The Soviet and U. S. Navy learned of the V-2 underwater canisters, but there was little interest in the scheme, because available missile resources in both countries initially were concentrated on the cruise missiles for naval use. In the United States the newly established Air Force sponsored some ballistic missile development, in competition with the Army effort (under von Braun). In the Soviet Union the development of ballistic missiles was sponsored by a complex governmental structure-as were most Soviet endeavors- with the principal direction coming from the NKVD and the Red Army’s artillery directorate.
In 1949 a preliminary draft for a missile submarine designated Project P-2-to strike enemy land targets-was drawn up at TsKB-18 (later Rubin) under chief designer F. A. Kaverin. The submarine was to have a surface displacement of almost 5,400 tons and carry 12 R-1 ballistic missiles-the Soviet copy of the V-2-as well as the Lastochka (swallow) cruise missile. But the designers were unable to solve the myriad of problems in the development of such a ship.
The same design bureau began work the following year on Project 624, a 2,650-ton (submerged) cruise missile submarine powered by a closed-cycle Walter steam turbine based on the plant designed for the German Type XXVI boat. When that, too, was halted, work began on Project 628, a cruise missile–armed development of the wartime Series XIV design, but the Soviet Navy’s rejection of its missile terminated efforts in 1953.
