Soviet Foxtrot B-427 Scorpion Submarine

In Long Beach, California right alongside the Queen Mary sits Podvodnaya Lodka B-427 Scorpion (“Podvodnaya Lodka” is Russian for Submarine). This is a former Cold War era Soviet Project 641 Foxtrot class diesel-electric attack submarine that was once the nemesis of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. B-427 once protected Soviet Fleet warships and nuclear missile submarines from enemy warships and submarines. It was not a missile equipped submarine though and only carried 533mm (21 inch) torpedoes which could be conventional or nuclear tipped anti-submarine/anti-ship models (10 launch tubes – 6 in the bow and 4 in the stern, with 22 torpedoes on board or 44 AMD-1000 mines).

Queen Mary with a Soviet era Foxtrot submarine at Long Beach, CA

Soviet Foxtrot Class Sub Technical Drawing

Effective but noisier and more cramped than comparable western diesel-electric submarines (range was significantly less than nuclear submarines too), 74 of these Foxtrot class submarines were built…