SSB - ballistic missile submarine

A North Korean design for a ballistic missile submarine was disclosed in a video where General Kim Jong Il is inspecting a special North Korean submarine model with a two-story structure. It is a submarine capable of carrying 10 or more submarine-launched ballistic missiles and it is said that such submarines have already been deployed. With this two-story structure, the length of the submarine can be increased to accommodate even more missiles. In addition, by increasing the diameter of the missile, it is possible to increase its range.

This photo was taken on April 25, 1995, when Genaral Kim Jong Il received the report of Kim Kwang Jin, the first deputy head of the People's Armed Forces, in front of the new submarine model. In April 1995, surprisingly, North Korea was also pursuing the construction of a nuclear-attack submarine using its own technology.

The design is interesting as, unlike the ballistic missile submarines of other countries, this North Korean design places the missile launch tubes forward of the sail, rather than aft. Most modern submarines constructed in the west utilize a single Pressure Hull configuration with the Main Ballast Tanks (MBT) situated at the fore and aft ends of the submarine. Typically, the reserve of buoyancy (ROB) is in the order of 11% of the surfaced displacement of the boat. A better distribution of weights is achieved by incorporating some of the MBT capacity in a midship location which results in better balance and handling, particularly when the submarine is surfaced. Some older designs (e.g. Skipjack and Permit classes) had such a configuration. However, the incorporation of these tanks was the result of giving the Pressure Hull (PH) a complicated and less than ideal shape in order to withstand deep diving pressure.

Torpedo tubes are usually limited to 4 and are situated in the fore end of the submarine with a complicated system of tanks used to fire the torpedoes and compensate the weight of these with sea water. The 688I class of attack submarines solved this problem by incorporating a Vertical Launch System (VLS) consisting of 12 tubes mounted vertically in the forward MBT area and dedicated exclusively to carrying air cruise missiles. Each tube carries one round and can only be reloaded when the submarine is docked. The new Seawolf class SSNs solves the problem by having 8 torpedo tubes and a capacity of about 48 weapons with the added advantage that these are general purpose tubes which can fire a full range of attack submarine weapons, thus permitting greater flexibility in configuring the weapons mix.

In 1979 a new design for Soviet SSBNs was revealed. Called "TAYFUN" (Typhoon) by the Kremlin, the submarine is the largest undersea craft in the world with a dived displacement of over 30,000 tons. First launched in September 1980 at the Severodvinsk Shipyard, Typhoon has twenty missile tubes forward of the sail, allowing space aft for two nuclear reactors.

Nothing else has been heard of such a boat since.