The visit of the French ship became a real "information bomb" that blew up the news space - naval experts, analysts and ordinary people agreed that the Mistral's call to St. Petersburg was timed to coincide with a new round of Russian-French relations. In the near future, the purchase of a French helicopter carrier for the needs of the Russian Navy is expected.
A Mistral for the Russian Navy? How justified is the purchase of a ship of this class? How will French technology take root in Russian conditions? In what conflict is it possible to use a universal amphibious assault helicopter carrier with a dock camera?
Perhaps the meaning of the Mistral deal should be sought deeper? Access to modern Western technologies, which the domestic shipbuilding needs so much. The latest construction materials and unique layout solutions, modular design, unique electronics and new standards for personnel accommodation. Sounds convincing … Or, as always, the interests of the sailors were sacrificed to the goals of Big Politics?
There is still no clear answer - the story with the purchase of the Mistrals has become rich ground for disputes and speculation. Estimates vary from vulgar Russophobic jokes in the style of "Russians, wipe the dirt off your bast shoes, stepping on the deck of a democratic French boat." What would you do without French help? You are not able to build a ship of this level on your own.
According to the opposite opinion, "the admirals bought themselves" foreign cars "worth a billion euros each." Absolutely useless ships - "pink elephants" that do not fit into the concept of using the Russian Navy.
The Ministry of Defense adds fuel to the fire of disputes, periodically making unexpected statements: “domestic diesel fuel is not suitable for French diesels”, “French landing gear will have to be purchased with a French ship - our boats do not fit in the Mistral's docking chamber.
Who would doubt that the ship, created according to NATO standards, is poorly compatible with the infrastructure of the Russian Navy. It will be especially interesting when the Zenit-9 combat information and control system fails at the most crucial moment. If only he would refuse! - overseas electronics are able to "merge" all the information stored in its memory onto the satellite: the squadron's combat order, the number, type and location of ships and aircraft, data on the operation of ship systems, information on combat damage, plans and tasks of the squadron (all this is stored in memory of BIUS).
However, I needlessly exaggerate - wrecking "bookmarks" are extremely rare: there are hardly a few cases in maritime history when foreign technology carried such "surprises". The French are honest and responsible guys who care about their reputation. A good half of the world is armed with French weapons. Nevertheless…
Thousands of publications have already been written about the situation around the Russian Mistrals, and there is no point in starting up another ineffectual but indomitable dispute, repeating hackneyed truths and giving dubious assessments. Today I would like to talk about simpler and more obvious things.
The event that will be discussed took place directly during the visit of the Mistral to St. Petersburg: the French ship successfully "parked" on the embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt - directly opposite the alignment of lines 16-17 of Vasilievsky Island. Here the Frenchman found himself in the company of the Soviet submarine S-189 (diesel-electric submarine pr. 613, floating museum since 2010). The panorama with the Mistral moored and the submarine standing next to it hit all the photo chronicles of the visit of the French helicopter carrier to Russia.
Take a close look at the Mistral, now turn your gaze to the C-189. Back to the Mistral - and to the submarine. I don’t know what emotions this picture will cause in the reader, but every time I look at the helicopter carrier and the diesel, the same thought comes to me: the C-189 is just a splinter against the background of the Pink Elephant. A colossal contrast in size and cost, while the submarine is not as simple as it seems at first glance.
What is Mistral? A huge low-speed "ferry" with a total displacement of 21,000 tons, built according to the standards of civil shipbuilding. Strictly speaking, the "Mistral" is contraindicated in the "smoke of sea battles" - it has neither the proper speed, nor weapons, nor armor protection. Minimal fire contact with the enemy is destructive for a huge ship. The French amphibious assault dock is just a vehicle capable of delivering a battalion of marines along with their equipment and light armored vehicles to the other end of the earth. Fantasies about equipping the Mistral with cruise missiles and the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system look simply ridiculous - the ship is NOT INTENDED for warfare in the sea. The main function of the Mistral is the transportation of equipment and personnel of the armed forces.
What is S-189? Former Soviet diesel-electric submarine of project 613 ("Whiskey", according to NATO classification).
What is Project 613? The most massive series of submarines of the USSR Navy - 215 built ships + 21 more boats were assembled in China from Soviet components. Simple as a bucket, cheap as a Chinese tape recorder and ubiquitous, like air molecules - "Whiskey" has become a real "scourge" of the sea.
Excellent pedigree - the Soviet "Whiskey" was a deep modernization of the German project XXI "Electrobot", the most advanced submarines that were in service with the Kriegsmarine. Surface displacement ~ 1000 tons, underwater ~ 1350 tons. Surface speed 18 knots, submerged - 13 knots. The maximum immersion depth is 200 meters. Autonomy is 30 days. Crew ~ 50 people.
The armament of the boat: 4 bow and 2 aft torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes (standard). Until the mid-50s, 57 and 25 mm anti-aircraft artillery were installed on boats. Since 1960, some of the boats have been equipped with the P-5 anti-ship complex (four cruise missiles in outer containers, a nuclear or conventional warhead weighing 1000 kg).
Look again at the Mistral and the old Soviet submarine. If necessary, a flock of such submarines will deal with the Mistral like a helpless calf. The "Pink Elephant" is completely defenseless against attacks from under the water. Subsequently, even the destruction of 10 enemy submarines will not recoup the loss of the helicopter carrier and the equipment on board, helicopters and hundreds of marines. The submarine is the deadliest and most effective naval weapon (another look at the dimensions of the C-189).
Unlike the Mistral, which poses a threat only to itself, even the smallest and oldest submarine poses a real danger to any enemy surface ship.
"Whiskey" and S-189 - passed the stage. Currently, much more formidable and sophisticated boats of a similar purpose have appeared (non-nuclear submarines with a small displacement - less than 2000 tons): the promising Russian project 677 Lada, Franco-Spanish Scorpene boats, the legendary German Type 209 and Type 212, in service with 14 countries of the world …
If the budget allows, you can make a higher rate - Soviet-Russian diesel-electric submarines "Varshavyanka" (about 2 times larger than "Whiskey-613"), Japanese submarines "Soryu" with an air-independent Stirling engine, etc. invisible sea assassins.
As for my beloved nuclear-powered ships, everything is quite obvious here - the atomic underwater killer has a high cost (comparable to the cost of the Mistral), at the same time, it has absolutely fantastic capabilities. The nuclear submarine is ideal for naval warfare and terrorizing enemy communications.
Ultimate stealth allows the boat to "reach" any sea target and get through to where the usual ships do not enter. The boat is capable of opening fire with cruise missiles at targets in the depths of the continent, conducting covert mining of communications, secretly delivering a special forces group to the enemy coast, providing covert surveillance of the enemy's coast, installing spy equipment in the territorial waters of another state, conducting a bottom survey in search of objects of interest (wreckage of enemy equipment, search for traces of a shipwreck, oceanographic research in the interests of the Navy, etc.). Finally, it is the boats that have been entrusted with the honorable "honor" of being the gravediggers of humanity - a strategic submarine cruiser can destroy life on the entire continent (an exotic and unlikely option, however, such strategic nuclear weapons are deployed only on submarines - a fact that proves the highest secrecy and combat stability of submarines nuclear-powered ships).
The nuclear submarine is capable of operating in any corner of the world's oceans, the inextinguishable flame of a nuclear reactor allows it to move even under the many-meter shell of the Arctic ice and provides the nuclear submarine with complete independence from weather conditions on the ocean surface.
This axiom has been proven more than once by history:
In conditions when the budget and the capabilities of the industry are limited, it is preferable to build boats to inflict maximum damage on the enemy. Nuclear "pikes" with exceptional combat capabilities are of particular value. The boat has no equal in terms of cost / damage.
Sometimes, as evidence of the impotence of the submarine fleet, they cite the example of the "Battle of the Atlantic". 783 German submarines did not return to the bases, 28 thousand sailors were locked in their "steel coffins". Terrible, isn't it?
During the same time, German submarines sank 2,789 ships and ships of the Allies, with a total tonnage of more than 14 MILLION tons !! Allied personnel losses exceeded 60 thousand people.
The pogrom at the Scapa Flow naval base, the overturned attack aircraft carrier "Ark Royal", the exploded battleship "Barham", the cruiser "Edinburgh" with a load of gold - small evil fish "bitten" everyone who met on their way.
And these are flimsy imperfect "pelvis" that spent 90% of the time on the surface! With the complete domination of the Allied aviation in the air, with regular bombing of the bases, with hundreds of anti-submarine ships and frigates thrown to neutralize the "underwater threat" and the decoded Enigma code - even in such unfavorable conditions, the ubiquitous boats continued to sink ships and vessels in batches allies.
Once again about the "Pink Elephant" and submarines
Now it is worth going back to our time and once again taking a look at the ship "Mistral". As noted above, the universal amphibious helicopter dock is nothing more than a vehicle. Ferry. Self-propelled barge for the delivery of expeditionary forces. But what is a Marine battalion? 500 people and several dozen armored personnel carriers - these forces are enough to settle point "colonial" conflicts. Conducting police special operations in third world countries, pacifying the riots of savages in the capital of the next "Zimbabwe". Convenient, comfortable "colonial" ship. Everything. For other tasks, the Mistral is not suitable.
For serious conflicts on foreign shores (invasion of Iraq, etc.), a completely different scale of forces and means is required: hundreds of tank landing ships, ro-ro ships and container ships. Forward airbases and seaports, destroyers and submarines with thousands of tactical cruise missiles, dozens of naval tankers, thousands of armored vehicles and an army numbering a million people (compare this with the capacity of the Mistral's premises) are needed.
Those. the presence of even four (even forty) "Mistrals" does not give any grounds for "global domination" and conducting operations far from home shores - this requires a gigantic fleet of many hundreds of modern warships + a shipping command with its high-speed container ships.
It is quite obvious that with an acute shortage of naval personnel, an attempt to "strengthen" the fleet with the help of Mistral-class amphibious helicopter carriers looks like a misappropriation of funds. The second plausible version is that the interests of the sailors were in tenth place after any foreign policy interests of Russia.
From the point of view of the current economic and geopolitical conditions, it is obvious that the most realistic and effective way to strengthen the domestic fleet is to develop, replenish and modernize the underwater component of the Russian Navy.
A small photo gallery. Mistral
Steel coffin. Submarine S-189
The S-189 boat was launched in 1954. She regularly went on combat patrols, took part in combat training of the fleet and tests of new types of weapons. Until 1988, thousands of sailors, foremen and officers went through a diving school on it. After serving almost 35 years, she was decommissioned in 1990. In 1999, the boat sank right at the pier of the Kupecheskaya harbor in Kronstadt, sinking to the ground due to loss of buoyancy.
In 2005, at the expense of a businessman and former submariner Andrei Artyushin, the S-189 submarine was raised and restored. On March 18, 2010, at the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment in St. Petersburg, a private submarine museum was opened, in which the C-189 plays the role of the main exhibit
The interior of the submarine, in comparison with the Mistral, can cause horror and bewilderment: "Are they rotting alive in a steel coffin here?" Alas, the extremely dense layout is a tribute to the combat capabilities and safety of the boat: the smaller the dimensions (and, therefore, the area of the wetted surface), the less noise the submarine emits when moving. A small boat requires a less powerful (and, therefore, quieter) power plant, smaller sizes provide a decrease in the magnetic field and other unmasking factors. In the end, this is not an entertainment cruise - this ship is made for war, where it is important to complete the task and return safely to their home base. Everything else matters little.
It is worth noting that the S-189 diesel-electric submarine was built 60 years ago - modern submarines have a much higher level of comfort in accommodating personnel.
