After the war, there was a greater focus on the submarine force by Soviet authorities during the arms race with the West. The submarine became the spearhead of the Soviet Navy and many of its early forms were heavily influenced by captured German wartime designs, especially the XXI design. As such, they generally lagged behind their contemporaries in terms of capability and technology until about the 1970's when more and more designs appeared that began to outshine anything available in the West.
In the immediate post-war years, the Soviet Navy undertook a massive building program of a large group of submarines known as Project 613 NATO codename of "Whisky class" that went on to number 215 boats (21 were added to this total from local Chinese production) across five major variants but a far cry from the 340 boats originally sought by Soviet authorities.
Design work on the new group began in 1946 and initially involved modification of the German wartime Type XXI boat. After a design was agreed, construction lasted from 1949 to 1958 with each boats displaced at 1080 tons when surfaced and 1350 tons submerged. With a length of 76 meters, a beam of 6.3 meters and a draught of 4.9 meters, the boat’s standard crew complement numbered 54 personnel (increased in some later missile carrying versions).
Propulsion was conventional and involved a combination diesel-electric arrangement in which the diesel units carried the boat during surface running and the electric motors powered the boat underwater. This required the boat to surface to charge its battery packs and expel any built-up CO2 gas. Surfaced speeds reached 18 knots and submerged speeds fell to 7 knots - a common trait of early submarines. Operational range was out to 13,500 nautical miles when surfaced and 6,000 miles when submerged and enough provisions were carried to supply the crew on 40-45 day long patrols. Initially the Whisky-class was intended for coastal patrolling though its role would expand throughout its service.
In terms of armament, the Whisky class continued established attack submarine tradition by being fitted with 6 x 533mm (21") torpedo tubes arranged in four bow (forward facing) mountings and two stern (rear facing) mountings. This allowed the frontal four tubes to be used to attack forward targets and the pairing at the rear to engage trailing targets. Twelve torpedo reloads were carried though this could be substituted with twenty-two naval mines as needed. Like World War 2 era attack submarines, the Whiskey-class originally carried surface deck guns of 25mm calibre. Later models of the group introduced a 57mm gun and still later versions showcased support for SS-N-3 series cruise missiles when that technology was made available to Soviet subs - this conversion occurred primarily during the 1950s and 1960s.
The major variants of the Whisky-class were known as Whisky I, II, III, IV, and Whisky V. From Whisky III onwards all of its deck armament removed and Whisky IV introduced a snorkel capability and ‘V’ boats had no deck armament but were seen with snorkels more streamlined conning towers (sails). All Whisky boats carried the peculiar double blip sonar housing on the keel.
It was not until the line was upgraded to become guided missile carriers (Project 644) that the Whisky class grew into its own as a notable threat to the West. Work on the conversions began in 1956 and saw a single vessel serve as prototype. A launch tube was added aft of the conning tower housing 1 x SS-N-3 cruise missile and six boats followed to this standard from 1958 into 1960. The major difference with this group was two missile launch tubes which made them known as Whisky ‘Twins’.
Despite their launch tube configuration, the modified boats were still required to surface to launch their missile ordnance at land-based targets (a requirement no longer observed by modern missile attack submarines). From 1960 to 1963 the conning tower (sail) was lengthened to accommodate up to four cruise missiles. Their lengthening brought about the name of Whisky ‘Long Bin’ (Project 655) in the West. Other special mission submarines were created as needed including a form modified to serve in special forces insertion/extraction actions.
Soviet Whisky class boats soldiered on into the end of the Cold War (1991) after which all were given up amidst the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Whisky class was eventually superseded by two new groups in the Romeo class and the Foxtrot class (See photo #1 for comparison in size) arriving in the 1950's and 1960's Models of these appear earlier in these pages.
There is only one plastic kit of the Whisky class and that is in 1/350 by Mikro+Mir. There is an execellent 1/144 resin kit available to order from Russia but that will set you back £540 and a three month delivery delay?
Mikro+Mir’s kit depicts a Whisky III and is nicely moulded in light grey plastic with 19 parts plus a brass deck in one piece and a further 19 P/E parts. If so inclined there would be little involved in building either the II, III or IV versions. Construction of the cleanly moulded parts is straightforward with one exception, a slight warp in the conning tower (sail) but that can be rectified quite easily. Care is also needed in aligning the brass deck piece. Needless to add, the P/E parts are those most likely to drive you to drink?
