'whale', NATO reporting name November)[2] was the Soviet Union's first class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, which were in service from 1958 through 1990.

[3][4] All but one have been disposed of,[5] with the K-3, the first nuclear-powered submarine built for the Soviet Navy, being preserved as a memorial ship in Saint Petersburg.

The class was originally tasked with entering American naval bases and using the battery-powered T-15 torpedo with thermonuclear warhead, to destroy them once in range.

However, after expert opinions of Soviet naval specialists were considered, the role of the class changed to torpedo attacks on enemy warships and transport ships during actions along the ocean and distant sea routes.

[8] The November class were double-hulled submarines with streamlined stern fins and nine compartments (I – bow torpedo, II – living and battery, III – central station, IV – diesel-generator, V – reactor, VI – turbine, VII – electromechanic, VIII – living, IX – stern).

[citation needed] The Soviet hydroacoustic equipment on the Novembers was not intended for submarine hunting, and had relatively limited capabilities.

Machinery problems were the main reason why Project 627/627A submarines were not used during the Cuban Missile Crisis in autumn 1962.

[citation needed] The reliability of the steam generators became better over the course of construction development, handling technical problems and training of crews, so Novembers began to frequently perform Arctic under-ice cruises and patrol missions to trace nuclear delivery vessels in Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s.

Project 627 had much better performance specifications (for example, submerged speed and depth) than the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus.

The main visual differences of project 627A were a bow sonar dome in the keel and a hydrophone antenna over the torpedo tubes.

The submarine was performing a patrol mission in the Mediterranean Sea and a hydraulic system fire occurred in compartment one on the 56th day of the cruise at a depth of 49 m during the return home.

This occurred north-east of the Faeroes and 39 sailors died due to carbon monoxide poisoning (boatswain Lunya was the only person in the central station who didn't black out.

On 12 April 1970, after four days on the surface, K-8 sank returning from patrol and participation in the large scale "Okean-70" naval exercise.

[4] The accident occurred due to short circuits that took place in III and VII compartments simultaneously at a depth of 120 m and a subsequent fire in the air-conditioning system.

K-14 entered service with the Northern Fleet (given to 206th separate brigade of nuclear submarines, based in Malaya Lopatka of Zapadnaya Litsa Fjord) on 31 August 1960.

The submarine performed under-ice cruise from the Northern Fleet to the Pacific Ocean Fleet between 30 August and 17 September 1966, K-14 resurfaced 19 times at the North Pole for searches the Soviet research drifting station SP-15 to apply medical aid to one of the expeditionists from the station.

Golubev and commander of the 3rd division of nuclear submarines (chief officer on board) captain 1st rank N.K.

In November 1964 the sail failure of fuel pins was detected during the scheduled repair in Severodvinsk and it was decided to refuel both reactors.

The arriving naval specialists came to the wrong conclusion that deterioration of the radiation environment was only a result of emission of high-active reactor water and they allowed to continue refueling.

The uncontrolled reactor with the unclear position of its cover remained unwatched during four hours when a fire occurred.

In 1963 the submarine performed a long-range cruise (51 days) to Atlantic equatorial zone for the first time for Soviet Navy.

On 30 August 2003, the submarine K-159 sank during stormy weather while being towed to the shipyard in Snezhnogorsk, Murmansk Oblast for scrapping (K-159 was decommissioned in 1987.

[13] K-50 was laid down on 14 February 1963 (using some mechanisms and equipment from unfinished submarine of project P627A), launched on 16 December 1963, and commissioned 17 July 1964.

Gulyaev was awarded with the Hero of the Soviet Union for mission success and record of submarine continuous underwater stay.

The second patrol mission to the Mediterranean Sea took place between 29 June – 30 August 1965 (60 days), K-27 detected and performed a training attack with a nuclear torpedo against USS Randolph aircraft carrier during NATO naval maneuvers off Sardinia.

US carrier force could only detect K-27 when she obtained range to the training target after the "torpedo attack" but Soviet captain P.F.

The responsible officers informed the command before trials that port-side reactor was not tested yet after small failure took place on 13 October 1967 but their warnings were not taken into consideration.

The most heavily irradiated ten men (holders from the reactor compartment) were transported by aircraft to Leningrad 1st naval hospital next day but four of them (V. Voevoda, V. Gritsenko, V. Kulikov and A. Petrov) died within a month.

More than 30 sailors participated in accident elimination died between 1968 and 2003 because of over exposure to radiation and the Soviet government held back the truth about the tragic consequences of that reactor emergency for many years.

The submarine was decommissioned on 1 February 1979 and her reactor compartment was filled with special solidifying mixture of furfurol and bitumen in summer 1981 (the work was performed by Severodvinsk shipyard No.