Russian ‘atomic sharks’: What is known about the world’s largest nuclear submarines?

Russian ‘atomic sharks’: What is known about the world’s largest nuclear submarines? On September 23, 1980, the first of the Project 941 Akula-class (lit. Shark) nuclear-powered submarine was launched from the Russian port of Severodvinsk. These submarines became the largest in the world in terms of tonnage (23,200 tonnes surfaced and 48,000 tonnes submerged), with their prodigious size being a necessity rather than some kind of statement. The Akulas, designed as a response to the US Ohio-class submarines, were armed with 20 R-39 ballistic missiles. These missiles, while possessing greater range and bigger payload than Trident-1 missiles carried by the Ohio subs, were also much bigger and heavier than Tridents, thus necessitating a bigger carrier. Nearly 173 meters long and wide, an Akula submarine is comprised of five habitable compartments, each of which is encased in its own outer hull (all within the vessel’s main outer hull) - a composition that ensures the submarine’s s... Source: Sputnik International