К-3 was a project 627 "Кит" ("kit," meaning "whale"; NATO reporting name "November") submarine of the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet, the first nuclear submarine of the Soviet Union. The vessel was prototyped in wood, with each of five segments scattered between five different locations about Leningrad, including the Astoria Hotel.  She was built in Molotovsk, launched on August 9, 1957, commissioned in July 1958, and homeported at Zapadnaya Litsa on the Kola Peninsula. K-3 was designed by Vladimir Peregoudov.  Her initial captain was Leonid Osipenko, and the executive officer was Lev Zhiltsov, who had the important task of assembling the first crew.

On June 17, 1962, by this time under the command of Zhiltsov, К-3 reached the North Pole underwater, a feat performed nearly four years earlier by USS Nautilus. For this feat, she was awarded the name Leninskiy Komsomol (Ленинский Комсомол) on October 9, 1962.

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