Work on the creation of rocket weapons systems began in the USSR with the release of the USSR Council of Ministers Decree of May 13, 1946, from which, one might say, the countdown of the organization of the rocket, and then the rocket and space domestic industry is conducted. Meanwhile, the decision itself did not appear out of nowhere. Interest in a qualitatively new type of weapons arose a long time ago, and with the end of the war, ideas began to take on real outlines, including through the specific familiarization of Soviet specialists with German technologies.
The first, so-called organizational, step was taken by General L. M. Gaidukov, member of the Military Council of the Guards Mortar Units. Having visited Germany at the end of the summer of 1945 on an inspection trip, the general got acquainted with the work of our specialists in the surviving German missile centers and concluded that the entire complex of work must be transferred to "domestic soil." Returning to Moscow, L. M. Gaidukov went to Stalin and reported on the progress of work on the study of missile technologies in Germany and the need for their deployment in the USSR.
Stalin did not make a specific decision, but authorized Gaidukov to personally acquaint the relevant people's commissars with this proposal. Negotiations L. M. Gaidukov, the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry (A. I. Shakhurin) and the People's Commissariat of Ammunition (V. Ya. Vannikov) did not produce results, but the People's Commissariat of Armaments (D. F. Ryabikov to Germany, and the final agreement to lead the work in the "missile direction".
Another important result of the meeting between the general and the leader was the release from the camps of many specialists and scientists necessary for the cause. Stalin personally imposed the corresponding resolution on the list prepared in advance by L. M. Gaidukov together with Yu. A. Pobedonostsev, which included, in particular, S. P. Korolev and V. P. Glushko. Both of them at the end of September 1945 were already able to start working in Germany.
As you can see, a lot of organizational work had already been done before the release of the well-known government document. The May Resolution of 1946 defined the range of ministries, departments and enterprises that were responsible for the creation of purely military missile technology, distributed responsibilities among them for the production of individual components, provided for the formation of head industrial institutes of industry, a missile testing ground for missile testing, military institutes, determined the main customer from the Ministry of the Armed Forces - the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU), and also contained a number of other measures aimed at forming, as it is now customary to call, a powerful military-industrial complex for the creation of advanced technologies. To supervise the missile theme, it was entrusted to a specially created, within the framework of the Ministry of Armaments, the Main Directorate, headed by S. I. Vetoshkin, and to coordinate the work on a national scale, the State Committee "No. 2" (or, as it was sometimes called, "Special Committee No. 2") was formed.
Thanks to a well-thought-out organization of work, powerful state support and the enthusiasm of the teams of designers, production workers and testers, which was customary in Soviet times, in just 7 and a half years, in the post-war devastation conditions, it was possible to create, work out and put into service ground-based ballistic missiles R-1, R- 2, R-5, to expand work on medium-range ballistic missiles R-5M, to "advance" operational-tactical missiles (OTR) R-11 to the stage of flight tests.
Thus, by the time work began on the creation of sea-based missile weapons (the "Wave" topic) - the naval component of the future triad of strategic nuclear forces (SNF) of the USSR - there was already a certain cooperation of ministries, departments, enterprises and organizations of the rocket industry, there was experience in production and the operation of ground-based missile systems (RK), and most importantly, there are personnel of a scientific and design-technological profile and a certain experimental and production-technical base.
The "Wave" theme provided for the solution of the task in two stages:
1) carrying out design and experimental work on arming submarines with long-range ballistic missiles;
2) on the basis (and based on the results) of the first stage, develop a technical design for a large missile submarine.
Already in the course of the first stage of work, the need for an integrated approach to the problem was realized, i.e. issues of a constructive, technological and operational nature in the creation of a submarine missile carrier and missile complex were linked into a single whole. It was then that the concept of "weapon system" became firmly established, the name of which usually included the number of the submarine's project and the alphanumeric index of the missile complex, the assignment of which was carried out in the prescribed manner.
The creation of the first Soviet naval missile weapon system "Project AV-611 - RK D-1" submarine, which was adopted by our Navy at the beginning of 1959, was the result of the first stage of work on the "Wave" theme.
The basis of the RK D-1 is the R-11FM submarine ballistic missile (SLBM) (where the FM index just means "naval model"). This SLBM was created on the basis of the ground-based R-11 tactical missile. The main reasons that prompted the designers and naval specialists to choose this rocket as the base one were the small dimensions of the R-11, which made it possible to place it on a submarine, and the use of a high-boiling component (nitric acid derivative) as an oxidizer, which greatly simplified the operation of this rocket. on the submarine, since it did not require various additional operations with fuel, directly on the submarine after refueling the rocket.
The leading designer of the R-11 ballistic missile was V. P. Makeev, future academician and creator of all sea-based strategic missile systems.
The leading designer of the R-11FM SLBM in the design bureau V. P. Makeev was appointed by V. L. Kleiman, the future doctor of technical sciences, professor, one of the most talented and dedicated associates of V. P. Makeeva. It is worth noting that the R-11FM SLBM did not receive a "marine" alphanumeric index in the USA, in some publications on missile technology, apparently, given the not very significant difference between it and the R-11 tactical missile, the R-11FM SLBM is designated like SS-1b, i.e. the same alphanumeric index, which was assigned in the USA by OTP R-11.
Structurally, the R-11 FM SLBM was a single-stage liquid-propellant ballistic missile, the tanks for the components of which were designed according to the carrier scheme. In order to increase static stability, the rocket was equipped with four stabilizers, which were placed in the tail section. On the flight path, the rocket was controlled by means of graphite rudders. The missile had no external differences from the BR R-11, its warhead was inseparable.
Kerosene was used as fuel on SLBMs, which reduced the possibility of fire. And this is important in operating conditions on an underwater carrier. The fuel filling volume (by weight) was 3369 kg, of which 2261 kg was an oxidizer. The liquid-propellant single-chamber engine (LRE) with the displacement supply of the main fuel was made according to an open circuit, its thrust at the ground was about 9 tf. The engine was developed in a design bureau headed by A. M. Isaev - the developer of liquid-propellant rocket engines for all domestic SLBMs.
The control system (CS) of the rocket was inertial. It was based on the gyroscopic devices installed in the instrument compartment of the SLBM: "gyroverticant" (GV), "gyrohorizont" (GG) and a gyrointegrator of longitudinal accelerations. With the help of the first two instruments on board the rocket, an inertial coordinate system was created (taking into account the bearing to the target), relative to which a controlled flight was performed along a programmed trajectory to the target, including stabilization in flight relative to all three stabilization axes. The gyrointegrator served to implement the missile firing range required by the assignment.
Another important component of the D-1 missile system for submarines was a launch pad placed in the missile silo, raised by a special hoist to the upper cut of the silo (for loading SLBMs onto the carrier boat and launching from the surface position). He could also carry out an azimuth turn around the central axis.
A launching device was mounted on the launch pad, the basis of which was made up of two holding racks, equipped with half-grips. When the struts were in the collapsed position, these half-grips formed a ring that enclosed the rocket. The SLBM at this moment, with its stops located on the hull skin, rested on the racks, thanks to which it was hung out above the launch pad. After the engine was started and the rocket began to move, the holding racks opened according to the given functionality, and the rocket, freed from communication with the launching device, was launched.
The first Russian missile carrier was a large, diesel, torpedo, project 611 submarine specially converted according to the B-611 project. Isanina. The design was carried out with the participation and under the supervision of naval specialists - Captain 2nd Rank B. F. Vasiliev and captain 3rd rank N. P. Prokopenko. The technical design for the re-equipment was approved at the beginning of the fall of 1954, and the working drawings were received by the construction plant (a shipyard headed at that time by E. P. Egorov) in March 1955. Dismantling work began in the fall of 1954. The builder of the V-611 submarine at the plant was I. S. Bakhtin.
The technical design provided for the placement of two missile silos in the bow of the fourth compartment, with appropriate instruments and other equipment. Most of the technical solutions were later used in the creation of serial missile carriers pr. AV-611 (NATO classification "ZULU").
The development of the new weapon system was carried out in three technological stages. At the first stage, by launching missiles from a stationary ground stand, the effect of a gas jet emanating from the rocket engine nozzle on nearby ship structures was tested. On the second, missile launches were carried out from a special ground-based swinging stand, which imitated the pitching of a submarine in a five-point sea state. Under these conditions, the "launch pad - launch device - rocket" system was tested for strength and operability, the characteristics necessary for designing a launch device were determined, including for constructing an algorithm for choosing the moment of start (engine start).
If for the first two stages a missile test site was enough (near the city of Stalingrad), then the third, the final one, required real conditions. By this time, the re-equipment of the submarine was completed, and on September 16, 1955, the first ballistic missile was launched from a submarine of the Soviet fleet. The rocket era of our Navy has begun.
In total, then 8 test launches were made, of which only one was unsuccessful: the launch was canceled in an automatic mode, and the rocket did not leave the ship. But every cloud has a silver lining - the failure helped to work out the mode of emergency dropping of the rocket overboard. The tests were completed in October 1955, but back in August, without waiting for their results, all work on the R-11FM SLBM was transferred to the Ural Design Bureau, which was headed by V. P. Makeev. He was given a difficult task - to complete all experimental work, put the RK D-1 into series and put it into service.
The first series of missile submarines consisted of 5 submarines of the AV-611 project; four of them were still under construction and were being refitted right at the plant, and one was in the Pacific Fleet, and its re-equipment was going on at the Vladivostok shipyard. Meanwhile, the "fine-tuning" of the new weapons system continued. Three missile launches were carried out in the conditions of a long-range cruise of the B-67 submarine in the fall of 1956, then the missile was tested for explosion resistance, and in the spring of 1958, joint - the Navy and industry began - flight tests (SLI) of the RK D-1 from the lead serial submarine of the AV- project 611 B-73. The launches were carried out using the R-11FM SLBMs already put into serial production. The armament system "Submarine of project AV-611 - RK D-1" was in the combat composition of the Navy from 1959 to 1967.
At the second stage of the topic "Wave" provided for the creation of more advanced naval missile weapons. The tactical and technical assignment (TTZ) for the creation of a submarine, the project of which received the number 629 (according to NATO classification "Golf"), was issued in the spring of 1954. TsKB, headed by N. N. Isanin. However, taking into account the capabilities of the American anti-submarine defense (300-400 km deep in the water area near its shores), by a special government decree, the designers were tasked with making a missile with a firing range of 400-600 km. It was also supposed to equip our first nuclear submarine (nuclear submarine) of Project 658 with it.
The fleet was supposed to prepare new TTZ for the project 629 submarine and the missile system, which was assigned the D-2 index. These tasks were approved and issued to the industry at the very beginning of 1956, and in March the project of the submarine carrier was submitted to the Navy for consideration. However, it was not suitable for the production of working drawings, since there were no design materials for the D-2 complex. Then they decided to start building a submarine with the D-1 complex, but with the subsequent conversion under the D-2. In order to facilitate the conversion, the maximum possible unification of the components of the missile complex was envisaged. This is how the first submarines of Project 629 with D-1 appeared.
The D-2 missile system with the R-13 missile (according to the US classification - SS-N-4, NATO- "Sark"), the leading designer of which was L. M. Miloslavsky, who received the Lenin Prize for it, largely repeated his predecessor in terms of the design, composition, structure, construction and purpose of the onboard control system, and other main parts. The engine is five-chamber - one central stationary and 4 steering ones. The central chamber with its own turbopump unit (TNA) and automation elements constituted the main unit (OB) of the engine, and the steering ones with their own TNA and automation - the steering unit (RB) of the engine. Both blocks were open circuit.
The use of swinging combustion chambers as control elements made it possible to abandon graphite rudders and obtain a certain weight and energy gain. In addition, it also became possible to use a two-stage shutdown (first OB, then RB) of the engine, due to which the spread of the thrust impulse decreased and the reliability of separating the warhead from the SLBM body at all firing ranges increased.
The engine thrust was about 26 tf. The oxidizer and fuel supply system is a turbo pump, the tanks were pressurized by two gas generators, which are part of the main and steering blocks of the engine. The first of them produced gas with an excess of fuel (to pressurize the fuel tank), the second - with an excess of oxidizer (to pressurize the oxidizer tank). Such a scheme made it possible to abandon the use of an autonomous tank pressurization system on board the rocket, and provided a number of other advantages.
The oxidizer tank was split in two by an intermediate bottom. The oxidizer was used first from the lower forecastle, which helped to reduce the overturning moment acting on the rocket in flight.
To increase the static stability of the SLBM in flight, 4 stabilizers were placed in pairs in its tail section. The warhead of the rocket was equipped with special ammunition and was made in the form of a cylindrical body, the front of which was in the shape of a cone, with a tapered rear skirt. To ensure the stabilization of the warhead in flight (after separation), lamellar "feathers" were installed on the tapered skirt. The warhead was separated from the rocket by means of a powder pusher, actuated by the onboard control system upon reaching a given firing range. The launcher has undergone significant processing, which received the alphanumeric index SM-60. In an effort to unify it as much as possible and make it suitable for both the R-13 and R-11FM launch, the TsKB specialists paid special attention to increasing the reliability of the structure in terms of the safety of the rocket during daily and combat operation. To do this, they used a more reliable scheme for attaching it with four grips (the rocket was, as it were, in a corset), introduced a number of locks that prevent any operation from being performed if the previous one was not performed (with the appropriate signaling), etc.
The next step in the implementation of the program was the laying of two Project 629 submarines, which were to become carriers of the D-2 missile system.
