The Charlie I-class submarine (Project 670
Skat)
SSGN was first
launched at the
Krasnoye Sormovo inland shipyard at
Gorkiy in 1967 with another ten following over a period of five years. The Charlie Is had two banks of four missile tubes angled upwards on each side of the bow outside the
pressure hull. The tubes were covered by large outer doors and the design was to incorporate the
P-120 Malakhit (SS-N-9 Siren) medium-range anti-ship missile. Due to delays in the missile development, the missile was substituted with the shorter range
P-70 Ametist (SS-N-7 Starbright) submerged launch missile which itself was a development of the
P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) surface-launched missile. The missiles were designed for pop up surprise attacks on high value surface targets such as
aircraft carriers. In 1972 to 1979, six improved units called the Project 670M
Skat-M (Charlie II class) were built. The improved Charlie IIs were built at
Gorkiy with an insert in the hull forward of the fin. The insert incorporated electronics and launch systems for targeting and firing of the longer range
P-120 Malakhit anti-ship missile. The Charlie Is and IIs returned to port for reload once they had expended their missile payloads. However, the Charlie classs secondary armament of torpedoes and sonar systems provided useful anti-ship and
anti-submarine warfare capabilities in addition to their missile launch capabilities. The last Charlie was retired in 1994. While still operational, one unit of the class was leased to the
Indian Navy between 1988 and 1991 The submarine,
INS Chakra was used to train Indian Navy sailors and also was used to design elements of the
Arihant-class SSBN. ==Boats==