Tango-Class B307
B307 is located at the Park Complex of the History of Technology named after K. G. Sakharov,
She is Known in Russia as Project 641B Som (Catfish) and to NATO as the Tango class, these submarines were the largest class of conventional submarines ever built for the soviet navy.
The submarines of the Tango class are 91 meters long 9 meters wide and have a draft of 7 meters, they displace 3,000tons surfaced and 3,800 tons submerged.
Designed to replace the older Project 641 Foxtrot class the Tango class encompassed many improved technologies, being larger these submarines like the Foxtrot were capable of ocean-going duties, however they were never produced in any great numbers and were soon superseded by the Kilo class.
A total of 18 were built but now all have been retired, only three have been preserved.
B307 was the 14th submarine of the class, she was laid down in Gorkiy ship yard march 7th 1980, launched September 30th 1980 and commissioned December 30th 1980, she was then placed onto a barge and transported via inland waterways to her home port of Polyarny.
by 1982 she had completed all her trials mainly in the Barents and Norwegian sea, she then in June 1983 headed off for a long voyage into the Mediterranean Sea calling at Sevastopol in the black sea before heading back home for February 1984.
In January 1985 she conducted another long-range cruise this time crossing the equator in the Atlantic ocean then heading into the Mediterranean where the submarine made a port call at Algiers and later the port of Tartarus Syria before heading back home 9 months later entering port in September.
In 1986 the submarine underwent an extensive 9-month refit in Murmansk
November 1988 saw the submarine undertake a shorter cruise this time to the Baltic sea, she transited around Scandinavia and finally made port in January 1989.
In October 1989 the B307 was withdrawn from service and sent to layup in the reserve fleet at Khronstadt, with the economy of the Soviet Union declining the submarine would not put to sea again instead she would remain laid up in reserve.
In August 1990, the submarine entered a maintenance period which was left only 90% complete in February 1995 but remained on the ready reserve list, by this time most of her sister submarines were already starting to be paid off for disposal.
13th October 1999 while dismantling the GT-201 device in compartment two sailors were killed and many poisoned, after the incident the device was installed on a new submarine B807 a project 877 Kilo class.
In 2001 the submarine was removed from the active service register and listed for disposal.
During 2002 the submarine was purchased for 748,000 rubles by the Autovaz technical museum in Togliatti Samara and planning commenced for moving the submarine to its new inland location.
2003 saw the submarine finally move this time on specially built pontoons with two tugs towing her.
For this trip she had to unload 117 tons of fluids and 300 tons of ballast and be sealed so as not to cause an environmental problem.
She arrived at the waterfront on November 3rd 2003 after a voyage on the Neva and Volga river which passed through 22 locks, 3 lakes and 1 reservoir.
B307 had to wait out the winter as well as dredging efforts and construction of her new cradle. in October 2004 she was finally pulled ashore by no fewer than nine heavy artillery tractors which were specially discharged from the Totsk test range, they used heavy duty winches and cables and transported down a specially built road to the museum.
On April 22 2005 the submarine was finally installed and after some cosmetic repairs from the damages done during the transport opened to the public.
In May 2018 some of her compartments were restored and today remains open to the public
B307 had a relatively short life in active service and its likely she was chosen over her sisters due to the material condition of the submarine.
Write up by Blair Shaw
To organize a more rewarding and in depth tour on any naval museum ship or naval museum in Russia please speak to Captain 1st Rank Igor Kurdin and his associates at the Submarine Veterans club by contacting him via email at Subclub@mail.ru
