Coastal Forces (BV - Beregov Voyska) - History

The history of BRAVs comes from the artillery of coastal fortresses and coastal batteries of the Russian Navy. Prior to the advent of rocket weapons, coastal artillery, which was the main combat weapon of coastal defense, was the basis for the defense of the sea coast and fleet-based areas. In 1958, it was transformed into BRAV, which became a kind of naval forces. In October 1989, the BRAV along with the marine corps and coastal defense troops entered the newly created branch of the forces - the coastal forces of the Navy.

The history of coastal defense goes back several centuries. The development of coastal defense proceeded in proportion to the improvement of artillery, which, from the 19th century. It became established in the seaside fortresses, which protected the direct entrances to the ports. Later, with the introduction of rifled artillery, it was placed in separate forts that defended important parts of the sea coast on a wider front. In the course of the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Russian fleet, for the first time in history, used sea minefields in the coastal defense system, which later became the basis for the creation of mine-artillery positions. To solve the problems of coastal defense, torpedo weapons were also used: coastal torpedo batteries installed at the entrance to the bases and ports, and anti-aircraft artillery.

In the 17th century, a regular Russian fleet was created. According to experts, the sea fortress of Kronstadt and the island of Kronslot became the prototype of the modern Coastal Forces. Forts formed on the orders of Peter I in 1703 defended St. Petersburg from the sea. In the 19th century, Russian artillery systems were tested in the fleet.

By the end of the Civil War, the coastal artillery of the young Soviet Republic was in an extremely difficult situation. The coastal batteries in the North and the Pacific coast were completely destroyed by the White Guards and the interventionists, and blown up in the Black Sea - in Sevastopol, Kerch, Novorossiysk and Batumi. To recover them, required a large cost. The coastal batteries, recreated during the civil war on the shores of the Black and Azov Seas, were armed with obsolete samples with low rate of fire and long range.

The history of the development of modern Coastal Forces is inextricably linked with the struggle of the Russian people for access to the seas and ensuring the security of the sea coast of the state from attacks from the sea. The forces attracted to solve these tasks were united by one general concept - Coastal Defense, which until 1930 passed to the jurisdiction of the land command, then naval command, and from March 27, 1930, by the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR was subordinated to the Red Army Navy.

During the years of Soviet power, coastal artillery got rid of the fatal traditions of the past, when, according to tactical and technical data, it lagged significantly behind the ship's. “Coastal artillery,” wrote the Military Encyclopedia of 1911, “of necessity receives new models of guns only from time to time and not so much to replace the existing ones, but to strengthen the armament; therefore, in the armament of each coastal fortress there are weapons from completely obsolete to the newest. But the latest models do not have such advanced installations as naval artillery guns, where they widely use various kinds of mechanisms operated by machines ”. In the Soviet coastal artillery, a completely different principle operated: the gun on the coast, according to tactical and technical data, should be equivalent to that of a ship. Since 1928, the same artillery weapons have been installed on ships and coastal batteries.

Soviet designers designed excellent samples of 100, 130, 152, 180, 305 and 356-mm guns. The best in the world were the conveyors of railway artillery, used against both sea and land enemy. The maneuvering nature of the war gave rise to the widespread use of railway artillery. In this connection, the decision to establish on the Red Banner Baltic and Pacific fleets of maneuverable artillery formations - railway artillery brigades deserves the highest praise. In the coastal artillery of the Black Sea Fleet there was only one battery of railway artillery.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, coastal defense forces, compared with 1931, had increased significantly, work was hard on creating coastal defenses in all fleets, and particular attention was paid to strengthening the western maritime borders along their entire length. All fleets had a well-organized system of schools that trained sergeants in all specialties of coastal defense. Created in 1931, the Naval School of Coastal Defense of the name of LKSMU fully provided the fleets with qualified command personnel. From September 1935 to January 1941, the number of commanders of the coastal defense increased six times (from 1822 to 10,894 people).

Although coastal artillery solved problems mainly in the interests of the fleet, it was organizationally subordinate to the Main Artillery Directorate of the Ground Forces, which made it difficult to use it effectively. From March 27, 1930, coastal defense came under the command of the head of the Red Army Navy (Red Army Navy).

One of the characteristic features of the Great Patriotic War is its continental character. However, for the Soviet Navy, the protection of naval bases and parts of the coast from the sea direction remained relevant until the last day of the war, especially since during its course Hitler's military leadership revised its views on the use of its naval forces. In the Barents, Baltic and Black Seas, it gradually increased the number of surface ships, submarines and naval aviation.

With the reception of coastal artillery, the Navy began its revival, and by the beginning of the War, 332 artillery batteries and 6 armored trains, including 1224 guns of 406 mm caliber and a range of 45.5 kilometers, were part of the coastal defense. Compared with 1931, the number of batteries increased by 8, and the guns 7.7 times. These batteries formed the basis of coastal defense, which until the end of the 1950s solved the tasks of defending the naval base, ports, important coastal areas, islands, and straits.

Work was particularly hard on the Baltic Fleet, and active construction of stationary artillery batteries was carried out in the Northern and Pacific Fleets. The deadlines for the construction of batteries were very tight: a half a year for open batteries, a year for turret batteries.

During the Great Patriotic War, coastal artillery especially manifested itself in the defense of hero-cities: Sevastopol, Leningrad, Odessa, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Murmansk. It was the main fire weapon in the defense of Tallinn, the Hanko Peninsula, the Moonsund Islands on the Baltic Sea, the Rybachiy and Middle Sakhalin Peninsulas on the coast of the Barents Sea, and the Tuapse naval base on the Black Sea. Due to the fact that the enemy did not take active actions against the coast from the sea, the main efforts of the coastal artillery were focused on the destruction of ground targets.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, coastal artillery was reorganized, individual coastal artillery batteries were reorganized into regiments and brigades, and new artillery weapons systems for coastal artillery were developed and put into service. Until 1950, all stationary coastal artillery batteries were restored, destroyed as a result of the fighting in the defense of the Crimea and the Baltic states.

By the mid-1950s, artillery systems of a caliber of 305 millimeters, 180 millimeters, 152 millimeters, 130 millimeters, 100 millimeters were in service with the naval military unit. According to the degree of mobility they were divided into stationary artillery installations, railway artillery installations and artillery installations on a mechanical thrust.

In 1958, coastal artillery was renamed coastal missile and artillery troops (BRAV), which included separate missile and artillery units and subunits (BRC). The first missile system, which came into service with domestic firearms became 4K87 "Sopka". The Sopki rocket was a version of the first Soviet anti-ship Kometa rocket intended for launch from missile-carrying aircraft and was an attempt to turn it into a universal one, that is, used by aircraft, ships and coastal units. Starting, no doubt, good, but then it failed. Yet, despite significant shortcomings, the Sopka was in service with the BRAV until the early 1980s.

In 1966, the BRAV USSR adopted the second-generation 4K44B Redut (mobile) and Utes (stationary) coastal missile system (DBK). This next stage of re-equipment of coastal missile units began. This complex of operational and tactical purposes made it possible to significantly increase the combat capabilities of coastal missile and artillery troops and to have an advantage over warships of a potential enemy. The Navy, one of the first fleets of the world, had in its arsenal sufficiently effective weapons to fight enemy surface ships, capable of hitting them with anti-ship missiles before the ships arrived at a range of their weapons on coastal targets.

The Redut BRK was built on the basis of the P-35 anti-ship missile, which armed the first Soviet missile cruisers of projects 58 (of the type “Grozny”) and 1134 (“Admiral Zozulya”). The length of its land modification P-35B reached 9.5 m, the launch weight was 4,400 kg, the cruising speed was 1.5M, that is, it was supersonic. The firing range of the BRK, according to various data, was 270-300 km, the mass of the warhead, again, according to various data, 800-1000 kg or 350-kiloton "special ammunition".

Subsequently, in the late 70s, the BRK received the upgraded 3M44 Progress missile, which had a range (in the strike version) reached 460 km, while the missile seeker became more jam resistant. Also, the height in the final section has been reduced from 100 m to 25 m, while the section itself has been increased from 20 to 50 km.

Today, the complex is certainly outdated, but still represents a certain threat and utility (at least due to the diversion of air defense when used in conjunction with more modern anti-ship missiles) and is still in service with the Coastal Forces of the Russian Navy. The exact number of surviving launchers is unknown, perhaps - 18 units. (regular strength of one battalion, 18 missiles in a salvo).

BRK 4K51 "Frontier" was created to replace the "Sopka", and was considered not tactical (as Redut) but a tactical complex. In addition, it was supposed (and actually carried out) the export deliveries of this complex to the Allied countries in the Department of Internal Affairs - the export of "Rubezh" was prohibited. In essence, there are 2 key drawbacks of the “Border”. The first is that it was built on the basis of the deliberately outdated P-15 Termite missile , which was put into service in 1960, which is nonsense for the complex. The second drawback of the complex was the concept of "land rocket boat" - the mass of the 3S51M self-propelled launcher was 41 tons, with all the ensuing consequences for the mobility and maneuverability of the BRK.

After the signing of the INF Treaty in 1987, the United States and the USSR assumed the obligation to completely abandon land-based ballistic and cruise missiles in nuclear and non-nuclear design. In the future, work on the creation of new complexes did not involve the use of anti-ship missiles with a range of 500 km or more. And the following DBKs entered BV Navy already in the Russian Federation.

The first was adopted by the BRK Ball, which was joyful for the Coastal Forces, took place in 2008. The complex is built around the Kh-35 anti-ship missile, and its more long-range variant Kh-35U. Apparently, “Ball” is not a Soviet reserve, but was already developed in the Russian Federation. The Bal ballistic missile division includes up to 4 mobile launchers, with 8 missile containers installed on each, which allows for a 32-rocket salvo for 21 seconds or less (the interval between missile launches is up to 3 seconds).

The next DBK, the Bastion , apparently began to be developed in the USSR, but entered service later on the Ball, in 2010. Its creation began in the late 70s, early 80s, because, judging by some data, the P-800 “Onyx” rocket (export name - “Yakhont”) was originally intended, among other things, for the use of BRAV USSR, to replace the gradually aging “Redut”. In general, the P-800 missile is a much more formidable weapon than the X-35 or X-35U. The mass of the warhead reaches 200 kg, while the rocket is supersonic — it can overcome the same 120 km by following the low-altitude flight profile.

Apparently, the structure of the BRC Bastion battalion has a structure similar to the “Ball” - 4 mobile launchers with 2 missiles each, one or two control vehicles and 4 transport and reloading machines. Strictly speaking, the correct name of the BRK is “Bastion-P”, since there is also its immobile, mine “variation” - “Bastion-C”. The use of “non-standard” terminology by officials makes a lot of confusion.

The BRAV Naval Forces of the Russian Federation artillery component is the 130-mm coastal self-propelled artillery complex A-222 “Bereg”. The A-222 Bereg began to be developed in the late 1970s, but its performance characteristics inspire respect today. The installation is semi-automatic and is able to send in flight per minute 14 shells with a caliber of 130 mm to a range of up to 23 km. BRAV of the Russian Navy probably has 36 A-223 artillery systems, that is, six divisions.

With the formation of the faculty of the Coastal Missile and Artillery Armament, training of rocket officers for the Coastal Missile and Artillery Forces of the Navy began in 1960 at the Black Sea Higher Naval School. In 2014, with the revival of the Black Sea Higher Naval School named after PS. Nakhimov, the faculty of coastal missile-artillery troops, special training and special weapons, was revived, the head of which was appointed Hero of the Russian Federation, Colonel Karpushenko Vladimir Valerievich. In 2016, the faculty was reorganized into the faculty of coastal missile and artillery troops and special training.