrying submarines in existence when American author Tom Clancy published The Hunt for Red October in 1984, the newspaper said.

Like the submarine in the book and movie, its coating could deflect sonar signals, and it was the first Soviet nuclear submarine to have the capacity to launch a missile from beneath the polar ice sheet without being caught on satellites.

The submarine had the capacity to carry 20 intercontinental ballistic missiles, but was also equipped with a sauna, swimming pool, gym – even a smoking room.

Regardless of the might it offered the Soviet military and the pride that Soviet engineers took in its construction, the Typhoon was never popular with navy commanders because of its high maintenance costs, Izvestia said.

The Russian navy receives only a fraction of its Soviet-era funding, and in recent years has endured a series of tragedies and embarrassments. The nuclear submarine Kursk sank in August 2000 after explosions on board, killing all 118 sailors aboard.

Budget cuts mean that submarines that cannot be repaired or upgraded are withdrawn from service, and are left to rust with their spent nuclear fuel still inside them.

The submarine is to be dismantled at the Sevmash plant in north-western Russia. Russia’s other three Typhoon-class submarines – the Arhangelsk, the Severstal and the Dmitry Donskoi – will be modernised, though the Severstal is the only one to retain its intercontinental ballistic missiles.