On November 1, 1926, a special technical bureau No. 4 (Techbureau) was created at the Baltic shipyard to prepare working drawings for the head submarine. It was headed by engineer B. M. Malinin.
After graduating from the shipbuilding department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1914, B. M. Malinin worked in the diving department of the Baltic Shipyard, where he supervised the repair of submarines of small displacement ("Catfish" and "Pike"), completed the construction according to the drawings of I. G. Bubnov Submarines of the Bars and Kasatka type, and in the 1920s he headed this department.
In terms of the depth of knowledge of the design and construction technology of pre-revolutionary submarines, engineer B. M. Malinin had no equal in the country.
In 1924, he developed a draft design for a two-hull, seven-compartment torpedo submarine with a displacement of 755 tons. Its armament consisted of three bow, six traverse torpedo tubes, a full ammunition - 18 torpedoes, two anti-aircraft guns of 100 mm and 76 mm caliber.
Although the project suffered from many serious flaws, it at the same time testified to the maturity of the design thought of its author.
In addition to B. M. Malinin, the Technical Bureau included E. E. Kruger (graduated from the Polytechnic Institute, participated in the First World War, and from 1921 he was in charge of the submarine repair shop at the Baltic plant) and A. N. Scheglov (graduated The Naval Engineering School, after special training at the UOPP in Libau, served before the war as a mechanical engineer on the submarines of the BF and the Black Sea Fleet, was appointed to the diving department of the Baltic Shipyard, and in 1924 began at NTKM to develop a draft design of an underwater mine layer.
Designers-draftsmen A. I. Korovitsyn, A. S. Troshenkov, F. Z. Fedorov and A. K. Shlyupkin worked along with the engineers of the Technical Bureau.
B. M. Malinin wrote that a small team of the Technical Bureau (of 7 people) had to simultaneously solve three problems, closely related to each other:
- to conduct the development and construction of submarines, the type of which we had until that time was unknown;
- To create and immediately practically use the theory of submarines, which did not exist in the USSR;
- To educate the personnel of submariners in the design process.
A week before the laying of the first Soviet submarines in the Technical Bureau, on the recommendation of Professor P. F. Papkovich, engineer S. A. Basilevsky was received. He just graduated from the shipbuilding department of the Polytechnic Institute in 1925 and worked as a senior engineer of the USSR Maritime Register on drawing up rules for the construction of ships.
The workers of the Technical Bureau were given one seemingly modest task - to create a ship no less combat-ready than modern submarines of the largest capitalist states.
The USSR Navy Directorate created a special commission to oversee the development of design and technical documentation and the construction of submarines (Kompad Mortekhupr).
A. P. Shershov, a prominent specialist in matters of military shipbuilding, was appointed its chairman. The work of the commission was attended by the head of the diving department Mortekhupra L. A. Beletsky, sailors-specialists A. M. Krasnitsky, P. I. Serdyuk, G. M. Simanovich, later - N. V. Alekseev, A. A. Antinin, G. F. Bolotov, K. L. Grigaitis, T. I. Gushlevsky, K. F. Ignatiev, V. F. Kritsky, J. Y. Peterson.
K. F. Terletsky, a former submarine officer of the Baltic Fleet, a very energetic and active organizer, was appointed the main builder and responsible deliverer of the submarine.
The commissioning mechanic was G. M. Trusov, who participated in the First World War on the submarines "Lamprey", "Vepr", "Tour" and was promoted from machine non-commissioned officers to second lieutenants in the Admiralty. During the "Ice Pass" he was elected chairman of the ship committee of the submarine "Tur", then served as a senior mechanical engineer of the underwater minelayer "Rabochy" (formerly "Ruff"). He was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the KBF.
The duties of the commissioning captain were assigned to A. G. Shishkin, the former assistant commander of the Panther submarine.
In the choice of optimal solutions regarding the general layout and equipment of the project with weapons, mechanisms and equipment, the operational and technical commission of the fleet provided significant assistance to the employees of the Technical Bureau. It was headed by A. N. Garsoev and A. N. Zarubin. The commission included A. N. Bakhtin, A. Z. Kaplanovsky, N. A. Petrov, M. A. Rudnitsky, Y. S. Soldatov.
By February 1927, it was possible to prepare a set of "stowage" drawings: a sketch of the general arrangement, a theoretical drawing and drawings of the middle part of the submarine hull without bulkheads, tanks, superstructures and extremities.
The official laying of the firstborn of the Soviet submarine shipbuilding took place at the Baltic Shipyard on March 5, 1927..
On the fast diving tanks of the submarine "Dekabrist", "Narodovolets" and "Krasnogvardeets", "embedded" boards were laid (silver plates with the text of BM Malinin and the silhouette of the submarine).
40 days later, on April 14, 1927, 3 submarines for the Black Sea Fleet were laid down in Nikolaev. They were given the names "Revolutionary", "Spartak" and "Jacobin".
Their construction was supervised by the head of the Diving Bureau of the Nikolaev plant G. M. Sinitsyn; B. M. Voroshilin, the former commander of the submarine "Tigr" (BF), "Political worker" ("AG-26", Black Sea Fleet), was appointed the commissioning captain, and then - the commander of a separate division of the Black Sea Fleet submarine.
The construction was supervised by representatives of the Navy (Nikolaevsky Komnab) A. A. Esin, V. I. Korenchenko, I. K. Parsadanov, V. I. Pershin, A. M. Redkin, V. V. Filippov, A. G. Khmelnitsky and others.
Submarines of the "Decembrist" type had a double hull, riveted construction. In addition to a robust hull capable of withstanding the outboard water pressure when submerged at extreme diving depths, they had a second, so-called lightweight hull, completely enclosing the rugged hull.
The robust hermetically sealed body consisted of a casing and a kit. The casing was a hull shell and was made of steel sheets. For the Dekabrist-class submarine, high-quality steel was allocated, which was used before the revolution for the construction of Izmail-class battlecruisers and Svetlana-class light cruisers.
All sheets of thick plating of a durable hull were made by hot punching according to spatial templates. A set of a strong hull consisted of frames and served to ensure the stability of the skin, giving the entire structure sufficient rigidity. The ends of the shell of the strong hull were end bulkheads, and the transverse bulkheads divided its internal volume into compartments.
The robust hull was divided into 7 compartments by six steel spherical bulkheads. For communication between the compartments in the bulkheads, there were round manholes with a diameter of 800 mm with doors quickly closing using a rack wedge device.
The light body with smooth streamlined contours also had a skin with reinforcing ribs: transverse - frames and longitudinal - stringers, which are the roofs of ballast tanks. Its fore and aft permeable extremities have been sharpened to reduce wave drag.
The space between the strong and light hulls (inter-board space) was divided by transverse bulkheads into 6 pairs of main ballast tanks.
In the submerged position, they were filled with water and communicated with the outboard environment through kingstones (valves of a special design). The Kingstones (one for each tank) were located in the lower part of the light hull along the center plane of the submarine. They ensured the simultaneous filling of the tanks of both sides. During immersion, water entered the tanks through ventilation valves installed on the longitudinal stringers of the lightweight hull above the waterline.
When the submarine was sailing in a submerged position, the kingstones of all the main ballast tanks were open, and the ventilation valves were closed. To ascend from the underwater to the surface position, the water ballast was removed (blown through) from the tanks with compressed air. The strength of the light hull was supposed to ensure the navigation of the Dekabrist-type submarine in severe stormy conditions and even in ice conditions.
BM Malinin himself dealt with issues of speed, maneuverability and strength. A. N. Scheglov was entrusted with calculations of the strength of a light hull, internal tanks and partitions, as well as buoyancy and stability in the surface and submerged position, the design of the propeller shaft, steering, pinion and periscope devices - E. E. Kruger, immersion and ascent systems, pipelines of general ship systems, as well as calculations of unsinkability and strength of spherical bulkheads - S. A. Basilevsky.
The development of electrical equipment was undertaken by the electrical engineering bureau of the Baltic plant, headed by A. Ya. Barsukov.
In May 1927, engineer P. Z. Golosovsky, who graduated from the Moscow State Technical University named after V. I. Bauman in aircraft-building specialty. Young employees who were also not previously associated with submarine shipbuilding joined in the work - A. V. Zaichenko, V. A. Mikhayolov, I. M. Fedorov.
Soon Technical Bureau No. 4 was divided into 4 sectors, which were headed by A. N. Scheglov (corps), E. E. Krueger (mechanical), S. A. Basilevsky (systems sector) and P. P. Bolshedvorsky (electrical).
Almost all calculations for the Decembrist-type submarine were of a dual nature: on the one hand, they used the exact methods of the surface ship's structural mechanics, on the other hand, approximate refinements to these methods, trying to take into account the peculiarities of the submarine.
Among the structures specific to submarines and absent on surface ships, first of all, should be attributed to the spherical bulkheads of a strong hull. It was possible to calculate the main panel of the bulkhead for strength under a load from the side of the concavity of 9 atm and on the stability of the shape on the side of the convexity. The design pressure on the bulkhead from the side of the convexity was taken to be no more than 50% of the same pressure from the side of the concavity.
We had to re-create the methodology for most of the buoyancy and stability calculations. The buoyancy reserve of the submarine of the "Decembrist" type was 45.5%. The buoyancy margin is equal to the watertight volume of the ship located above the structural waterline. The submarine's buoyancy corresponds to the amount of water that must be taken into the tanks in order for the submarine to submerge. In the submerged position, the submarine's buoyancy is zero, in the surface position - the difference between the underwater and surface displacement. For submarines on the surface, the buoyancy margin is usually in the range of 15 - 45%.
The following circumstances were taken as the basis for choosing the location of the transverse bulkheads on the Dekabrist-type submarine.
The submarine had two compartments: bow and diesel, the length of which was determined by the equipment in them.
The bow section housed the TA breech, service devices and spare torpedoes. In diesel - diesel engines, friction clutches on the propeller shaft line and control stations.
All other compartments allowed a reduction in length within a fairly wide range. Therefore, it was these two compartments that had to limit the required buoyancy reserve. It was adopted by analogy with the strength calculations equal to two times the volume of the largest of the compartments (i.e., without taking into account the volume of machinery and equipment in the compartment).
Consequently, the remaining compartments could be smaller.
At the same time, it was required to keep the number of bulkheads within reasonable limits, since the displacement of the submarine depended on their total mass. The main requirements were for a shelter compartment (survivability compartment).
He had to have the necessary devices to control general ship immersion and ascent systems, drainage (drainage) systems, as well as for the exit of personnel to the surface. With spherical bulkheads, the strength of which is not the same from different sides, the only compartment that is separated from both adjacent compartments by bulkheads convex in its direction can be a refuge.
On the submarine of the "Decembrist" type, the central post (CP) was chosen as a refuge compartment, in which the main and reserve command posts (GKP and ZKP) were located. The legitimacy of this decision was explained by the fact that, firstly, the largest number of means of damage control was concentrated in the central control center (blowing water ballast, draining, control of the submarine, sluicing, etc.), and secondly, it was one of the shortest and therefore the least vulnerable, since the probability of flooding of any compartment is approximately proportional to its length, thirdly, it concentrated the command personnel most prepared to fight to save the damaged submarine of its crew. Therefore, both solid bulkheads of the CPU were turned by a bulge inward. However, spare posts for blowing the main ballast with high pressure air were also provided in the end compartments.
Of all the difficulties encountered by the designers, the problem of sinking and surfacing turned out to be the greatest. On submarines of the "Bars" type, water ballast during immersion was taken with the help of electric pumps for at least 3 minutes, which after the First World War was already considered unacceptably long. Therefore, the method for calculating the filling of the main ballast tanks by gravity for the submarine of the "Decembrist" type was created anew. The design of the immersion system was guided only by the laws of hydraulics.
The inter-hull tanks were divided along the diametrical plane by a solid vertical keel without facilitating cutouts. But at the same time, to simplify the system, one common kingston was installed for each pair of side tanks, cut into the vertical keel and not providing the density of their separation either in the open or in the closed state. The ventilation pipes of each pair of such tanks were also interconnected in the superstructure and equipped with one common valve.
For the ventilation valves, pneumatic drives were used as the simplest and most reliable, and the kingstones were controlled by roller drives brought to the level of the living deck in those compartments where the kingston itself was installed. The position of all Kingston plates and ventilation valves was monitored from the CPU using electrical sensors and lamp indicators. To further increase the reliability of immersion systems, all ventilation valves were equipped with redundant manual drives.
The instructions for submersion and ascent were based on a firm principle: take the main ballast only at the same time in all tanks. In this case, the center of gravity of the received ballast water remains all the time in the lowest possible position. And this provides the greatest stability of the weight, which was the only thing to be reckoned with at this time.
For immersion, the main ballast was taken in two end ones. 6 pairs of inter-board and one middle (15 in total (tanks. The latter was also located in the inter-board space, but in its lower part, near the midship), and was distinguished by a smaller volume and increased strength. The idea of this device was borrowed from the "Bars" type submarine, where the "tear-off keel" of the submarines of earlier designs was thus replaced.
An innovation was the use of a fast immersion tank. Filled with water in advance, it imparted negative buoyancy to the submarine, which significantly reduced the transition time from surface to submerged position. When the submarine reached the periscope depth, this tank was blown through and the submarine acquired normal buoyancy, close to zero. While the Bars-class submarine required at least 3 minutes to transition from the surface to the underwater one, the Decembrist-class submarine needed 30 seconds for this.
The submarine of the "Decembrist" type had 2 deck (superstructure) tanks intended for navigation in positional position.
They were very useful on Bars-class submarines with their slow process of filling the main ballast tanks with centrifugal pumps. Urgent immersion from the positional position in the presence of deck tanks required much less time, but with the transition to receiving the main ballast by gravity, the need for these tanks disappeared. On submarines of subsequent types (except for submarines of the "Malyutka" type of the VI series), deck tanks were abandoned.
Compressed air plays a special role on the submarine. It is practically the only means for blowing the main ballast tanks in a submerged position. It is known that on the surface of one cube. m of compressed air, compressed to 100 atm, can be blown about 100 tons of water, while at a depth of 100 m - only about 10 tons. For various purposes, the submarine uses compressed air of various pressures. Blowing out the main ballast water, especially during an emergency ascent, requires high-pressure air. At the same time, for the purposes of trimming, for the system of mechanical agitation of the electrolyte in the battery cells and for normal ascent, a lower air pressure can be used.
On the submarine of the "Decembrist" type, each of the two blowing systems (high and low pressure) had a line with branches, one for 2 tanks. Air bypass to the other side was provided only through the ventilation pipes. For a more even distribution of air along the sides, the outlet non-return valves of the left and right sides alternated in a checkerboard pattern. In addition, they were equipped with restrictive washers, with the help of which it was possible to achieve almost the same duration of blowing all tanks along the length of the submarine. Separate ventilation valves on the sides were installed only on the pipes of tanks No. 3 and No. 4 in the area of the solid cabin, which prevented the connection of tanks between the drills, the second valves of the same tanks were not separated. All these decisions were made by the designers of the "Decembrist" type submarine quite deliberately, and were not the result of any mistakes, although a similar point of view was often expressed later.
The analysis of the concept of submarine immersion at a particular depth and the duration of its stay there made it possible to introduce the concept of "working" and "limiting" immersion depth. It was assumed that the submarine will be at the maximum depth only in cases of extreme necessity and for the shortest time, at the smallest speed or without a stroke, and in any case without trim.
At the working depth, it must be provided with complete freedom of maneuvering for an unlimited time. Although with some limitation of the trim angles.
Submarine "Dekabrist" was the first domestic submarine, designed for a maximum immersion depth of 90 m.
The firstborn of the Soviet submarine building could not become a warship that would meet the requirements of the time without modern equipment.
At the same time, it was impossible to go beyond the predetermined weight loads. Therefore, the number of sump pumps was halved, the lead-lined main cables were replaced with vulcanized ones, one main transverse bulkhead was replaced with a lighter one, the speed of ship fans was increased 1.5 times, etc.
As a result, the calculated displacement of the submarine "Decembrist" coincided with the primary, design, and by the beginning of the construction of the subsequent series of submarines in a matter of years and the technology of manufacturing lighter mechanisms in terms of mass characteristics was mastered by our industry.
The disadvantage of a submarine of the "Decembrist" type should be considered the placement of the main supply of fuel outside a solid body ("fuel" in overload "). Of the total fuel supply of about 128 tons, only 39 tons were inside the strong hull, the remaining 89 tons were housed in four onboard ballast tanks No. 5, 6, 7, 8. This made it possible to increase the cruising range at the surface economic speed in comparison with the submarine type " Bars "3, 6 times. But the Second World War showed that such a placement of fuel often led to the loss of submarine stealth due to a violation of the density of the seams of the light hull plating at close explosions of depth charges or aerial bombs or artillery shells.
It was possible to ensure the specified autonomy of navigation of the submarine of the "Decembrist" type in terms of fuel in 28 days.
A fundamentally new system, which had never been used anywhere in the domestic submarine building, was the air regeneration system for the internal premises of the "Decembrist" submarine - removing excess carbon dioxide and replenishing the loss of oxygen in the air, i.e. maintaining a favorable concentration of the air mixture in the submarine. The need for this system arose in connection with the requirement to increase the duration of continuous stay under water up to three days instead of one day at the Bars-class submarine.
The air regeneration system maintained the autonomy of all compartments. It provided the possibility of continuous submarine stay under water for 72 hours
At the request of the operational-technical commission of the Navy, much attention was paid to the conditions for servicing the battery. Unlike the Bars-type submarines, the battery pits were made sealed, and the elements in them were placed in 6 rows with a longitudinal passage in the middle. The tightness of the pits ensured the protection of the batteries from seawater entering the submarine (above the deck flooring), which could cause a short circuit and the release of a suffocating gas - chlorine. The height of the premises was sufficient for the passage of a person and the maintenance of all elements. This required a significant expansion and increase in the height of the accumulator pits, which worsened the habitability of the residential and office premises located above them and caused difficulties in the placement of some mechanisms, drives and pipelines.
In addition, the increase in the center of gravity somewhat affected the stability of the submarine - their metacentric height in the above-water position turned out to be about 30 cm.
The solution to the problem of the main mechanisms for submarines of the "Decembrist" type, which arose even during the design of the first submarines of IG Bubnov, was far from being an easy matter. before the revolution. The limited volume of internal rooms, especially in height, made it difficult to use engines of the desired power on them.
Engines for the Bars-class submarines were ordered in Germany, but with the outbreak of the First World War, their delivery to Russia was interrupted. It was necessary to use diesel engines 5 times less powerful, removed from gunboats of the Amur flotilla, which led to a decrease in surface speed to 11 knots instead of the projected 18.
However, the mass construction of more powerful engines for submarines in tsarist Russia was never organized.
After the revolution, it became impossible to buy engines specially designed for submarines abroad. At the same time, it turned out that the German company MAN, which had been fulfilling orders for the Russian fleet for the manufacture of diesel engines before the First World War, was engaged in the construction of diesel locomotives, for which it had adapted diesel engines previously intended for submarines. In the early 1920s, it supplied several of these engines for the first Soviet E - El - 2 diesel locomotives. These engines could develop up to 1200 hp. at 450 rpm. Within one hour. Their long-term operation was guaranteed with a power of 1100 hp. and 525 rpm. It was them that it was decided to use for the submarine of the "Decembrist" type.
However, this compromise solution was to a certain extent a step back: the Bars-type submarine project provided for 2 x 1320 hp engines, although the displacement of these submarines was almost 1.5 times less than the Dekabrist-type submarine.
But there was no other way out. I had to go to lower the surface speed by about one knot.
In 1926 - 1927. Russian industry has created an irreversible compressor diesel engine for the submarine brand "42 - B - 6" with a capacity of 1100 hp. Long-term tests have confirmed its reliability and economy. These diesels went into mass production and were then installed two at a time on subsequent submarines of the I series. They provided them with a surface speed of 14.6 knots..
The decrease in speed was also influenced by the fact that the propellers installed on the "Decembrist" -type submarines were not optimal, because they were not selected empirically, as was previously practiced during the construction of each warship.
High underwater speed at that time was not considered one of the main tactical elements of submarines, therefore, when designing submarines of the "Decembrist" type, the main attention was paid to increasing the cruising range of submarine economic speed.
For this, special electric motors were created with two armatures of different capacities (525 hp and 25 hp for economic motion). The battery was divided into 4 groups with the possibility of their serial or parallel connection.
In each group of the storage battery there were 60 lead cells of the "DK" brand, the nominal voltage on the busbars of the main station could presumably vary from 120 V to 480 V. However, the upper limit of these stresses had to be abandoned very soon, since the industry has not yet been able to guarantee the strength of electrical insulation in conditions of high humidity in the interior. Therefore, the battery groups of the battery on the submarine of the "Decembrist" type were connected in series only in pairs, the upper voltage limit was reduced to 240 V. The low-power armatures of both electric motors of the economic stroke could switch from parallel to serial connection, which led to a decrease in the voltage on their brushes to 60 volts while maintaining the full voltage in the field windings.
In this mode, an underwater speed of 2.9 knots was achieved within 52 hours. This corresponded to a completely unprecedented scuba diving range of 150 miles!
Submarines of the "Decembrist" type could pass this speed under water, without surfacing, the distance from the Luga Bay to the exit to the Baltic Sea, i.e. being in its operating zone, it could virtually control the entire Gulf of Finland.
The main rowing electric motors of the submarine type "Decembrist" made it possible to develop an underwater speed of about 9 knots for two hours. This met the requirements of that time, but was achieved only after long and hard work to improve the contours of the protruding part of the hull.
The main weapons of the Decembrist-class submarines were torpedoes. After the First World War 1914-1918. the length of torpedoes in all fleets of the world has increased by 1.5 times, the caliber has increased by 20%, and the mass of the warhead has increased by 3 times!
By the beginning of the construction of the submarine of the "Decembrist" type, there were no such torpedoes in the USSR, they began to be designed simultaneously with the submarine. It should be noted that these torpedoes did not exist by the end of the construction of the Decembrist-class submarines, which floated for a long time with grates in torpedo tubes, which made it possible to use 450 mm torpedoes for firing practice.
The creation of a new torpedo of 533 mm caliber turned out to be a longer process than the design and construction of a submarine. Simultaneously with the submarine and the torpedo, V. A. Skvortsov and I. M. Ioffe also designed torpedo tubes. Particular difficulties arose in the development of a device for recharging them in a submerged position. Those places where it was most convenient to place such a device was required for the installation of steering and capstan motors with their drives.
The artillery armament of the "Decembrist" submarine initially consisted of two 100-mm guns mounted on the superstructure deck in closed fairing shields that closed the smooth contours of the wheelhouse enclosure. But the discussion of the project in the operational-technical commission led to the conclusion that it was necessary to raise the bow gun above the deck in order to prevent it from being flooded with a wave. In this regard, it was necessary to abandon the stern gun of the same caliber so that the submarine did not lose stability in the surface position. This made it possible to install a bow gun, fenced by a bulwark, at the level of the navigating bridge. Instead of a 100-mm stern gun, a 45-mm semi-automatic anti-aircraft gun was installed.
During the overhaul and modernization of the "Dekabrist" type submarine in 1938 - 1941. The 100-mm gun, which hindered the already narrow bridge and made it difficult to see, especially when mooring, was re-installed on the superstructure deck. This somewhat reduced the range of rolling and increased the stability of the submarine. At the same time, the configuration of the cabin was changed.
The steering gear of the submarine type "Decembrist", providing maneuvering of the submarine, consisted of one vertical rudder and two pairs of horizontal rudders. Electric and manual drives were used to shift the rudders.
The control of the electric drive of the vertical rudder was carried out by regulating the excitation of the servo generator, which was driven into rotation at a constant speed from a DC electric motor paired with it. Its manual drive had 3 control stations: on the bridge, in the CPU and in the aft compartment. All of them were connected to each other by roller drives and worked on a differential clutch common with an electric drive. This clutch created the independence of the manual drive from the electric one and made it possible to switch from one control system to another without any switching.
The axis of the rudder stock was tilted 7 degrees forward. It was believed that when shifted on board, it will perform the work of horizontal rudders, helping to keep the submarine from surfacing in circulation. However, these assumptions were not justified and in the future they abandoned the inclined vertical rudder.
The control of the horizontal rudders was only in the CPU and was connected with the end compartments by roller drives. Electric motors and manual steering wheels were installed in the CPU, and here they were switched using cam clutches.
Nasal horizontal rudders could fold along the side of the superstructure ("roll over") to reduce water resistance at large underwater passages and to protect against breakdowns on a steep wave on the surface, when the heaving swing increases. Their "roll-over and roll-off" was carried out from the bow compartment. For this purpose, an electric motor was used, which served the capstan and the windlass of the Hall-type surface anchor.
In addition to the surface anchor on the "Decembrist" -type submarine, an underwater anchor was also provided - a lead, mushroom-shaped, with a cable instead of an anchor chain. But his device turned out to be unsuccessful, which led to a curious situation during testing. When the submarine "Dekabrist" came to anchor at a depth of 30 meters (with a sea depth of 50 meters), the anchor cable slipped off the drum and jammed. The submarine turned out to be "tied2 to the bottom. To break away it needed to overcome the weight of the anchor, the resistance of the soil quickly sucked in the anchor and the weight of the water column, which pressed from above. The mushroom anchor has great holding force and it is not by chance that it is used as a dead anchor to hold floating lighthouses, buoys and other navigational and hydrographic landmarks.”Only after a large bubble was given into the bow cistern, the Dekabrist submarine jumped to the surface, but with such a trim on the bow (40 degrees), which was much higher than the norm permissible at that time. They kept the mushroom anchor on the Decembrist-class submarine, but the submariners preferred not to use it.
For the first time in the world, the submarine of the "Decembrist" type was equipped with a set of rescue equipment, signaling and communication with the emergency submarine, life support and rescue of the crew, means of lifting the submarine to the surface.
After the completion of the design work, the general arrangement of weapons, technical equipment and the deployment of personnel on the Dekabrist-class submarine, which had 7 compartments, was as follows:
The first (bow torpedo) compartment was, as already indicated, the largest in volume. It housed 6 torpedo tubes (in three rows vertically, two in a row horizontally) for 533 mm torpedoes. Each was a cast bronze tube with hermetically sealed front and back covers. The front parts of the torpedo tubes through the end bulkhead of the robust hull exited the compartment into the forward permeable end of the light hull. In it, opposite each torpedo tube, there were niches covered with breakwater shields. Before the torpedo fired, they opened. Actuators were used to open and close the front and rear covers and the wave shield. From the torpedo tube, the torpedo was pushed out by compressed air with the front cover open and the back cover closed.
6 spare torpedoes were stored on the racks. The compartment had a combined torpedo-loading device in the upper part, an electric motor, which ensured the operation of the spire, anchor windlass and bow horizontal rudders, and a provision tank. The first served to compensate for the weight of the spent spare torpedoes and was filled by gravity with seawater from the torpedo tubes or from the side. The bow trim tank, like a similar stern one, was intended for trimming submarines, in which it was able to submerge and freely maneuver under water.
The first compartment also served as living quarters for part of the personnel. This is how one of the commanders of the Decembrist-class submarine describes the bow section: “Most of the submariners were located in the first compartment - the most spacious on the Decembrist-class submarine. It also housed the dining room of the personal crew. The deck of the first compartment was lined with steel plates with soles boots and boots had worn to a shine. A light layer of diesel oil made them dull. This compartment housed 12 of the 14 torpedoes. Six of them were packed in hermetically sealed tubes - torpedo tubes. Prepared in combat, they waited for several short commands to The remaining 6 torpedoes, placed on special racks, three from each side, were waiting for their turn. Due to the thick layer of dark brown grease, they looked very uncomfortable in the living compartment. Despite the fact that the torpedoes were placed one above on the other, they occupied a significant part of the room. increased free space. In the middle of the compartment there was a dining table, on which 3 more submariners slept at night. Dozens of valves of various sizes and many piping completed the decoration of the first compartment."
In the bow of the light hull, an end ballast tank was placed.
In the second compartment, in the lower part of the robust body, in the battery pit (welded structure), there was the first group of the battery of 60 cells, above which the radio room and living quarters were located.
The third compartment housed 2 more groups of batteries, and above them were the living quarters of the command personnel, a galley, a wardroom and ventilation systems with electric fans for forced and natural ventilation of the compartments and battery pits. The inter-board space was occupied by fuel tanks.
The fourth compartment was set aside for the central post, which was the main command post and survivability of the submarine. Here the GKP was equipped - a place where control devices for the submarine, its weapons and technical equipment are concentrated. For the first time in the domestic submarine shipbuilding, a centralized submarine immersion and control system was used.
In the lower part of the compartment there was an equalizing tank and a quick-diving tank. The first served to compensate for the residual buoyancy for static balancing of the submarine at a given depth by receiving or pumping out of the seawater. With the help of the second tank, the minimum time for the submarine to move to a given depth was ensured during an urgent immersion. When sailing at sea in a cruising position, the rapid diving tank was always filled with seawater, while in the submerged position it was always drained. In the lower part of the compartment there was also an artillery cellar (120 shells of 100 mm caliber and 500 shells of 45 mm caliber). In addition, a sump pump and one of the blowers for blowing the main ballast tanks with compressed air during ascent were installed in the compartment. The inter-board space was occupied by the middle tank of the main ballast.
Above the compartment was a solid cylindrical wheelhouse with a diameter of 1.7 m with a spherical roof, which was part of a solid hull. On the Bars-class submarine, the GKP was located in such a cabin. But when designing a submarine of the "Decembrist" type, by the decision of the operational-technical commission, it was moved to the CPU. It was supposed in this way to secure it in the event of an enemy ramming strike. For the same purpose, the wheelhouse was not attached directly to the solid hull, but through a special coaming (vertical sheets that lined the base of the wheelhouse around the perimeter), connected to the strong hull by two rows of rivets.
The very same wheelhouse was attached to the coaming with only one row of the same rivets. In the event of a ramming strike inflicted in the wheelhouse, it was possible to count on the breakage of only a weak rivet seam, which protected the durable hull from violating its watertightness.
The deckhouse had two entrance hatches: the upper one was heavy for access to the navigating bridge and the lower one was for communication with the central post. Thus, if necessary, the wheelhouse could be used as an airlock for personnel to reach the surface. At the same time, it provided a rigid support for the commander and anti-aircraft periscopes (the first for inspecting the horizon, the second for inspecting the air sphere).
The fifth compartment, like the second and third, was a battery compartment. It housed the fourth battery group, surrounded by lube oil tanks (usually called oil tanks). Above the battery pit was the living quarters of the foremen, and on board was a second blower for the submarine's ascent.
In the sixth compartment, internal combustion engines were installed - diesels, which served as the main engines of the surface course. There were also disconnecting couplings of two propeller shafts, lubricating oil tanks, auxiliary mechanisms. In the upper part of the diesel compartment, an access hatch for the engine crew was equipped. Like the rest of the entrance hatches, it had a double lock (top and bottom) and an elongated coaming (shaft) protruding into the compartment, i.e. could serve as a escape hatch for personnel to reach the surface.
All six compartments differed from one another by spherical bulkheads, and the bulkhead between the sixth and seventh compartments was made flat.
The seventh (aft torpedo) compartment housed the main rowing electric motors, which were the main engines of the underwater propulsion, and the economic propulsion motors, which ensured long-term navigation under water at an economic speed, as well as their control stations. In this electromotor compartment, 2 aft torpedo tubes were installed horizontally in a row (without spare torpedoes). They had breakwaters in a lightweight body. In the compartment there were also steering drives and auxiliary mechanisms, a stern trim tank, in the upper part - a combined torpedo loading and entrance hatch.
The second end ballast tank was located at the aft end of the light hull.
On November 3, 1928, the lead submarine of the Dekabrist series I descended from the slipway into the water. The parade platoon of the Diving Training Squad took part in the ceremony. During the completion of the afloat, many mistakes were revealed that were made in the design of the first Soviet submarine, but most of them were corrected in a timely manner.
The running acceptance tests of the "Decembrist" type submarine were carried out by the state commission chaired by the representative of the Standing Commission for testing and acceptance of newly built and overhauled ships Y. K. Zubarev.
During the first test of the submarine "Decembrist" in May 1930, the selection committee was seriously concerned about the heeling that arose during immersion after the opening of the Kingston tanks of the main ballast tanks (with the ventilation valves closed). One of the reasons was the lack of weight control during the construction of submarines, and they were overloaded. As a result, their stability turned out to be underestimated in comparison with the design one, and the negative stability impact on submersion and ascent was significant. Another reason was the gross violation of the instructions for submersion and ascent developed for the Decembrist-type submarine, which required taking the main water ballast into all tanks simultaneously, what ensured the greatest stability of the weight. Meanwhile, when only two pairs of ballast tanks were filled, as was done during mooring tests, the draft of the Decembrist submarine did not reach the level of their roofs (stringers). Consequently, a free surface of water remained in the tanks and its overflow from side to side was inevitable, because the ventilation pipes of both sides with closed valves communicated with each other. The air in the tanks passed from one side to the other in the direction opposite to the direction of the water. The negative stability eventually reached its maximum.
Undoubtedly, this could have been avoided with the participation of its designers in the mooring tests of the submarine "Dekabrist".
But by this time B. M. Malinin, E. E. Kruger and S. A. Basilevsky were repressed on false charges of hostile activity. They had to investigate the reasons for the situation that developed during the tests in an environment that was fundamentally far from creative. However, as B. M. Malinin later noted, as a result, S. A. Basilevsky developed (in a prison cell) the theory of submersion and ascent of one-and-a-half-hull and double-hull submarines, which was his undisputed scientific work.
To eliminate the detected defects (design and construction), longitudinal bulkheads were installed in deck ballast tanks and separate ventilation of the main ballast tanks was introduced. In addition, high-pressure compressors, anchors with a chain were removed, and additional floating volumes (floats) were reinforced. It became clear that there was a need for a regulating damper on the low-pressure air distribution box, the presence of which made it possible to regulate its supply to the tanks of each side, which was required for the submarine to emerge during strong sea waves.
During one of the dives of the submarine "Dekabrist" to a considerable depth, there was a sudden strong blow from below. The submarine lost its buoyancy and lay down on the ground, and at a depth slightly exceeding the limit. After an urgent ascent, it turned out that the kingston of the fast dive tank, which opened inward, was squeezed by the outboard pressure from its saddle. Before that, the empty tank spontaneously filled with water, which burst into the tank under high pressure and, which caused a water hammer. The flaw in the design of the valves of the fast immersion tank was eliminated - in the closed position, they began to be pressed against their seats by water pressure.
On November 18, 1930, a welcoming telegram was received from Moscow: "Revolutionary Military Council of the Baltic Sea Forces. To the Director of Baltvoda. Commander of the Decembrist submarine. Congratulations to the Baltic Sea Sea Forces on the entry into service of the Decembrist submarine, the firstborn of the new Soviet shipbuilding and technology. that in the hands of the revolutionary sailors of the Baltic Sea "Decembrist" will be a formidable weapon against our class enemies and in future battles for socialism will cover its red flag with glory. Chief of the Naval Forces R. Muklevich ".
On October 11 and November 14, 1931, the submarines Narodovolets and Krasnogvardeets were commissioned. The commanders of the first Soviet-built submarines were B. A. Sekunov, M. K. Nazarov and K. N. Griboyedov, mechanical engineers M. I. Matrosov, N. P. Kovalev and K. L. Grigaitis.
As early as the spring of 1930, the command staff of the BF submarine brigade began to study the Decembrist-class submarine. The classes were supervised by the commissioning mechanic G. M. Trusov.
Also in 1931, the submarines "Revolutionary" (January 5), "Spartakovets" (May 17) and "Jacobinets" (June 12) were accepted into the Black Sea Naval Forces. Their crews headed by commanders V. S. Surin, M. V. Lashmanov, N. A. Zhimarinsky, mechanical engineers T. I. Gushlevsky, S. Ya. Kozlov took an active part in the construction of submarines, in the development of mechanisms, systems and devices, D. G. Vodyanitskiy.
The crews of the "Decembrist" class submarine initially consisted of 47 people, and then 53 people.
The creation of the "Decembrist" -type submarine - the first two-hull submarines of riveted design - was a real revolutionary leap in the domestic submarine shipbuilding. Compared with the Bars-class submarines - the last in pre-revolutionary shipbuilding - they had the following advantages:
- the cruising range of the economic surface speed increased by 3, 6 times;
- full surface speed increased by 1, 4 times;
- the cruising range of economic underwater speed has increased by 5, 4 times;
- the working immersion depth increased by 1.5 times;
- the immersion time was reduced by 6 times;
- the buoyancy reserve, which ensures unsinkability, has doubled;
- the total mass of the warhead of the full stock of torpedoes has increased by about 10 times;
- the total mass of the artillery salvo increased 5 times.
Some tactical and technical elements of the Decembrist-class submarine exceeded the design task. For example, he received a submerged speed of not 9, but 9.5 knots; cruising range on the surface at full speed is not 1500, but 2570 miles; cruising range at economic speed on the surface - not 3500, but 8950 miles; underwater - not 110, but 158 miles. On board the submarine of the "Decembrist" type there were 14 torpedoes (not 4, but 6 bow torpedo tubes), 120 shells of 100 mm caliber and 500 shells of 45 mm caliber. The submarine could stay at sea for up to 40 days, its underwater autonomy in terms of the power supply reached three days.
In the fall of 1932, the submarine "Dekabrist" was subjected to special research tests to accurately identify all of its tactical and technical elements. The tests were carried out by a commission chaired by Ya. K. Zubarev, his deputy was A. E, Kuzaev (Mortekhupr), from the shipbuilding industry N. V. Alekseev, V. I. Govorukhin, A. Z. Kaplanovsky, M. A. Rudnitsky, VF Klinsky, VN Peregudov, Ya. Ya. Peterson, PI Serdyuk, GM Trusov and others. SA Basilevsky, who was under arrest, took part in the tests.
The test results confirmed that the submarines of the "Decembrist" type were not inferior to the same type of British and American submarines in their TTE with a lower displacement. The British began in 1927 the construction of a submarine of the Oberon type (1475/2030 t), which had 6 bow and 2 stern TA (14 torpedoes in total) and one 102 mm gun. Their only advantage is the surface speed of 17.5 knots. It is more plausible that the surface speed did not exceed 16 knots (coefficient C = 160.
TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF SUBMARINE TYPE "DEKABRIST"
Displacement - 934 t / 1361 t
Length 76.6 m
Maximum width - 6, 4 m
Surface draft - 3.75 m
Number and power of main engines:
- diesel 2 х 1100 hp
- electric 2 х 525 hp
Full speed 14.6 knots / 9.5 knots
Cruising range at full speed 2570 miles (16.4 knots)
Cruising range at an economic speed of 8950 miles (8, 9 knots)
Underwater 158 miles (2.9 knots)
Autonomy 28 days (then 40)
Working immersion depth 75 m
Maximum immersion depth 90 m
Armament: 6 bow torpedo tubes, 2 aft torpedo tubes
Total ammunition for torpedoes 14
Artillery armament:
1 x 100 mm (120 rounds), 1 x 45 mm (500 rounds)
In September 1934, the submarines were assigned the letters D-1, D-2, D-3, D-4, D-5, D-6. In the same year, submarine D-1 (commander V. P. Karpunin) and submarine D-2 (commander L. M. Reisner) attempted to make a trip to Novaya Zemlya. In the Barents Sea, they were met by a severe storm - "Novaya Zemlya bora". The submarine had to take refuge in the Kola Bay.
In 1935 submarine D-1 visited Belushya Bay on Novaya Zemlya. In 1936, submarines D-1 and D-2, for the first time in the history of diving through the Matochkin Shar Strait, reached the Kara Sea. Returning to the Barents Sea, they visited Russkaya Gavan, located on the northern coast of Novaya Zemlya, on August 22-23.
Then PL-2 and D-3 (commander M. N. Popov) made a high-latitude voyage to Bear Island (Björnö) and the Spitsbergen Bank. After that, the submarine D-2 headed for the Lofoten Islands, located off the western coast of Norway. The hike continued in the midst of a severe storm with a force of up to 9 points. During this autonomous voyage, submarine D-2 covered 5803 miles on the surface and 501 miles under water, submarine D-3 - a total of 3673.7 miles.
In the winter of 1938, the D-3 submarine took part in an expedition to remove from the ice floe the first ever drifting polar station "North Pole", which was headed by ID Papanin. After completing the task, the submarine D-3 returned to base, leaving 2410 miles astern.
November 21, 1938 left the Polar submarine D-1 under the command of Art. Lieutenant M. P. Avgustinovich. For more than 44 days, her autonomous navigation lasted along the route Tsyp-Navolok - about. Vardø - North Cape - about. Bearish - about. Hope (Hepen) - Fr. Mezhdusharsky (Earth) - Kolguev Island - Cape Cannes Nos - Cape Svyatoy Nos - about. Kildin. In total, the submarine covered 4841 miles, of which 1001 miles under water.
In April-May 1939, the submarine D-2 under the command of Art. Lieutenant A. A. Zhukov, providing radio communications for the aircraft V. K. Kokkinaki during its non-stop flight to the United States, left near Iceland from the North Atlantic.
Submarine D-3, which was sequentially commanded by Lieutenant Commander F. V. Konstantinov and Captain 3rd Rank M. A. Bibeyev, sank 8 enemy transports with a total displacement of 28140 brt and damaged one transport (3200 brt). She became the first Red Banner Guards ship in the history of the Soviet Navy.
Submarine D-2 fought in the Baltic. In October 1939, she arrived from the North via the White Sea-Baltic Canal to Leningrad for a major overhaul. The outbreak of war prevented her from returning to the Northern Fleet. In August 1941 she was enrolled in the KBF. She is one of the few Soviet submarines operating in the area of the Baltic Sea Theater farthest from Kronstadt and Leningrad - to the west of Fr. Bornholm. Under the command of Captain 2nd Rank R. V. Lindeberg, the D-2 submarine sank the transports Jacobus Fritzen (4090 brt) and Nina (1731 brt) and for a long time disabled the Deutschland railway ferry (2972 brt) with a torpedo attack, plying between German and Swedish ports.
The crews of the submarine D-4 ("Revolutionary") and D-5 ("Spartakovets") of the Black Sea Fleet, which were successively commanded by Lieutenant Commander I. Ya. Trofimov, achieved remarkable combat successes. 5 transports with a total displacement of 16,157 brt were destroyed, including the Boy Feddersen (6689 brt), the Santa Fe (4627 brt) and the Varna (2141 brt).
A total of 15 sunken ships (49758 brt) and two damaged (6172 brt) enemy transport ships on the combat account of the Decembrist-class submarine
One of the submarines of the "Decembrist" type - "D-2" ("Narodovolets") - served in the Navy for more than half a century. In the post-war period, it was converted into a training station, where the Red Banner Baltic Fleet submariners improved. On May 8, 1969, a memorial plaque was unveiled on it: "The firstborn of Soviet shipbuilding - the submarine Narodovolets D-2 was laid down in 1927 in Leningrad. Commissioned in 1931. From 21933 to 1939, it was part of Northern military flotilla. From 1941 to 1945 she conducted active hostilities against the fascist invaders in the Baltic ".
Submarine D-2, now installed on the banks of the Neva Bay near the Square of Sea Glory on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, is an eternal monument to Soviet designers and engineers, scientists and production workers, heroic Baltic sailors.
