Beluga-class submarine

Project 1710 Makrel (Russian: 1710 «Макрель»; NATO reporting name "Beluga") was a Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine. It was an experimental vessel used for testing propulsion systems, hull forms, and boundary-layer control techniques.

History
Russia
Builder	United Admiralty Shipyard 196
Launched	1986
Commissioned	1988
Out of service	1998
Stricken	2007
Fate	Stricken
General characteristics
Type	Submarine
Displacement	1,400-1,485 tons surfaced 1,900 submerged
Length	62.0–65.5 m (203 ft 5 in – 214 ft 11 in)
Beam	6.3–8.7 m (20 ft 8 in – 28 ft 7 in)
Draught	5.6–6.0 m (18 ft 4 in – 19 ft 8 in)
Propulsion	Diesel-electric
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h) surfaced 22–24 knots (41–44 km/h) submerged

Development was undertaken by the Malakhit Design Bureau with construction at the Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg. ^[1]

The lone Beluga-class submarine in operation was S-553 Forel. Launched in 1986 and moth-balled around 1998, the last operation of the vessel is thought to have taken place in 1997. As of the mid-2000s, the entire project is believed to have been discontinued.