Museum of Ephemera

Preserving memories, so you don’t have to

Submarine B-39

The Soviets never named their submarines, at least not all of them. The only official designation for this sub is the builder’s number, B-39. It had several nicknames throughout its years, and the Soviets liked to change the hull numbers on their subs to keep us guessing, so it never had a permanent hull number either. Launched in 1974, the B-39 is a diesel –electric attack submarine of the NATO-designated Foxtrot class. It was armed solely with torpedoes. Further technical details are available here. This website says she was launched in 1967, but displays at the boat said 1974. More Soviet deception! The B-39 is currently a part of the San Diego Maritime Museum (which, at 10$, is a pretty good deal. Note however that the USS Midway Museum is a completely separate venture!) We visited on an absolutely gorgeous winter day in early February (note to tourists—winter is the time to visit San Diego, unless you absolutely have to go in the water). As part of my Cold War documentation effort, I bring you the following pictures.

Exterior Shot

Taken from the deck of the Star of India. The Foxtrot class sure has a lot of surface protuberances. I wonder just how difficult it was to hear one of these when it was on battery power. I’m sure if it was going slow enough it would be pretty silent. The ferry Berkeley in the background on the right, and helo hangers on NAS North Island in the distant background, just above the conning tower.

Forward Torpedo Room

This shot is looking forward at the six 21” torpedo tubes. The torpedo at the lower right is suspended in a gantry-like affair that can be maneuvered to load any one of the six tubes. I rather doubt operational torpedoes had “CCCP” painted on them in big red letters, though. The Cyrillic “CCCP” is really “SSSR” in English.

 

Wardroom

Aft of the torpedo room are officer’s quarters and this tiny wardroom. The B-39 was restored while it was in Seattle, no doubt by retired submariners from Bangor. If any of you read this, you did a great job.

Vent Control

I found this little detail quite fascinating. The knob for controlling the air vent in the wardroom (and several other places) is shaped like the Soviet red star. It just doesn’t seem like the sort of touch we associate with dour, utilitarian commies. I think it was an act of unforced patriotism by the builder. He didn’t have to do it, but he did it anyway. A sentiment that we can all appreciate. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence and they painted it red.

Radio Room

At least, I think it’s the radio room. The operator got his own bunk, so he could sleep by the radio. I’ve seen this on other ships, but not American ones. It may at first seem odd that the radio would need to be manned 24 hours a day, this being a submarine and all, but actually conventional subs spent the majority of their time on the surface, or at least at periscope level. I like the detail on the grill covering the heater below the bunk. The life jacket doesn’t look right—it looks much too modern.

Brezhnev

This picture of Leonid Brezhnev was prominently placed in one of the officer’s staterooms. Sorry it’s slightly out of focus.

 

Diving Station

The Foxtrot class was essentially a WWII submarine, being copied from one of the later German U-boats (type XXII?) While this was, I’m sure, first class stuff in 1945, it was obsolete in 1974 and positively archaic in 1990. I have no idea how any of this works.

Fire Control “Computer”

First, it should be noted that the entire upper assembly is missing, but it probably consisted of some sort of plotting device. This entire thing is analog. I’m sure that an experienced operator could work up a targeting solution fairly quickly, but these subs only fired one training torpedo a year, so how much experience could anyone get? Suddenly I’m not so afraid of the Soviet submarine menace.

Battery Control

This is one of at least three battery controlling consoles. The sub has two levels—the main deck, where all the pictures are from, and a lower deck where the diesel engines and the batteries live. We weren’t allowed to go down there. As you can see from the pictures, there isn’t a square inch that isn’t covered with switches or pipes or wires of some sort.