The rise and fall of SSV-33 Ural

At one time, The Titan of Soviet reconnaissance monitored the entire northern Pacific Ocean, intercepting radio communications by the air force and navy and submarine defence of the US and Japan. But its fortunes went steadily downhill from there.

The SSV-33 Ural was a gargantuan nuclear-powered vessel launched in 1983. Equipped with state-of-the-art reconnaissance technology, it was one of the most advanced craft of its day. Yet the caprices of history meant that it was ultimately destined for obscurity.

It was from construction berth ‘A’ of Leningrad’s (now St. Petersburg’s) Baltiysk shipyard, where aft sections of the French “Mistral”-class amphibious assault ships are now being built for the Russian Navy, that an extraordinary vessel slid down the slipway in 1983.

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