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Fish Type III (Yu-3)

It is the first self-made large-scale sound-guided deep-water anti-submarine torpedo in the Chinese Navy. At present, this type of torpedo is the main equipment of the Han-class attack submarine, and the self-defense equipment of the summer-class missile submarine. In design, this type of torpedo uses an electric propulsion device and a passive acoustic guidance system. In terms of tactics, it is essential to attack enemy submarines, especially nuclear submarines, in deep water.

The fish has a diameter of 533 millimeters and a length of 7.8 meters. It is powered by a silver-zinc battery and is guided by a passive acoustic guide mode. The maximum speed is 40 knots, the maximum range is 15 kilometers, the warhead is 205 kilograms, and the maximum combat water depth is about 240 meters.

In the early 1960s, the Chinese navy began to adjust its national defense strategy and decided to develop its own nuclear submarine. At the same time, it developed a deep-water anti-submarine torpedo as a matching weapon. It is not only the main offensive weapon of the attack submarine, but also the self-defense weapon of the ballistic missile submarine. Under this circumstance, China began to independently develop the first large-scale deep-water anti-submarine torpedo, which is the fish-3 torpedo.

According to the design requirements of naval experts, this type of torpedo will use electric propeller propulsion and passive acoustic guidance systems to achieve autonomous attacks. In terms of tactics, attacking nuclear submarines capable of attacking enemy submarines in deep water, especially the enemy, is a basic operational requirement. The acoustic self-guided system is the technical key to this type of torpedo. The final technician developed a multi-beam acoustic self-guided system, which improved the self-guided search speed of the torpedo and captured the target probability, and improved the self-guided performance.

The first sample was made in 1969, but it was not developed until 1984. in the winter of 1964, the 705 Institute began to demonstrate this anti-submarine torpedo, which uses an electric propulsion device and a passive acoustic guidance system. In terms of tactics, the basic combat requirement is to be able to attack enemy submarines in deep water, especially enemy attack nuclear submarines. Soon, in March 1966, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense approved the plan of the 705 Institute and named this new type of torpedo the Yu-3 anti-submarine torpedo.

However, in the key technical link of the acoustic homing system, the development of Yu-3 encountered some obstacles. In the early design, a mechanical scanning guidance system was used. This system requires the torpedo to slow down when it approaches the enemy submarine so that the guidance system can detect and lock the target. It can be said that this system is not only too complicated to operate, but also very unreliable. Therefore, after 1967, a new multi-pulse rope-self-guided guidance system was developed. In the end, the technicians successfully developed a multi-beam acoustic homing system, which increased the torpedo homing search speed and the probability of capturing the target, and improved the homing performance. In 1969, 4 strip mines were assembled. The first torpedoes were successfully assembled in 1971 and tested in 1972. The torpedo received its design certificate in 1975 and the 401 attack-type nuclear submarines developed in China were equipped.

The torpedo officially began mass production in 1984. In May 1988, the Han-class nuclear submarine successfully carried out the underwater deep-sea launch test of the fish three torpedoes at the Hainan Deepwater Experimental Field. The launch system can capture the target and track it automatically. After the target is lost in one pass, it can still search and attack again.

Since 1985, 705 Instittue and Shuguang Machinery Plant have used the new technology to improve the mine and developed the fish-3B torpedo. The new torpedo guidance system changed from a single passive acoustic self-guide to active-passive combined self-guided. The improved warhead charge is a high-energy explosive of more than 190 kg. The speed is 35 knots, the range is over 13,000 meters, and the stability is also large. In the late 1980s, China improved the Yu-3 types. In 1991, it successfully tested the fish three improved type, which is the Chinese type II anti-submarine fish, also known as the Chinese Sturgeon II anti-submarine torpedo. The biggest feature of the Yusangai is that the guidance system is changed from a single passive voice guidance to an active and passive combined voice guidance, which greatly improves the accuracy and stability of the attack guidance.

After that, China continued to improve Yu-3 using the advanced Western torpedo electronic technology it obtained, and developed a more advanced Yu-3C. It can be said that Yu-3, as my country's first self-developed anti-submarine torpedo, not only gave the Type 091 attack nuclear submarine an offensive weapon, but also gave the Type 092 strategic nuclear submarine a defensive weapon.