R-29RM Shtil

The R-29RM Shtil (NATO designation SS-N-23 Skiff) is a liquid propellant, submarine-launched ballistic missile in use by Russia. It has the alternate Russian designations RSM-54 and 3M27. It is designed to be launched from the Russian Delta IV submarine, each of which is capable of carrying 16 missiles.

On 6 August 1991 at 21:09 Novomoskovsk, under the command of Captain Second Rank Sergey Yegorov, became the world's only submarine to successfully launch an all-missile salvo, launching 16 R-29RM (RSM-54) ballistic missiles of total weight of almost 700 tons in 244 seconds (operation code name "Behemoth-2"). The first and the last missiles hit their targets successfully, while the others were self-destroyed in the air according to the plan.

The R-29RM carries four 100 kiloton warheads and has a range of about 8500 km. A derivative, the R-29RMU Sineva, entered service in 2007. The last boat with R-29RM, K-51 Verkhoturye, went into overhaul for rearming with R-29RMU on 23 Aug 2010.

Operation Behemoth
Operation Behemoth entailed SSBN K-407 Novomoskovsk launching its full ammunition load of 16 missiles, the first such test in the world. Previously the largest number of missiles launched from a submerged SSBN was 4 Trident-2 missiles.

Operators

 * Soviet Navy
 * Russian Navy
 * Russian Navy
 * Russian Navy