Russian Typhoon-class submarines were engineered to be the largest underwater vessels ever constructed, featuring bizarre amenities like an onboard swimming pool, a sauna, and a bird sanctuary.

A closer look

Russian Typhoon-class submarines were engineered to be the largest underwater vessels ever constructed, featuring bizarre amenities like an onboard swimming pool, a sauna, and a bird sanctuary. During the height of the Cold War, Soviet naval architects decided that the best way to handle the claustrophobic dread of living in a submerged nuclear doom-tube was to add luxury spa features. While American submariners were hot-bunking and eating powdered eggs, their communist adversaries were sweating it out in a wooden sauna beneath the Arctic ice sheet. It is a profound demonstration of misplaced military priorities that they designed a stealth weapon capable of ending global civilization but still made sure the crew could get in a few laps in a heated pool before armageddon