Yankee-class submarine
nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine class
The Soviet Navy's Project 667A Navaga (navaga) and Project 667AU Nalim (burbot) (NATO reporting name: Yankee), were a family of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines built in the Soviet Union. In total, 34 units were built, from 1964 to 1974: 24 in Severodvinsk for the Northern Fleet and the remaining 10 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur for the Pacific Fleet. Two Northern Fleet units were later transferred to the Pacific.
The Yankee-class were subject to a wide variety of modifications; these ships have a different designation to the original model.
Design
The Yankee-class nuclear submarines were the first class of Soviet ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) to have thermonuclear firepower comparable with that of their American and British Polaris submarine counterparts. The Yankee class were quieter in the ocean than were their Hotel-class predecessors, and had better streamlining that improved their underwater performance. The Yankee class were actually quite similar to the Polaris submarines of the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy. These boats were all armed with 16 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) with multiple nuclear warheads as nuclear deterrents during the Cold War, and their ballistic missiles had ranges from 1,500–2,500 nautical miles (2,800–4,600 km; 1,700–2,900 mi).
General characteristics (Yankee I)
Length: 128 m (419 ft 11 in)
Beam: 11.7 m (38 ft 5 in)
Draught: 8 m (26 ft 3 in)
Surface displacement: 7,760 tonnes
Full (Diving) displacement: 11,500 tonnes
Speed: 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Power plant: 2 VM-4 reactors
Hull: Low magnetic steel
Crew: 114
Compartments: 10
Armament:
4 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes for 14 Type 53 torpedoes or mines.
2 16 in (410 mm) torpedo tubes for 4 Type 40 torpedoes
16 SS-N-6 liquid-fueled ballistic missiles
Operational history
The Yankee-class SSBNs served in the Soviet Navy in three oceans: the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean beginning in the 1960s.
“Yankee-class submarine” enters the record as nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine class. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yankee-class, submarine and nuclear-powered can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Yankee-class submarine” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yankee-class, submarine and nuclear-powered provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1499693. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1964 and 1974.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Yankee-class submarine”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Yankee-class submarine primary sources, Yankee-class submarine archive and Yankee-class research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Yankee-class submarine”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Yankee-class submarine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.