Today, the Russian Navy is armed with torpedoes and anti-torpedoes of caliber 324 mm. On surface ships, this weapon is used as part of the Package-NK complex, widely publicized by the press.
However the press, as usual, forgets about the "nuances". And they are.
A simple and necessary device - a torpedo launcher in caliber 324 mm. But we don’t have it.
We will not dwell on the complex management system - sooner or later, experts on this issue will give their detailed comments.
But something is obvious to the layman too - a problematic launcher of the complex, limiting functionality of the ship as a whole.
Meet, SM-588
And torpedoes and anti-torpedoes, used with the complex, are launched using the SM-588 launcher.
Launch of the M-15 anti-torpedo from the SM-588 launcher. Flames like a cannon and recoil comparable. The consequence - you need a reinforced deck
And here we have a problem. The thing is, what, unlike the “normal” torpedo tube, SM-588 can only be recharged in the base. Next comes simple arithmetic. corvettes project 20380, 20385, overgrown corvette project 20386 (will or not which, unknown), as well as project frigates 22350 have two launchers SM-588, one on board. Subject to non-rechargeability and, that the ship needs anti-torpedoes to protect it from submarine attacks, We have a typical ammunition: 4 torpedoes and 4 anti-torpedoes for each warship.
What to do, if they are shot? How to fight? The answer is no way. This cannot be done in any way.. Shooting available 4 anti-torpedoes, Russian warship will turn into a target for an enemy submarine, which no one will prevent recharging.
How the problem "looks" technically?
From a “conventional” torpedo tube, a torpedo is launched with compressed air. The launch of a torpedo or anti-torpedo from SM-588 is made using a powder charge. Naturally, that reinstallation of the powder charge in the TPK outside the manufacturing plant is impossible. Sailors load into a normal TA torpedo, with the help of simple devices.
Sailors cannot load anything into TPK, he enters the fleet already equipped, you only need to install it on the launcher and connect the wiring.
And its mass is as follows, what, even if it was tightly surrounded by sailors, then they will not be able to raise it to the height necessary for reloading the PU (look again photo). The mass of a TPK with a torpedo of about a couple of hundred kilograms does not reach a ton. It's too heavy, so that in a closed ship's space it is tilted by hands.
In a conventional SLA, a cover is opened during start-up, for throwing torpedoes from a TA pipe. TPK “Package” cannot have any openable lid on a fully isolated and equipped TPK, therefore, there is a fixed cover that is destroyed when fired. Disposable. Cost approximately 500 000 rubles. Shot from PU SM-588 frankly, not cheap, what do we have, with our limited budget, looks like a mockery.
What does the process of reloading PU SM-588 look like?? Consider the project corvette as an example 20380.
There is a sliding sunroof above the PU, through which transport and launch containers can be loaded on board the ship and immediately delivered to the launcher. In order to use these hatch, you need to moor the ship to the pier side, fit a crane to the ship, remove the boat from the launching device, under which is the hatch, Well, then everything is simple - with a crane, the TPKs rise to a height and then lower into the hatch, where the personnel of the warhead-3 fastens them on the launcher.
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SM-588 with two TPK behind the sailor’s back. We pay attention to the dimensions of the TPK and the dimensions of the installation base
Then the hatch closes, the boat is put in place, and you're done - we can beat off again 4 torpedoes and attack the boat with the same number of torpedoes. And then you have to go to the base again, wherever ammunition is used up.
Can, of course, suggest, that with the proper level of training, the personnel will be able to reload SM-588 at sea with the help of a floating crane, Like so, how with the help of a floating crane it is possible to reload the Uranian missile system into the sea. But, At first, that's another question, will the enemy let us use a floating crane, and secondly, ship, having such a small amount of anti-submarine weapons and anti-torpedo in the ammunition, very vulnerable. A helicopter on board may prevent the use of weather, and then, repulsing the attack of the submarine and counterattacking it once, the ship will be unarmed. You still need to live up to the floating crane..
All? No.
powder charge, throwing torpedoes from TPK, gives rise to serious returns when fired. But the installation has no cushioning devices. And as a result, all recoil from the shot is perceived by the base of the installation and the deck of the ship, on which it is installed.
The forces there are, that the foundation of the PU had to be made really big and very heavy, and PU can be installed only on specially reinforced places on the decks of ships - specially reinforced for the installation of this PU.
Can all this be considered normal? As much, how normal is the infantryman’s non-rechargeable machine gun outside the weapons factory. It is not normal.
How it happened?
It turned out from an idea that was born in the immemorial early post-Soviet times to conduct retraining of torpedoes only by the manufacturer.
The full extent of the stupidity of this concept cannot be described.. In theory, a torpedo, launched in "practical" (without warhead) variant, can be caught after training firing, re-trained and issued back to the ammunition, even in combat, at least in practical.
The number of such re-preparations can be very large.. Wherein, since the torpedo is a technically complex machine, a number of its training launches in a practical version is simply necessary, to make sure, that it is well assembled and has no factory defects (and subsequently - storage defects). Such launches do not adversely affect the torpedo resource, to "work out", you need to run it much more often, what would the fleet do "of their own free will".
And this does not work with SM-588. The shot is too expensive (remember destructible cover), and the process of re-preparing torpedoes with reloading TPK is also not cheap, and it takes a lot of time. As a result, we will not have statistics on the failure of 324-mm torpedoes and anti-torpedoes.
Also unclear, how to equip anti-submarine torpedoes, launched in this way, modern hose remote control. Indeed, the explosion of the powder charge and the hose reel of control, theoretically mounted on the rear cover of the torpedo tube, incompatible from the inside.
TPK with an anti-torpedo in a section
AND, of course, not talking about, to upgrade an existing ship, on which such a monster was not structurally provided from the very beginning.
It is also impossible to sell such a system for export..
What to do now?
First of all, look at the experience of other countries using their 324-mm torpedoes (and we have the right to consider our anti-torpedo M-15 a subspecies of the 324-mm torpedo).
Foreign experience
Foreign experience is simple. 324-mm torpedoes are launched from a small and light torpedo tube with air launch, usually, three-pipe, but there are other options. The main way to install the SLT is on the deck on the turntable. Since the recoil when launching a torpedo is small, then the places for installing such TAs can be selected different, which is especially important when upgrading previously built ships. Wherein, if the rolling and maneuvering of the ship does not interfere, then the TA is easily recharged after the launch of torpedoes - torpedoes are delivered on rails specially laid down on decks on transport carts with the help of personnel and personnel are manually charged into torpedo tubes. Mass 324-mm torpedo small and, usually, less than 400 kilograms, and the six sailors copes with such a mass, especially with special tools, very simple.
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Reloading an American Mk.32 caliber torpedo tube 324 mm
On a specially built ship, with the placement of the torpedo tube in an enclosed space, whence the sailor will not fall out at any pitching, and partial mechanization of the supply of torpedoes to the TA from the ship’s arsenal, it is theoretically possible to reload the TA directly during the battle, like submarines, which greatly increases the combat efficiency of the ship compared to its counterpart, where it’s impossible to recharge directly in battle or it’s difficult and dangerous.
“Closed” installation of two-pipe TA Mk.32 Mod 9. on the Canadian frigate class “Halifax”
Naturally, that the fleets of most countries have a well-functioning mechanism for the re-preparation of torpedoes by personnel and, on the whole, do not bear such expenses for a single shot, carried by the Russian Navy.
Can our fleet acquire such light torpedo tubes? Naturally. The scientific and technological potential of the Russian industry allows creating such a torpedo tube without problems and in a short time, and establish its mass production.
The problems here are purely organizational and psychological, basically having the disastrous idea of re-preparing torpedoes solely by industry. Abandoning this idea, you can make TTZ for a "normal" torpedo tube.
How it should look
We need a family of unified single, two- and three-tube torpedo tubes, suitable both for mounting on a rotary device, and to a fixed installation, including inside the ship's hull. They must have a pneumatic start, low recoil and simple design. No need to be wise, this is not the case.
A pair of single-tube TA on frigates “Westminister” UK Navy
After the creation of such a device, the "Packet-NK" complex should be redesigned for joint use with it.. After that, it is necessary to replace the projects already installed on the ships. 20380, 20385, 22350 SM-588 installations for normal torpedo tubes, and newly designed ships to design in this way, to ensure the reloading of torpedo tubes during the battle, which is technically feasible.
The creation of such devices will open up opportunities for the use of the "Packet-NK" complex on ships, built in previous years, on which "Packet-NK" was not provided for by the original design, including on light ships, even on small rocket ships, which today are quite a “worthy” target for submarines. Now all this is almost impossible. With light single-tube rigidly mounted TAs, this will be possible even on very small ships.
One-pipe TA Mk.32 Mod11
“Short” TA caliber 324 mm on an Israeli crewless boat Seagull. TA for a normal torpedo will be longer and will not stand on a 15-meter boat, but will stand on RTOs and missile boats
The export potential of such a torpedo tube will also be incomparable with the existing SM-588, in which it is equal to zero.
Currently, having an excellent caliber anti-submarine torpedo 324 mm and while the best anti-torpedo in the world in the same caliber, and in serial production, Russia does not have a full-fledged torpedo tube to launch it. This is paradoxical and ridiculous., and this problem should be solved as soon as possible, and the monstrous SM-588 should replenish a number of technical oddities, what are they, in fact, and are.
Alexander Timohin
