K-77 was
laid down at the
Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112 shipyard in
Gorky on 31 January 1963. She was
launched on 11 March 1965 and
commissioned on 31 October
K-77 was decommissioned sometime after 1991, and by the end of 1994, all Julietts had been retired.
Post-decommissioning Finland At the end of the
Cold War, Finnish businessman
Jari Komulainen, who was married to the daughter of
President of Finland Mauno Koivisto, used his influence as
Finland's "first son-in-law" to convince the Russian government to lease him a
Project 641 "Foxtrot"-class submarine, probably the ex-. Komulainen opened it to the public in
Helsinki in the spring of 1993 as a tourist attraction. He then purchased two Juliett-class submarines, one K-77 replacing the Foxtrot in 1994, becoming a bar and restaurant as well as a tourist attraction. Komulainen believed that his restaurant had been
K-81, based on a metal plate discovered inside the boat. However, it later transpired that that plate and others bearing different numbers were provided for the crew to display on the submarine's sail during surface running to confuse
NATO reconnaissance aircraft. Komulainen also held a
beauty pageant "Miss Submarine" at the submarine. Model Anitra Ahtola, who won the competition, later became his third wife. As a restaurant,
K-77 was modestly successful, but was not lucrative enough to satisfy Komulainen. In 1998, he leased his submarine to a Canadian promoter, who towed it to
Tampa Bay, Florida. towed to
Collier Point Park in
Providence, Rhode Island, and opened to the public in August 2002.
K-77 offered public tours and a comprehensive educational program in accordance with New Standards and attuned to the advancement requirements of both Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs. When the
Saratoga Museum Foundation took possession of the submarine, it was described as
K-81 in the initial press releases from the
Saratoga Museum Foundation. The foundation spent months refurbishing the interior, which included removing several
bulkheads, moving large pieces of equipment, and going deep into the
bilges. During this process, documents were found which provided incontrovertible proof that the submarine was
K-77 and not
K-81 as earlier thought. The records confirming this information include maintenance reports, equipment exchanges, radio messages, duty rosters, log entries, and torpedo firing exercises, which all identify the submarine as
K-77.
Sinking The submarine sank on 18 April 2007 after a storm, and plans were made to raise it off the river bottom. The Museum's theory on why the submarine sank is that a modified hatch was not properly watertight. Recovery efforts by U.S. Navy and Army divers began in June 2008 as part of a project to train military divers through real-world, community-based projects. On 2 June 2008, divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two in
Norfolk, Virginia arrived and began preparations to raise the submarine. On 25 July 2008, she was brought to the surface by US Navy and Army divers. The work of pumping out water was completed in August 2008. The sub was badly deteriorated and in need of substantial repair. On 11 August 2009, RI Recycled Metals LLC towed the sub to a facility from the museum site so that it could be
scrapped. A portion of the vessel remained in the river and in 2017, a judge ordered that the remnants be removed. A section of the submarine was destroyed in a fire in March 2021 while in the process of being dismantled at a Providence scrapyard. == References ==