The lock is 155 metres (509 ft) long, 25 m (82 ft) wide, and 14 m (46 ft) high the roof features anti-aircraft armament.

Work was eventually completed by the building of a tower.īetween late 1943 and early 1944, a fortified lock was built to protect submarines during their transfer from the Loire river and the pens. From July 1941 to January 1942, pens 9 through 14 were built and between February and June 1942, pens 1 through 5. On 30 June 1941, Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz formally opened the U-boat pen, with U-203 being the first boat to occupy one of the pens. Building began in February 1941, with pens 6, 7, and 8 completed in June 1941. The selected space was that of the docks and buildings of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, which were razed. Work soon began under the supervision of engineer Probst. In December, a mission of the Organisation Todt (Oberbauleitung Süd) inspected the harbour to study the possibilities to build a submarine pen invulnerable to air bombing from England. The harbour was immediately used for submarine operations, with the German submarine U-46 arriving as soon as 29 September 1940. During the Battle of France, the German Army arrived in Saint-Nazaire, in June 1940. The submarine base of Saint-Nazaire is one of five large fortified U-boat pens built by Germany during the Second World War in occupied Saint-Nazaire, France.īefore the Second World War, Saint-Nazaire was one of the largest harbours of the Atlantic coast of France. The retirement of Dmitry Donskoy ends the saga of the largest submarines ever built. The class was designed with an advanced stern fin with a horizontal hydroplane fitted after the boat’s screws, while the nose horizontal hydroplanes in the bow section were designed to be retractable into the hull. The boats of the Typhoon-class could reportedly operate at depths as great as 400 meters and travel at speeds in excess of 27 knots. The submarines were powered by OK-650 pressurized-water nuclear reactors, two 50,000 horsepower steam turbines, and four 3,200 KW turbogenerators and this provides the boat with the ability to sail at a speed of up to 22.2 knots on the surface and 27 knots whilst submerged. By contrast, the Soviet Typhoons could carry a primary cache of 20 RSM-52 SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), each of which contained up to 10 MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle) warheads. The Typhoon-class subs were designed to counter the United States Navy’s Ohio-class subs, which were capable of carrying up to 192 100-kiloton nuclear warheads. The sheer size of the submarines was likely welcomed by the approximately 160 sailors who called the submarine home on voyages lasting 120 days or longer, oftentimes without surfacing for months at a time. It even was reported that there was a sauna on board as well as a small swimming pool for the crew. It is worth repeating the boat is more commonly known as the Typhoon-class or by its NATO designation.Įach contained nineteen compartments, including a strengthened module, which housed the main control room as well as an electronic equipment compartment above the main hulls and behind the missile launch tubes. Initially designated the TK-208, she was the lead vessel of the Soviet third-generation Akula-class (Russian for “Shark”), and after a 12-year overhaul and refit that began in 1990, she reentered service in 2002 as the Dmitry Donskoy, named after the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy (1359–1389), the reputed founder of Moscow. It will await utilization at a naval base in Severodvinsk together with two other units of this project,” Vladimir Maltsev, the head of the Russian Movement for Navy Support, told the Russian state media outlet Tass.

“The Dmitry Donskoy submarine cruiser has been decommissioned from the Russian Navy. After almost 40 years in service, she has finally been retired. The Russian Navy’s Project 941 Akula-class (NATO reporting name Typhoon) heavy nuclear ballistic submarine was laid down in June 1976 and commissioned in 1984. The world’s largest nuclear-powered submarine, Dmitry Donskoy (TK-208) has been decommissioned, the Kremlin announced on Monday.

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