On June 20, our country celebrates the professional holiday of the specialists of the mine and torpedo service of the Navy. The holiday was officially established by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy on July 15, 1996.
The date June 20 was not chosen by chance. It was on this day that more than a century and a half ago, in order to protect the borders of the Fatherland, Russian sailors first had to use mine weapons.
In June 1854, the British and French naval forces, united in a squadron, decided to capture Kronstadt, Sveaborg, Revel and Ust-Dvinsk. Russian sailors were not going to surrender the city and set up minefields. In the Gulf of Finland, the enemy squadron was unable to overcome the exposed obstacle. And in 1855, the Anglo-French squadron once again tried to break through to the northwest of the Russian Empire. Immediately 4 enemy ships blew up on exposed minefields and went to the bottom. In many ways, this deprived the enemy of the hopes of the possibility of opening a full-fledged second front of the Crimean (Eastern) War.
The mine and torpedo unit of the Russian Navy is an important military command and control body.
The military personnel employed in it are qualified, experienced specialists in their field, because their successful work largely depends on how quickly and how successfully the enemy will be defeated, and defensive positions are strengthened. Sometimes it is not so much the battle itself that is important in this case, but the understanding of the enemy that minefields are insurmountable for him. This understanding often cooled hotheads.
It should also be noted about such an important area of work of the mine and torpedo service as the disposal of ammunition, which can be called an echo of various wars in the history of the country. Until now, specialists from mine and torpedo units are eliminating ammunition left on the seabed since the Great Patriotic War.
From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet naval miners began to lay defensive minefields. From June 23 to July 21, the ships of the fleet intensively mined the approaches to Sevastopol, Odessa, Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Batumi and the strategically important Kerch Strait. In total, the Black Sea Fleet delivered 10745 mines during the war. Of these, in defensive barriers - 8388 min. Like our other fleets, he waged a defensive mine war. The ships of the Baltic Fleet delivered 12047 mines in 1941 alone. And the mining of enemy waters has become one of the most frequently performed combat missions.
During the Great Patriotic War, torpedo boats were also widely used, designed to destroy enemy warships and transport ships with torpedoes. By the beginning of the war, the USSR had 269 torpedo boats.
On all seas, the boats not only launched dashing torpedo attacks, but also laid minefields, hunted enemy submarines, landed troops, guarded ships and convoys, swept the fairways, bombarding German bottom mines with depth charges.
Soviet torpedo bombers demonstrated not only iron fortitude and will to victory, but also genuine skill, training, ability to think in a lightning-fast naval battle, to find unconventional, and therefore unexpected for the enemy, solutions.
In St. Petersburg, on the Square of Sea Glory, located on the very shore of the bay, there is an unusual monument: on a pedestal made of gray granite - a torpedo boat from the war. Below it is a bronze inscription, cast from old propellers: “To the heroic sailors of the Baltic torpedo boats. 1941-1945.
Today, mine and torpedo units of the Russian Navy form the backbone of the Coastal Defense Forces, their responsibilities include protecting the bases of the Russian Navy forces, ports and other important coastal areas.
Modern torpedo weapons are included with torpedo submarines. In 2015, the Russian Navy received universal deep-sea homing torpedoes UGST "Fizik". A new version of the "Case" torpedo is currently undergoing state tests on Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. If successful, the torpedo will be put into service, and serial production of this naval weapon will begin in 2017. Torpedoes, as a further development of the UGST "Fizik", will be deployed primarily on the newest nuclear submarines of the Borey and Yasen projects.
In 2018, the second in the series mine defense ship of Project 12700 Ivan Antonov (Project Alexandrite) will be launched.
Project 12700 "Alexandrite" was created in the St. Petersburg Central Design Bureau MT "Almaz" and is a new generation of mine defense ships. The ships of this project are designed to search for and destroy mines in the waters of naval bases at a safe distance for the ship.
Currently, mine and torpedo armament is being improved. New materials are being developed, new equipment is being created, laser and other modern technologies are actively used. This makes it possible to move along the path of progress in the creation of weapons capable of effectively protecting the maritime borders of Russia.
On this holiday, "Voennoye Obozreniye" congratulates all those involved in the holiday - the Day of the Mine and Torpedo Service of the Navy.
