A target ship, according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, is a target ship, a ship or a ship specially equipped for conducting artillery fire, missile and torpedo firing at them. Control of the target vessel is carried out, as a rule, by radio or by simple towing. According to other interpretations, a target ship is a specially built vessel for the support of the Navy's combat training, which is used for practical launches of cruise (anti-ship or anti-submarine) missiles, artillery and torpedo firing, and bombing. It is the last definition that accurately describes the heroes of this material, because the target is often the honestly serving their days of warships, and specialized target ships were originally created for shameless execution. In addition, you will not be enough for all the firing of the ships that have served.
Large targets from the Soviet legacy
Project 1784 target ships, designed back in the USSR, were the largest ships of this specialization. Oddly enough, but these ships have shown themselves to be very tenacious. So, SM-178 and SM-294, despite the fact that they were built back in the 70s, are still successfully used in the Black Sea Fleet. The targets of the 1784 project were repeatedly modified, and in total, up to 40 units of such equipment were produced. Project 1784, as well as 1784B and 1784M were built in Vladivostok ("Dalzavod" named after the 50th anniversary of the USSR), Tallinn, the village of Zhovtnevoe, Nikolaev and other shipyards of the USSR. These ships had the following performance characteristics:
- displacement - from 900 to 932 tons;
- length - 106, 3 meters;
- width - 14 meters;
- draft - 1, 8 meters;
- the engine is a non-self-propelled vessel.
It is curious that one of the largest target ships of Project 1784, which Ukraine got during the division of the fleet, was cut into metal in the year of the "revolution", i.e. coup of 2014. These events coincided somewhat symbolically …
Small targets
The younger brother of the Project 1784 target ships are Project 455 Small Ship Shields (MSC). They are steel uninhabited catamarans. This design improves stability. These are vessels of increased unsinkability. The hull is divided into multiple watertight compartments and the freeboard is kept to a minimum.
On the deck, a net is stretched between the vertical masts. At the top of each mast of the ship's shield, special corner radar reflectors are installed for the greatest radar visibility of such a small target. This allows you to practice targeting ship missiles and test artillery firing radars. On the deck, there are special thermal emitters to conduct training firing at a small shield with anti-ship missiles via the infrared channel (IR channel).
The effectiveness of the shooting is recorded by the gaps of the net stretched between the masts, as well as by video and photographic equipment. In this case, the small shield is used both in a stationary state and in dynamics, i.e. when the shield is towing another vessel at a safe distance.
Small shields have the following performance characteristics:
- displacement - 53 tons;
- length - 22 meters;
- width - 6, 6 meters;
- draft - 1.5 meters;
- the engine is a non-self-propelled vessel.
Modern target ships
Some of the largest target vessels produced in modern Russia are the Project 436bis vessels from the 436th project family, which includes 436BA and 436BR. They are being built at the "Sokolskaya Shipyard", which is in the village. Sokolskoye at the Gorky reservoir, and at the "Shipbuilding plant named after October Revolution "in Blagoveshchensk. These ships are, in fact, an enlarged copy of small shields from the Soviet period. As well as small shields, the vessels of the 436bis project are catamarans with a steel hull with numerous watertight compartments.
On the deck, as expected, there are vertical masts with a net stretched between them. It is on this reticle that aimed shooting is carried out during firing practice. Also, 11 corner reflectors are installed on the tops of the masts. All other equipment is not much different from the little brothers.
Large target vessels of project 436bis have the following performance characteristics:
- displacement - 142 tons;
- length - 68 meters;
- width - 8 meters;
- draft - 1, 3 meters;
- the engine is a non-self-propelled vessel.
Rubber crafts instead of steel
We should also mention the target ships of our "sworn friends", that is, the Americans. The list of American targets is extensive. The US Navy uses the following equipment as targets: full-scale targets (i.e. decommissioned ships), specially built target vessels, high-speed target simulators, towed and self-propelled shields, buoy fields for artillery fire and inflatable sea targets.
It is worth paying attention to inflatable targets, which, of course, are much cheaper than our solid steel catamarans. Inflatable targets, similar to buoys, are equipped with corner reflectors and fixing equipment. The range of American "rubber" doublers is very wide.
One of the most interesting US targets is the “killer tomato,” a typical BUSHIPS target. When assembled, this target is placed in a small suitcase, and after assembly it is a kind of a target balloon of a somewhat cubic shape with sides of 4, 2 m. The "Killer Tomato", thus, imitates small vessels for carrying out artillery and rocket firing.
Of course, inflatable target models are also being developed in Russia, but this mainly concerns models of sea mines. So, in 2017, the Ministry of Defense planned to purchase over 60 inflatable mines for Kronstadt and Kaspiysk in order to train personnel to defeat drifting surface objects from small arms and high-precision weapons. It is worth pointing out that in September 2019, the Caspian Flotilla successfully conducted firing practice at targets simulating sea mines.
