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Further Reading

Project 659 / Echo I
Project 675 / Echo II

The 'ECHO I' class (Project 659) boats were originally built as the first Soviet SSGNs, carrying SS-N-3 Shaddock SSMs. This missile was employed in the strategic role, rather than an anti-ship role, as the boats could not accommodate the guidance radar needed for anti-ship operations. The Project 659 [Echo I] carried 6 Shaddock missiles in erectable launch tubes mounted in pairs above the pressure hull on both sides of the sail. The Echo I boats used a reactor and propulsion system similar to the Hotel SSBN and November SSN classes. The SS-N-3 proved unsuited for the strategic role, resulting in the conversion of these boats to conventional torpedo-attack boats, Project 659T. At least one and possibly two were decommissioned in the mid-1980s, while the remaining three or four units were decommissioned in 1990.

The Project 675 [Echo II] nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarines were modified to carry the Front series of radars [also featured on the Juliet-class SSG] that enabled them to launch the anti-shipping version of the Shaddock. These were primarily anti-carrier weapons, intended originally as a response to nuclear strikes against the Soviet Union by carrier-based aircraft like the A-3 Skywarrior. As such, their SS-N-3s came in both nuclear and conventional versions. A total of eight missiles were carried, two more than on the Echo-I, and the hull was lengthed five meters to accomodate the extra pair of launchers. According to Western estimates about 20 minutes was required to launch all eight missiles. To fire its missiles the submarine surfaced, deployed and activated a tracking radar, and remained on the surface linked to the high altitude cruise missile in flight via datalink, providing guidance commands based on the submarine radar's tracking data. The submarine itself was highly vulnerable to attack while on the surface operating its radar. A total of 29 Echo IIs were constructed between 1962 and 1968, of which perhaps 10 were converted to carry the improved SS-N-12 by the mid-1980s. All had been de-commissioned by the mid-1990s.

At least four Echo submarines have suffered serious accidents. In August 1980 a fire in an Echo II off Japan killed at least nine crewmembers. On 26 June 1989 a fire erupted in of the the two reactor compartments on an Echo II submarine of the Northern Fleet. The reactor had to be shut down, and the submarine surfaced to return to Murmansk under auxiliary diesel power. Several crew members were injured, but none were killed in the incident. There is some confusion over the numbering of the damaged submarines. According to one reasobably authoritative account, the Navy has four damaged submarines, of which three are in the Far East, in the Pavlovski Bay (project 675, serial No. 175 and 541 and project 671, serial No. 610) and one - in the North (project 675, serial No. 533). The cores of submarines No. 541 and 533 are planned to be discharged. These numbers are at variance with those reported by other sources, and certainly reflect at least in part the annoying Russian habit of re-designating their ships.