Greenpeace activists attack oil platforms using diesel-powered ships.
Why are the brave defenders of ecology not using sails and other "clean" sources of energy - what they call everyone else to? Greenpeace will never answer this question, otherwise the end of the global organization of greens will come.
The wind is a weak and unreliable ally, changing its intensity and direction unpredictably. Due to the restrictions on the choice of routes, even when using the free energy of nature, sailing windjammers completely lost the race to the first imperfect steamers. Sailing ships could not use the Suez and Panama Canals. They stood for days at the entrances to harbors and estuaries, waiting for the help of steam tugs.
"Windjammers" (literally "wind squeezers") - the crown of the evolution of ships of the sailing era. Huge (w / and up to 10 thousand tons) steel sailboats of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. with perfected rigging, controlled by steam and electric winches.
* * *
The last combat operation with the use of a sailboat took place in 1917, when the German Seeadler broke through the blockade and staged a pogrom on communications in the Atlantic. In 244 days of raiding, the Sea Eagle traveled 30 thousand miles, destroyed 3 steamers and 11 sailing ships. Having rounded Cape Horn and safely escaping from the British pursuers, the Seeadler accidentally crashed on the reefs of Maupihaa Atoll.
Another combat episode with the use of a sail took place in 1942, when the Soviet "Pike" blown up by a mine sailed for 13 hours along the enemy's coast. The explosion tore off both propellers, Shch-421 lost its speed and the ability to dive. At the suggestion of the assistant commander Lieutenant Commander A. M. Kautsky, a sail was sewn from two covers for diesel engines and stretched over the periscopes. This allowed the boat to hold out at sea until the arrival of help, without being carried to the German-occupied shore.
However, this case refers to force majeure and has little to do with the conversation about sailing warships.
Modern ships do not need the help of the trade winds. What do the gusts of wind mean against the backdrop of the mighty GEM, drawing hundreds of megawatts of energy from internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors? Today, 100 years after the feats of the Seeadler, sails have remained the lot of desperate romantics and athletes.
Here one could put an end to it, if not for one curious circumstance.
The modern fleet has one task, for the solution of which a sailing ship might be perfect.
Two killers with weapons with a silencer in a dark room.
This is how ANTI-WATER DEFENSE looks from the outside.
The main provisions of the problem:
Item number 1. The combat stability of the submarine is ensured by its secrecy and ambiguity of the aquatic environment.
Hence - the furious desire of designers to reduce acoustic signature. Multilevel shock absorption and noise and vibration isolation, active vibration compensators, sound-absorbing rubber coating on the outer surface of the hull and other ingenious devices designed to protect the boat from detection by the enemy.
Item number 2. Despite the presence of PLO aircraft and helicopters, the main and most effective means for searching for submarines is a ship with a subkeeping sonar and a towed low-frequency antenna (optionally lowered to different depths of the GAS).
Unlike radar buoys and HAS towed helicopters, shipborne sonar allows you to search for boats in rough seas, in storms and other adverse weather conditions that are present at sea a little less often than always. The ship's SAC is more powerful than any RSL (the effective detection range in active mode can reach a couple of tens of miles), while it has better sensitivity and resolution. And, most importantly, the ship's SAC is directly related to anti-submarine weapons (about this - the next paragraph).
All this makes the surface ship the main enemy of the modern submarine.
Racing faster / deeper is useless here. The discovered submarine will certainly be destroyed. The main thing is not to waste time and to take appropriate measures while the boat is in contact.
In order not to waste time, a rocket torpedo was invented. In short - a rocket equipped with a warhead in the form of a homing torpedo. Allows you to destroy detected submarines at a distance of several tens of kilometers. Flight time is a matter of minutes. Not a single, even the fastest boat (project 705 "Lira" - up to 40 knots!) Will not get away from such a weapon (cruising speed - 900 km / h!).
For a guaranteed defeat, you will have to shoot in a burst (volley). Typical ammunition load of domestic cruisers and BOD is ten PLUR "Waterfall", fired from conventional 533 mm TA.
Epic launch of RPK-6M "Waterfall"
The projectile falls into the water in order to soar up in a second and, fluffing its fiery tail, rush over the horizon. In the target area, a warhead will separate from the carrier in the form of a small-sized UMGT-1 torpedo (speed - 41 knots, cruising range - 8 km, depth - up to 500 m). The torpedo will splash down on a parachute and start searching, descending in a spiral to a depth.
Moreover, the UGMT-1 is not yet the coolest of the small-sized torpedoes (examples are the European MU-90, the Korean Blue Shark, etc.).
As the reader correctly guessed, the anti-submarine ship does not need to run after the submarine. His weapon will catch up and destroy any target. The main thing is to establish contact. But this is always a problem.
Divers are aware of the impending danger and will do everything to avoid meeting the hunter. Thanks to its design, the malevolent fish is equipped with even more sophisticated sonar surveillance tools. In addition to a giant spherical (hemispherical) antenna that occupies the entire nose, a modern submarine can carry a dozen more conformal (in the form of sensors along the entire length of the hull) and towed antennas.
One of the most advanced submarines, the British Astute, is equipped with the Sonar 2076 SJC, which consists of 13,000 individual hydrophones. According to the statement of its creators, it is able to hear the noise of the propellers of a large ship at a distance of three thousand miles. And then, using digital signal processing, to establish the approximate appearance of the target. In other words, the boat, without leaving the base, can track the liner "Queen Mary 2" along the entire route from Liverpool to New York.
It does not sound too fantastic, considering that the submarine of the hydroacoustic patrol (GAD OPO pr. 958 "Afalina") created during the Soviet Union could, according to calculations, detect the noise of ship propellers at a distance of 600-800 kilometers.
But what happens if the ship has no propellers?
Sailing hunter
“Death will descend upon you on soft wings…” The sounds of the sailing ship will merge with the natural noise of the ocean, while its own hydroacoustic means, having lost harmful vibrations when the engine is running, will gain even greater sensitivity.
Patrolling in specified areas of the world's oceans, such a “regatta” will ruin the life of all divers in the world.
Among the advantages of "sailing hunters":
- a radical increase in combat effectiveness within the framework of the PLO mission. They hear you - you don't;
- the minimum cost of operation. Free wind energy!
The disadvantages are known:
- low operational speed, in comparison with any modern ship (on average 5 … 10 knots). However, he still has nowhere to rush;
- problem with maneuvering when entering the port. Solved by installing an auxiliary engine (diesel). Such an environmentally friendly unit will come in handy at transitions between patrol areas and, if necessary, will allow you to develop a speed of up to 20 knots. It is curious that the Seeadler mentioned at the beginning of the article also had an auxiliary steam engine;
- narrow specialization, the need for special training for sailors who have never seen sails.
Approximate appearance of the "sailing hunter":
Displacement ~ two to three thousand tons.
Corresponds to the class "corvette", while the "hunter" has an order of magnitude greater autonomy, due to the absence of the need for frequent replenishment of fuel supplies.
Crew ~ 30 people.
Power supply - compact diesel generator. The only source of noise on board, in an insulated compartment with multi-layer noise and vibration isolation.
Automated spars and rigging to control the sails at the click of a computer keyboard.
Auxiliary diesel engine (16D49 or similar).
A modern hydroacoustic complex with antennae, towed and lowered to different depths.
Main armament: PLUR complex.
Optionally: small torpedoes (“Package-NK”), self-defense systems (ZRAK “Broadsword” / “Falanx”), universal artillery (“Bofors” Mk.57), etc.
Navigation radar, satellite communications, search and sighting infrared system SAGEM VAMPIR NG.
Optionally - an electronic reconnaissance complex for monitoring the ships of the "partners".
Here is such a simple project that can become a storm for all divers in the world.
Of course, the emergence of such a "hunter" will be hindered by inertial thinking in the offices of commanders. As well as a significant number of technical risks in the implementation of such an unusual project.
In fact, the idea of the "hunter" is not new. For the first time, the legend of a sailing anti-submarine ship appeared in the days of the USSR and, quite likely, could reach the stage of calculations in some design bureau.
At the moment, the concept requires a comprehensive analysis for the economic effect and the feasibility of the combat use of "sailing yachts". Perhaps a much more efficient way will be the construction of 100 modern anti-submarine aircraft and UAVs (like the Poseidon and RQ-4C Triton).
And yet, promoting this idea, the author sees many advantages, but does not see serious technical difficulties that prevent the construction of a sailing submarine hunter.
