The submarine is a sea thunderstorm
Steel eyes under the black cap.
Military secret: There are two types of ships. Submarines and targets. So it was, so it is, and it will always be so - the submarines have too much secrecy. And their combat capabilities are too great in comparison with any of their surface opponents.
You can rely on these guys! Lusitania, Wilhelm Gustloff and the cruiser Edinburgh with a cargo of gold … They chalked up the biggest victory in the history of the fleet (aircraft carrier Sinano, 70 thousand tons). At night, scratching the bottom with a keel, we crawled along the narrow straits of Scapa Flow and staged a pogrom at the main base of the British fleet (raid U-47 of Gunther Prien, sinking of the battleship Royal Oak). Conducted a training torpedo attack on the cruiser Des Moines with the US President on board (the daring C-360 campaign, 1959). And on another occasion, 13 hours went under the bottom of the aircraft carrier "Enterprise", and remained unnoticed by the AUG escort ships.
They could dive into the sea depths for a kilometer ("the elusive Mike" - the experimental titanium submarine K-278 "Komsomolets"). Make transitions from the Northern Fleet to Kamchatka around Cape Horn, without a single ascent to the surface (52-day group cruise K-116 and K-133, 1966). Or to conduct a covert deployment of an entire division of nuclear submarines off the coast of the enemy (Operation Atrina, 1987) …
Our "probable enemy" did not sleep either:
The British nuclear submarine "Conquerror" cut off the GAS antenna behind the stern of the Soviet anti-submarine ship and melted without a trace with prey in the ocean (Operation Waitress).
American submariners stole samples of the latest mines from the demonstration exercises of the USSR Navy in the strait between Vladivostok and about. Russian (now we know the name of the "hero" - the special operations submarine of the US Navy "Greyback"). Later, the Greyback will steal two thermonuclear bombs from the Tu-95 that crashed in the Sea of Okhotsk before our rescuers can reach it (Operation Blue Sun, 1976).
These are the wonders of the "living dead" locked in their "steel coffins"!
Glorious debut - the sinking of three British cruisers (Hawk, Albukir and Kreissy) by the German kerosene-electric submarine U-9 under the command of Otto Weddigen on September 22, 1914. The U-9 crew consisted of 25 people. The British lost 1,459 men in that battle.
The presented diagram shows the distribution of losses of the Japanese fleet from the actions of American submarines, carrier and base aircraft, mines placed, surface artillery ships and random factors. Having seen this illustration, the reader will certainly change his perception of the course of battles in the Pacific theater of operations, traditionally presented in the form of "aircraft carrier duels". 200 submarines of the US Navy staged a nightmare massacre, killing half of the warships and practically the entire merchant fleet of the enemy, depriving him of all will and ability to resist.
A terrible mystical story is associated with the cruiser Indianapolis (sunk on July 30, 1945 by the submarine I-58). The Japanese were only four days late - the cruiser managed to deliver the components of the nuclear device to Tinian. Now the city of Nagasaki was doomed.
Boat Museum "Kavela". In the very first military campaign, the little girl managed to "crash" the heavy aircraft carrier "Shokaku" and 1272 members of its crew. Revenge for Pearl Harbor!
"Cocoon". Such a thing with a radioisotope power source was caught from the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk. Now this legend has already lost its secrecy: the submarines "Khalibat", "Parche" and "SeaWolf" have been listening to the communication cable between the Pacific Fleet headquarters and Krasheninnikov Bay (the base of our strategic missile carriers) for ten years. "Burned" by accident, crushing the cable by the hull of the boat. Later, a similar device was raised from the bottom of the White Sea.
K-276 "Kostroma" after a collision with the American submarine "Baton Rouge" (Barents Sea, 1992). It is not so much the fact of the collision that worries us - the Soviet titanium monster crushed the "American", completely incapacitating her. But how did a foreign nuclear submarine calmly walk right under the nose of the entire Northern Fleet, remaining unnoticed until the very moment of collision with our submarine?
T-shirts of the crew members of the Dutch submarine "Valrus". At the international exercises JTFEX-99, the baby tore to shreds the 12th AUG of the US Navy, having photographed close to 9 ships (the aircraft carrier "T. Roosevelt" and its escort), while remaining undetected. Unbelievable, but true - in a real battle this would mean the loss of a pair of ships of the "invincible AUG" from the actions of a modest "diesel man". The Yankees admitted defeat, urgently accepted the DESI initiative (countering diesel-electric submarines, of which there are 300+ units in the world), leased the Swedish nuclear submarine Gotland for two years and spent thousands of hours trying to figure out "how they do it." Alas, as the results of the latest NATO exercises showed, the Yankees did not understand anything. Too much stealth in modern non-nuclear submarines with anaerobic engines.
May the reader forgive me for such a long prelude to the rating of the most amazing ships. But the fact is the fact - boats really "burn" and dominate the vastness of the ocean!
3rd place - "Nautilus"
"Underway on nuclear power!" (we go to nuclear energy). Historical radio communications from the Nautilus have forever changed the face of the submarine fleet, making it truly "underwater".
This ship has accomplished many amazing feats. He could not float to the surface for months, demonstrating a level of stealth and duration of the underwater course unattainable for ordinary "diesel engines". On August 3, 1958, the navigator handed a note to the commander of the "Nautilus": coordinates 90 ° N. NS. The Nautilus was the first ship to reach the North Pole.
Otherwise, like all experimental ships, the Nautilus turned out to be a complete trash. Small, noisy, and more dangerous to its crew than to the enemy. The hull vibrated so that the hydroacoustics ceased to hear anything already at 4 nodes.
But the main thing is its great legacy: by now, the family of nuclear-powered ships in the world has grown to more than 500 pieces! Despite this, only six states have nuclear submarine fleets - Russia, the USA, Great Britain, France, India and China.
2nd place - U-bot of the VII series
Blue-black scalpel, which the Germans used to "chick" their opponents. The set includes 703 sharpened blades, ready at any moment to enter through the flesh and cut all important arteries, dooming the enemy to a painful death.
The Kriegsmarine submariners did not have nuclear reactors and side-scan sonars. Only a primitive sound direction finder and a gyrocompass showing where is the north under this damn water. Nevertheless, the results of the meetings with the U-bots were shocking - 123 sunk warships and 2,770 allied transports. "Packs of wolves" nearly gnawed at the British Empire.
The first year and a half of the war, without encountering organized resistance, the boats achieved phenomenal scores (40: 1). With the introduction of the convoy system and the strengthening of the anti-aircraft defense, the "fat years" came to an end - the ratio of victories and losses became 10: 1 in favor of the Kriegsmarine. But the real turning point occurred in 1943 - the Allies, using the industrial power of the United States, were able to deploy ten anti-submarine ships and aircraft for each German boat. New weapons, new tactics and means of detection … To maintain their positions, the Germans should immediately put into the ocean a new generation of equipment - series XXII and XXIII electric robots. But Germany, bogged down in the east, was unable to give an adequate answer in time. Outdated "sevens" were still going into battle - with fired Bold simulators, Flaige radar detectors and Tsaunkyonig homing torpedoes. They no longer had a chance. Germany lost the Battle of the Atlantic.
What was the main achievement of the German "sevens"? In addition to the rational design, the strongest hull (the working depth of submersion is 220 meters - twice that of any other boat of that time) and the abundance of ingenious devices (from the encryption "Enigma" to the towed trap "Aphrodite"), these babies have proved in practice what a danger represents the submarine fleet. And what colossal resources the enemy must spend in order to neutralize the underwater threat!
1st place - strategic missile submarine cruisers
The most destructive and deadly ships in naval history. Their combat capabilities allow them to easily burn out life on all continents, plunging the world into the darkness of an endless night.
Fortunately, they have not yet had time to shake the world. Dangerous toys in the hands of fate, they silently write out "eights" in the cold depths, "holding at gunpoint" cities on the other side of the Earth.
In fact, the very decision to place nuclear weapons on board the submarines speaks volumes. Even the Yankees, who traditionally rely on invincible aircraft carrier groups (full control over the sea and air), did not dare to entrust ballistic missiles to the AUG, choosing single boats as the carrier of nuclear weapons. Despite all the dangers that lie in wait, SSBNs have the most chances to survive and complete the assigned task.
Which of them deserves first place in the ranking of the top 10 ships?
Launch of the R-11FM SLBM from the B-67, September 1955
Diesel-electric submarine of the Northern Fleet B-67, which carried out the world's first ballistic missile launch from a submarine?
Zhora Washington is the first truly combat-ready submarine missile carrier, which shaped all subsequent SSBNs / SSBNs in all countries of the world. And his arsenal of 16 Polaris missiles launched from a submerged position, which have revolutionized the field of naval strategic nuclear forces.
Missile carrier K-407 "Novomoskovsk" (project 667BDRM "Dolphin"), which has set a military-technical record that has never been broken. Salvo firing with all ammunition with minimal intervals between missile launches. Sixteen 40-ton "blanks" - like a machine gun! (Operation "Begemot-2", 1991).
A series of 14 Ohio-class boats with 24 missile silos for Trident / Trident-2 missiles. Power, technical excellence and the highest level of reliability. 30 years in military service! One and a half hundred successful launches. The coefficient of operational stress is 0.8 - boats spent most of their life at sea.
Finally, the ultimatum submarines of pr. 941 "Akula". The largest submarine ever built - with five rugged hulls, two nuclear reactors and 19 compartments. The ammunition load was matched - twenty 90-ton solid-propellant SLBMs R-39. Our worthy answer is "Ohio"!
The only common problem of all "city killers" is that until now there has not been created any reliable and effective communication system with boats going deep. Submariners risk accidentally "missing" the Day of Judgment and save life on planet Earth, despite the desperate orders of the commanders-in-chief and politicians who have sentenced the world to a nuclear disaster.
Shark anchor
