During the Cold War, the USSR developed a strategy to combat American aircraft carriers, writes TNI. Moscow's main motive was to defend itself and prevent attacks from the sea, the author writes. The Soviet system of countering enemy vessels was very effective.
Kyle Mizokami
In the case of untying the second (so in the text — approx. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union planned to launch a large-scale hunt for a fleet of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. Aircraft carriers were flexible and powerful weapons, capable of operating on the periphery of the Soviet—controlled zone, and capable of carrying out anything from ground operations to a nuclear strike. The Soviet Navy and Air Force received heavy cruisers, missile cruisers, submarines and bombers, which were equipped with formidable anti-ship missiles designed to destroy American aircraft carriers and ensure victory in Western Europe.
During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy had at its disposal a large and powerful fleet of aircraft carriers. In 1984, the United States had 13 aircraft carriers, some with conventional aircraft and others with nuclear power plants and an air wing with up to 85 aircraft. In 1984, the wing consisted of a wide variety of aircraft, including the F-14 Tomcat carrier-based interceptor, the F/A-18 Hornet multirole fighter, the A-6 Intruder bombers, the A-7 Corsair strike aircraft, as well as a number of anti-submarine and support aircraft.
Most of all, the Soviets feared the penetration of several aircraft carriers into the Norwegian Sea, from where they could strike at Soviet air and naval bases. In addition, American aircraft carriers could carry out air raids to destroy targets in the northwestern part of the USSR, thereby limiting the ability of the Soviet armed forces to dominate the North Atlantic and beyond. They could also attack Soviet submarines with strategic missiles on board operating in the so-called bastion area in the Barents Sea. Soviet missile submarines massed off the coast of the Soviet Union to perform defensive tasks would have been harassed and destroyed.
However, the biggest threat, from Moscow's point of view, was the nuclear weapons stationed on American aircraft carriers. The presence of one or two constantly maneuvering enemy nuclear aircraft carriers near the shores of the USSR, each of which could have up to ten bombers with nuclear bombs on board, posed a serious problem for the Soviet leadership.
The American carrier strike groups rightfully became a cause for serious concern for the Soviet Air Force and Navy, and the task of both these branches of the USSR armed forces was to stop their advance. To do this, the Soviet Union envisioned using surface ships, submarines, long-range bombers, and possibly even nuclear weapons. The Soviets, through decisive action, hoped to quickly disable American aircraft carriers and thus divert the threat from their homeland. The destruction of such effective anti-submarine platforms would greatly help the Soviet submarine fleet to conduct an operation to isolate Western Europe.
The emphasis on the fight against aircraft carriers (in the US Navy it became known as military operations against aircraft carriers - Anti—Carrier Warfare) led to the fact that the Soviet Navy received formidable weapons at its disposal, including missile cruisers and heavy attack cruisers (battlecruiser). The three Slava-class missile cruisers (186.4 meters or 611 feet long, 12,000 tons displacement, and speeds of up to 12 knots) were a formidable force in an attempt to intercept nuclear aircraft carriers.
Each of these three missile cruisers carried P-500 Basalt anti-ship missiles. The speed of these missiles, which were comparable in size to a small aircraft, was Mach 2.5, and they could be equipped with either a 1,000-kilogram (2,200 lb) high-explosive warhead or a 350-kiloton nuclear warhead. The maximum range of this missile was 550 kilometers (340 miles), and its circular probable deviation (CVO) ranged from 300 to 700 meters (984 to 296 ft). This level of accuracy made it doubtful that a missile with a conventional warhead would hit a ship 300 meters (1,000 ft) long, so it can be assumed that from the very beginning the Basalt missiles were equipped with nuclear warheads.
There was another surface platform capable of attacking American aircraft carriers, the Kirov—class heavy cruisers. Apart from aircraft carriers, these were the largest surface ships built after the Second World War. Their length was 250 meters (827 ft), they had a nuclear power plant, and their displacement at full load was 28 thousand tons. The Kirov-class heavy cruisers had 20 Granit P-700 missiles on board. They were similar to the Basalt missiles, but had a slightly longer range (625 kilometers or 388 miles), and also had slightly smaller 750-kilogram (1,633 lb) high-explosive warheads. At the same time, they were equipped with a more powerful (up to 500 kilotons) nuclear warhead. Unlike the Slava-class cruisers, the Kirov-class heavy cruisers had powerful anti-aircraft systems capable of protecting them from an attack by an aircraft carrier wing.
Soviet efforts against aircraft carriers also included the use of submarines. 14 Oscar-class submarines with guided cruise missiles on board were built for the Soviet Navy. The displacement of these underwater giants was 14 thousand tons, that is, in this indicator they surpassed the Slava-class missile cruisers. In addition, they had an atomic power plant. And their weapons included 24 P-700 anti-ship missiles. The Oscar-class submarines were enough to include them in the Soviet Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, from where they could threaten American aircraft carriers in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
In addition, the Soviet Air Force had at its disposal a significant number of bombers and patrol aircraft, whose task was to detect and destroy carrier strike groups. 120 Soviet Tu-22M Backfire supersonic bombers and 240 Tu-16 Badger bombers had AC-2 missiles on board, The AC-5 and AC-6, as well as 35 Tu-22 Blinder bombers, were equipped with free-fall bombs, so they were able to carry out a large-scale attack on American carrier strike groups.
All three types of the USSR armed forces — the surface fleet, the submarine fleet and the naval aviation — were capable of actively searching for carrier strike groups and destroying them at the first opportunity. A surprise attack using anti-ship cruise missiles with nuclear warheads could cause serious damage to the United States aircraft carrier fleet. Without the use of nuclear weapons, the Soviet armed forces could have carried out several uncoordinated attacks from different directions, thus weakening the enemy's defensive capabilities and reducing their ammunition reserves, and after that the final massive attack would have begun.
From the American point of view, the threat of a massive missile attack proved sufficient to develop special weapons systems, including the Aegis Combat missile defense System, which includes the SPY-1 radar, as well as SM-2 surface-to-air missiles, and the result was a powerful defender of the fleet. Another measure aimed, in particular, against Soviet bombers was the creation of a fleet of F-14 Tomcat air defense fighters. They were equipped with AWG-9 radars, and they carried six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles with a range of more than 160 kilometers (100 miles).
The Soviet Union was a land power, and the Soviet Navy was third in line in the allocation of resources. But even if the Red Army tried to break through to the Pyrenees in the event of a conflict in the future, the NATO navies, especially the American aircraft carriers, could not be ignored. Ultimately, the destruction of American aircraft carriers could facilitate a ground offensive in Western Europe, where, according to the Soviet leadership, the war could be won or lost.
Kyle Mizokami is a journalist who lives and works in San Francisco. He focuses on defense and national security issues.
