Following the finishing of onboard work and its completion of systems testing, the K-77 was commissioned on October 31st 1965 and assigned to the Soviet Northern Fleet. The K-77 was manned by a normal ship's complement of 12 officers, 16 noncommissioned officers and 54 crewmembers.

In its time, the Juliett-class submarines were considered formidable adversaries by United States Navy and NATO sailors. Despite its size (a length of 281.75 feet and a displacement of 3,174 tons), the K-77 was initially found hard to track due to its tiled rubber sheath and silent running diesel-electric motors. These underwater weapons platforms were routinely armed with four P-5, P-6, or P-500 nuclear cruise missiles capable of destroying cities, harbors or aircraft carriers at a range of more than 500 kilometers (300 miles). Additionally, the submarine carried up to 22 torpedoes for its 10 torpedo tubes (6 bow, 4 stern).

The K-77 ran on diesel (two D-43s rated at 4,000 shp and one 2D-42 rated at 1,750 shp) and electric motors (two PG-141 rated at 3,000 shp and two PG-140 creep each rated at 500 shp). With its two screws, the boat attained speeds of 16.8 knots while surfaced and 18 knots submerged. It could remain underwater for 800 hours at a time, descending to a Safe Depth of 775 feet with a crush depth of 1,200 feet. It carried a standard load of stores for 90 days.

The Juliett-class submarines initially incorporated significant design changes from earlier Soviet submarines. The first two Juliett-class submarines, K-156 and K-85 incorporated a low magnetic signature austenitic steel hull and silver-zinc batteries. However, by the time K-77 was constructed, the decision had been made to revert to conventional steel hulls and lead-acid batteries.

The K-77's pressure hull was a mix of internal and external framing and was significantly wider than in previous classes. The spindle-shaped center section that had allowed the original version of Project 651 to mount its inclined missile tubes beside the hull fell victim to the need for internal volume to accommodate the enlarged missile control room. The hull itself contained eight compartments: the forward torpedo room; living accommodation and forward batteries; missile control room and batteries; submarine control room; living accommodation and two banks of batteries; diesels and generators; electric motors; and, after torpedo room.

Project 651 had originally planned to create five regiments of seven submarines each. Two submarine regiments were planned for deployment in the Northern Fleet, one in the Mediterranean, one in the Black Sea, one in the Baltic and the lat in the Pacific. In fact only three regiments, consisting of only six submarines each were formed. These submarine regiments were assigned to the Northern Fleet, the Pacific, while the third was split between stations in the Baltic and Black Seas. The K-77 was initially assigned to the Soviet Northern Fleet based on the Kola Peninsula on the shores of the Barents Sea.

The Project 651 submarines were initially planned by the Soviet Navy in the late 1950's as a nuclear missile platform for strikes against the United States, targeting East Coast cities in particular. Later, when armed with more accurate cruise missiles, the P-6 [SS-N-3a SHADDOCK], and the subsequent P-500 4K-80 Basalt [SS-N-12 SANDBOX] their mission evolved to a cruise missile platform for anti-carrier operations. In essence, the mission of Juliett-class submarines became to shadow and in the event of hostilities, destroy United States aircraft carriers at sea and, when possible, in port.

The design of Juliett-class submarines had two major identified weaknesses. First, in order to fire their missiles, it was necessary for the submarine to surface. The actual process of arming and firing the weapons took as much as 14 minutes while surfaced. The submarine was then forced to remain exposed while it provided the missiles with targeting information from the ship's own radar during their flight. Secondly, American anti-submarine units found, over time, that the Julliett-class vessels provided a distinctive sonar ping due to dimples in the hull built to reflect the rocket jets on board the submarines' cruise missiles. American experts believed that due to the boats' requirement to surface to fire coupled with the U.S. and NATO anti-submarine units' ability to identify and locate them, the Juliett-class submarines could be destroyed before they ever had time to discharge a single warhead.

The K-77's exact missions and cruise logs remain a mystery. Juliett-class submarines were spotted shadowing American aircraft carriers in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the mid-1960's. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the K-77 often cruised in the Mediterranean, off the coast of West Africa and at least once in the Caribbean in the vicinity of the United States Virgin Islands. In 1987, the K-77 was transferred as semi-obsolescent to the Soviet Baltic Fleet. Close inspection of the K-77 during its post-cold war stint in Helsinki revealed papers that suggested the submarine had been used to shadow Norwegian Kobben-class submarines at some time in its career. When and where this happened is unclear.

Juliett-class submarines were withdrawn from active service beginning in 1988. The K-77 was decommissioned sometime between 1991 and 1994. By the end of 1994, all Juliett-class submarines had been removed from service. In addition to the K-77, the Juliett U-461 remains on display in Peenemunde, Germany.

At the end of the Cold War, Finnish businessman Jari Komulainen leased a Foxtrot submarine as a tourist attraction. The vessel was opened to the public in Helsinki in the spring of 1993. Komulainen was married to the only daughter of Finland's President Mauno Koivisto, and he used his influence as Finland's "first son-in-law" to convince the Russian government to also sell him two Juliett-class submarines, one of which was the K-77. This Juliett replaced the Foxtrot in 1994, becoming an off-beat bar and restaurant as well as a tourist attraction.

While in Helsinki, the K-77 took on the name of Juliett U-484 derived from a metal plate that was discovered inside the boat. It was determined that the plate and others bearing different numbers were affixed to the submarine's conning tower during surface running to confuse NATO reconnaissance aircraft as to the identity of that particular submarine.

The Finnish attempt to use the K-77 as a submarine/restaurant/tourist attraction turned a profit but did not turn out to be the lucrative investment that promoter Komulainen had hoped for. In 1998, the submarine was leased to a Canadian promoter and towed to Tampa Bay, Florida. However, plans to develop the K-77 as a tourist attraction in St. Petersburg harbor proved a failure. The intended location was too shallow for the 23-foot draft of the K-77. The investors were forced to move the submarine to a more remote site away from throngs of tourists. In time, the promoter was forced to file for bankruptcy. Control of the K-77 reverted again to Komulainen.

Komulainen was not interested in returning the K-77 to Finland. Seeking to sell the submarine, he attempted to auction it on E-Bay for a starting price of $1 million (US). There were no serious bidders.

However, the auction attempt did draw the notice of Intermedia Film Equities Ltd., who chartered K-77 for $200,000 to shoot the action drama K-19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. In 2000, the submarine was towed to Halifax, Nova Scotia for filming. K-19: The Widowmaker is a based-on-fact story of the actions of Soviet sailors faced with a nuclear reactor meltdown while on the maiden voyage of the Hotel-class submarine K-19 in 1961. Long kept secret, the accident aboard the K-19 resulted in the deaths of more than 20 of the ship's crewmembers.

In 2002, the K-77 was purchased by the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation and towed from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Collier Point Park in Providence, Rhode Island. The Russian Submarine Museum was formally opened to the public in August 2002. Today, the K-77 offers public tours and a comprehensive educational program in accordance with New Standards and attuned to the advancement requirements of both Girl and Boy Scout programs.

What is the real name of this submarine?

Some sources say that the boat we know as Juliett 484 was called K-81 (renamed B-81). Other sources say this is K-77 (later renamed B-77).

When the Saratoga Museum Foundation took possession of the submarine it was described as K-81, and we repeated that information in our initial press releases. However, we spent several months refurbishing much of the interior, and in so doing removed several bulkheads, moved large pieces of equipment and went deep into the bilges. We found an astonishing amount of equipment and documents during that ripout process.

The documents provide incontrovertible proof that this sub is in fact K-77/B-77 and not K-81/B-81, no matter what the internet sources say. We have copies of maintenance reports, equipment exchanges, radio messages, duty rosters, log entries and even torpedo firing exercises, all of which identify the sub as K-77/B-77.

Last Updated:
3/6/03