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Torpedo - Soviet

In the post-war period, the main manufacturers of torpedoes for the Soviet Navy were the Dagdiesel plant, the plant named after. Kirov (Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan), plant "Engine" (Leningrad), plant named after. 50th Anniversary of the Kirghiz SSR (now the Dastan Corporation, Kyrgyzstan). The development of torpedoes was carried out by NII-400 (the future Central Research Institute "Gidropribor"), the design bureau of the plant. Kirov (torpedo 53-65K of 1970 and works of the 80s on the topic "Magot"), a branch of NII-400 in Lomonosov (the future Morteplotekhnika OJSC). In 1973, developers and manufacturers of torpedoes were united into a specialized NPO Uran. From today's standpoint, it was a very ambiguous decision. If in the 50-60s our torpedoes looked very worthy in comparison with foreign counterparts (a number of samples developed at that time are still in service and in demand for export), then the results of the work of NPO Uranus 70-80- x is frustrating. At the time of the collapse of the USSR, in no other types and models of weapons and military equipment did the Soviet Union lag so far behind a potential adversary as in the field of naval underwater weapons. The naval forces of the Red Army of the RSFSR were armed with torpedoes left over from the Russian fleet. The bulk of these torpedoes were models 45-12 and 45-15. The experience of the First World War showed that the further development of torpedoes requires an increase in their combat charge to 250 kilograms or more, so 533 mm caliber torpedoes were considered the most promising. Development of the Model 53-17 was discontinued after the closure of the Lessner factory in 1918. The design and testing of new torpedoes in the USSR was entrusted to the "Special Technical Bureau for Military Inventions for Special Purposes" - Ostekhbyuro, organized in 1921, headed by inventor inventor Vladimir Ivanovich Bekauri. In 1926, the former Lessner plant, which was named the Dvigatel plant, was transferred as the industrial base of the Ostekhburo.

On the basis of the existing developments of models 53-17 and 45-12, the design of the 53-27 torpedo was started, which was tested in 1927. The torpedo was universal in terms of basing, but it had a large number of shortcomings, including a short autonomous range, which is why it entered service with large surface ships in limited quantities.

Despite the difficulties in production, the production of torpedoes by 1938 was deployed at 4 plants: "Engine" and the name of Voroshilov in Leningrad, "Krasny Progress" in the Zaporozhye region and plant No. 182 in Makhachkala. Tests of torpedoes were carried out at three stations in Leningrad, Crimea and Dvigatelstroy (currently Kaspiysk). The torpedo was produced in versions 53-27k for submarines and 53-27k for torpedo boats.

In 1932, the USSR purchased several types of torpedoes from Italy, including a 21-inch model manufactured by the Fiume plant, which received the designation 53F. On the basis of the 53-27 torpedo, using separate units from the 53F, the 53-36 model was created, but its design was unsuccessful and only 100 copies of this torpedo were built in 2 years of production. More successful was the 53-38 model , which was essentially an adapted copy of the 53F. The 53-38 and its subsequent modifications, the 53-38U and 53-39 , became the fastest torpedoes of World War II, along with the Japanese Type 95 Model 1 and the Italian W270/533.4 x 7.2 Veloce. The production of 533-mm torpedoes was deployed at the Dvigatel and No. 182 (Dagdiesel) factories.

On the basis of the Italian W200/450 x 5.75 torpedo (designation 45F in the USSR), the Mino-Torpedo Institute (NIMTI) created the 45-36N torpedo, designed for Novik-class destroyers and as a sub-caliber torpedo for 533-mm submarine torpedo tubes. The release of the 45-36N model was launched at the Krasny Progress plant.

In 1937, the Ostekhbyuro was liquidated, instead of it, the 17th Main Directorate was created in the People's Commissariat of the Defense Industry, which included TsKB-36 and TsKB-39, and in the People's Commissariat of the Navy - the Mine and Torpedo Directorate (MTU).

In TsKB-39, work was carried out to increase the explosive charge of 450-mm and 533-mm torpedoes, as a result of which elongated models 45-36NU and 53-38U began to enter service. In addition to increasing the lethality, the 45-36NU torpedoes were equipped with a non-contact passive magnetic fuse, the creation of which began in 1927 in the Ostekhbyuro. A feature of the 53-38U model was the use of a steering mechanism with a gyroscope, which made it possible to smoothly change the course after launch, which made it possible to fire in a "fan".

In 1939, on the basis of model 53-38, TsKB-39 began designing a CAT torpedo (self-guided acoustic torpedo). despite all efforts, the acoustic guidance system on the noisy steam-gas torpedo did not work. The work was stopped, but resumed after the delivery of captured samples of T-V homing torpedoes to the institute. German torpedoes were raised from the U-250 submerged near Vyborg. Despite the self-destruction mechanism that the Germans equipped their torpedoes with, they managed to be removed from the boat and delivered to TsKB-39. The institute compiled a detailed description of German torpedoes, which was handed over to Soviet designers, as well as to the British Admiralty.

The 53-39 torpedo, which entered service during the war, was a modification of the 53-38U model, but was produced in extremely limited quantities. Problems with production were associated with the evacuation of the Krasny Progress factories to Makhachkala, and then. together with "Dagdiesel" in Alma-Ata. Later, the 53-39 PM maneuvering torpedo was developed, designed to destroy ships moving in an anti-torpedo zigzag.

The post-war models 53-51 and 53-56V, equipped with maneuvering devices and an active non-contact magnetic fuse, were the last samples of combined-cycle torpedoes in the USSR.

In 1939, the first samples of torpedo engines were built based on twin six-stage counter-rotating turbines. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, these engines were tested near Leningrad on Lake Kopan.

In 1936, an attempt was made to create a turbine-powered torpedo, which, according to calculations, had to achieve a speed of 90 knots, which was twice the speed of the fastest torpedoes of that time. It was planned to use nitric acid (oxidizer) and turpentine as fuel. The development received the code name AST - nitrogen-turpentine torpedo. On tests, the AST, equipped with a standard 53-38 torpedo piston engine, reached a speed of 45 knots with a cruising range of up to 12 km. But the creation of a turbine that could be placed in the torpedo hull proved impossible, and nitric acid was too aggressive for use in serial torpedoes.

To create a traceless torpedo, work was underway to study the possibility of using thermite in conventional combined cycle engines, but until 1941 it was not possible to achieve encouraging results.

To increase the power of engines, NIMTI carried out developments to equip conventional torpedo engines with an oxygen enrichment system. It was not possible to bring these works to the creation of real prototypes due to the extreme instability and explosiveness of the oxygen-air mixture.

Work on the creation of electric torpedoes turned out to be much more effective. The first sample of an electric motor for torpedoes was created in Ostekhbyuro in 1929. But the industry could not at that time provide sufficient power for battery torpedoes, so the creation of operating models of electric torpedoes began only in 1932. But even these samples did not suit the sailors due to the increased noise of the gearbox and the low efficiency of the electric motor manufactured by the Electrosila plant.

In 1936, thanks to the efforts of the Central Battery Laboratory, a powerful and compact V-1 lead-acid battery was made available to NIMTI. The Electrosila plant was ready for the production of the DP-4 birotational engine. Tests of the first Soviet electric torpedo were carried out in 1938 in Dvigatelstroy. Based on the results of these tests, a modernized V-6-P battery and an increased power PM5-2 electric motor were created. In TsKB-39, on the basis of this power and hull of the steam-air torpedo 53-38, the ET-80 torpedo was developed.. Electric torpedoes were met by sailors without much enthusiasm, so the tests of the ET-80 dragged on and it began to enter service only in 1942, and thanks to the appearance of information about captured German G7e torpedoes. Initially, the production of ET-80 was deployed on the basis of the Dvigatel plant evacuated to Uralsk and them. K. E. Voroshilova.

In the post-war years, on the basis of the captured G7e and domestic ET-80, the production of ET-46 torpedoes was launched. Modifications ET-80 and ET-46 with an acoustic homing system received the designation SAET (homing acoustic electric torpedo) and SAET-2, respectively. The Soviet self-guided acoustic electric torpedo entered service in 1950 under the designation SAET-50 , and in 1955 it was replaced by the SAET-50M model. Back in 1894, N.I. Tikhomirov conducted experiments with self-propelled jet torpedoes. The GDL (Gas Dynamics Laboratory), founded in 1921, continued to work on the creation of jet vehicles, but later began to deal only with rocket technology. After the appearance of the M-8 and M-13 (RS-82 and RS-132) rockets, NII-3 was given the task of developing a rocket-propelled torpedo, but work really began only at the end of the war, at the Gidropribor Central Research Institute. The RT-45 model was created, and then its modified version RT-45-2 for arming torpedo boats. The RT-45-2 was planned to be equipped with a contact fuse, and its speed of 75 knots left almost no chance to evade its attack. After the end of the war, work on rocket torpedoes was continued as part of the Pike, Tema-U, Luch and other projects.

In 1916, the partnership of Shchetinin and Grigorovich began the construction of the world's first special seaplane-torpedo bomber GASN. After several test flights, the maritime department was ready to place an order for the construction of 10 GASN aircraft, but the outbreak of the revolution ruined these plans.

In 1921, circulating aircraft torpedoes based on the Whitehead model mod. 1910 type "L". With the formation of the Ostekhbyuro, work on the creation of such torpedoes was continued, they were designed to be dropped from an aircraft at an altitude of 2000-3000 m. Torpedoes were equipped with parachutes, which were dropped after splashdown and the torpedo began to move in a circle. In addition to torpedoes for high-altitude release, VVS-12 torpedoes (based on 45-12) and VVS-1 (based on 45-15) were tested, which were dropped from a height of 10-20 meters from the YuG-1 aircraft. In 1932, the first Soviet aviation torpedo TAB-15 (aircraft high-altitude torpedo throwing torpedo) was put into production, designed to be dropped from MDR-4 (MTB-1), ANT-44 (MTB-2), R-5T and float version TB-1 (MR-6). The TAB-15 torpedo (former VVS-15) became the world's first torpedo

The VVS-12 went into mass production under the designation TAN-12 (aircraft low torpedo launching torpedo), which was intended to be dropped from a height of 10-20 m at a speed of no more than 160 km / h. Unlike the high-altitude one, the TAN-12 torpedo was not equipped with a device for maneuvering after being dropped. A distinctive feature of the TAN-12 torpedoes was the suspension system at a predetermined angle, which ensured the optimal entry of the torpedo into the water without the use of a bulky air stabilizer.

In addition to 450-mm torpedoes, work was underway on the creation of 533 mm caliber aircraft torpedoes, which received the designation TAN-27 and TAV-27 for high-altitude and conventional discharge, respectively. The SU torpedo had a caliber of 610 mm and was equipped with a light-signal trajectory control device, and the SU torpedo of 685 mm caliber with a charge of 500 kg, which was intended to destroy battleships, became the most powerful aircraft torpedo.

In the 1930s, aircraft torpedoes continued to improve. The TAN-12A and TAN-15A models featured a lightweight parachute system and entered service under the designations 45-15AVO and 45-12AN.

On the basis of ship-based torpedoes 45-36, the NIMTI Navy designed aircraft torpedoes 45-36??? (alferov high-altitude aircraft) and 45-36AN (aircraft low torpedo throwing). Both torpedoes began to enter service in 1938-1939. if there were no problems with the high-altitude torpedo, then the introduction of the 45-36AN met a number of problems related to the discharge. The basic DB-3T torpedo bomber was equipped with a bulky and imperfect T-18 suspension device. By 1941, only a few crews had mastered dropping torpedoes using the T-18. In 1941, a combat pilot, Major Sagayduk developed an air stabilizer, which consisted of four boards reinforced with metal strips. In 1942, the AN-42 air stabilizer developed by the NIMTI Navy was adopted, which was a 1.6 m long pipe that was dropped after the torpedo splashed down. Thanks to the use of stabilizers, it was possible to increase the drop height to 55 m, and the speed to 300 km/h.

On a number of occasions, torpedoes were deployed from conventional platforms for unconventional missions. Several times during World War II, Russian submarines used their torpedoes as underwater artillery to bombard an enemy harbor. The Russian submarines used this tactic against Black Sea ports and also in the north against fiord defenses and ports along the Norwegian coast. The submarine would maneuver into position outside the harbor and conduct a surprise torpedo attack by randomly firing torpedoes into the harbor. The torpedoes were not fired at any specific target but rather fired like artillery shells to inflict random damage, to create confusion, and to keep the enemy off balance.

In 1945, a light and efficient CH-45 annular stabilizer was developed, which made it possible to drop torpedoes at any angle from a height of up to 100 m at a speed of up to 400 km/h. Modified torpedoes with a CH-45 stabilizer received the designation 45-36AM. and in 1948 they were replaced by the 45-36ANU model, equipped with the Orbi device. Thanks to this device, the torpedo could maneuver and reach the target at a predetermined angle, which was determined by an aircraft sight and introduced into the torpedo.

In 1949, the development of experimental jet torpedoes Shchuka-A and Shchuka-B, equipped with a rocket engine [6] , was carried out . Torpedoes could be dropped from a height of up to 5000 m, after which the rocket engine was turned on and the torpedo could fly up to 40 km, and then dive into the water. In fact, these torpedoes were a symbiosis of a rocket and a torpedo. Shchuka-A was equipped with a radio guidance system, Shchuka-B was equipped with radar homing. In 1952, on the basis of these experimental developments, the RAT-52 jet aircraft torpedo was created and put into service.

The last steam-gas aviation torpedoes of the USSR were 45-54VT (high-altitude parachute) and 45-56NT for low-altitude release.