Torpedoes of Imperial Russia
The Russian fleet was the first to start the active combat use of torpedo weapons . The first example of an "underwater self-propelled projectile" was designed by the Russian inventor Ivan Fedorovich Aleksandrovsky . On January 14, 1878, Russian mine boats carried out the world's first successful torpedo attack and sank a Turkish ship. Until 1917, the Russian Navy was armed with torpedoes of its own production, as well as Schwartzkopff and Whitehead torpedoes . The fleet of the USSR was armed with torpedoes of its own design, and during the Second World War received American torpedoes under lend-lease. In the post-war years, the developers of torpedoes in the USSR managed to significantly improve their combat qualities, as a result of which the performance characteristics of Soviet-made torpedoes were significantly improved.
In 1862, Russian inventor Ivan Fedorovich Aleksandrovsky designed the first Russian submarine with a pneumatic engine. Initially, the boat was supposed to be armed with two linked mines , which were supposed to be released when the boat sails under an enemy ship and, surfacing, cover its hull. It was planned to detonate mines using an electric remote fuse.
The significant complexity and danger of such an attack forced Aleksandrovsky to develop a different type of weapon. For this purpose, he designs an underwater self-propelled projectile, similar in design to a submarine, but smaller and with an automatic control mechanism. Aleksandrovsky refers to his projectile as a "self-propelled torpedo", although "self-propelled mine" later became the common expression in the Russian navy.
Occupied with the construction of a submarine, Aleksandrovsky was able to start manufacturing his torpedo only in 1873, when Whitehead's torpedoes had already begun to enter service. The first samples of Aleksandrovsky's torpedoes were tested in 1874 on the Eastern Kronstadt roadstead . The torpedoes had a cigar-shaped body made of 3.2 mm sheet steel. The 24-inch model had a diameter of 610 mm and a length of 5.82 m, the 22-inch model had 560 mm and 7.34 m, respectively. The weight of both options was about 1000 kg. The air for the pneumatic engine was pumped into a tank with a volume of 0.2 m3 under a pressure of up to 60 atmospheres. through a reduction gear, the air entered the single-cylinder engine directly connected to the tail rotor . The depth of the course was regulated using water ballast, direction of travel - vertical rudders .
On tests under partial pressure in three launches, the 24-inch version covered a distance of 760 m, maintaining a depth of about 1.8 m. The speed at the first three hundred meters was 8 knots , at the end - 5 knots. Further tests showed that with high accuracy in maintaining the depth and direction of travel. The torpedo was too slow and could not reach speeds of more than 8 knots even in the 22-inch version.
The second sample of the Aleksandrovsky torpedo was built in 1876 and had a more advanced two-cylinder engine, and instead of a ballast depth control system, a gyrostat was used to control the tail horizontal rudders. But when the torpedo was ready for testing, the Naval Ministry sent Aleksandrovsky to the Whitehead plant. After reviewing the characteristics of the Fiume torpedoes, Aleksandrovsky admitted that his torpedoes were significantly inferior to the Austrian ones and recommended that the fleet purchase competitor torpedoes.
In 1878, Whitehead's and Aleksandrovsky's torpedoes were subjected to comparative tests. The Russian torpedo showed a speed of 18 knots, losing only 2 knots to Whitehead's torpedo. In the conclusion of the testing commission, it was concluded that both torpedoes have a similar principle and combat qualities, but by that time the license for the production of torpedoes had already been acquired and the production of Aleksandrovsky torpedoes was considered inappropriate.
In 1871, Russia secured the lifting of the ban on keeping a navy in the Black Sea . The inevitability of a war with Turkey forced the Naval Ministry to speed up the rearmament of the Russian fleet, so Robert Whitehead's proposal to acquire a license for the production of torpedoes of his design turned out to be just in time. In November 1875, a contract was prepared for the purchase of 100 Whitehead torpedoes, designed specifically for the Russian Navy, as well as the exclusive right to use their designs. In Nikolaev and Kronstadt, special workshops were set up for the production of torpedoes under Whitehead's license. The first domestic torpedoes began to be produced in the fall of 1878.
On January 13, 1878, at 23:00, the mine transport "Grand Duke Konstantin" approached the Batum raid and two of the four mine boats departed from it: "Chesma" and "Sinop". Each boat was armed with a launch tube and a raft for launching and transporting Whitehead torpedoes. At about 02:00 on the night of January 14, the boats approached the Turkish gunboat Intibah, which was guarding the entrance to the bay, at a distance of 50-70 meters. Two launched torpedoes hit almost in the middle of the hull, the ship lay on board and quickly sank. "Chesma" and "Sinop" returned to the Russian mine transport without loss. This attack was the first successful use of torpedoes in world military affairs.
Despite the repeated order of torpedoes in Fiume, the Naval Ministry organized the production of torpedoes at the Lessner boiler plant, the Obukhov plant and in the already existing workshops in Nikolaev and Kronstadt. By the end of the 19th century, up to 200 torpedoes per year were produced in Russia. Moreover, each batch of manufactured torpedoes without fail passed sighting tests, and only then entered service. In total, until 1917, there were 31 modifications of torpedoes in the Russian fleet.
Most of the torpedo models were modifications of Whitehead torpedoes, a small part of the torpedoes were supplied by the Schwarzkopf factories, and in Russia the designs of the torpedoes were being finalized. Inventor A. I. Shpakovsky, who collaborated with Aleksandrovsky, in 1878 proposed the use of a gyroscopeto stabilize the course of the torpedo, not yet knowing that Whitehead's torpedoes were equipped with a similar "secret" device. In 1899, Lieutenant of the Russian Navy I. I. Nazarov proposed his own design of an alcohol heater. Lieutenant Danilchenko developed a project for a powder turbine for installation on torpedoes, and the mechanics Khudzinsky and Orlovsky subsequently improved its design, but the turbine was not accepted into serial production due to the low technological level of production.
Russian destroyers and destroyers with fixed torpedo tubes were equipped with Azarov's sights, and heavier ships equipped with rotary torpedo tubes were equipped with sights developed by the head of the mine part of the Baltic Fleet A. G. Niedermiller. In 1912, serial torpedo tubes "Erikson and Co." appeared with torpedo fire control devices designed by Mikhailov. Thanks to these devices, which were used in conjunction with Gertsik's sights, aimed shooting could be carried out from each device. Thus, for the first time in the world, Russian destroyers could conduct group aimed fire at a single target, which made them the undisputed leaders even before the First World War.
In 1912, a unified designation began to be used to designate torpedoes, consisting of two groups of numbers: the first group is the rounded caliber of the torpedo in centimeters, the second group is the last two digits of the year of development. For example, type 45-12 stands for 450 mm torpedo developed in 1912.
The first completely Russian torpedo of the 1917 type, type 53-17, did not manage to get into mass production and served as the basis for the development of the Soviet 53-27 torpedo.
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