Another NATO name reporting question

Pangur

Donor
I have trying to work out the logic behind how soviet submarines got assigned there names. Here is an example. First post ww2 sub class was Zulu, Z then Whiskey W, then Quebec Q and so on. I cant see the sequence Granted the examples I have given are conventional powered however if you come at it the other way then the next class after the Zulu class should have been Alpha however the Alpha class came some 25 years later. So what was the logic behind the naming?
 
I have trying to work out the logic behind how soviet submarines got assigned there names. Here is an example. First post ww2 sub class was Zulu, Z then Whiskey W, then Quebec Q and so on. I cant see the sequence Granted the examples I have given are conventional powered however if you come at it the other way then the next class after the Zulu class should have been Alpha however the Alpha class came some 25 years later. So what was the logic behind the naming?

The Alpha is an odd case, because ISTR there were at least two different classes of subs that shared that name: the ones the West called Alpha, and the ones the Soviets called Alfa. Similarly the "Akula" class was a different ship in the Western naming system.
Leaving that aside, however, this page might shed some light on the issue. Basically, it looks like they ran out of letters in the 1980s and started all over again.
 
Thanks for that however is there a reason why the names given were not in sequence?

It might have been in sequence, but not the order they were designed, built, or entered service in (all of which could be different, of course). It could have been the order in which they were first sighted by the West in, or which ones the naming committee got to on the day in question, or something like that. But I really don't know.
 
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