B-276 Kostroma is one of the Russian Navy's Sierra class submarine. She was launched in 1986, commissioned in 1987, and named K-276 Crab until 1992. The Kostroma was built at Gorky and later towed to Severodvinsk for completion. She remains part of the Russian Northern Fleet.
The Kostromo was involved in a collision off Kildin Island near the Russian naval base of Severomorsk, on 11 February 1992 with the US Navy nuclear submarine USS Baton Rouge. The incident took place when the US unit was engaged in a covert mission, apparently aimed at intercepting Russian military communications. Although a majority of sources claim that the American submarine was trailing her Russian counterpart, some authors believe that neither the Kostroma nor the Baton Rouge were able to locate each other before the collision.
Both submarines sustained considerable damage, but there were no casualties reported. Russian reports and American aerial surveillance agree that the Kostroma's sail was virtually destroyed on its front section and Russian navy sources reportedly found pieces of composite material from Baton Rouge's anti-sonar tiles in amongst the tangled metal. The US Navy claimed that besides some scratches, dents, and two minor cuts on her port ballast tank, the Baton Rouge didn’t suffer major damage, but it was necessarily serious in any case, as any rupture on the single hull of Baton Rouge would have compromised her pressure resistance. The deactivation of Baton Rouge was announced on 17 September 1993, although some sources claim that the American submarine had been already taken out of service less than a year after the incident, in January 1993. According to Gregory Stitz, curator of Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, and some European sources the costs of repairing the damaged pressure hull, along with a programmed refuelling, were well beyond the planned budget; therefore the US Navy chose to decommission the submarine. Russian naval officers alleged that the US submarine became a constructive total loss right after the collision. As for Kostroma, it was laid up on 28 March 1992, and by 29 June had been fully repaired at Nerpa shipyards in Snezhnogorsk. The Russian submarine was temporarily renamed Krab (Crab), before recovering her original name on November 1996. After a huge overhaul, again at Nerpa, she returned to service in 2005.
The Sierra I class (NATO reporting name) or (Soviet design serial number) Project 945 (Барракуда/Barrakuda) nuclear submarine was the Soviet Union's successor class to the partly successful Project 705 Lira (Alfa) and later Akula class submarines. The Sierra class has a light and strong titanium pressure hull which enables the class to dive to greater depths, reduce the level of radiated noise and increase resistance to torpedo attacks. It is powered by a single OK-650 pressurized water reactor. Sierra I and its successor Sierra II classes submarines are designed by Lazurit Central Design Bureau.
The first Sierra I, the 'Karp', was laid down in May 1982 at the Gorky shipyard and launched in August 1983 before being transferred to Severodvinsk for fitting out. For unknown reasons this vessel was laid up prematurely in 1987 but may have been earmarked for upgrading to Sierra II class?. The second and final Sierra I to be built was the Kostroma, which was launched in July 1986 and was commissioned in September 1987.
Soviet titanium technology was far in advance of the West's, requiring fewer passes to achieve weld at the disadvantage of the cost of each hull which limits numbers built despite the advantages of greater depths and underwater speed. This was clearly demonstrated in the Sierra class.
On March 5, 2013 the Russian news agency Izvestiya reported that the Russian Navy has decided to return Hull 1 Karp and Hull 2 Kostroma to service. The necessary upgrade work was expected to take three years and carried out at Severodvinsk but in March 2015, it was reported that the final decision on the modernization of submarines Carp and Kostroma has yet to be made due to cost issues. The Kostromo however remains on active service.
Modelling the Sierra Class of submarine is limited to 1/700 (DML/Italeri) paired with the USS Bengimin Franklin although 1/350 versions of the Sierra are promised from HobbyBoss / Alanger / Zvesda / Bronco for 2016/7. I will be looking at the smaller one in depth (forgive that unintentional pun) later; but meantime, here are photos of the aforementioned Kostromo in less happy times....?
Photo 1. Showing the damage to the sail following the collision. Photo 2. The Sierra's unique escape pod being lowered into position following her repair and refit. The White Star and numeral '1' on the front of the sail denotes a successful (?) encounter with the Baton Rouge.
