If you’ve ever studied photographs of Cold War…era Russian submarines, you may have noticed something unusual. High up in the conning tower … or “sail” … there appear to be windows.
That immediately raises eyebrows. After all, submarines operate underwater. Why would they need windows?
The short answer is …they don’t …at least not underwater.
Design
Those windows are part of an enclosed surface bridge, used only when the submarine is running on the surface. And their existence says a great deal about differences in naval doctrine, geography, and operating philosophy between East and West.
During the Cold War, Soviet submarines were built with somewhat different expectations from their American and British counterparts. Western submarines increasingly evolved into true submersibles … platforms designed to stay underwater for as long as possible. Surfacing was something done only when required. As a result, US and Royal Navy boats tended to have cleaner, more streamlined sail structures, often with only a small open bridge exposed to the elements.
The Soviet Union, however, had other priorities.
Climate
Many Soviet submarines were expected to operate for long stretches on the surface, especially during transits. They frequently patrolled in the North Atlantic and Arctic … environments known for brutal weather.
Freezing spray, gale-force winds, and sub-zero temperatures were routine conditions. Standing exposed on a tiny open bridge in those circumstances wasn’t just unpleasant … it could be dangerous and fatiguing for crew.
An enclosed bridge with forward-facing windows provided shelter from the cold and protection from heavy seas. It allowed officers to navigate visually while remaining shielded from the worst of the elements. In Arctic conditions, that wasn’t a luxury … it was practical design.
Practicality
There was also a cultural and doctrinal element at play. Soviet naval thinking did not always treat submarines as purely stealthy underwater hunters in the same way the West increasingly did. Some boats retained a more surface-oriented operational mindset, particularly earlier Cold War designs. Visibility and command presence while surfaced mattered.
Importantly, these windows are not weak glass portholes vulnerable to deep-sea pressure. They are part of the sail structure and used only when the submarine is surfaced. When submerged, the area is flooded and irrelevant to underwater operations.
In the end, those “windows” aren’t signs of technological backwardness or design eccentricity. They reflect geography, mission expectations, and operating philosophy. Submarine design is always a compromise between stealth, seaworthiness, endurance, and environment … and sometimes, even something as simple as a window can tell you a story about how a navy expects to fight.
