Every year on March 19, Russia celebrates the Day of the Submariner. This professional holiday is celebrated by all military personnel, veterans, as well as civilian personnel of the submarine forces of the Russian Navy. Despite the fact that the first submariners appeared in the Russian fleet at the beginning of the 20th century, they found their professional holiday only in 1996.
Submarine fleet. Start
On March 19 (March 6, old style), 1906, by decree of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, submarines were officially included in the list of ship classes of the Russian fleet. The same decree, signed personally by the emperor, included the first 20 submarines built and purchased by that time in the domestic fleet. Thus, our country became one of the first states to acquire its own submarine fleet. Exactly 90 years later, in 1996, the date March 19 was chosen to establish an annual professional holiday in the country - the Day of the Submariner.
Thus, the history of the Russian submarine fleet is officially 114 years old. The first base of the Russian submarine fleet in 1906 was the naval base Libava, located today on the territory of Latvia. By order of the Naval Department of the Russian Empire, the new ships were not only allocated into an independent class, but also received a name. In those years they were called "hidden ships", this name also well reflects the nature of the use of combat submarines.
At the same time, the idea of building submarines was not new and first appeared in the 17th century in Holland. In Russia, the idea of building such ships in the 1700s was addressed by Peter I. Naturally, all the developments of those years were very primitive due to the insufficient level of industrial development of the countries. The 19th century was a breakthrough for the submarine fleet. In Russia, interesting developments that led to the creation of full-fledged submarines date back to this time.
In 1834, in St. Petersburg, at the facilities of the Alexandrovsky Foundry, according to the project of the military engineer K. A. Schilder, it was possible to build a submarine, which the designer armed with rocket launchers (the boat had three launchers on each side). In fact, Schilder's development was the prototype of the strike submarines of the future with vertical launch of missiles of various classes. The submarine was driven by 4 special strokes, the design of which resembled the shape of the legs of an ordinary duck. The paddles were located in pairs on each side of the boat, outside the sturdy hull. The structure was set in motion by sailors-rowers. At the same time, the underwater speed of such a boat was seriously limited and did not exceed 0.5 km / h, and this with tremendous efforts on the part of the crew. In the future, the military engineer hoped to equip the boat with an electric motor, but progress in this area in those years was so slow that the idea was never realized.
Only half a century later, the Russian inventor S. K. Dzhevetsky achieved tangible success in this direction. In 1884, he managed to install an electric motor on board a submarine of his own design. It was a small motor with a capacity of only 1 hp. with., but the decision itself was a breakthrough. In addition to the electric motor, Drzewiecki also used a completely new source of electricity for his time - a storage battery. Drzewiecki's boat was tested in the Neva, where it could go against the river at a speed of up to 4 knots. This submarine became the first submarine in the world to receive an electric propulsion system.
The first combat submarine was built at the famous Baltic Shipyard in 1903-1904. It was the Dolphin submarine, equipped with a gasoline engine and an electric motor. The author of the project of this submarine was I. G. Bubnov. Despite the inevitable problems with the operation of a new vessel for the fleet, the sailors who served on the Dolphin, with dedication and enthusiasm, practiced the methods and rules of the daily operation of such warships, as well as the methods of the combat use of submarines.
The most-the most domestic submarines
The most combat submarines in the history of the Russian submarine fleet are rightfully considered the submarine of the "Sh" type, they are also "Pike". The boats became the most massive and one of the most famous projects of submarines during the Great Patriotic War. 44 such submarines took part in the war, 31 of them died for various reasons. Many decades after the end of the war, search engines continue to find the dead ships of this project in the waters of the Baltic and Black Seas. Submarines with an underwater displacement of more than 700 tons continued their service after the end of the Second World War. In total, 86 ships of this project of several series were built in the USSR, which had serious differences. "Pike" served in all fleets, and the last of them left the fleet only in the late 1950s.
The most massive submarines in the domestic fleet are Project 613 submarines, according to NATO codification "Whiskey". "Whiskey" was mass-produced in the USSR from 1951 to 1957. During this time, 215 diesel-electric boats were transferred to the Soviet fleet, which were developed under the influence of the latest German submarine projects at the end of World War II. The boats turned out to be very successful and remained in service for several decades. Submarines of project 613 had an underwater displacement of about 1350 tons, a good underwater speed - 13 knots and a good autonomy - 30 days. During the entire service period, the Soviet fleet lost only two boats of this project. Subsequently, the USSR transferred 43 boats to friendly countries, and another 21 submarines under this project were built in China for the Chinese fleet.
The fastest submarine in history was built in our country. We are talking about the submarine K-162 (then K-222). The nuclear submarine, built according to the project 661 Anchar, received the nickname “Goldfish”. This was largely due to the high cost of building the submarine, which was made of titanium. The boat was built in a single copy, later the experience gained by the designers was used to create the 2nd and 3rd generation SSGNs, and the main work was aimed at reducing the cost and reducing the noise of the boat. Until now, it is the "Golden Fish" that holds the world record for underwater speed. On trials in 1971, the submarine demonstrated an underwater speed of 44.7 knots (almost 83 km / h).
The largest submarines in history were also created in our country. We are talking about nuclear submarines of Project 941 "Shark", according to the NATO codification "Typhoon". The submarine displacement of the boats of this project was no less than 48 thousand tons, which is practically comparable to the displacement of the only Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov". It is worth noting that the Sharks are twice as large as modern Russian nuclear-powered strategic boats of the Borey project in terms of underwater displacement and 18 times the diesel-electric submarines of Project 677 Lada.
Submariner is a courageous profession
Service on a submarine is always associated with a risk that exists even in peacetime, and increases many times during hostilities. Submariners of the Soviet fleet passed the tests of the Great Patriotic War with honor. For military merits, about a thousand submariners were nominated for government awards, twenty submariners became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
In the battles with the aggressors, the Soviet fleet suffered serious losses. In total, more than 260 submarines of various classes and projects took part in the Great Patriotic War. At the same time, during the years of World War II, the USSR submarine fleet lost 109 submarines for various reasons of a combat and non-combat nature. 3474 submariners did not return to their home bases from the campaigns. Such data are published in the book "Martyrology of the lost submarines of the Russian Navy" by Vladimir Boyko.
The profession of a sailor remains dangerous in peacetime. We all have heard of the disasters that have occurred in our fleet over the past few decades. This is the sinking of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets" of the USSR Navy on April 7, 1989, which claimed the lives of 42 submariners, and the sinking of the nuclear-powered submarine "Kursk" on August 12, 2000, which claimed the lives of 118 crew members. These disasters left scars not only in the hearts of sailors, but also in ordinary citizens of our country.
It is no coincidence that submariners have always been considered representatives of one of the most courageous, heroic and at the same time romantic professions. These people are distinguished by courage, courage, boldness and selfless devotion to military duty. It is these qualities that explain the people's love and recognition of submariners, who, plunging into the depths of the World Ocean, are like astronauts setting off on their next flight outside the Earth. Both submariners and astronauts work in environments that are unusual and aggressive for humans.
On March 19, Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all citizens directly involved in this heroic profession, especially the veteran submariners of our fleet, on their professional holiday. Always come back home!
