Doomed Russian submarine used in Harrison Ford's K-19: the Widowmaker flick is bound for the scrapyard as lawsuit orders its removal from the Providence River 

  • The rusting hull of a sub will be removed from Providence River in Rhode Island
  • It was used as a restaurant after the cold war in Finland, and set for the 2002 Harrison Ford movvie 'K-19: The Widowmaker'
  • It sank during a major storm in 2007 and was sold for scrap the next year 

By Associated Press

Published: 15:47 EST, 26 January 2017 | Updated: 23:31 EST, 26 January 2017

Rusting remnants of a Russian submarine once used as a set for Harrison Ford movie will be removed from a river in Rhode Island.   

The hull of the submarine, known as Juliett 484, rests mere feet from the shore in Providence.

After the Cold War, the sub was sold and used as a restaurant and vodka bar in Helsinki, Finland, and as a set for the 2002 Ford movie 'K-19: The Widowmaker.' 

Then it became a floating museum. It sank during a nor'easter in 2007 and was sold for scrap.

Rusting remnants of an old Russian submarine, used as a set for a Harrison Ford movie and as a floating museum until sinking during a 2007 nor'easter, sits rusting in a scrapyard in the Providence River in Providence, R.I. State environmental officials sued to have the sub and several other vessels removed from the river

After the Cold War, the sub was sold and used as a restaurant and vodka bar in Helsinki, Finland, and as a set for the 2002 Ford movie 'K-19: The Widowmaker (pictured).' Then it became a floating museum. It sank during a nor'easter in 2007 and was sold for scrap

State environmental officials sued to get it and several other vessels removed.

A Superior Court judge ordered Rhode Island Recycled Metals LLC in December to begin removing vessels from the river, adjacent to its scrapyard.

The permitting process is underway. The company was supposed to apply for permits by January 15 for removing the first vessel.

Those permits haven't been issued yet, according to Richard Land, appointed by the court to oversee the cleanup.

Land said the deadline turned out to be far too aggressive, but the parties are making good-faith efforts. An amended court order submitted Thursday extends the deadline by two months.

The 282-foot-long sub and a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga, shadowed each other during the Cold War.

Soviet submarine K-77 was destroyed during a storm in April 2007. It was recovered and sold for scrap in December 2008 

The sub wound up in Providence because the Rhode Island-based USS Saratoga Museum Foundation bought it and opened it to the public as a floating museum in 2002.

Both the scrapyard and the property owner, AARE LLC, are named in the lawsuit. The scrapyard has been ordered to deposit $300,000 in an escrow account to pay for removing the vessels.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard are among the agencies that have to approve the plans.

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