Launch and Operations
The keel of the K-27 was laid down on 15 June 1958 at Severodvinsk Shipyard No. 402. She was launched on 1 April 1962, and she went into service as an experimental "attack submarine" on 30 October 1963. The K-27 was officially commissioned into the Soviet Northern Fleet on 7 September 1965. The K-27 was assigned to the 17th submarine division, headquartered at Gremikha).
The nuclear reactors of the K-27 were troublesome from their first criticality, but the K-27 was able to engage in test operations for about five years. On 24 May 1968, the power output of one of her reactors suddenly dropped sharply; radioactive gases were released into her engine room; and the radiation levels throughout the K-27 increased dangerously – by 1.5 grays per hour. This radiation consisted mostly of gamma rays and thermal neutrons, with some alpha radiation and beta radiation in addition – generated by the released radioactive gasses such as radon, gassified radioactive isotopes of iodine, cesium, xenon, and krypton in her reactor compartment.
The training of her crew by the Soviet Navy had been inadequate, and these sailors did not recognize that their nuclear reactor had suffered from extensive fuel element failures. By the time they gave up their attempts to repair her reactor at sea, nine of her crewmen had accumulated fatal radioactive exposures.
About one-fifth of her reactor core had experienced inadequate cooling caused by uneven coolant flows. Hot spots in the reactor had ruptured, releasing nuclear fuel and nuclear fission products into the liquid-metal coolant, which circulated them throughout her reactor compartment.
The K-27 was laid up in Gremikha Bay starting on 20 June 1968. The cooling-off of her reactors and various experimental projects were carried out aboard her through 1973. These included the successful restarting of her starboard reactor up to the 40% of maximal power production. Plans were considered to slice off her reactor compartment and then to replace it with a new one containing standard VM-A water-cooled reactors. The rebuilding or replacement of her port nuclear reactor was considered to be too expensive, and also to be inappropriate because more modern nuclear submarines had already entered service in the Soviet Navy.
Read more about this topic: Soviet Submarine K-27
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