Judge the sins of others. You strive so hard, start with your own and you won't get to strangers.
- W. Shakespeare
The Iron Curtain collapsed, and the established Age of Glasnost allowed millions of Soviet citizens to learn many new and shocking secrets associated with the history of their former country.
For example, the free press found out that the Soviet Navy was ruled by completely incompetent and incompetent people. Instead of developing a fleet on the American model (with an emphasis on aircraft carrier strike groups), the marasmatics from the Soviet General Staff began to look for "asymmetric answers", spending tens of billions of people's rubles on the construction of expensive but ineffective submarines, cruisers and supersonic missile carriers.
Against 14 American "Nimitz", "Kitty Hawks" and "Forrestols", which constituted the combat core of the US Navy in the 1980s, the Soviet Navy fielded an incredibly diverse "squadron" consisting of:
- 15 surface missile cruisers - from the simplest "Grozny" to the incredible atomic "Orlan";
- numerous series of SSGNs: projects 659, 675, 670 "Skat", "assassins of aircraft carriers" pr. 949 and 949A - a total of about 70 submarines with cruise missiles;
- monstrous titanium boats "Anchar", "Lyra", "Fin", "Condor" and "Barracuda";
- dozens of "conventional" multipurpose submarines and diesel-electric submarines;
- missile boats and corvettes (MRK);
- missile-carrying aircraft of the Navy - hundreds of Tu-16, Tu-22M2 and Tu-22M3;
- anti-ship missile systems - from the primitive "Termit" to the fantastic "Granites", "Volcanoes" and "Basalts".
Obviously, this impressive set of weapons had an exorbitant cost, but it was never able to solve the task assigned to it - the problem of effectively countering the American AUG remained in question.
The Soviet system for issuing target designation to missile weapons raises many complaints. American AUGs moved in the ocean at a speed of 700 miles a day - to track down and escort such moving objects was an extremely difficult task. And without quality information about the current location of the AUG, the formidable "aircraft carrier killers" became helpless.
And try to knock it down!
Any reconnaissance aircraft Tu-16R or Tu-95RTs, who ventured to approach the AUG in wartime, will inevitably be shot down by an air patrol many hundreds of miles from the order of the aircraft carrier group. The only acceptable solution is space reconnaissance. The Soviet naval space reconnaissance and target designation system (MKRTs) "Legenda-M" was a real nightmare - every 45 days, the US-A satellite, equipped with a small-sized nuclear reactor and a side-looking radar, burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere, and with it burned out millions of full-fledged Soviet rubles.
The list of comments on the organization of the USSR Navy service usually ends with a statement about the need to build a huge number of airfields for the naval missile-carrying aviation (MRA) of the Navy, reconnaissance aircraft and cover fighters. Again, a lot of costs without any useful return.
Each problem solved opened a series of new difficulties: the leadership of the USSR Navy drove the fleet to a dead end. Having spent insane amounts of money on "asymmetric weapons", the Soviet navy remained an extremely ineffective system, unable to fight on an equal footing with the US Navy.
The result of this dispute can be a simple and logical conclusion: the leadership of the Soviet fleet should have adopted the over-the-top experience and begin the creation of aircraft carrier strike groups modeled on the US Navy. It would have turned out more powerful, more efficient, and most importantly - cheaper (according to the well-known legend, the cost of two Project 949A submarines exceeded the cost of the Kuznetsov aircraft-carrying cruiser).
Or shouldn't it?
Various speculations about the exorbitant cost of the Soviet Navy are broken, like a rock, on a single fact:
The budget of the Soviet Navy was less than the budget of the US Navy.
Expenditures for the USSR Navy in 1989 amounted to 12.08 billion rubles, of which 2,993 million rubles for the purchase of ships and boats and 6,531 million for technical equipment)
- reference book “Soviet Navy. 1990-1991 , Pavlov A. S.
It is planned to allocate $ 30.2 billion for the purchase of weapons and military equipment for the US naval forces, of which $ 8.8 billion will be spent on the purchase of aviation equipment, $ 9.6 billion - warships and auxiliary ships, $ 5.7 billion. - missile weapons, artillery and small arms and torpedoes, 4, 9 billion - other military equipment.
- Foreign military review, No. 9 1989
Even without going into the details of exchange rates (official and real), pricing, the level of corruption and the specifics of the implementation of military programs on both sides of the ocean, the fact remains unchanged: despite its titanium submarines and super-cruisers, the Soviet fleet was several times cheaper!
Actually, on this wave it was possible to finish the story, but the public is interested in the main question: was the Russian Navy in the form in which it was capable of neutralizing aircraft carrier groups in the North Atlantic?
The answer is obvious: YES.
According to calculations carried out on both sides of the ocean, in the event of a war, the submarines and the MRA of the USSR Navy sank the American fleet, while the Soviet sailors and pilots themselves suffered severe losses - after the attack of the AUGs, the MRA of the USSR Navy would actually cease to exist.
Whenever someone tries to write about the confrontation between our and the American fleets, the mantra is necessarily pronounced: "three aviation regiments of missile-carrying bombers were allocated to destroy one AUG!" Usually the mantra is pronounced in an ominous tone, eyes widening frighteningly in order to convince everyone present of the "invulnerability" of the American fleet.
Supersonic bomber-missile carrier Tu-22M3
Although, if you look at it, you cannot do without losses in war. And the destruction of an aircraft carrier, five cruisers, frigates and 50 … 60 units of enemy aircraft in exchange for the loss of one hundred Soviet aircraft (let's take the most pessimistic scenario) is a more than fair exchange.
Or someone seriously hoped that a pair of supersonic Tu-22Ms would be enough to counter the mighty US fleet, on the maintenance and development of which the Yankees spent $ 30 billion a year?
All-seeing eye
Another misconception is associated with the detection of the enemy: it is commonly believed that the ships of the USSR Navy, devoid of high-quality reconnaissance, circled helplessly across the vastness of the World Ocean, like blind kittens. And the Americans? Americans are great! The US Navy has both carrier-based aircraft and AWACS naval aircraft - the E-2C Hawkeye flying radars will instantly detect the enemy, and the deck Hornets will tear apart any surface or air target, preventing it from reaching the AUG closer than 500 miles.
In this case, theory is strongly at odds with practice.
Of course, being in an ideal "spherical vacuum", aircraft from an aircraft carrier must be the first to detect the enemy, and the first to strike. Caught under continuous attacks by carrier-based aircraft, any of the nuclear-powered "Orlans" will die, even before they can reach the range of their missiles.
Supporters of such scenarios usually do not take into account the fact that the Soviet "Eagles" and submarines did not NEED to break through anywhere - Soviet warships were constantly in the most important regions of the World Ocean:
- 5th operational squadron - solving operational and tactical tasks in the Mediterranean Sea;
- 7th OpEsk - Atlantic;
- 8th OpEsk - Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean;
- 10th OpEsk - Pacific Ocean;
- 17th OpEsk - ensuring Soviet interests in the Asia-Pacific region (mainly - the South China Sea and Southeast Asia), the emergence of a squadron is a consequence of the Vietnam War.
The USSR Navy practiced tracking the ships of the "potential enemy" - missile cruisers and submarines were constantly on duty somewhere near the American AUG and NATO warship formations, ready to open fire to kill at point-blank range. In such conditions, carrier-based aircraft lost their main advantage: a longer range. Soviet "Skaty", "Eagles" and "Antei" reliably held the "pistol" at the temple of the American fleet.
Launch of an anti-ship missile of the Vulkan complex with the Moskva missile launch vehicle
It only remains to add that in addition to warships with shock weapons, the naval forces of the United States and NATO were continuously monitored by numerous naval reconnaissance officers of the USSR Navy - large, medium and small communications vessels (SSV), in the amount of more than 100 pieces. Modest ships, outwardly almost indistinguishable from fishing trawlers and dry cargo ships, whose tasks included visual observation of the "probable enemy", electronic reconnaissance and relaying signals. Despite the lack of weapons, the Soviet SSV unceremoniously walked alongside the formidable Nimitz and Ticonderogs, measuring electromagnetic fields and marking the current coordinates of the American connection.
The Soviet submarine wound the secret American TASS antenna on the propeller and lost its speed. SSV-506 "Nakhodka" was the first to come to the rescue. In the background is the USS Peterson. Sargasso Sea, 1983
The Yankees gnashed their teeth in frustration, but it is forbidden to offend the "kids" in peacetime - the security of the SSV was ensured by the military and political might of the Soviet Union. In the event of war, the SSV became pure suicide bombers, but before their death they would have time to contact the strike force and transmit the coordinates of the "elusive" American squadron. Retribution will be brutal.
Handyman
Sometimes the Soviet Navy is criticized for its "one-sidedness" - supposedly the Soviet fleet was focused exclusively on the global nuclear conflict, but was completely useless in solving tactical tasks.
It is worth noting that before the invention of high-precision sea-based cruise missiles, any of the modern fleets played a purely episodic role in local wars - except for the super-large-caliber guns on the four surviving battleships of the US Navy, the fleet could not provide any real help and fire support. In all local conflicts of the twentieth century, the main role was assigned to the ground forces and aviation.
You see! - the supporters of the creation of the AUG will exclaim - the fleet cannot do without aircraft carriers in local wars!
Fans of flying from decks, please do not worry: air is the domain of the Air Force. Deck air wings are too small and weak to cause significant damage even to such a small country as Iraq. Desert Storm, 1991 - Six US Navy aircraft carrier strike forces provided only 17% of the Coalition's sorties. All the main work was carried out by ground-based aviation - on their side were both massiveness and quality superiority, and special equipment for solving complex issues (E-8 J-STARS, RC-135W, stealth aircraft, etc.).
During the bombing of Yugoslavia, the only American aircraft carrier "Roosevelt" pinned down only on the 12th day of the war - without it, 1000 NATO aircraft would certainly not have coped. Libya, 2011 - none of the 10 "Nimitz" even lifted a finger, but the US Air Force "frolicked" enough in the Libyan sky. Comments, as they say, are superfluous. The value of aircraft carriers in local wars tends to zero.
The only significant function of the American fleet in local wars is the delivery to the region of several hundred SLCM "Tomahawk", with the help of which the Yankees "take out" the most difficult and highly protected targets - positions of air defense systems, radars, command centers, air bases, etc. objects.
As for the domestic fleet, it did everything that a normal fleet was supposed to do, with the exception of striking targets in the depths of the coast.
The fleet did an excellent job of escorting ships during the tanker war in the Persian Gulf - that's what, and there were always plenty of destroyers (large anti-submarine ships) in the USSR Navy, more than 100 units.
The fleet was highly regarded in the trawling and clearance operations of the Suez Canal and Chittagong Bay (Bangladesh). Naval sailors ensured the delivery of military and humanitarian aid to the countries of Africa and the Middle East, simultaneously being a clear demonstration of the military power of the USSR. The ships took part in suppressing the coup in the Seychelles, rescuing the crew of the American reconnaissance aircraft Alfa-Foxtrot 586, ousting the cruiser Yorktown from Soviet territorial waters. in the right place at the right time.
Soviet KIK (ships of the measuring complex) were regularly on duty at the Kwajalein missile range (Pacific Ocean), observing the trajectories and behavior of the warheads of American ICBMs, they were monitoring launches from foreign cosmodromes - the USSR was aware of all the missile innovations of the "potential enemy".
Anti-submarine cruiser "Leningrad"
The USSR Navy was responsible for assistance within the framework of the Soviet space program - the ships were more than once involved in the search and evacuation of spacecraft that splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
The Russian fleet did not have bulky and monstrously expensive helicopter docks like the American "Wasp" and "Taravam". But the USSR Navy had 153 large and medium landing ships, trained marines, as well as 14 old artillery cruisers and 17 destroyers with automated 130 mm guns for fire support. With the help of these means, the Soviet fleet could easily carry out a precision landing operation in any corner of the Earth.
This is such a "one-sidedness" …
The Soviet Navy was run by literate people who perfectly understood their goals and objectives: despite its smaller budget, the Russian Navy could adequately resist even the mighty American fleet - the ships performed tasks anywhere in the World Ocean, protecting the interests of their Motherland.
Landing of Soviet marines on the island of Nokra (Ethiopia)
Soon there will be a permanent logistics center for the USSR Navy.
Main caliber
