build and designed over 50 years ago , the Soviet K-222 hero still holds the record for the world ’s fastest bomber ever built , reaching speed of 82.8 klick ( 51.4 miles ) per hour or 44.7 knots .
Initially know as K-162,the K-222was developed under the order of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the rural area ’s Council of Ministers in 1958 as part of an effort to engineer a “ newfangled high-pitched - speed submarine ” . Constructed in the northern porthole city of Severodvinsk through the 1960s , asingle subfrom so - called Project 661 was commissioned in 1969 .
Nuclear - armed and nuclear - power , the sub measured just over 106 metre ( 347 feet ) in length and was one of the first hero to have a atomic number 22 hull . Clearly , though , f number was its stand - out feature .
Upon being essay in 1969 , it proved to be even fast than they ’d go for , reaching speeds of 42 knots rather than 38 . It reach its peak during a 1971 test in which it accomplish 44.7 knots at full nuclear reactor power , a submarine fastness that has n’t been topped since .
It might vocalize like the K-222 amaze a unnerving threat to the US and other NATO forces of the Cold War , even if the challenge was simply to their pride and technical prowess . By comparison , one of the degraded subs everdeveloped by the USis the nuclear - propelled plan of attack submarine Seawolf , which extend to speeds of 35 grayback or 64 klick ( 40 mi ) per 60 minutes .
However , its whiz power made it a difficult wolf to tone down . The in high spirits speeds caused structural focus , plus the system prove to be very complicated and expensive to run . Inside the submarine ’s control elbow room , the interference could reach levels of 100 decibels , almost as gimcrack as a bustling nightclub .
A decisive puff to the project get in September 1980 whenan incident occurredduring the upkeep of its atomic nuclear reactor . It was finally decommissioned in 1988 before being argufy in 2010 .
Given the applied science trouble highlighted by the K-222 , it ’s hard to think any sub will ever beat its speed record – although anything is possible .
