Submarine U-475 Black Widow

Submarine U-475 Black Widow was a Soviet Navy submarine of the Cold war period, which is now in private hands. She is currently moored at Strood, on the River Medway, in South-East England.

Background
The Soviet Project 641 class submarines (known to the West by their NATO reporting name of ) was a class of conventionally powered patrol/attack submarines. Some 74 were built by the Soviet Navy between 1957 and 1983 as well as 17 others for the Libyan, Cuban and Indian Navies.

Service history
Black Widow was built at Sudomekh shipyard in Leningrad and commissioned in 1967. She was based at Riga and served with the Soviet Baltic Fleet before being used as a training vessel for crews from overseas who would be operating "Foxtrot's" in their own navies. She was decommissioned in 1994 and sold.

Museum ship
After passing into private hands, and under the name "U-475 Black Widow" she was moored at Long's Wharf near the Thames Barrier in England where she was open to the public as a museum ship. in 1998 she was moved to Folkestone, where she was again opened to the public. In 2004 she was moved to her present location, in a state of disrepair, and is currently awaiting restoration.

Naming
The submarine is currently referred to as "Foxtrot B-39 U-475 Black Widow", but it is unclear what designation she had in Soviet service. The "B-" designation stands for Bolshaya ("Large"), and was used by the Soviet Navy during the Cold War era, but another Foxtrot B-39 also exists, now moored at San Diego as a museum ship. The "B-39" designation also suggests a vessel in the Soviet Pacific Fleet; Baltic Fleet vessels carried numbers in the 200's. The name “Black Widow” and the designation “U-475” were given to the boat by the new owners; Soviet submarines were not generally named, the "U-" designation was not used by the Soviets, and none of the Foxtrots known carried the number "–475".