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Aleady have you on patreon and its by far the best submarine knowledge patreon for the money and content Jive. Funny part is I came across your videos watch cold waters videos you made on here lol.
@@hantubelaung Be more worried about the fracas that would occur with all of the intelligence agencies in the area when they try to make a move. Gotta keep your sources alive after all.
Soldiers/Sailors/Pilots might follow orders, but very rarely aim to shoot and kill. Destroy equipment, property or scare the enemy into surrender..sure. But I think you'll find even a trained killer doesn't take pleasure in it. There are very few people (sociopaths) who do. But Jive, is a man of high integrity, very respectful.
@@S.ASmith They might not take pleasure in it, but soldiers ARE trained to kill, and they do. My Russian counterparts are trained to both kill, and die in defense of their motherland because of the numerous genocidal invasions against them. Russia has been attacked out of the blue many times from every direction other than due north. What you described was true of U.S. soldiers in wars all the way to WW-2 and Korea. After that, their training changed, they are trained to shoot to kill or incapacitate. This is why I think more veterans from Vietnam onwards are having the mental issues they have. However, the sort of genocides that filled the soil in Russia and Ukraine with the bones of their people and invaders alike are coming to the West because of our perfidious ruling class. When you are faced with an enemy who wants to not only defeat your military, but eliminate your people, you can and probably WILL take pleasure in killing them. Especially if your loved ones were victimized the way civilians were during WW-2 from Russia all the way to Germany at the hands of the Red Army. A defeated or occupied nation with that situation will be full of righteously vengeful soldiers and guerillas alike.
India: "Hey Russia, can we get a fast attack sub? We wanna do some learning" Russia: "You want this 27yr old sub? Best sub, great shape" India: "uhhhhh no thanks, we kinda wanna have it for 10 years" Russia: "Will last 10 years, no problem" (Meanwhile, already planning to scrap it for being old) Britain: "We'Re gonna scrap these antique submarines, they're rusted to heck, and they start fires every other week!" Canada: "WHY ARE YOU SCRAPPING PERFECTLY GOOD SUBMARINES?"
Historian: In the chaotic aftermath of the 1917 revolution, Russians changed many place-names. This occurred again when the Soviet Union... Sub Brief: Yeah, Russia does that a lot.
Chief, I'm an avid listener. I really enjoy your offerings. Your presentation has a lot of humor and refinement. Your way of speaking makes it easy to digest your information. I know you can't disclose information on the American boats, but with what I already know and what you don't say, gives me tremendous new insights. Anytime you are on the left coast, near the bay area, I'll buy.
The Akula was a quantum leap in technology for the Soviets and shocked the intelligence community because she was several years ahead of where we though Soviet submarine development would be at the time she was detected. She also had a key innovation namely a seven bladed screw which made her as quiet as the latest American subs. That was key because although U.S. subs were outnumbered by the Soviets our ability to remain undetected more than leveled the playing field. When we discover something like a step jump in technology we immediately look for evidence of espionage as most advances in their Soviet submarine technology came from stealing our secrets. We knew they had the top secret plans to our advanced screw design but lacked the ulta-precise milling equipment to manufacture it. This is where the scandal with Toshiba selling treaty banned precision milling equipment to a third party knowing it was destined to the Soviets came to light. Many of the executives responsible ended up disgraced and some in jail but the damage had been done. I was on the first American submarine to pick up and track an Akula. We tracked her back to her home base and then immediately took off to Yokosuka, Japan where there was a car waiting for our commanding officer and a couple of other crew members. They and the collected data were immediately flown by a waiting aircraft back to Washington D.C. The President along with top Pentagon officials were briefed on this grave threat to national security. I have never purchased anything from Toshiba since.
Interesting. What boat were you on that first tracked an Akula? Just pass the first number of the hull number if you're nervous about passing the name of the boat. I'll know.
@@remaguire I can't tell you that even though it has probably been declassified, but I just don't know if it has. Some of the stuff we were involved with is still TS. All I can tell you is the boat I was on was a 637 class submarine out of Pearl.
@@mysticwanderer4787 okay. i understand. I'm pretty sure I know which mission you're talking about. a couple of friends of mine were TAD on your boat. i was on the one right after on a 594. I'll just say I consider myself to be an Akula plankowner.
Magadan has been just recently released from the dry dock after udergoing repairs and modernisation and will begin trials in order to be put back into service.
According to Russian sources on the Incident on the K-157. The seaman went out for a chat with the pier guard around 3am then went back inside the submarine and picked up something akin to a Pickaxe. He went back outside and kept chatting with the guard and then when the other guy wasnt looking he stuck him down with the Pickaxe at about 4am. At that moment a officer was leaving the submarine on the other side of the pier (The K-328) and saw the guard on the floor with the other guy taking the AK from him. The officer went over and he too was stuck by the pickaxe but it didn't knock him out and he put up a fight. The Officer then tried to wrestle the rifle from the seaman but failed and he ducked for cover behind the electrical box at the pier while the seaman shot at him (He survived). The seaman shot the knocked out guard at point blank then proceeded to board the sub armed with the rifle. He went though the sleeping quarters and shot 5 men in their bunks then locked himself in the Torpedo room. By then the Officer from up top had sounded the alarm. The seaman triggered the fire Extinguisher system in compartment 2 to seal off the Torpedo room from tampering and he shot 2 more crew members that where sleeping in the Torpedo Room. From there the Standoff lasted until that evening. He threatened to blow up the sub and made piles of combustible material and Oxygen candles under the warheads. His only demands where wine and food. A telephone was Given to him so he could speak to his family and unknown to him the phone was rigged with a Shaped Explosive charge on a battery switch. After the battery ran low it detonated while he was talking with his older Brother and it instantly killed him. Only after that did the FSB squad open the hatch. Seems he just had a mental breakdown and was not under "Bunk" Arrest or anything. Sources say he was a quiet unstable guy who was picked on a lot by the rest of the crew.
Huh, an explosive in the telephone, what a quick-thinking approach!... unless all phones contain a shaped explosive charge :O (I look at my Android phone with new comprehension.)
the akula holds a place in my heart similar to the Mosin nagant rifles and the Mosquito aircraft, where I have this weird admiration for the exterior aesthetics i cant explain, no matter the functionality of them
Understood. For me it's the M1 Garand , BAR, and Thompson submachine gun....... combination of looks and function. MA Deuce. P-38 Lightning. Ruger 22 pistol and carbine. Patton tanks. Lockheed Constellation and Blackbird. Boeing 707. Essex class carriers. B52 with the old nose and tail. V2 rockets. The list is long.
@@kimweaver1252 the P38 is an amazing machine. I would love to own one and do a flight across the pacific islands visiting all the main Atols. Did it in Flight Simulator a few years ago.
The Mosin can be an extremely competent weapon when done right and used right. Look up the Finnish variants, most of all the Tkiv-85 sniper rifle. That's what I used in the FDF, one shot one kill easily to 860m which was the max on our range, shooting at a camouflaged bust size target I did not know the location of, hidden in a bush. I can use it to reliably make a hit every 3 sec until I'm out of ammo or targets, obviously you would normally not do that in a real situation most likely, but I have in training, and it's a rebarreled Mosin with a better stock and scope.
This is the one sub I never wanted to encounter for any reason! A sub that could potentially appear out of nowhere, out run your torpedos, then vanish like a ghost is a terrifying foe.
That would be a reasonable assumption, given the Soviet then Russian Navy's poor safety record at sea. Not only a reactor casualty, but a very serious one. One that could have sunk the ship and killed everyone aboard. It's unacceptable to lose entire crews at sea the way they did. I hope the disaster that sank the Kursk, a submarine built to dish out and receive damage convinced the Russian admiralty that the welfare of their crews should always be a top priority. Trained, professional crewmen and officers are not easy to come by. They had to face public outrage over the loss of the Kursk, I hope that painful moment led to the Russian Navy improving how their people are trained. I am an American, but I do not want crews from any country being unsafe down there given there is a nuclear reactor down there with them. The only reason we haven't had as many accidents as they did is Hyman Rickover. Love him or hate him, he insisted on competency and saftety, given he personally chose everyone who became an officer. The Soviet, then Russian Navy really needed a Rickover of their own.
Not necessarily. The thing is, the Soviet navy and its offspring the Russian navy always cared about number of hulls. But only judging from Jive’s briefs, their maintenance was nothing near scheduled, regular or at least semi regular. Combat effectiveness of the Soviet navy was just words written on a piece of paper. Boats had to stay in port for years because pf lack of shipyard capacity, qualified labour and spares in Soviet period. There was no issue with money back then. Combat readiness was nearly the same as of the money stripped Russian navy of the 90s-00s. Little example: Alfas were supposed to have shore steam plants built and run for them while in port in order to be able to shut down their reactors (liquid metal coolant they used would solidify if not constantly heated by either reactor or supplied steam). Those facilities never ran properly, which resulted in Alfas using up their reactors much faster than planned on. The boats themselves ended up being used as overpriced power generators for port facilities, since they had to be kept running at all times anyways. After learning something like this, it is no longer a surprise, that those boats had very short life span and minimal number of patrols.
@@leftnoname: You’re leaving out one thing. Soviet/ Russian sailors operated those boats! To assume that their lack of quality made the crew inferior would/could lead to your destruction! Those officers were incredible sailors! Once achieving the rank of Captain, they stayed with that particular design for the duration of their career. Underestimating then was always a risk. You allow for that, and then see this sub setting pier side for all these years? It’s reactor related. Anything else, the crew could and would get that boat to sea! Extra $!!!!
27 Year SUBVET here myself. Basic Sonar Operator and Duty Storekeeper qualified A-Ganger (I was bored after qualifying everything else). Great channel and informative content!
I went to Saint Petersburg 2 years ago and got to meet a former commander of The Wolf. He gave me a tie clip from his days as captain. It was an amazing trip.
@@SubBrief I didn't have any issues. It really was an amazing trip... if you have the chance to go I will hook you up with my friends up there. Also got to go on an old Foxtrot sub out in Kaliningrad. Never thought I would ever get to see anything like that back when I was in the Navy. I was on the SSN-684 in the 80's
Thanks, nice work. Let me add two cents. The Akulas were dubbed as "pregnant Victor IIIs" which is eventually true - the boat is wider and just as long. Two: the main weapon had been concidered 3M10 cruise missiles called Cranat (Pomegranate) or SS-N-21 «SAMPSON» in NATO parlance, hence second nickname: "mimiced SSBN". Being an answer to UGM-109 Tomahawk, Granat with surprisingly lightweight nuke warhead might easily fly out of 3000 km. Remember the troubles with Tomahawks on early LA class of USN, "four-shooters"? Weak torpedo tubes, which didn't allow the fully fueled UGM-109 to be fired properly so the first usage of Tomahawks from USN SSNs was for up to 500 nm of distance - missile contained only about one third of fuel aboard. To prevent such troubles, special "long" reenforced torpedo tubes were developed for Project 971, and since then one glance on a topredo tube of Russian sub inside is enough to say whether it is of "missile type" or merely and namely "torpedo" one. Akulas have just former ones. And last but not least: The former skipper of K-461 Wolf, VA Alex Burilichev, is now sittin' head of Naval Deepwater Program. As I remember him in a Commander rank (O-5) and boat CO, he preferred to stand on his feet firmly. But this time beneath him is not steel deck but ocean bottom;-)
I love the part in "Red Storm Rising" when one of the characters ejects from his jet near a soviet pilot that also ejects and in order to get the enemy pilot in to the life raft he has to remember the name of the "new soviet submarine project"
@@SubBrief jokes aside, i think your channel is among youtube's worthiest purposes - promoting free dissemination of obscure knowledge. i wish they'd do more to promote channels like yours instead of garbage pop music and throwaway 'challenges'.
As a serving sonar man in the RN I would love to have a chat about shared experiences, just a pity it can't be done on a public forum. Keep up the good work
"I'm so familiar with the Langley Campus I left a Yelp review of the cafeteria" 10/10 funniest thing I've heard all day. I'm tempted to go look at it but also not, so I'll ask here how was the food? Any recommendations? lol
Back in the 80’s, my datacenter used Halon to suppress fires. We were told that if the Halon system triggers for any reason, GET OUT or you WILL suffocate in seconds. I’m not familiar with “Freon” fire suppression gas.
It displaces Oxygen. If you can hold your breath till you get out you'll be Ok. Just had a Manufacturing plant have a major leak and it killed all that were in that area.
I worked aboard naval vessels equipped with HALON systems, complete with red rotating beacons that activate when the HALON is about to be discharged. If they activated, I knew to get to the nearest ladder and get out of the engine room then close the hatch ASAP.
@Sub Brief regarding the K-371 “Bratsk” - it is actually not exactly fraternal, but the name of a city in Siberia region, close to lake Baikal. But yeah, the name of the city has that meaning too which may be confusing 😆 Also, the AK Bars refers to a Russian company that also sponsors one of the major hockey teams, and apparently they took a sub under their patronage, much like Severstal company did with a project 941 sub (don’t remember which one exactly)
Thank you for making these awesome videos, I'm certain it takes a lot of effort to make these, especially since a lot of info is in Russian! P.S. I'm doing more digging right now and the AK Bars info is not exactly correct :D It translates to "white bars" from Tatarian language, and its the official symbol of Tatarstan region which was the patron of the K-480. A large company and team of the same name exsists which got me confused. Sorry to mess that one up!
That's fascinating background on the name lol we certainly have a wide variety of corporate sponsorships in the US, but I have never heard of a military vessel being sponsored lmao
@@jakeb6703 This took place a bit during the 90s, when the Russian government didn't really care for the military, or the country as a whole, really. The amount of patronage also varied a lot, and it didn't happen with every vessel. In terms of how in came about, sometimes the ship's captain/fleet command would find a patron company, sometimes the initative would come from the business, espacially if the business owner was ex-military. Most often though, the patronage comes from regional governments. One notable story is of Slava-class cruiser "Slava", which was about to be scuttled in the 90s, while it was in dock for repair and modernization. The Black Sea Fleet managed to get the government of Moscow to finance the repairs in return for renaming the ship into "Moscow", and that basically saved the cruiser.
"Ak bars" and "Bars" were both correct name for K-480. It was named Bars (leopard in Tatar language) in 1991 and renamed to Ak bars (white leopard) in 1998.
You mentioned 2 officers getting knocked out of the bridge and only one body recovered. That reminds me of one of our sister boats stationed out of kings bay at the time. I forgot which one, maybe the USS Kentucky, either way... I was on the USS Nebraska and we left Blackshear Nova Scotia Canada after a week of port call in Nov of 1997 or 98. While we were transiting out, the Kentucky was transiting in. They stayed there a few days until a hurricane started heading for them. So we they were doing a surface transit out, the officer of the deck and a look out were harnessed in on the bridge during a sea state 5 or so. Next thing they know it's a rogue wave hits them and they start sinking down past 200ft and a solid collum of water is pouring down the sail hatch in control. They pulled an emergency blow and eventually surfaced after 2 minutes. The torpedo room ended up with 6 ft of water and the all the main AC busses were shorted out, including the battery disconnect. Needless to say, the reactor scrammed and they were dead in the water. It took them 2 weeks to get towed to groton connecticut. Amazingly the OOD and Lookout were ok but I heard they got a free pass out of the navy if they wanted it due to the PTSD of the whole situation. Not sure if they did leave, but what a horror story. Great channel sir.
Definately a class of attack subs that combine reputation with a fitting name. If the later versions of the Akula were already so quiet that they could disappear on passive sonar - maybe by diving so deep that a sealayer with different salinity masked what little noise they make - and knowing that accoustic stealth has moved on quit a bit since then, I wonder what detection means are left to catch a Yasen for example. Maybe ultra low frequency passive sonar? Yeat if the comparisson with low frequency radar against LO aerial targets is a clue, than these will be rather unprecise in locating or determining course, speed and depth. I also wonder what chances MPAs will be having to catch a sub from the air, the latter being ultra quiet, made of demagnetized steel (so goodbye to the Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD)) and being able to run so deep, that I'm not sure what a hunter-killer sub, MPA, ASW-frigate or -helicopter would have to be looking for, let alone how to guide weapons to it. And with a submerged speed of over 30 knots submerged! Holy crap, how could any surface ship defend against that? I'm not entirely sure, but I have the impression surface ships are on the receiving end of an invisible hunter that can strike when and where it wants to and almost with impunity. Could it be that modern subs are the nemesis for large surface combattants the same way aircraft spelled the end of the era of dreadnoughts?
Surface ships don’t have to hide to protect their own stealth so they can use things like active sonar. That levels the playing field because they are designed to be out in the open and take hits without sinking. A submarine’s only defense is stealth, once found she’s an easy target for a heavily armed surface ship.
@@samuel5916 against submarines with all sorts of measures against active sonar (anechoic tiles, hiding in layers, etc.) active sonar is just as limited as passive.
@@Pincer88 Those advancements don’t exist in a vacuum. Active sonar has actively evolved along with stealth technology. At best you can reduce your sonar signature like stealth planes but you can’t eliminate it. Thanks to advanced computer hardware and software, it’s easier then ever to sort through raw data and identify targets.
They blocked the sub, I'm guessing because people been working for eight month with zero pay. Also I wont be surprised that they were promised to get payed at the end of it and nothing. 90's in Russia were very very dark times. Look it up, was rough. I grew up there during that time.
im honestly surprised Putin didn't just declare the blocking ships practice targets and sunk them or sneak some Spetznaz on them to "convince" the crews to stop
Wow, excellent review of what sounds like a very capable Russian submarine. I had a slight "mishap" playing the Akula 1 in Cold Waters... I launched a torpedo and armed it too close to my own sub. Won't say what the outcome was, although it led to some very fancy maneuvering on my part, those wake homing torpedoes just don't want to let go of you! Top notch work on this video, looking forward to seeing the next one. Might have to play Cold Waters tonight now, just have to alert the crew to standby with the bilge pumps, ha ha.
I think I might have seen K-152 when I was working as a deck officer on container ships sailing from the USEC into the Indian Ocean. It was about 2013 or 2014. We were in the Indian Ocean close to the Red Sea and there was a submarine transiting on the surface and it looked like an Akula Class. I didn't get a great look at it or anything, but it had the pod on the rudder and that sort of low, long, streamlined Soviet/Russian sail.
Jive, love your work. I’m currently in the military and find this kind of stuff fascinating. Grew up reading Tom Clancy novels and I imagine he would have been a big fan of your channel with all the Cold War references and superb technical information. Always look forward to another upload from Sub Brief
If I am not mistaken, Clancy passed away not too long ago. He was a U.S. Army veteran, and his well written novels I enjoyed reading. In fact, he was a celebrity among U.S. military personnel.
I grew up reading Tom Clancy as a teenager and well into my 20s and 30s. I could not enlist due to some medical problems but this didn't keep me from keeping up with the latest military hardware. Tom Clancy was the best way to become familiar with military parlance and weapons/platforms designations. I can still remember his detailed description of AS6 Kingfish missiles plowing into the USS Nimitz. A great author greatly missed. From an Aussie fan down under. RIP Tom Clancy.
Just wanted to say thank you for your long and distinguished career whilst serving Aaron. I'm not from the US but from one of the NATO nations. Also thank you for these enlightening briefs. Been a sub-scriber since before the jive sub was a thing and check back every couple of days for the latest video!
We were on patrol north of Russia when I had an opportunity to listen in the sonar shack to our hydrophone arrays. While there we picked up an Akula leaving its port & was amazed at just how noisy they were! When I asked the sonar tech if this was normal he said yes, the Russians concentrated on speed not quiet? Sounded like an old klinker? I then asked him how far away he was & he replied no where close, that’s why we don’t need to worry about them.
Good shout, always been that way. 1980's Russian submarine coming out of port with Noise on. Tracking for miles. Russian Navy tells public, we don't need quiet, we have speed. Fuckin' right. Easy day in my sonar shack. Racked up. Followed with firing solution for weeks. Fuck yeah. Russia got speed, but can't out run an ADCAP. (Russia don't know about ADCAP, so...ah, keep this between us.)
I have a feeling an officer came to his superior and announced his billion-worth submarine was defeated by mud and got an angry response. I hope that he learned history and could give other examples of military defeats due to mud...
It always impresses me how the Russians have always played the West, 'want us to fight hitter? Pay us' Want us to clean up our own nuclear rubbish? Pay us'
Great information regarding the "other" side.......love your comment, "during sea trial, she was never alone"!!! Kudos to the American sub-mariners! Love your little side stories, please keep them coming!!
1987 200 miles off St Thomas I volunteered, thru a torpedo tube I was ejected out at 50feet below. I basically swan to a russian Yankee class submarine and attached a listening 'device' I swam to the surface while a Bronze Whaler. Shark circles me for nearly an hour. Finally I was picked up. I received the Navy cross for bravery! 👍 I don't like to brag about it though.
The separation of crew and vessel you mention is now also done in the German Navy with all Subs (since 2011) and the new F125 frigates (since 2020). There are crews Alpha to Golf for the 6 212-A subs and Alpha to Foxtrott for the 4 frigates. Reports from the Navy and crew commanders suggest that this works very well and the crews start to identify with their own name and experiences instead of with the vessels. When the Mehrbesatzungskonzept (multi crew concept) was introduced into the German Navy the American multi crew concept of Gold/Blue was given as an inspiration and proof of concept. Time will tell if the concept also works with the new frigates and the idea of keeping the ship in the area for 2 years and rotating crews every 6 months pays out.
In theory the other foreign (noisier) submarine could have been deployed to observe the exercise and serve as a distraction while other units (aka American submarine) observed Russian fleet.
From watching one of your videos recently, I was able to quote some information reference some technology that we were looking at. It sparked a big talking point and is being looked at now as part of the tech moving forward. These briefs are great.
Nice one! The Akulas (and the Typ VIIs) are my favorite subs, so I enjoyed this even more. Btw the name change of Leningrad (as well as Stalingrad) was a democratic decision after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Russia tried to brush off some of her socialist past.
God bless you but don't forget that more noicy, less accurate in maneuvering or really deaf enemy boat quite could be mere decoy. World have just finished the switching from boat vs boat fighting practice to boat vs ambush sub warfare. At least at the borders of a Northern "Bastions" (A2/AD areas we the Russians maintain) you may find yourself way far away from even possibility to obtain the proper SA and keep asking "WTF is going on?" until too late. Just think about it. There's plenty of ocean water vast outside of the Bastions, why don't use it all for patrols, training or pure fun?:-)
These questions aren't quite related to this video, but if you read this... 1. What's it like when a submarine pitches up or down? I imagine it's like a longer version of a ship crossing a wave, but can combat maneuvers ever get uncomfortable for the crew? 2. How do spec ops teams deploy? Is it true that they'd use a torpedo tube, or do they just use a hatch? Do methods change between nations/submarines? 3. Could you breakdown the different power plants subs use? Basically their pros, cons, noise levels, etc. It was kinda surprising to learn that there's modern non-nuclear subs made by nuclear-capable nations. Thanks for the content, btw. I'm gonna sign up for Patreon soon
1. The submarine taking angles is fun. Kind of like a very slow roller coasters. 2. We have specially designed lock out chambers for spec forces depending on the class of submarine. 3. I can not talk about the power plants. That is very secret.
@@SubBrief Thanks for the help, and I expected as much regarding the power plants. Luckily googling them pretty much answered what I wanted to know about the differences. Anyways, do you know if running on batteries possible in Cold Waters? And can some boats actually use the low-speed secondary screws to be quieter? (If so I assume it's automatic like the towed array) Thanks Edit: reading up on it, it seems like diesel-electric boats are assumed to be on batteries. I don't expect further clarification; don't reveal anything you aren't allowed to
Knowing the realities of Russia in the 90s, the Amur shipyard may not be the villain you think it is. Chances are it's very underpaid workers have not been receiving wages for months. Preventing the boat from leaving was the only way to get paid and not starve.
It amazes me how little theae ships are actually used. I guess I would have assumed that once released they would all be doing back to back patrols. Or are they going on patrols that are not mentioned in the presentation?
No that's pretty standard for the soviets/russians. *dozens* of ships that are "in service" couldnt put to sea if they had to. My guess is if you added up the large-ish ships that are actually operational you'd get a fleet comparable to Turkey. And that's in total, remember the russians have 4 fleets. The arctic/Atlantic, the Baltic, the black sea, and the pacific. Ouch.
@@navyreviewer from these briefs, it looks like whenever a sub needs maintenance they just build another instead and the old one sits in a dock for years
In those countries "tragic accidents" happen to you if you are not corrupt. As someone once told me about Mexico: here you have to be bold to be corrupt. In Mexico you have to be bold to be not corrupt.
Thank u so much captain! Brilliant as usual. I got great books ‘submarines of the soviet navy’ 4 vols - has beautiful drawings of all these subs (which is good cos the text is all in Russian!). From an aesthetic point of view the Alula is the best + meanest-lookin submarine I think I ever seen! Closely followed by the new Yassen... Anyway, I had no idea the akula’s development was so fraught - fascinating stuff. Love hearing your personal experiences/opinions too (still waiting for that book!). There’s a good Russian doc called ‘beasts of the northern fleet’ or similar where they look at all these subs, leopard, cheetah, tiger etc on TH-cam. Anyway, thanks for anther great brief - cheers! :)
“The FSB stopped the threat.” This is the same organization that uses potentially lethal sedative gas to “stop the threat” of terrorists holding children hostage and kills the kids.
@@soonerfrac4611 If you're confused, this commenter refers to the situation where Снеснеп теггогosтs took a theater in Moscow hostage in 2003. Now, what I wanted to say to this man is you are deliberately trying to present a very complex issue in an ignorant way, almost like you're spreading propaganda or something. The authorities did the best they could to save lives. Before the special forces stormed the building, a gas containing fentanyl was used to make everyone in the building unconscious. Yes, some people died because of that. But just imagine what could've happened if they stormed the building and the теггогosтs were awake? Everyone would be dead, because the теггогosтs would've activated their explosive devices. And you make it sound like the FSB deliberately killed those people or something. You prick... Shame on you.
Oh, and it really wasn’t the fentanyl in the gas that killed most of the civilians. It was positional asphyxiation. After they fell asleep in their chairs their heads slumped forward causing them to basically hang without a rope. The tongue blocks the airway and you die. It’s been a very long time but it was a case we studied both as a regular MP and a member of our Special Reaction Team.
His comment about information collection is so spot on. I once did a 3 day trip where I drove a lot, covering many miles and wouldn't you know it, the week following the trip, web sites I visited suddenly started showing advertisements for long haul trucker jobs. I never had those in the past. How would anyone know I was out driving? The only way would have been my phone naturally. Something, whether the cell company or some app etc was able to look at my locations and make the connection (I have location service turned off for most apps so....). What's that saying again, "Trust no one"?
A LA class sub came over to Kauai from Pearl Harbor to jumpstart the power plant on the island after a hurricane clobbered it. Mid 1980s, as I recall it.
Recently found your channel, and it's one of great hidden gems of YT. Wanted to add certain boring detail about whole Russia-India negotiation mess. Likely here played out same factor as in many failed negotiations in military aviation sphere. India usually don't want "just final product" with documentation and specialists support, they want to be actively involved in all design process as well, I.e basically getting access to necessary technologies they lacking. This requirement usually arise late in negotiating process and ofc causes "full stop". Rinse and repeat later on. It's absolute mess.
As for using ships as emergency power..... I have lobbied to have the best of the Nimitz carriers demilitarized and repurposed as "disaster rescue and relief ships". Combo hospital, engineering, supply, infrastructure support (water and power, and clearing debris), heliport, and refuge.
Someone may have already left this comment, but: St. Petersburg (also Petrograd) was the name of the city prior to the Russian Revolution, the name was changed to Leningrad (“Lenin’s City”) after his death. Many cities were renamed after the Revolution to remove Czarist naming or bourgeois names. After Perestroika and the fall of the Soviet Union, many of these cities had their names restored to pre-Revolution names.
Had a question for you sir. Those few "special" Akulas (which by the way literally translates to SHARK, I speak Russian), are they the ones that were originally designated to have a titanium hull, or did they swap that aspect of the design and strictly ended up building all of them with Steel hulls. Personally, I would have assumed for them to build all of them out of Titanium. Since Russia is one of the 3 major and only countries to mine produce and export titanium, besides China and Japan. In fact we got our titanium from Russia during the cold War, using deceptive tactics and employing a 3rd party in Europe. Since Soviet Union most likely refused to supply its biggest adversarie with a metal that would be used to produce weapons for the sole purpose of defeating Soviet Union. I remember as a small boy, I went to live there for few years there was never a shortage of titanium. Even in the late 70's and 80's our spoons, forks and many kitchen utensils were titanium. All of my dad's tools were titanium, distinctly remember a crowbar that was at least 5 feet long, solid inch in diameter made from solid titanium. I recently saw it on Amazon going for all most $700. Yet my Dad paid pennies for that thing back in the day there. So unless it complicated the prosses of building them out of it, I can't see why they didn't use it on all the subs, considering the advantages it offers over Steel. Great presentation, very informative, non biased, fact based and entertaining. Hats off to you sir, and thank you for your service.
I personally prefer the Russian name for the boat - a pike. It's kind of fitting given Russian tactics of hiding 'in the bush' and striking from there.
As a general pattern, no one within Russian Navy uses the words by either national or NATO code system. We're spelling and telling usually "Project nine-seven-one" or just "971" or, given zoo names of the boats, "animals" or "beasts". Delta-family SSBNs which had four different acronims besides 667 digits - 667B, 667BD, 667BDR and 667BDRM, thus were spelled by letters rather than digits. "Hey man! Have you seen BDRM that moored this morning in base? She's bumped by Moose*, hole in light hull in starboard quarter, just covered by tarpaulin. Go to see her. Say later whether some starboard list occured. Fucking Yanks..." * Los-Angeles-class shortened for "Los' ", which means "Moose" In-Russian.
Eventually you're going to have to do some briefs on USN subs you know. ;). I mean there's TONS of interesting information that's not classified about US boats, but I understand you're trying to distance yourself from any potential issues. Still - I know many of us are dying to know how well you think the US subs stack up against all of these Russian designs.
I can just imagine how much longer it'd take him to make American ones just from having to confirm if what he's saying is classified or not lul, I'd imagine every other sentence would need at least one thing checking, maybe one day though, that'd be nice
A interesting note. The Akula class was developed after the spy John Anthony Walker sold the secret of SOSUS and quiet submarine technology to the soviets. American Submariners at the time nicknamed them Walker class submarines.
All the Sub Brief videos are available for 1 year on Patreon.com/subbrief before they come to TH-cam. Join Patreon.com/subbrief for $1/month to see the latest Sub Brief including Ship Briefs now!
I'm already aboard Capt
Aleady have you on patreon and its by far the best submarine knowledge patreon for the money and content Jive. Funny part is I came across your videos watch cold waters videos you made on here lol.
0:58 i think i'll stick to tor all the same that said i believe tor was actually a us navy program at one point so thats interesting :)
Do we get google maps links to shipyards?
How is the cafeteria food on "their" main campus?
"I got on a government watchlist by making youtube videos" is the best ad line for a VPN i've seen yet.
I feel like anyone just looking at this yt channel is on a watchlist by now lmao
@@-CLASSIFIED- hello FBI! =D
Jive is hell of a salesman, for proffessional sonar master on one of two superpowers hunter subs.
Let's hope Jive is safe. I'm worried about the NSA guy in white van. I think he has a plan to interrogate Jive at this point
@@hantubelaung Be more worried about the fracas that would occur with all of the intelligence agencies in the area when they try to make a move. Gotta keep your sources alive after all.
You are very compassionate toward fellow submariners even if they are eventual opponents from another nation. Your decency is highly appreciated.
We are sailors.
@@SubBrief "There are three sorts of people: those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea" (Aristotle)
Soldiers/Sailors/Pilots might follow orders, but very rarely aim to shoot and kill. Destroy equipment, property or scare the enemy into surrender..sure.
But I think you'll find even a trained killer doesn't take pleasure in it. There are very few people (sociopaths) who do. But Jive, is a man of high integrity, very respectful.
@@S.ASmith They might not take pleasure in it, but soldiers ARE trained to kill, and they do. My Russian counterparts are trained to both kill, and die in defense of their motherland because of the numerous genocidal invasions against them. Russia has been attacked out of the blue many times from every direction other than due north. What you described was true of U.S. soldiers in wars all the way to WW-2 and Korea. After that, their training changed, they are trained to shoot to kill or incapacitate. This is why I think more veterans from Vietnam onwards are having the mental issues they have. However, the sort of genocides that filled the soil in Russia and Ukraine with the bones of their people and invaders alike are coming to the West because of our perfidious ruling class. When you are faced with an enemy who wants to not only defeat your military, but eliminate your people, you can and probably WILL take pleasure in killing them. Especially if your loved ones were victimized the way civilians were during WW-2 from Russia all the way to Germany at the hands of the Red Army. A defeated or occupied nation with that situation will be full of righteously vengeful soldiers and guerillas alike.
@@taraswertelecki3786 Nobody is trained to die for their country but to make the other poor bastard die for his/hers/its/theirs/attack helicopter's.
Surf shark really under paid you for that add. Leaving a Yelp review for the CIA cafeteria was comedic gold.
But Claiming a VPN protects your privacy is a bit of a joke.
I was thinking the same thing...😁
India: "Hey Russia, can we get a fast attack sub? We wanna do some learning"
Russia: "You want this 27yr old sub? Best sub, great shape"
India: "uhhhhh no thanks, we kinda wanna have it for 10 years"
Russia: "Will last 10 years, no problem" (Meanwhile, already planning to scrap it for being old)
Britain: "We'Re gonna scrap these antique submarines, they're rusted to heck, and they start fires every other week!"
Canada: "WHY ARE YOU SCRAPPING PERFECTLY GOOD SUBMARINES?"
Canada: *buys "perfectly good subs" but can't make them realistically functional*
@@someguy8732 That'll be Canada for ya.
But super nice and apologetic about it.
Under rated comment! 😂😂😂We would probly apologize to russia for it being a defective mess
As a Canadian I approve this message but I feel sorry about it. 😏
Historian: In the chaotic aftermath of the 1917 revolution, Russians changed many place-names. This occurred again when the Soviet Union...
Sub Brief: Yeah, Russia does that a lot.
Not only is it a competitor to NATO subs, the Akula has a certain futuristic intimidating look to her.
Chief, I'm an avid listener. I really enjoy your offerings. Your presentation has a lot of humor and refinement. Your way of speaking makes it easy to digest your information. I know you can't disclose information on the American boats, but with what I already know and what you don't say, gives me tremendous new insights. Anytime you are on the left coast, near the bay area, I'll buy.
It's a date!
The Akula was a quantum leap in technology for the Soviets and shocked the intelligence community because she was several years ahead of where we though Soviet submarine development would be at the time she was detected. She also had a key innovation namely a seven bladed screw which made her as quiet as the latest American subs. That was key because although U.S. subs were outnumbered by the Soviets our ability to remain undetected more than leveled the playing field. When we discover something like a step jump in technology we immediately look for evidence of espionage as most advances in their Soviet submarine technology came from stealing our secrets. We knew they had the top secret plans to our advanced screw design but lacked the ulta-precise milling equipment to manufacture it. This is where the scandal with Toshiba selling treaty banned precision milling equipment to a third party knowing it was destined to the Soviets came to light. Many of the executives responsible ended up disgraced and some in jail but the damage had been done. I was on the first American submarine to pick up and track an Akula. We tracked her back to her home base and then immediately took off to Yokosuka, Japan where there was a car waiting for our commanding officer and a couple of other crew members. They and the collected data were immediately flown by a waiting aircraft back to Washington D.C. The President along with top Pentagon officials were briefed on this grave threat to national security. I have never purchased anything from Toshiba since.
Bless Toshiba for helping to give us such a amazing submarine 🙏
Interesting. What boat were you on that first tracked an Akula? Just pass the first number of the hull number if you're nervous about passing the name of the boat. I'll know.
@@remaguire I can't tell you that even though it has probably been declassified, but I just don't know if it has. Some of the stuff we were involved with is still TS. All I can tell you is the boat I was on was a 637 class submarine out of Pearl.
@@mysticwanderer4787 okay. i understand. I'm pretty sure I know which mission you're talking about. a couple of friends of mine were TAD on your boat. i was on the one right after on a 594. I'll just say I consider myself to be an Akula plankowner.
@@remaguire We did have a couple of guys from a 594 on our boat for the mission.
Lmao, the president showing up and saying "We didn't order this wtf" has to be a moment.
Not to mention that it was Putin who's saying that.
Where in the video was this? I missed it lol
Magadan has been just recently released from the dry dock after udergoing repairs and modernisation and will begin trials in order to be put back into service.
Good update! Thank you, Krivdik
To lease it to India
“We are tracking them while they were tracking someone, possibly us!” Cold War indeed.
... who else was there ??? I guess french or british. Please tell us
According to Russian sources on the Incident on the K-157.
The seaman went out for a chat with the pier guard around 3am then went back inside the submarine and picked up something akin to a Pickaxe. He went back outside and kept chatting with the guard and then when the other guy wasnt looking he stuck him down with the Pickaxe at about 4am. At that moment a officer was leaving the submarine on the other side of the pier (The K-328) and saw the guard on the floor with the other guy taking the AK from him. The officer went over and he too was stuck by the pickaxe but it didn't knock him out and he put up a fight. The Officer then tried to wrestle the rifle from the seaman but failed and he ducked for cover behind the electrical box at the pier while the seaman shot at him (He survived). The seaman shot the knocked out guard at point blank then proceeded to board the sub armed with the rifle. He went though the sleeping quarters and shot 5 men in their bunks then locked himself in the Torpedo room. By then the Officer from up top had sounded the alarm. The seaman triggered the fire Extinguisher system in compartment 2 to seal off the Torpedo room from tampering and he shot 2 more crew members that where sleeping in the Torpedo Room. From there the Standoff lasted until that evening. He threatened to blow up the sub and made piles of combustible material and Oxygen candles under the warheads. His only demands where wine and food. A telephone was Given to him so he could speak to his family and unknown to him the phone was rigged with a Shaped Explosive charge on a battery switch. After the battery ran low it detonated while he was talking with his older Brother and it instantly killed him. Only after that did the FSB squad open the hatch.
Seems he just had a mental breakdown and was not under "Bunk" Arrest or anything. Sources say he was a quiet unstable guy who was picked on a lot by the rest of the crew.
Huh, an explosive in the telephone, what a quick-thinking approach!... unless all phones contain a shaped explosive charge :O (I look at my Android phone with new comprehension.)
@@vladimirdyuzhev Jesus, the cia are definitely gonna use the to assassinate people. I hope it blows up in their faces
Great story, thanks for that. That'll do ya know
The Israelis did it first, that I know of.
@@soonerfrac4611 Munich revenge assassinations, right?
the akula holds a place in my heart similar to the Mosin nagant rifles and the Mosquito aircraft, where I have this weird admiration for the exterior aesthetics i cant explain, no matter the functionality of them
Understood. For me it's the M1 Garand , BAR, and Thompson submachine gun....... combination of looks and function. MA Deuce. P-38 Lightning. Ruger 22 pistol and carbine. Patton tanks. Lockheed Constellation and Blackbird. Boeing 707. Essex class carriers. B52 with the old nose and tail. V2 rockets. The list is long.
@@kimweaver1252 the SR-71 is beautiful
@@kimweaver1252 the P38 is an amazing machine. I would love to own one and do a flight across the pacific islands visiting all the main Atols. Did it in Flight Simulator a few years ago.
@@WarmasterDeath i think the blackbird is loved and admired by all regardless of nationality.
It's so gorgeous ❤️
The Mosin can be an extremely competent weapon when done right and used right. Look up the Finnish variants, most of all the Tkiv-85 sniper rifle. That's what I used in the FDF, one shot one kill easily to 860m which was the max on our range, shooting at a camouflaged bust size target I did not know the location of, hidden in a bush. I can use it to reliably make a hit every 3 sec until I'm out of ammo or targets, obviously you would normally not do that in a real situation most likely, but I have in training, and it's a rebarreled Mosin with a better stock and scope.
This is the one sub I never wanted to encounter for any reason! A sub that could potentially appear out of nowhere, out run your torpedos, then vanish like a ghost is a terrifying foe.
If she’s still “awaiting repairs” she had a reactor casualty.
That would be a reasonable assumption, given the Soviet then Russian Navy's poor safety record at sea. Not only a reactor casualty, but a very serious one. One that could have sunk the ship and killed everyone aboard. It's unacceptable to lose entire crews at sea the way they did. I hope the disaster that sank the Kursk, a submarine built to dish out and receive damage convinced the Russian admiralty that the welfare of their crews should always be a top priority. Trained, professional crewmen and officers are not easy to come by. They had to face public outrage over the loss of the Kursk, I hope that painful moment led to the Russian Navy improving how their people are trained. I am an American, but I do not want crews from any country being unsafe down there given there is a nuclear reactor down there with them. The only reason we haven't had as many accidents as they did is Hyman Rickover. Love him or hate him, he insisted on competency and saftety, given he personally chose everyone who became an officer. The Soviet, then Russian Navy really needed a Rickover of their own.
Not necessarily. The thing is, the Soviet navy and its offspring the Russian navy always cared about number of hulls. But only judging from Jive’s briefs, their maintenance was nothing near scheduled, regular or at least semi regular. Combat effectiveness of the Soviet navy was just words written on a piece of paper. Boats had to stay in port for years because pf lack of shipyard capacity, qualified labour and spares in Soviet period. There was no issue with money back then. Combat readiness was nearly the same as of the money stripped Russian navy of the 90s-00s.
Little example: Alfas were supposed to have shore steam plants built and run for them while in port in order to be able to shut down their reactors (liquid metal coolant they used would solidify if not constantly heated by either reactor or supplied steam). Those facilities never ran properly, which resulted in Alfas using up their reactors much faster than planned on. The boats themselves ended up being used as overpriced power generators for port facilities, since they had to be kept running at all times anyways. After learning something like this, it is no longer a surprise, that those boats had very short life span and minimal number of patrols.
@@leftnoname: You’re leaving out one thing. Soviet/ Russian sailors operated those boats! To assume that their lack of quality made the crew inferior would/could lead to your destruction! Those officers were incredible sailors! Once achieving the rank of Captain, they stayed with that particular design for the duration of their career. Underestimating then was always a risk.
You allow for that, and then see this sub setting pier side for all these years?
It’s reactor related. Anything else, the crew could and would get that boat to sea! Extra $!!!!
Not necessarily. More likely there's no money to allow to continue the operation of the sub
Funding Russia for scrapping subs. Does Russia have no shame?
man, this channel deserves some more love
and, is it just me or does the Akula just look... awesome
Yes it does. Love the design of this sub
Who could he collab with? Drachinifel maybe. The History Guy possibly. Cold War channel? Bald and Bankrupt lol 💁
27 Year SUBVET here myself. Basic Sonar Operator and Duty Storekeeper qualified A-Ganger (I was bored after qualifying everything else). Great channel and informative content!
I went to Saint Petersburg 2 years ago and got to meet a former commander of The Wolf. He gave me a tie clip from his days as captain. It was an amazing trip.
I really want to visit St. Petersburg, but I am afraid the FSB will want to have a chat with me.
@@SubBrief I didn't have any issues. It really was an amazing trip... if you have the chance to go I will hook you up with my friends up there. Also got to go on an old Foxtrot sub out in Kaliningrad. Never thought I would ever get to see anything like that back when I was in the Navy. I was on the SSN-684 in the 80's
Thanks, nice work. Let me add two cents. The Akulas were dubbed as "pregnant Victor IIIs" which is eventually true - the boat is wider and just as long. Two: the main weapon had been concidered 3M10 cruise missiles called Cranat (Pomegranate) or SS-N-21 «SAMPSON» in NATO parlance, hence second nickname: "mimiced SSBN". Being an answer to UGM-109 Tomahawk, Granat with surprisingly lightweight nuke warhead might easily fly out of 3000 km. Remember the troubles with Tomahawks on early LA class of USN, "four-shooters"? Weak torpedo tubes, which didn't allow the fully fueled UGM-109 to be fired properly so the first usage of Tomahawks from USN SSNs was for up to 500 nm of distance - missile contained only about one third of fuel aboard. To prevent such troubles, special "long" reenforced torpedo tubes were developed for Project 971, and since then one glance on a topredo tube of Russian sub inside is enough to say whether it is of "missile type" or merely and namely "torpedo" one. Akulas have just former ones. And last but not least: The former skipper of K-461 Wolf, VA Alex Burilichev, is now sittin' head of Naval Deepwater Program. As I remember him in a Commander rank (O-5) and boat CO, he preferred to stand on his feet firmly. But this time beneath him is not steel deck but ocean bottom;-)
I've been with you from the start Jive. Keep them coming. I've learned so many obscure, and frankly badass things from you. Thanks
I appreciate that!
Nothing like another dose of JT, Admiral Chair and Leroy
@@MrAndy9572ac I
I love the part in "Red Storm Rising" when one of the characters ejects from his jet near a soviet pilot that also ejects and in order to get the enemy pilot in to the life raft he has to remember the name of the "new soviet submarine project"
"AKULA IN THE WATER?"
Love that novel
@@hededcdn fantastic book, RSR and Rainbow Six are definitely some of my favourite books even if I think the antagonists in R6 were misrepresented
@@NathamelCamel why is that? I think it predicted our present. Haha
I missed this channel. Jive.
I will always be here for you.
@@SubBrief jokes aside, i think your channel is among youtube's worthiest purposes - promoting free dissemination of obscure knowledge. i wish they'd do more to promote channels like yours instead of garbage pop music and throwaway 'challenges'.
@@oldfrend there is a similar channel called millenium 7*
Thank you Aaron for the time and effort you put into sharing your most interesting experiences and knowledge of modern submarines.
As a serving sonar man in the RN I would love to have a chat about shared experiences, just a pity it can't be done on a public forum. Keep up the good work
Da comrade! I also would like to discuss classified western submarine technology in a secure manner.
"I'm so familiar with the Langley Campus I left a Yelp review of the cafeteria" 10/10 funniest thing I've heard all day. I'm tempted to go look at it but also not, so I'll ask here how was the food? Any recommendations? lol
Back in the 80’s, my datacenter used Halon to suppress fires. We were told that if the Halon system triggers for any reason, GET OUT or you WILL suffocate in seconds. I’m not familiar with “Freon” fire suppression gas.
BCF also known as halon 1211 and Freon 12B1.
It displaces Oxygen. If you can hold your breath till you get out you'll be Ok. Just had a Manufacturing plant have a major leak and it killed all that were in that area.
I worked aboard naval vessels equipped with HALON systems, complete with red rotating beacons that activate when the HALON is about to be discharged. If they activated, I knew to get to the nearest ladder and get out of the engine room then close the hatch ASAP.
@@taraswertelecki3786 I install halon bottles in buildings for fire suppression.
Same thing. Hurts your throat if you breathe a bit!.
@Sub Brief regarding the K-371 “Bratsk” - it is actually not exactly fraternal, but the name of a city in Siberia region, close to lake Baikal. But yeah, the name of the city has that meaning too which may be confusing 😆
Also, the AK Bars refers to a Russian company that also sponsors one of the major hockey teams, and apparently they took a sub under their patronage, much like Severstal company did with a project 941 sub (don’t remember which one exactly)
Great info. Thank you for clearing that up.
Thank you for making these awesome videos, I'm certain it takes a lot of effort to make these, especially since a lot of info is in Russian!
P.S. I'm doing more digging right now and the AK Bars info is not exactly correct :D It translates to "white bars" from Tatarian language, and its the official symbol of Tatarstan region which was the patron of the K-480. A large company and team of the same name exsists which got me confused. Sorry to mess that one up!
That's fascinating background on the name lol we certainly have a wide variety of corporate sponsorships in the US, but I have never heard of a military vessel being sponsored lmao
@@jakeb6703 This took place a bit during the 90s, when the Russian government didn't really care for the military, or the country as a whole, really. The amount of patronage also varied a lot, and it didn't happen with every vessel. In terms of how in came about, sometimes the ship's captain/fleet command would find a patron company, sometimes the initative would come from the business, espacially if the business owner was ex-military.
Most often though, the patronage comes from regional governments. One notable story is of Slava-class cruiser "Slava", which was about to be scuttled in the 90s, while it was in dock for repair and modernization. The Black Sea Fleet managed to get the government of Moscow to finance the repairs in return for renaming the ship into "Moscow", and that basically saved the cruiser.
@@Dandushka11 thanks! basically like how we look at sports sponsorships here, maybe not a bad way to finance military rather than tax dollars lol
"Ak bars" and "Bars" were both correct name for K-480. It was named Bars (leopard in Tatar language) in 1991 and renamed to Ak bars (white leopard) in 1998.
Allahu ak bar
You mentioned 2 officers getting knocked out of the bridge and only one body recovered. That reminds me of one of our sister boats stationed out of kings bay at the time. I forgot which one, maybe the USS Kentucky, either way... I was on the USS Nebraska and we left Blackshear Nova Scotia Canada after a week of port call in Nov of 1997 or 98. While we were transiting out, the Kentucky was transiting in. They stayed there a few days until a hurricane started heading for them. So we they were doing a surface transit out, the officer of the deck and a look out were harnessed in on the bridge during a sea state 5 or so. Next thing they know it's a rogue wave hits them and they start sinking down past 200ft and a solid collum of water is pouring down the sail hatch in control. They pulled an emergency blow and eventually surfaced after 2 minutes. The torpedo room ended up with 6 ft of water and the all the main AC busses were shorted out, including the battery disconnect. Needless to say, the reactor scrammed and they were dead in the water. It took them 2 weeks to get towed to groton connecticut. Amazingly the OOD and Lookout were ok but I heard they got a free pass out of the navy if they wanted it due to the PTSD of the whole situation. Not sure if they did leave, but what a horror story. Great channel sir.
Definately a class of attack subs that combine reputation with a fitting name. If the later versions of the Akula were already so quiet that they could disappear on passive sonar - maybe by diving so deep that a sealayer with different salinity masked what little noise they make - and knowing that accoustic stealth has moved on quit a bit since then, I wonder what detection means are left to catch a Yasen for example. Maybe ultra low frequency passive sonar? Yeat if the comparisson with low frequency radar against LO aerial targets is a clue, than these will be rather unprecise in locating or determining course, speed and depth. I also wonder what chances MPAs will be having to catch a sub from the air, the latter being ultra quiet, made of demagnetized steel (so goodbye to the Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD)) and being able to run so deep, that I'm not sure what a hunter-killer sub, MPA, ASW-frigate or -helicopter would have to be looking for, let alone how to guide weapons to it.
And with a submerged speed of over 30 knots submerged! Holy crap, how could any surface ship defend against that? I'm not entirely sure, but I have the impression surface ships are on the receiving end of an invisible hunter that can strike when and where it wants to and almost with impunity. Could it be that modern subs are the nemesis for large surface combattants the same way aircraft spelled the end of the era of dreadnoughts?
Yes.
I have heard large surface combatants compared to the Maginot line. And I don’t fully disagree!
There are ways.
Surface ships don’t have to hide to protect their own stealth so they can use things like active sonar. That levels the playing field because they are designed to be out in the open and take hits without sinking. A submarine’s only defense is stealth, once found she’s an easy target for a heavily armed surface ship.
@@samuel5916 against submarines with all sorts of measures against active sonar (anechoic tiles, hiding in layers, etc.) active sonar is just as limited as passive.
@@Pincer88 Those advancements don’t exist in a vacuum. Active sonar has actively evolved along with stealth technology. At best you can reduce your sonar signature like stealth planes but you can’t eliminate it. Thanks to advanced computer hardware and software, it’s easier then ever to sort through raw data and identify targets.
The should rename the Ak Bars to the Admiral Ak Bar. The ships motto can be "Its a Trap!"
They blocked the sub, I'm guessing because people been working for eight month with zero pay. Also I wont be surprised that they were promised to get payed at the end of it and nothing. 90's in Russia were very very dark times. Look it up, was rough. I grew up there during that time.
im honestly surprised Putin didn't just declare the blocking ships practice targets and sunk them or sneak some Spetznaz on them to "convince" the crews to stop
Good call-out supporting mental health. We need more of that in the world.
Wow, excellent review of what sounds like a very capable Russian submarine. I had a slight "mishap" playing the Akula 1 in Cold Waters... I launched a torpedo and armed it too close to my own sub. Won't say what the outcome was, although it led to some very fancy maneuvering on my part, those wake homing torpedoes just don't want to let go of you! Top notch work on this video, looking forward to seeing the next one. Might have to play Cold Waters tonight now, just have to alert the crew to standby with the bilge pumps, ha ha.
I think I might have seen K-152 when I was working as a deck officer on container ships sailing from the USEC into the Indian Ocean. It was about 2013 or 2014. We were in the Indian Ocean close to the Red Sea and there was a submarine transiting on the surface and it looked like an Akula Class. I didn't get a great look at it or anything, but it had the pod on the rudder and that sort of low, long, streamlined Soviet/Russian sail.
"i'm so familiar with the Langley Campus, I left a Yelp review for the cafeteria". If al else fails, you can always go into stand-up comedy.
Great stuff as always Jive! So glad to have you as a paramount in the community !
Much appreciated!
Jive, love your work. I’m currently in the military and find this kind of stuff fascinating. Grew up reading Tom Clancy novels and I imagine he would have been a big fan of your channel with all the Cold War references and superb technical information. Always look forward to another upload from Sub Brief
If I am not mistaken, Clancy passed away not too long ago. He was a U.S. Army veteran, and his well written novels I enjoyed reading. In fact, he was a celebrity among U.S. military personnel.
I grew up reading Tom Clancy as a teenager and well into my 20s and 30s. I could not enlist due to some medical problems but this didn't keep me from keeping up with the latest military hardware. Tom Clancy was the best way to become familiar with military parlance and weapons/platforms designations. I can still remember his detailed description of AS6 Kingfish missiles plowing into the USS Nimitz. A great author greatly missed. From an Aussie fan down under. RIP Tom Clancy.
Just wanted to say thank you for your long and distinguished career whilst serving Aaron. I'm not from the US but from one of the NATO nations. Also thank you for these enlightening briefs. Been a sub-scriber since before the jive sub was a thing and check back every couple of days for the latest video!
We were on patrol north of Russia when I had an opportunity to listen in the sonar shack to our hydrophone arrays. While there we picked up an Akula leaving its port & was amazed at just how noisy they were! When I asked the sonar tech if this was normal he said yes, the Russians concentrated on speed not quiet? Sounded like an old klinker? I then asked him how far away he was & he replied no where close, that’s why we don’t need to worry about them.
Good shout, always been that way. 1980's Russian submarine coming out of port with Noise on. Tracking for miles. Russian Navy tells public, we don't need quiet, we have speed. Fuckin' right. Easy day in my sonar shack. Racked up. Followed with firing solution for weeks. Fuck yeah. Russia got speed, but can't out run an ADCAP. (Russia don't know about ADCAP, so...ah, keep this between us.)
I have a feeling an officer came to his superior and announced his billion-worth submarine was defeated by mud and got an angry response. I hope that he learned history and could give other examples of military defeats due to mud...
The Germans found Russian mud to be as effective an adversary as the Soviet snipers and ground attack planes such as the Sturmavec.
Jesus the last place you want someone unstable is anywhere near a nuclear sub
I was thinking head of state of a country with lots of nukes.
Still think this is the best looking sub ever.
It always impresses me how the Russians have always played the West, 'want us to fight hitter? Pay us' Want us to clean up our own nuclear rubbish? Pay us'
Not sure when you recorded this, but the INS Chakra has been repaired and has been back in service for a while now.
Around 40 minutes in he says december 2019.
Deployed?
@@OOpSjm yes
A very comprehensive program thank you for your time producing this
You're very welcome!
Great information regarding the "other" side.......love your comment, "during sea trial, she was never alone"!!! Kudos to the American sub-mariners! Love your little side stories, please keep them coming!!
1987 200 miles off St Thomas I volunteered, thru a torpedo tube I was ejected out at 50feet below. I basically swan to a russian Yankee class submarine and attached a listening 'device' I swam to the surface while a Bronze Whaler. Shark circles me for nearly an hour. Finally I was picked up. I received the Navy cross for bravery! 👍 I don't like to brag about it though.
LOVE IT WHEN YOU UPLOAD THESE FULL BRIEFS KEEP EM COMIN EDIT:TYPO
You got it!
Same business, same line of thinking. Thanks man. There is still a hope for all of us.
Great material, as always!
For naming conventions with subs - they now are called in honor of russian citys, like Bratsk, Magadan, ets.
The separation of crew and vessel you mention is now also done in the German Navy with all Subs (since 2011) and the new F125 frigates (since 2020). There are crews Alpha to Golf for the 6 212-A subs and Alpha to Foxtrott for the 4 frigates. Reports from the Navy and crew commanders suggest that this works very well and the crews start to identify with their own name and experiences instead of with the vessels.
When the Mehrbesatzungskonzept (multi crew concept) was introduced into the German Navy the American multi crew concept of Gold/Blue was given as an inspiration and proof of concept. Time will tell if the concept also works with the new frigates and the idea of keeping the ship in the area for 2 years and rotating crews every 6 months pays out.
In theory the other foreign (noisier) submarine could have been deployed to observe the exercise and serve as a distraction while other units (aka American submarine) observed Russian fleet.
INS Chakra is most likely just serving as a static reference sub for their other submarine projects.
Absolutely love the intro to your surfshark spot.
From watching one of your videos recently, I was able to quote some information reference some technology that we were looking at. It sparked a big talking point and is being looked at now as part of the tech moving forward. These briefs are great.
Nice one! The Akulas (and the Typ VIIs) are my favorite subs, so I enjoyed this even more. Btw the name change of Leningrad (as well as Stalingrad) was a democratic decision after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Russia tried to brush off some of her socialist past.
I absolutely love your stories and sub briefs.
I can't wait to learn about the boats I'll (hopefully) be hunting when I get to my first boat in a few months
God bless you but don't forget that more noicy, less accurate in maneuvering or really deaf enemy boat quite could be mere decoy. World have just finished the switching from boat vs boat fighting practice to boat vs ambush sub warfare. At least at the borders of a Northern "Bastions" (A2/AD areas we the Russians maintain) you may find yourself way far away from even possibility to obtain the proper SA and keep asking "WTF is going on?" until too late. Just think about it. There's plenty of ocean water vast outside of the Bastions, why don't use it all for patrols, training or pure fun?:-)
Write it on the calendar if you come across one. Most of the time it will be Kilos and their progeny.
Awesome, been looking forward to this one …. will now watch Crimson Tide (again). :-)
These questions aren't quite related to this video, but if you read this...
1. What's it like when a submarine pitches up or down? I imagine it's like a longer version of a ship crossing a wave, but can combat maneuvers ever get uncomfortable for the crew?
2. How do spec ops teams deploy? Is it true that they'd use a torpedo tube, or do they just use a hatch? Do methods change between nations/submarines?
3. Could you breakdown the different power plants subs use? Basically their pros, cons, noise levels, etc. It was kinda surprising to learn that there's modern non-nuclear subs made by nuclear-capable nations.
Thanks for the content, btw. I'm gonna sign up for Patreon soon
1. The submarine taking angles is fun. Kind of like a very slow roller coasters.
2. We have specially designed lock out chambers for spec forces depending on the class of submarine.
3. I can not talk about the power plants. That is very secret.
@@SubBrief Thanks for the help, and I expected as much regarding the power plants. Luckily googling them pretty much answered what I wanted to know about the differences. Anyways, do you know if running on batteries possible in Cold Waters? And can some boats actually use the low-speed secondary screws to be quieter? (If so I assume it's automatic like the towed array)
Thanks
Edit: reading up on it, it seems like diesel-electric boats are assumed to be on batteries. I don't expect further clarification; don't reveal anything you aren't allowed to
This channel is great! Glad to see the curtain pulled back a little on what I spent a decade doing in the Navy.
Congrats on the Sponsor, You did one of the best VPN, Promos.
Been hoping for this vid for quite a while, always been curious about the Akula class. Thank you, and well done!!
29:47 "and there she shi... uh she SITS." GREAT recovery! 😅
Knowing the realities of Russia in the 90s, the Amur shipyard may not be the villain you think it is. Chances are it's very underpaid workers have not been receiving wages for months. Preventing the boat from leaving was the only way to get paid and not starve.
Very cool to hear your experiences. Thanks for your videos.
Keep watching your channel for 12 hours in a raw since get it in recommendations! Perfect content and work! Thanks a lot!
Awesome! Thank you!
It amazes me how little theae ships are actually used. I guess I would have assumed that once released they would all be doing back to back patrols. Or are they going on patrols that are not mentioned in the presentation?
No that's pretty standard for the soviets/russians. *dozens* of ships that are "in service" couldnt put to sea if they had to. My guess is if you added up the large-ish ships that are actually operational you'd get a fleet comparable to Turkey. And that's in total, remember the russians have 4 fleets. The arctic/Atlantic, the Baltic, the black sea, and the pacific. Ouch.
@@navyreviewer from these briefs, it looks like whenever a sub needs maintenance they just build another instead and the old one sits in a dock for years
If they're that terrible and corrupt I'm vaguely surprised that the management at Amur have never suffered some sort of "tragic accident".
In those countries "tragic accidents" happen to you if you are not corrupt.
As someone once told me about Mexico: here you have to be bold to be corrupt. In Mexico you have to be bold to be not corrupt.
Thank u so much captain! Brilliant as usual. I got great books ‘submarines of the soviet navy’ 4 vols - has beautiful drawings of all these subs (which is good cos the text is all in Russian!). From an aesthetic point of view the Alula is the best + meanest-lookin submarine I think I ever seen! Closely followed by the new Yassen... Anyway, I had no idea the akula’s development was so fraught - fascinating stuff. Love hearing your personal experiences/opinions too (still waiting for that book!). There’s a good Russian doc called ‘beasts of the northern fleet’ or similar where they look at all these subs, leopard, cheetah, tiger etc on TH-cam. Anyway, thanks for anther great brief - cheers! :)
Amur is the same city as where the Sukhoi planes are assembled.
Amur is a river :) Komsomolsk na Amur is the city
@@MA-nx3xj Thanks for clarification
first brief about a nuke that entered service in my lifetime. interesting what modernish secrets he'll reveal XD
“The FSB stopped the threat.”
This is the same organization that uses potentially lethal sedative gas to “stop the threat” of terrorists holding children hostage and kills the kids.
@@soonerfrac4611 If you're confused, this commenter refers to the situation where Снеснеп теггогosтs took a theater in Moscow hostage in 2003. Now, what I wanted to say to this man is you are deliberately trying to present a very complex issue in an ignorant way, almost like you're spreading propaganda or something.
The authorities did the best they could to save lives. Before the special forces stormed the building, a gas containing fentanyl was used to make everyone in the building unconscious. Yes, some people died because of that. But just imagine what could've happened if they stormed the building and the теггогosтs were awake? Everyone would be dead, because the теггогosтs would've activated their explosive devices.
And you make it sound like the FSB deliberately killed those people or something. You prick... Shame on you.
Oh, and it really wasn’t the fentanyl in the gas that killed most of the civilians. It was positional asphyxiation. After they fell asleep in their chairs their heads slumped forward causing them to basically hang without a rope. The tongue blocks the airway and you die. It’s been a very long time but it was a case we studied both as a regular MP and a member of our Special Reaction Team.
It's funny on GTA online a submarine has been called the Kosatka while a stealth chopper was dubbed the Akula.
K-419 Kuzbass, what a name. With due respect to the Russian admiralty, I personally call her Hardbass 😁
just want to say, that's the best VPN ad ever.
Probably the coolest name for a submarine, can't easily find a more intimidating title than that.
His comment about information collection is so spot on. I once did a 3 day trip where I drove a lot, covering many miles and wouldn't you know it, the week following the trip, web sites I visited suddenly started showing advertisements for long haul trucker jobs. I never had those in the past. How would anyone know I was out driving? The only way would have been my phone naturally. Something, whether the cell company or some app etc was able to look at my locations and make the connection (I have location service turned off for most apps so....). What's that saying again, "Trust no one"?
A LA class sub came over to Kauai from Pearl Harbor to jumpstart the power plant on the island after a hurricane clobbered it. Mid 1980s, as I recall it.
Love the histories of the various submarine classes.
Recently found your channel, and it's one of great hidden gems of YT.
Wanted to add certain boring detail about whole Russia-India negotiation mess. Likely here played out same factor as in many failed negotiations in military aviation sphere. India usually don't want "just final product" with documentation and specialists support, they want to be actively involved in all design process as well, I.e basically getting access to necessary technologies they lacking. This requirement usually arise late in negotiating process and ofc causes "full stop". Rinse and repeat later on. It's absolute mess.
As for using ships as emergency power..... I have lobbied to have the best of the Nimitz carriers demilitarized and repurposed as "disaster rescue and relief ships". Combo hospital, engineering, supply, infrastructure support (water and power, and clearing debris), heliport, and refuge.
loving these longer vids
"Spiners" as he calls them are extendable propulsors for 5kts super silent moving, not some help for failures. And this is not only sub that has them.
Someone may have already left this comment, but: St. Petersburg (also Petrograd) was the name of the city prior to the Russian Revolution, the name was changed to Leningrad (“Lenin’s City”) after his death. Many cities were renamed after the Revolution to remove Czarist naming or bourgeois names. After Perestroika and the fall of the Soviet Union, many of these cities had their names restored to pre-Revolution names.
After months of absence (my absence that is) I am glad that Jive is still here. Hopefully that black van is no longer parked in front of the house.^^
I'm still chugging....chug*chug*chug*...
Jolly interesting even to a non naval person and it helps 'fill in the gaps' of some books I;ve read that mention the Akula. Thanks for this.
I really like these videos, wish you did one on the Typhoon
35:12 99.5 The Wolf is the country music station in Portland 😂
lolz, I nailed it!
Fascinating and informative as always, brother!
"Sounds like a radio station" Yeah, classic rock.
"K461 The Wolf" Sounds like a radio station
This channel is amazing. Hello from Canada.
Had a question for you sir. Those few "special" Akulas (which by the way literally translates to SHARK, I speak Russian), are they the ones that were originally designated to have a titanium hull, or did they swap that aspect of the design and strictly ended up building all of them with Steel hulls. Personally, I would have assumed for them to build all of them out of Titanium. Since Russia is one of the 3 major and only countries to mine produce and export titanium, besides China and Japan. In fact we got our titanium from Russia during the cold War, using deceptive tactics and employing a 3rd party in Europe. Since Soviet Union most likely refused to supply its biggest adversarie with a metal that would be used to produce weapons for the sole purpose of defeating Soviet Union. I remember as a small boy, I went to live there for few years there was never a shortage of titanium. Even in the late 70's and 80's our spoons, forks and many kitchen utensils were titanium. All of my dad's tools were titanium, distinctly remember a crowbar that was at least 5 feet long, solid inch in diameter made from solid titanium. I recently saw it on Amazon going for all most $700. Yet my Dad paid pennies for that thing back in the day there. So unless it complicated the prosses of building them out of it, I can't see why they didn't use it on all the subs, considering the advantages it offers over Steel. Great presentation, very informative, non biased, fact based and entertaining. Hats off to you sir, and thank you for your service.
I personally prefer the Russian name for the boat - a pike. It's kind of fitting given Russian tactics of hiding 'in the bush' and striking from there.
Its fitting because it goes trough river from shipyard.
As a general pattern, no one within Russian Navy uses the words by either national or NATO code system. We're spelling and telling usually "Project nine-seven-one" or just "971" or, given zoo names of the boats, "animals" or "beasts". Delta-family SSBNs which had four different acronims besides 667 digits - 667B, 667BD, 667BDR and 667BDRM, thus were spelled by letters rather than digits. "Hey man! Have you seen BDRM that moored this morning in base? She's bumped by Moose*, hole in light hull in starboard quarter, just covered by tarpaulin. Go to see her. Say later whether some starboard list occured. Fucking Yanks..."
* Los-Angeles-class shortened for "Los' ", which means "Moose" In-Russian.
Eventually you're going to have to do some briefs on USN subs you know. ;).
I mean there's TONS of interesting information that's not classified about US boats, but I understand you're trying to distance yourself from any potential issues. Still - I know many of us are dying to know how well you think the US subs stack up against all of these Russian designs.
I can just imagine how much longer it'd take him to make American ones just from having to confirm if what he's saying is classified or not lul, I'd imagine every other sentence would need at least one thing checking, maybe one day though, that'd be nice
Tom Clancy once said a submarine is a submarine is a submarine. But the more I learn about Russian subs I gotta disagree 🙅🇺🇲🇷🇺
Thank you for your great content.
Best channel on the topic for miles...
All the best.
A interesting note. The Akula class was developed after the spy John Anthony Walker sold the secret of SOSUS and quiet submarine technology to the soviets. American Submariners at the time nicknamed them Walker class submarines.
A very effective sales pitch as you have personal anecdotes to offer.
Thought it would be a short watch while I pooped, ended up sitting here the whole hour.