Project 1231 Delfin - small cruise missile boat
In 1958 the Soviet leadership, N.S.Khrushchev put forward an unprecedented idea to create a "dive boat" capable of flying through the air, rushing through the waves at the speed of a torpedo boat, launching missiles, and then diving as a submarine.
In the opinion of N.S.Khrushchev, such marine equipment would be invulnerable to enemy attacks. With great difficulty, industry leaders managed to convince the Soviet leader that such a unique vessel was impossible. But to create a boat, flying at sea, was doable. For this, he needs only hydrofoils. The project received the code "Dolphin". For its development, work was initially conducted at TsKB-19, and in 1963 TsKB-5 joined the project - the two shipbuilding design bureaus were combined to form the Almaz marine design bureau. General management was assigned to the PKB-52 by Vladimir Chelomey. The designers gave the boat the name of a small submersible project 1231 boat. It could submerge - and turn into a submarine with a range of 350 miles. It could stay underwater for 48 hours, was to have high speed (40 to 60 knots) on the surface when foil-borne.
As is well known, hydrofoils commonly are in the form of thin generally planar structures which are suspended beneath the vessel and extend in directions substantially perpendicular to the vessel's direction of movement. The hydrofoils are usually maintained in rigid relationship to the hull of the vessel and are contoured such that at high speeds the vessel rises at least partially out of the water and rides or "planes" on the foils.
When the hydrofoil craft has accelerated to a sufficient velocity through the water, the lift created by the foils raises the hull above the water's surface, thus eliminating the hull's resistance. Conventional hydrofoil craft have a number of problems which make them difficult or impractical to operate at high speeds. A first problem is cavitation, which is a phenomenon in which vapor bubbles form along the upper surface of a foil due to a low fluid pressure on this surface. Cavitation invariably occurs in conventional hydrofoil craft above a certain operating speed (typically around 50 knots). When the vapor bubbles caused by cavitation collapse in the water, they produce strong shock waves. If the collapse occurs in the vicinity of the foil, the shock waves not only produce unpleasant noise and vibrations, but can also physically damage the foil of the craft by pitting.
In order to prevent damage by cavitation, foils referred to as supercavitating foils have been developed. With a supercavitating foil, a large vapor-filled cavity, referred to as a separation bubble, is formed over substantially the entire upper surface of the foil. Vapor bubbles in the cavity are carried beyond the trailing edge of the foil and collapse in the water aft of the foil, so that shock waves produced by the collapse of the bubbles have much less effect on the foil than in a normal cavitating foil.
While a supercavitating foil prevents the collapse of air bubbles in the vicinity of the foil which could damage the foil, in order to prevent the separation bubble from collapsing, it is necessary to maintain the foil at an extremely high angle of incidence. This high angle of incidence results in a great deal of drag, so that the lift/drag ratio of a conventional supercavitating foil is so low as to make such a foil impractical. For this reason, supercavitating foils are not used in practice, and hydrofoil craft must rely on conventional cavitating foils, which are unsatisfactory.
The use of vessels with underwater wings is already known. The first patent for a craft with hydrofoils was issued in France in 1891 to a Russian subject Lambert. The first vessel with such underwater wings was developed and designed by Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini in 1906. The hydrofoil craft has not always been popularly employed in a large number on sea although such craft have been known for many years. This is mainly because horse power needed to arrive at a gliding or planing state is very large and accordingly, such craft must be equipped with a motor much larger than a general ship.
The first generation of Soviet hydrofoils, built in the 1950s and 1960s, was designed to operate on rivers and lakes. Minor improvements permitted them to be used on coastal lanes. The further development of hydrofoils was connected with their entry into the open sea. This increased the requirements put on hydrofoil sea-worthiness, power, and strength characteristics. The leading role in the development of these ships was occupied by the USSR. By the late 1960s, more than a thousand hydrofoils were estimated to be in use in the world. Of these more than 80% were built in the Soviet Union.
Project 1231 was initiated by TsKB-19 to develop a small submersible missile boat based on an idea by Nikita Khrushchev. The Project 1231 ship was tasked to deliver surprise missile attacks against hostile warships and transports in narrow passages and at approaches to enemy naval bases and ports; defend coastal areas, naval bases and sea-side flanks of land forces; repel hostile landing operations; disrupt adversary's communications, and carry out sonar and radar picketing missions in areas of scattered basing facilities of the adversary's naval forces. Presumably, a group of such ships were supposed either to deploy to the patrol area and stay underwater for a protracted period of time or make a submerged approach, maintaining a permanent sonar contact with the enemy. Upon approaching the enemy, the ships were supposed to surface, reach the missile salvo-firing line, fire the missiles, and then submerge or escape on the surface at the maximum possible speed. It was believed that the ability of the ships to stay underwater and develop high speed while attacking the enemy could reduce his time for counteraction, including air attacks.
The boat was supposed to have a nasal titanium wing, two two-shaft diesel engines developing a surface speed of up to 38 knots, and the submerged boat Dolphin could move at a speed of 4 knots under water. In the superstructure of the missile carrier, it was planned to place a crew of 12 people in a strong container. In the upper part of the boat of a similar submarine there should be a deckhouse with sliding devices. The hull of the submersible "Dolphin" consisted of an aluminum alloy and was calculated on the load from a twenty-ton atomic bomb exploded two kilometers away. The main and only weapon of a small submersible of the project 1231 was to be four P-25 cruise missiles, the mines of which were located on both sides. Each of them was supplied with a high-explosive part and reached a flight range of up to 40 km,
The small submersible Dolphin missile-carrying boat was intended for launching surprise missile strikes at warships and transports in narrow places and on approaches to naval bases and enemy ports, participating in the defense of the coastal zone, fleet-based areas and coastal flanks of ground forces, repelling the landing of assault forces and disrupting the enemy’s sea lanes, as well as carrying sonar and radar patrols. It was assumed that a group of such "hidden" boats would unfold in a given area, and for a long time would be in a submerged position at the waiting position, maintaining contact with sonar means. Having approached, the rocket carriers would ascend, at high speed reach the line of the rocket volley, launch missiles,
The fact is that during the launch of the P-25 missiles a thick cloud of smoke was formed, which greatly unmasked the rocket carriers, therefore the “Dolphins” of project 1231 should have made a separation from the anti-submarine forces at high speed.
The construction of only one unique small submersible of the project 1231 “Dolphin” should have cost the state treasury a very large sum of 40 million rubles. In this figure, for example, the creation of two Soyuz spacecraft was then estimated. In addition, tests of the P-25 cruise missile were unsuccessful, which would inevitably lead to a higher cost of the project. Khrushchev's dream of a diesel bomber "Dolphin" was never embodied in the metal, as the project was terminated when he was removed from office.
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