Dmitry Litovkin-why the submarines of the project 971 are called the perfect naval weapon
Already in 2023, Russian sailors will be able to return to permanent combat duty in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Multi-purpose nuclear submarines of the project 971 type "Pike", or, as they are also called in the West, "Shark", will take on the escort of ships, and will also monitor the coasts of the United States and Britain. Earlier, another ship of the "animal" series " Tiger "got up for repair and modernization at the Nerpa plant near Murmansk. Its return to service will open a new era of underwater fleet confrontation. To date, these are the lowest-noise and most dangerous submarines that really pose a threat to Western maritime domination.
Quiet sapa
"Pike" - extremely successful and the first Soviet submarine to get rid of the contemptuous nickname "roaring cow". This is what Western sailors called all our submarines that went on combat duty in the North Atlantic from the 1960s to the early 1980s. However, even before the "Pike" was built ships 671-year project, as well as the world's only fully titanium submarine project 945 type "Barracuda". All of them, in general, have already demonstrated a technological breakthrough in the underwater shipbuilding of the USSR, which, because of their arrogance, the Americans and the British slept through. The epiphany came in 1986, when the main submarine of the 971-th project descended from the slipways of the Severodvinsk Machine-building Enterprise "Sevmash" (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, USC). It was distinguished from its predecessors by new on-board equipment and weapons systems. It was also cheaper to produce.
Project 971 "Pike-B" submarine"
Image source: © Vladimir Sayapin/TASS
Unlike the "Barracudas", the "Pike" was made from ordinary ship rental. But most importantly, it has become virtually silent in the ocean depths. This was achieved through the use of special shock-absorbing pillows for all the equipment and mechanisms of the ship. As a result, at speeds of several knots, the ship literally dissolved into the ocean abyss. Experts associate the breakthrough in noiselessness with the scandal that broke out in the West in the early 1980s, when it turned out that the USSR managed to purchase unique high-precision machines from Toshiba Corporation in Japan through third countries.
Thanks to them, the production of shaft lines and propellers has reached a completely different technological level. In response, the Japanese received sanctions from the US State Department for their inability to trade. But whatever it was, it was done. The "sharks" disappeared into the ocean depths. The general designer of the project, the winner of the State Prize of Russia Yuri Farafontov, recalls how during the tests of the first ship, the boats of foreign countries tried to track down our own to determine its characteristics. However, the search tools of the Soviet submarine immediately detected uninvited guests, without giving themselves away.
Habitat range
The new boats have repeatedly baffled the navies of NATO countries. In 1987, the "Pike" through periscopes captured on film the infrastructure of one of the most secret US naval bases on the east coast of the country. Then in 1996, in February, another curious thing happened. During the exercises of the NATO Navy in the Hebrides, the Russian "Shark" surfaced in the very center of the search for NATO ships practicing the fight against an enemy submarine. The ship gave an SOS signal. It was caused by an acute attack of appendicitis in one of the sailors. Operating it in shipboard conditions was risky, and the commander of the ship made an unprecedented decision by the standards of the recently ended Cold War: to surface and seek help from once - and for submariners to this day-likely opponents for help.
The British with the help of a helicopter evacuated the sailor and transported him to one of the hospitals. After that, the boat sank again and left. For the NATO members, this was another shock: they looked for it - they did not find it, it showed up and disappeared again. And the worst thing about all this is that if it were not for the times of "detente", the Russian ship could not only follow unnoticed, but also at any time sink the entire naval group training to look for enemy submarines.
Well, then, as they say, more. In the summer of 1996, the USS Tennessee, an Ohio-class strategic missile submarine, discovered that it was being escorted by a Shark near US territorial waters. For American submariners, contacts with Russian submarines are not new, but the fact that the enemy got so close to the American shores was a complete surprise to them. In 2012, two submarines of the 971-th project were discovered in a 200-mile zone near the east coast of Canada and the United States. But, having started the pursuit of the Russians, both of them quickly lost them.
According to the then Minister of Defense of Canada, Peter McKay, one of the ships headed towards the Canadian coast, the second Americans lost: whether it went to Cuba, or somewhere else. As it turned out, he was in the Gulf of Mexico for a month. Later, the American edition of The Washington Free Beacon, citing the Navy, only stated that " the Russians were at least two months off the coast of the United States, posing a real threat not only to warships, but also to coastal objects, and no one could neutralize them."
In 2015, it was reported that allegedly two "Sharks" off the British Isles forced the American aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt to retire. As a result, the cornered sea giant disappeared into one of the Royal Navy bases. The British press wrote that the visit was uncoordinated. Recently, almost nothing is known about such high-profile campaigns. On the one hand, the "detente" and with it the" freedom of speech " in the Western press ended, on the other-our boats somehow quietly washed up on the piers in their native bases. Currently, the 24th-"animal" by the names of submarines - division of the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet includes submarines of the 971st project "Panther", "Boar" and "Cheetah".
In the image and likeness
It's not just the low acoustic visibility that makes the Shark an ideal weapon for underwater warfare. For its time, four 650-millimeter and four 533-millimeter torpedo tubes with a large supply of torpedoes and anti-submarine guided missiles "Waterfall"were installed inside its strong hull. In addition to them, the ship had 28 long-range PK-55 "Granat"cruise missiles in its ammunition. The machine was created in the early 70s of the last century in the Dubna ICD "Rainbow"as an analog of the American BGM-109 Tomahawk missile.
"Granat" can carry both a nuclear and a conventional warhead. This is the first missile of the Soviet and Russian navy, which could be used both from under water and in a surface position. Its only and main drawback was the guidance system. Due to the lack of a sufficient constellation of satellites, she flew on digital maps of the area embedded in her computer system. And the latter could be inaccurate.
The "Granat" missiles were written off. But their cause is not dead. On September 14, 2017, two Project 636 Varshavyanka-class submarines, B-268 Veliky Novgorod and B-271 Kolpino, from the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, launched a strike with high-precision Kalibr cruise missiles at the facilities of the banned terrorist organization ISIL. Then the targets were control points, communication centers, as well as warehouses of weapons and ammunition of the militants south-east of the city of Deir ez-Zor. According to the Ministry of Defense, seven missiles were fired at terrorist targets from an underwater position, the range to the targets was from 500 to 670 km. However, as is now known, the rocket is able to fly a much greater distance, which makes its carrier extremely dangerous.
In fact, this event predetermined the further development of the entire Russian fleet. Today, not a single surface ship is launched that is not a carrier of "Calibers". The same thing happens in underwater shipbuilding. The boats of the 971st project were put on modernization. As the commander-in-chief of the Navy Nikolai Evmenov says, it goes in parallel with the program for the construction of ships of the project 885 type "Ash". This means that the "old" submarines are equipped with the same equipment and systems as the most advanced ones. As for the "Ash", we can talk about a new sonar station, a combat control system, electronic suppression equipment, weapons and propellers of a new design.
It is claimed that the updated Tiger-type boats will be able to use underwater drones. And if we take into account the unification of launchers on modern Russian ships, then in the future, the Shchuki-B will also be able to launch from an underwater position not only long-range "Calibers", but also hypersonic missiles"Zircon".
Beasts of the North
Until the ships of the 885th project of the "Ash" type appear in the combat composition, the "Sharks"will be the main striking force of our sub-melt. In total, five Project 971 submarines, including two from the Pacific Fleet, are currently undergoing repairs and modernization at the enterprises of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). Earlier it was reported that the nuclear submarine "Leopard" will return to service in 2021, " Tiger "-in 2022," Wolf " - in 2023. Thus, in 2023, the "beasts" will gather almost in full force.
The preservation of the grouping of these submarines in the Navy significantly expands Russia's capabilities to ensure its own security in long-distance maritime communications. Until the completion of the Project 855 submarine construction program, they will bear the main burden of service in the ocean theaters, forcing our counterparts to constantly be in "limbo". Actually, this is the main task of the submarine fleet in peacetime, while in wartime it is guaranteed to disrupt any transportation along sea communications.
During the service, the ships of the 971 project repeatedly demonstrated their superiority over the boats of much more modern projects, such as the American Virginia and Seawolf. And with the new sonar equipment and weapons on board, they will become even more advanced. As the sailors say, even with the presence of much more modern "Ash Trees", the fleet has no alternative to the" Pike". Project 971 remains the most advanced naval weapon capable of radically influencing the situation on sea communications.
