Oscar III SSGN & other Soviet SSGNs

World B4

World B4

my bad y'all
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With the cancellation of the Merkuriy ssgn program in 1989, the successor to the Oscar II was to be the Oscar III, of which the first units were to be built right after the last of the Oscar IIs. I can't find any illustrations, or descriptions of the planned changes and improvements. Can anyone help with this?

To make this something more than just a post with a question that might not get answered, I'll make it a general thread for soviet ssgn projects
 
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H I Sutton's page on the Oscar II includes a history of Soviet ssgn development, as well as pics of the Merkuriy project, however I cannot find illustrations of the Bolide missile it would have carried, though from what I understand it would have been to the P-700 what the P-1000 was to the P-500

Here's a previous thread on the Merkuriy, of note you can see the size difference between it and an Oscar as their models are placed next to each other, compare that with the Oscar and Charlie moored side-by-side on H I Sutton's page

Deepstorm has a really informative article on this, under Project 881
 
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Some more from Deepstorm that I can't link
Project P-627A was a strategic SSGN based off the November.
Project 653 was an evolution of that concept, with 2 such cruise missiles.
Project 705A was an SSGN design based off of the Alfa class, with 8 P-70 anti ship missiles
Project 686 was more loosely based on the Alfa, and would have carried 16 P-120 anti ship missiles
Project 683 was an unrealized design based on the Juliett class, presumably with a nuclear powerplant
Project 675M was an unrealized design based on the Echo II class
Project 661M was the project for a serially constructed design based on the Papa, with a lower top speed
Project 669 was a study in designing an SSGN with p-70 missiles with 8-10 torpedo tubes
Project 667M was the Yankee Sidecar, one was built and tested but the program was determined to be too expensive, so it was discontinued.
 
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Some Stuff I could really use help from the community on:
Project 670M-2, an unrealized modification of the Charlie-II, of which I have no information.
Project 664- I can't read russian so I have no idea, but if anyone can, and would be so kind as to post a translated version I would greatly appreciate it.
Project 648M-Same story.
Project 659R- an unrealized project based on the Echo I, called an "atomic relay", the definition of which I do not know.
And of course, the Oscar III
 
World B4 said:
H I Sutton's page on the Oscar II includes a history of Soviet ssgn development, as well as pics of the Merkuriy project, however I cannot find illustrations of the Bolide missile it would have carried, though from what I understand it would have been to the P-700 what the P-1000 was to the P-500

Here's a previous thread on the Merkuriy, of note you can see the size difference between it and an Oscar as their models are placed next to each other, compare that with the Oscar and Charlie moored side-by-side on H I Sutton's page

Deepstorm has a really informative article on this, under Project 881
Click to expand...
From the thread:
Triton said:
In the mid 1980s, the Soviet Navy determined that a new weapon system was needed to deal with the ever-increasing power of US Navy carrier battle groups. At the time, the Project 949 (Granit) and Project 949A (Antey), NATO reporting names Oscar I and Oscar II, nuclear-powered guided missile submarines (SSGN) did not seem sufficiently effective over the long term. As a result, TsKB Rubin began work on the Project 881 nuclear-powered guided missile submarine, codenamed Merkuriy (Mercury), under the leadership of Chief Designer IL Baranov.

The submarine was intended to use the then in development Bolide anti-ship missile, which was a further development of the P-700 Granit, NATO reporting name SS-N-19 Shipwreck, with the range increased to 800 km (432 nm, 497 m). The submarine was to be armed with 24 of these missiles housed in inclined launchers. As a result, Project 881 grew enormously and became equal in size to a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. Length is estimated at 170 to 180 meters, 558 ft to 591 ft, with an underwater displacement of at least 25,000 tons, which would have made it the largest underwater carrier of tactical weapons in the world.

The design of Merkuriy almost completely corresponded to the draft of the Project 935, Borey?, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine except for a large hump concealing the upper part of the missile launchers. The Irtysh-Amphora sonar system, which was to be standard for the fourth generation boats, was housed in the bow of the boat. Besides forward antenna were located the large onboard of sonar antennas, similar established on Projects 885 and 09780 Axon-2, on which they tested. Six torpedo tubes, supposedly of the 533 mm diameter, were to be arranged immediately after the bow sonar complex. The tail assembly was a standard cross-shaped configuration.

The Merkuriy project was canceled in 1989.

Despite the cancellation of the Merkuriy project, work on the Bolide anti-ship missile continued. On July 9, 1990 it was decided to conduct joint flight tests of the Bolide missile and to re-equip the first boat of the Project 949 class, Arkhangelsk (K-525), for this purpose. The Bolide missile system was intended to arm the Project 949B Atlas class, whose series was to begin immediately after the completion of the last Project 949A class boats Belgorod , Volgograd, and Barnaul. These plans were disrupted stemming from the collapse of the USSR and the ensuing economic crisis.

Based on a translation by Ender at the Warship Projects Discussion Boards 3.0 forum.
http://www.phpbbplanet.com/warshipprojects/viewtopic.php?t=3299&mforum=warshipprojects

From an original post in Russian:
http://paralay.iboards.ru/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=945&sid=2993d3d98e41e17b0f53242645724eac

Photograph of Project 949 model alongside Project 881 model.

Line drawing of Project 881 nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine.
Click to expand...
Good lord that's a monster....
 
Very obscure these are, there's VERY little information about them anywhere. But still very intriguing!
 

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