russian-yankee-K-219

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 08:43:40 -0600

This is an '80's Russian Yankee class nuclear ballistic missile submarine and it's one of the three Yankees that were in the Atlantic one of which was always on patrol within range of US targets in the eastern half of the country.

These botes were armed with sixteen SLBM's (Surface-Launched Ballistic Missiles,) all of which had MIRVs, (Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles,) i.e., nuclear warheads aka "H Bombs," and these missiles had a range of 1500-3000 miles. With them only being a few hundred miles off the coast, they could hit targets half way across the US.

There were nearly always three in the Atlantic..one incoming from the Black Sea, one "on station," and one heading home. Their patrol lengths were similar to our Blue and Gold nuke crews, about ninety days.

These pinkos were tracked by the P-3 squadrons on detachment in Keflavik Iceland first, then one of the squadrons in Brunswick Maine would pick the bote up. They would then pass the incoming guy on to the squadron on deployment in Bermuda (for about six months.)

Bottom line is, the DOD knew where every one of the their missile botes were in real time, nearly 24/7/365, while almost no civilians had neither a clue about what was happening nor the extent of the risk and hence, the amount of assets (and money,) assigned to track them. The anti-submarine community which at the time consisted of four operational P-3 squadrons to cover the east and west coasts were located in Barbers Point Hawaii, Moffett Field in Sunny Vale California, Brunswick Maine, and Jacksonville Florida each with nine aircraft and crews.