It so happened that two articles, published with a fair amount of time, played in unison. And it turned out, as it were, about nuclear-powered ships and about diesel-electric submarines. Thanks to everyone who agreed with the point of view expressed, thanks to those who argued reasonably. It was really interesting. When the second article is in the comments, it's nice.
But, with your permission, I will continue the topic and even develop it somewhat. To be honest, I really like the sound of the bell and the lingering funeral ringing of the bell is completely unpleasant.
So, at one time I allowed myself to express the opinion that since we are not able to build aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers (they were BODs in our classification), then there is nothing … to tell fairy tales on the forums. And we must build what we still can. That is, nuclear submarines capable of, if not protecting us, then at least qualitatively revenge.
And then a moment surfaced (by a submarine), which I did not immediately think about. I'm sorry, I'm correcting myself.
Yes, a nuclear submarine cannot be caught just like that. The passage of "Borey" to the Far East across half the world has perfectly demonstrated this.
But even such a perfect weapon as a nuclear submarine has vulnerabilities. As an example - when moving to the base or vice versa, when leaving it on alert. It was not for nothing that in Soviet times, our "potential" constantly put their boats on duty precisely in the places where our boats were likely to leave.
In general, a boat that (especially) goes on duty must be covered, and not just covered, but so. so that those who want to track where our missile carrier will go, their heads swelled up from problems.
In the old days, for such an operation (I'm not afraid of this word) considerable forces were involved. The launch of one strategic submarine was provided by 4 to 8 small anti-submarine ships, 2-3 large anti-submarine ships, several diesel-electric submarines and up to an anti-submarine aviation regiment.
And such a force could well drive away all the "observers" far into the sea and give our ship the opportunity to calmly break away from everyone who wanted to spy on and overhear.
It turned out, no matter who said anything. One undetected missile submarine is already a lot. And if there are several? How can you sleep peacefully in the United States (for example), knowing that somewhere in the ocean there are undetected Russian submarines?
In the event of an exacerbation, it is difficult.
Yes, today there are much fewer American boats near our shores, they now have another "potential competitor", nevertheless, they are still locally present.
And here the key is in the presence of anti-submarine forces. And here sadness and melancholy begins, because the anti-submarine forces in our fleets are an openly miserable sight.
Unfortunately, you cannot say otherwise, the main burden of the anti-submarine service in our fleet is laid on the ships of Project 1124.
Yes, 50 years ago they were just beautiful ships. But - alas, FIFTY years ago. Today the remaining Albatrosses, the most recent of which were built in 1994, are already a little outdated. Yes, and there are not so many of them, age, alas, does its job.
With BOD, large anti-submarine ships, it's still sadder. Just look at the payroll.
Baltic Fleet. BOD - 0, IPC - 6.
Black Sea Fleet. BOD - 0, IPC - 0.
Northern Fleet. BOD - 5 (3 in service, one under repair, one awaiting disposal), MPK - 6.
Pacific Fleet. BOD - 3, MPK - 8.
Yes, there are still new corvettes, we will talk about them in a separate line.
So far, in numbers, that's all that remains of the Soviet fleet. So-so inheritance, but it might not have been.
Of the 12 BODs of Project 1155 in service, thank God, 6 more and one is under repair. Of the 88 built IPC project 1124, 22 are in service. But decommissioning is not far off, there are no eternal ships.
So the issue of ensuring entry and exit of nuclear submarines from bases is a matter of the very near future. The main anti-submarine force of our fleet is as old as I do not know what.
We're not talking about underwater surveillance systems. They say that if they exist, then on paper, or as scrap metal at the bottom. Damaged by "fishermen" in the 90s.
The third component that I would like to talk about is anti-submarine aviation. We will leave corvettes and frigates for later, simply because everything is not so sad there.
Today, Russian anti-submarine aviation is about the same pain as cruisers and destroyers. That is, it seems to be, on paper, but in reality …
However, it is easier to estimate it by numbers.
Aircraft.
Tu-142. Out of more than a hundred aircraft produced, 22 remained in service somehow. One squadron each in the Northern and Pacific fleets. The youngest is born in 1994. 25 years…
By the way, the Indians, who actively used the Tu-142, solemnly conducted their planes to retire in 2017 …
IL-38. Of the 65 released in Soviet times (the youngest - 1972), 22 remained in service.
Be-12. Out of 141 aircraft operate in the Black Sea 4 (four). All of them were officially decommissioned in 1992 and are operated "until the resource is depleted."
That's all with the planes.
Helicopters. More precisely, a helicopter.
Veteran (produced since 1980) Ka-27PL. There are 63 aircraft in service, some (about 20) have been upgraded to Ka-27M, probably all helicopters that will survive to this moment will be upgraded.
Let me emphasize very boldly that neither anti-submarine aircraft nor anti-submarine helicopters are produced in Russia. We finish the Soviet castoffs, carefully patching and tint.
How functional it is - I cannot judge. But the fact that transferring money to the development of stupid nuclear destroyers and aircraft carriers, which there is no one and nothing to protect, is utter stupidity, I hope it will not cause controversy and condemnation.
The preliminary conclusion is very disappointing. We are putting on the Soviet anti-submarine defense, and when we bring it to the end, we can just relax. To release dozens of nuclear destroyers and nuclear aircraft carriers, in the hope that the enemy will not shoot them like ducks, fearing to pollute the world's oceans.
Well, only this comes to mind, because you can wheeze for a long time on the topic of who is cooler, "Ash" or "Virginia", but the Americans have something to oppose to "Ash", but what will we defend against "Virginia", to me, honestly speaking, it is not entirely clear.
The alignment is so-so. 170 American "Orions" though not the first freshness, but a figure … Plus, there are still almost 80 pieces of "Vikings", carrier-based anti-submarine aircraft. In general, it is also not a fountain, but a little more optimistic than ours.
Well, almost 400 anti-submarine "Sea hawks" from the "Sikorsky" company - there is nothing to say at all. A helicopter is much more dangerous to a submarine than an airplane.
Plus, American planes and helicopters can be easily assembled into one fist and tightly close any area of the world's oceans. What does not shine for us from the word "absolutely". Unfortunately, we are not even in the position of catching up here, we, perhaps, have lagged behind forever.
Well, and the inability to produce anti-submarine aircraft and helicopters themselves. No, perhaps we can, but for some reason we do not produce. Probably, there are more serious goals, such as forums, international demonstration competitions, where the winner is known in advance, and similar nuclear destroyers.
In such unpleasant conditions, the right solution would be to build large numbers of modern, small, but multifunctional ships that could fight enemy submarines and cover the exit from their bases.
Strange, but we have such a project. He initially had and still has a number of shortcomings, but the ship looks quite good with them too. Yes, we are talking about ships of project 20380. The ships are really not without flaws, but there is potential, and most importantly, what is imputed to them in terms of weaknesses.
The main flaw in the project is considered the impossibility of launching missile strikes on the coast and equipping with "Caliber". Therefore, they promptly made project 20385, in which these "Calibers" are already there.
You know, here is a complete feeling according to the commandment "do not make yourself an idol." It is impossible to place the "Caliber" - that's it, you have to go to the landfill.
In reality, the light has already converged like a wedge on these "Calibers" … The whole world will be victorious only due to the fact that every pontoon will be able to launch them.
But if you look seriously, without caliber hysteria, then 22380 is a very successful and (most importantly) not very expensive replacement for the Albatrosses. The ship simply asks for the PLO niche, since it is initially stuffed with literally everything that is needed so that the enemy's submariners do not have a headache.
If you look closely at the combat set in 22380, it is, of course, much cooler than that of 1124. But this is natural, there are 30 years between the ships.
It is clear that today we are most likely unable to develop a new project of the MPK type 1124 in a short time. But it would be nice, because something like the BOD of Project 1155 does not shine at all, and it is doubtful that we really need ships of the far ocean zone to solve the above tasks.
This is where 22380/22385 would come in handy. They could easily take over the duties of the BOD and close the hole in the anti-submarine defense in the slightest degree.
Why "could"? Yes, because for this they need to be built in sufficient quantities. And today both series of corvettes 22380 and 22385 seem to be finished, and such ships will no longer be laid.
And instead of them? And instead of them, the issue of the scandalous project 20386, which is more in displacement, much more expensive in money and frankly weaker in armament, has not yet been removed from the agenda.
Much has already been said about the nonsense called "project 20386", I will not repeat myself. The main thing on this topic is that at a cost greater than that of the project 20380 and 20385 corvettes, it does not have radical advantages over them as an anti-submarine ship, and the 20385 corvette is also inferior in weapons.
Yes, and if it did not yield - with the location of our fleets, completely incapable of working together, it is necessary to have as many ships as possible capable of operating against enemy submarines. And for this they should be as cheap as possible, not more expensive.
Especially annoying is the fact that even potentially anti-submarine corvettes are not being ordered from us now. Yes, the last ships of projects 22380 and 22385 were laid down in 2016, and that's it, silence.
Meanwhile, the topic is serious. Who, excuse me, will guard / protect from submarines not at night the said "Storm"? A Leader-type coffin? Which is more in displacement than "Peter the Great"?
God forbid …
But the question of who will guard our submarine missile carriers at the entrance and exit is the question. Yes, we have them. Yes, they are good and dangerous ships. But who said that generals and admirals gathered in mental hospitals are working against us? No, there are also pros sitting there. And it is unlikely that they will continue to sit and wait until our "Ash" and "Borei" come out to strike positions and launch everything that is.
On the contrary, they will be torn to pieces to prevent it from doing so.
In conclusion, here's what happened. If we put aside all the variants of huge and useless troughs such as a nuclear aircraft carrier, nuclear cruiser and nuclear destroyer, it would be much more useful to finally master the production of diesel engines and turbines for ships of a smaller class.
I understand that today a shipborne gas turbine plant is something of a fantasy for us, but … You can't push a reactor everywhere. Like Caliber.
Our submarine strategic forces definitely need cover to ensure the normal performance of tasks by nuclear submarines. And these are not aircraft carriers and cruisers that can serve as targets for enemy submarines, these are anti-submarine ships that can nullify all the efforts of a potential enemy's submarine forces in any area of our zone of control.
As a result - fewer stupid projects, more business projects! I would like to hear the bell, not the funeral bell in our fleet.
