As a result of decline in the post-Soviet Russian economy and defence sector, the Russian Navy today relies overwhelmingly on Soviet built ships for high endurance missions with all of its largest combat vessels being of Soviet origin. This applies not only to the surface fleet, where post-Soviet Russia has yet to lay down a single destroyer or cruiser for its own Navy, but also to a lesser extent to the submarine fleet where the firepower of the gargantuan Soviet Typhoon Class submarines have yet to be matched.
Entering service from 1981, the Typhoon Class is the largest submarine ever deployed anywhere in the world with six completed before the seventh was cancelled following the Cold War’s end. The Typhoon Class displaces 48,000 tons submerged, making it twice the size of the Borei Class which is also Russian an over two and a half time the size of the largest Western submarine the Ohio Class. To place its size in perspective, the largest aircraft carrier in continental Europe, the Charles De Gaulle, displaces just 42,000 tons. A Russian submarine class which is more widely used and built in larger numbers, the Kilo Class, displaces approximately 3,000 tons – meaning that the Typhoon is over 15 times as large.
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