SOVIET UNDERSEA RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 
(By Christopher H. Dodge ') 
INTRODUCTION 
Many chapters in this study have convincingly communicated the 
growing Soviet preeminence in the oceans in terms of the fisheries 
and merchant marine industries, oceanography, and most significantly, 
the Soviet Navy. This vigorous thrust into the open seas of the world 
is only a few decades old and reflects an often-stated Soviet goal 
to attain a predominant international status in ocean exploration and 
exploitation. As often articulated in this study, Soviet ocean policy 
is truly integrated, unlike the presently fragmented U.S. programs 
and the successes of this large and integrated policy have been particu- 
larly impressive, if not startling, in the past 2 decades. 
What is commonly overlooked, however, is the anomaly of Soviet 
manned and unmanned undersea research and technology programs. 
For, juxtaposed against the successes briefly reviewed above, these 
programs have not kept pace with the Western world, and in particu- 
lar, the United States. 
As in Western countries, the major components of Soviet undersea 
research and technology can, for convenience sake, be subdivided 
into manned and unmanned research submersibles and submarines; 
underwater habitats, and shallow and deep diving by man in the 
open sea or inland waters as associated or distinct from the first 
two categories. The broad, public objectives of the Soviet undersea 
program, always expressed in civilian terms, have been to investigate 
undersea nutritional, chemical, energy, and mineral resource potentials 
and to evaluate man’s role in the exploration and exploitation of 
these resources. This chapter will briefly review recent and continuing 
trends in Soviet undersea research and technology as compared with 
trends in Western countries. Soviet programs in aquaculture and as- 
sociated marine biology research will be treated in a separate chapter. 
SUBMERSIBLES 
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY 
Boylan?* who has reviewed some 900 published Soviet works on 
submersibles, habitats, and diving, provided the most complete history 
and chronology of Soviet submersible and research submarine develop- 
'The author is an analyst in life sciences with the Science Policy Research Division of the Congres- 
sional Research Service, Library of Congress. 
2 Boylan, L. Underwater Activities in the Soviet Union. Informatics, Inc. Report, 1974, 77 p. 
3 Boylan, L. Recent Soviet developments in undersea technology. Marine Technology Society Jour- 
nal, No. 5, 1972, 41-43. 
“Boylan, L. Soviet-Bloc Submersible Development. Library of Congress. Foreign Science Bulletin, 
vol. 5, 1969, 1-55. 
(529) 
