50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 835 The Titanium Alloy Submarine Targeted by the Protagonist

The Lapis Lazuli Design Bureau was a junior among the three major design bureaus. It started as a small design department at the Solmovo shipyard and was later expanded into the Central Design Bureau 112.

In its early days, it was only responsible for researching conventional submarines, with its representative work being the Type 633R-class submarine (NATO designation "Romeo" class), which later became our Type 033.

The Type 633 R-class submarine has a submerged displacement of 1830 tons, a maximum speed of 15.2 knots, and a maximum diving depth of 300 meters.

Compared to other submarines of the Soviet Union at the time, its performance was only average, with no particularly outstanding features.

The only truly impressive statistic is probably its battery life.

The Type 633 has a maximum range of over 26,000 kilometers, which means it can basically reach all coastlines on Earth with a single resupply.

This is only theoretically possible; in reality, due to limited performance and weak stealth capabilities, such submarines generally do not stray too far from their home port.

Fortunately, it was very inexpensive to build and had a good cost-performance ratio, so it later became a best-selling conventional submarine at the Red Solmovo shipyard.

In 4, China imported a complete set of blueprints and equipment, and built four submarine shipyards. A total of 106 submarines were built, with an average cost of no more than 800 million yuan.

Although its technology is not advanced enough, quantity can make up for it. In this day and age, the Type 033 is our underwater Great Wall.

With a large number of Type 033 submarines filling the coastal defense perimeter, it is difficult for other countries' submarines to secretly reach our coastal waters as long as the enemy does not want to start a war.

Because when the Type 033 destroyers are deployed all over the coastal waters, our nuclear submarines will be silently hidden not far away. If you want to bypass the defense network established by the Type 033 destroyers, you will inevitably be detected by the silent nuclear submarines.

Although this tactic is very effective, it is similar to the Q-5A, both being a last resort tactic.

It has been 74 years since the Central Design Bureau was officially named the Tianqingshi Design Bureau, which is only twelve years ago.

Shortly after it was named, the first submarine developed by the Celestite Design Bureau received its official designation: 945, codenamed "Barracuda," which is the NATO designation "Sierra" class submarine.

The Sierra-class submarine was the last titanium alloy nuclear submarine built by the Soviet Union. It had a displacement of 8500 tons, a speed of 35 knots, and a diving depth of 800 meters.

In terms of technical data, it ranks first among attack nuclear submarines in service worldwide.

Unfortunately, everyone knows what the situation was like in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. This rich young master, whose wealth exceeded that of an aircraft carrier, was truly born at the wrong time.

The reason for introducing these titanium alloy nuclear submarines from the Russian Navy is that Sun Zhiwei saw an opportunity in historical records.

The Russians have developed all four types of titanium alloy submarines.

They are: the fastest, the Type 661; the most technologically advanced, the Type 705; the deepest-diving, the Type 685 (Komsomol-class); and the most technologically mature, the Type 945 (Sierra-class).

Among them, the Type 661 took the longest to develop. The project was initiated in 1959, but construction did not begin until 1963. As a result, due to a shortage of titanium alloy, it took five years to be launched.

Also due to the tight supply of titanium alloys, its construction plan was reduced from the initial 10 ships to 5 ships, then to 3 ships, and finally only one ship was built, named K-162.

K-162 entered service in 1972, but for the sake of secrecy, its hull number was changed repeatedly over the next decade.

It was initially called K-162, then changed to K-18, then to K-222, and for a few years the submarine was even removed from official records, losing its designation altogether.

Many of the personnel involved in the research, development, manufacturing, operation, and even command of the Type 661 submarine are now unaware of its true nature. This extreme secrecy has made the disappearance of this unique Type 661 submarine a common occurrence.

When Sun Zhiwei recalled this information, he felt that the Type 661 submarine was practically made for him.

Even if the ship is lost, no one will investigate. The few people in the know will subconsciously assume that it has been renamed and is undergoing secret testing somewhere.

He doesn't know where the only Type 661 submarine is yet, but finding it is only a matter of time.

Sun Zhiwei chose the Type 705 submarine, which has the smallest displacement, because it has the highest level of automation and requires as few as 32 people to operate normally.

This compact size is well-suited to Sun Zhiwei's Pinkerton company. As an enterprise-level armed force, large ships are not his goal; small and sophisticated equipment is the most appropriate.

The chubby 705 model, although it looks a bit ugly, actually looks kind of cute after you get used to it.

Therefore, the Type 705 was also one of his targets.

Then there's the Type 685 Komsomol submarine, which can dive to a depth of 1200 meters, giving it an inherent advantage.

Unfortunately, this only Type 685 submarine sank in April of this year at a depth of 1685 meters in the open sea north of Norway due to a fire inside the cabin.

(The actual sinking of the Communist Youth League ship occurred 3 years later. Novels are not historical records, and the author sometimes slightly alters the timelines of events to facilitate the narrative.)
Currently, the various departments involved in the sinking of the Communist Youth League are blaming each other.

But salvage is impossible; no one can salvage this nearly 10,000-ton titanium alloy submarine in the frigid Arctic Circle, at a depth of over 1600 meters.

The relevant departments in Russia still haven't figured out the cause of the fire. Of course, it's also very possible that their subordinates are deliberately refusing to find out.

If the responsibility for this were to be placed on one person or one department, many people would die.

This is not just about the deaths of a few dozen sailors. The Komsomol alone cost billions of dollars to build, and now that it has been sunk to the bottom of the sea, anyone who dares to lift the lid on this will become the enemy of the navy.

It is said that in October, someone proposed to temporarily seal the Komsomol ship with cement on the seabed, but the current situation on site is unknown.

No country has the technology to salvage the Komsomolskaya Pravda from the seabed, but its external systems can.

A depth of 1600 meters was not possible a year ago, but after dealing with Khun Sa's group in the Golden Triangle, the distance is now sufficient.

If the Communist Youth League ship is indeed sealed with cement, he plans to secretly go there, get it out, send it back to China, renovate it, and then use it again.

His only worry was that once the researchers in China got the Communist Youth League number, they wouldn't return it to him.

This is a titanium alloy nuclear submarine, you know. The Russians don't even have many of them. In terms of cost, even if we put all our fleets together, it wouldn't be as expensive as one of their submarines.

However, this problem hasn't happened yet, so he doesn't need to worry unnecessarily. He'll wait a few days and find out more information before making a decision.

Finally, there is the Project 945 Sierra-class nuclear submarine, of which two have already been built at the Red Solmovo shipyard.

(End of this chapter)