Architect of the nuclear submarine fleet who led Soviet shipbuilding for 19 years
On 23 July 1959, by a top-secret decree 'for the fulfillment of a government task to create special equipment,' Butoma was made a Hero of Socialist Labor. The 'special equipment' was the K-3 Leninsky Komsomol — the Soviet Union's first nuclear submarine.
A Soviet shipbuilding technocrat and party-state leader who headed the Soviet shipbuilding industry for 19 years, from 1957 until his death. Spanning both the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras, he personally directed the construction of the USSR's first nuclear submarine (Project 627, K-3 'Leninsky Komsomol'), the world's first ballistic-missile submarine (Project V611), and the strategic missile submarine Project 667B, transforming the Soviet Navy into an ocean-going fleet. Under his leadership, some 220 shipbuilding and marine-engineering plants were built or reconstructed, and the civilian sector saw the launch of nuclear icebreakers and supertankers. A recipient of the Stalin Prize (1949), Hero of Socialist Labor (1959), and Lenin Prize (1974), he served on the CPSU Central Committee from 1966 until his death.
Career Timeline
- 1936Graduated from Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute
- 1936–1944Fitter, commissioning engineer, and chief engineer at Dalzavod shipyard, Vladivostok
- 1944–1948Chief engineer, then director of Zelenodolsk Shipyard No. 340
- 1948–1952Head of Main Directorate, USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry
- 1952–1953, 1954–1957Deputy Minister of Shipbuilding Industry, USSR
- 1957–1965Chairman, State Committee for Shipbuilding, USSR Council of Ministers
- 1965–1976Minister of the Shipbuilding Industry, USSR
The Nuclear Submarine Program
In the mid-1950s, the Soviet Navy's top priority was building a nuclear submarine force capable of challenging the United States. Butoma, as chairman of the State Committee for Shipbuilding from 1957, became the overall director of this national undertaking. The defining project under his direct command was Project 627 'Kit,' the USSR's first nuclear submarine program. Launched on 9 August 1958 and commissioned in March 1959, the K-3 'Leninsky Komsomol' announced the Soviet Union's entry into the club of nuclear-powered submarine powers. For this success, Butoma was made a Hero of Socialist Labor on 23 July 1959.
Under his leadership, Soviet submarine construction rapidly evolved into a strategic weapons system. From the world's first ballistic-missile submarine, Project V611 (commissioned 1955), through to the Project 667B 'Murena' strategic missile submarines, Butoma drove the transition from conventional diesel-electric boats to nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines. He received the Lenin Prize in 1974 for the completion of Project 667B. The Soviet shipbuilding industry, which at his arrival was geared toward coastal defense, had by his death in 1976 grown into the world's largest military shipbuilding complex, capable of sustaining a true ocean-going fleet.