Submarine in the steppes of the Volga region

Samara Region, Togliatti. Technical Museum of JSC "AvtoVAZ". Here as an exhibit is "B-307" - the largest diesel submarine of the Russian Navy. Dimensions are impressive: length - 91 meters, height - 14 meters, weight - 2,000 tons. They installed a submarine on April 22, 2005.

"B-307" was planted at the shipyard Krasnoye Sormovo in Gorky, in early March 1980, and on September 30th they were launched. On December 30, an act of acceptance was signed, the boat entered service and the service began: the Barents Sea, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and again the Northern Fleet. His submarine battle way was completed in 2001 in Kronstadt.

In 2001 the boat was bought by the Volga Automobile Plant. It is interesting that the sailors at first wanted to give the boat to the museum, but the federal authorities intervened-the noble impulse of the fleet was regarded as a squandering of state property. As a result, AvtoVAZ bought a submarine for 768 thousand rubles. A similar boat, bought by the Moscow museum, cost 48 million rubles.

During the transfer of the boat, the military dismantled part of the equipment that was supposed to be used as spare parts for similar submarines: periscopes, radio communication equipment, control panels were removed.

The submarine of the AvtoVAZ Technical Museum was transported from Kronstadt to Togliatti in full by the decision of the factory management. Nothing like this has happened in the world. Similar submarines, bought by other museums, were always transported in parts. They were cut, and then, after delivering, they were welded and stained in place.

Preparation of a submarine for transportation by inland waterways was carried out at the Kronstadt Marine Plant. Work was carried out to ensure unsinkability, ballast was unloaded and 8 pontoons were installed to provide the necessary precipitation. November 3, 2003 submarine "B-307" with the help of two pushers left Kronstadt in Togliatti. The length of the route was 2246 km. During the transition, the boat passed eight drawbridges in St. Petersburg and 22 locks, 8 of which are only 17.7 meters wide.

Photo from here - http://rechflot-63.ru/

Photo from here - http://rechflot-63.ru/

Until the spring of next year, the boat was wintering near the shore, and in the spring, along with the ice, broke off from the pier and arbitrarily sailed to the Zhigulevskoe Sea. To sail away it was not given to her - with the help of river tugs the submarines were returned to the parking lot.

Then began the most difficult stage - the withdrawal of the submarine from the water to the shore and transport it to the territory of the technical museum. The slope of the coastal zone was reduced for a smooth exit of the boat to land and a route length of about 5 km and a width of 36 m was planned. The boat was pulled by 9 military tractors BAT, specially designed for this purpose from the Totsky landfill.

Photo from here - https://hodor.lol/post/67366/

After the boat was pulled ashore, she was not properly guarded. Accordingly, the vandals broke and took out all the non-ferrous metal to which they could reach

For more than a year the boat moved from the Volga to the last parking place on the territory of the museum. On April 22, 2005, at 15.20 the submarine "B-307" was installed on a specially prepared base in the territory of the AvtoVAZ Technical Museum. In June 2016, inside the submarine began to drive excursions.

Interesting fact: In 1998, this boat participated in the shooting of the film "Peculiarities of National Fishing" as a mini-submarine. It was in her tanks that the gamekeeper Kuzmich poured contraband vodka.