B-440, Soviet submarine museum in Vytegra, Russia.
The B-440 is a Project 641 (NATO Foxtrot class) diesel-electric attack submarine, now a museum ship moored at 15 Komsomolskaya Street on the Vytegra waterfront. Its dark steel hull and conning tower lie against the shore of the Vytegra Bay. Most compartments are preserved as they were, while the remaining ones hold the museum displays.
Laid down on 1 June 1970 at the New Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad and commissioned into the Soviet Northern Fleet on 16 January 1971, the B-440 carried out combat missions in the Mediterranean in 1971–72, 1973–74, 1977 and 1983, and in the Barents and Norwegian seas in 1982. In August 1989 it snagged the trawl of the Norwegian fishing vessel Orion at a depth of 80 metres south-east of Bear Island. Decommissioned in 1998, it was converted into a museum at the Kronstadt Marine Plant between 2003 and 2005 and opened to visitors in Vytegra on 10 December 2005.
The vessel displays seven compartments revealing how Soviet naval crew members lived and worked during the Cold War. Walking through these tight spaces gives visitors a real sense of the demanding conditions submariners faced.
The submarine is located near the Volga-Baltic Canal and easily reached by a wide gangway. The best time to visit is during warmer months when exploring the tight interior spaces is more comfortable.
The vessel was transported from its original base through Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega to Vytegra, requiring specialized dredging work to secure it at the shoreline. This unusual river route makes the submarine a rare example of Soviet maritime logistics.
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