During the tests, the KSShch missile sunk many more warships than any other anti-ship missile in the world.
On a clear sunny day on September 9, 1943, the Italian squadron, on the orders of the new government, went from La Spezia to Malta to surrender to the Allies. Ahead - the strongest battleship of the Italian fleet "Roma" with a displacement of 46 thousand tons. Suddenly the signalman noticed barely distinguishable points - aircraft. The clock was 15 hours 33 minutes. Most likely, these are allied aircraft, they thought on the battleship. But even if they are German, then from such a height it is possible to hit the ship with a bomb only by accident. But exactly eight minutes later, a large bomb hit the battleship's deck, which pierced the ship through and through, but, luckily for the Italians, exploded already in the water under the bottom. Ten minutes later, a second bomb pierced the deck and exploded inside the ship. A bow 381mm three-gun turret weighing 1400 tons flew up into the air, spinning. The battleship broke in half and disappeared under water. 1253 people died along with the ship. The third bomb hit the battleship "Italia", which miraculously managed to stay afloat.
Bomb with engine
How did the Germans manage to get into the Italian battleships from a height of 6 km? The Italians experienced the effects of the world's first radio-controlled bombs, or, as their creators called, air torpedoes. Even during the tests, begun in May 1940, the Germans found out that the dropped bomb was beginning to lag behind the carrier aircraft and it was becoming difficult for the gunner to observe it. In this regard, it was decided to equip the gliding bomb with an outboard liquid-jet engine. This is how the world's first guided anti-ship missiles Hs 293 and Hs 294 appeared. The most advanced and effective was the Hs 294. The launch weight of the Hs 294 rocket was 2175 kg. The aerodynamic design of the rocket is a normal aircraft design. The missile drop height is 5.4 km, the flight range is up to 14 km. The highlight of the rocket was that it did not hit the surface, but the underwater part of the ship, which, as the experience of both world wars showed, was the most vulnerable.
The Hs 294 was controlled so that about 30-40 m before the target ship, the rocket entered the water at a slight angle and moved there horizontally at a shallow depth at a speed of 230-240 km / h. When the rocket touched the water, the wings, the rear of the fuselage and the engines were separated, and the warhead (warhead) moved under water and hit the side of the enemy ship.
Winged agricultural machinery
At the end of the war, several samples of the Hs 293 and Hs 294 became trophies of the Red Army. In 1947, KB2 of the Ministry of Agricultural Machinery was engaged in their revision. No, this is not a misprint, indeed, guided cruise missiles (then they were called projectile aircraft) were in charge of the Minister of Agricultural Engineering. On the basis of Hs 293 and Hs 294, work began on the RAMT-1400 "Shchuka" jet aircraft naval torpedo. However, it was not possible to bring the Shchuka airborne option. Instead, in 1954, work began on the creation of a shipborne version of the "Shchuka", which received the name KSShch - shipborne projectile "Shchuka", which was equipped with a radar homing head (GOS). The firing range was determined by the capabilities of the carrier ship's radar. The seeker captured the target at a distance of 20-25 km, its search sector was 150 to the right and to the left.
The start of the KSShch was carried out using a powder accelerator, which, after working out 1, 3 s, was dropped. An AM-5A aircraft turbojet engine with a thrust of 2.0-2.6 tons was used as a cruise engine. This engine was used on Yak-25 fighters, and it was supposed to put out-of-date engines from airplanes on the rocket.
Flying freak
Tupolev himself wished to inspect the first sample of the Pike rocket. For a long time he walked around the rocket in silence, and then said: “This work has little resemblance to a rocket. It's an aerodynamic freak. " The designers have bowed their heads. Everyone was waiting for the master to say something else. And he said, “Yes. Freak. But it will fly!"
The first launch of the KSShch at the Peschanaya Balka test site near Feodosia took place on July 24, 1956. The rocket, according to the plan, was supposed to shoot 15 km, but, having risen to an altitude of 1180 m, it flew in a straight line for 60, 15 km. In total, by the end of the year, seven more launches of the KSShch were carried out, of which four were recognized as satisfactory.
Simultaneously with the tests in an atmosphere of absolute secrecy at the 61 Communards Shipyard in Nikolaev, an urgent equipping of the 56-EM "Bedovy" lead destroyer under construction with an SM-59 launcher and seven missiles was carried out. Later, they began building a Project 57 destroyer with two launchers.
The first launch of Shchuka from Bedovoy took place on February 2, 1957 in the Feodosia region near Cape Chauda. The first pancake came out lumpy: after the start, the KSSH gained an altitude of 7580 m, the starting engine was still working, but the rocket had already started to fall onto the left wing. It became clear that the autopilot roll channel was not functioning. When the starting engine separated from the rocket, it began to tilt to the left even more, turned upside down and fell into the water 2, 2 km from the ship in the 16th second of flight. During the second launch on February 15, 1957, the KSShch flew 53.5 km and fell into the sea. There was no target, as in the first launch.
The launching accelerator PRD-19M and the warhead of the KSShch cruise missile. Brief TTD
According to their
Later, the hulls of the unfinished leader "Yerevan" and the German landing barge BSN-20 were used as targets. Both targets were equipped with corner reflectors raised above the deck on a special farm with a height of 6 m (both targets imitated in their reflectivity an American light cruiser of the Cleveland type), a surface net along the entire length of the deck on masts with a height of 69.5 m and an underwater net along the entire length of the target to a depth of 10 m.
In total, 20 launches were made at the targets. On August 30, 1957, the KSSH got on board the "Yerevan". Despite the fact that the warhead of the missile was inert, a hole of 2.0 x 2.2 m was formed in the side, and the leader quickly sank.
On September 6, the rocket was fired at a radio-controlled boat sailing at a 30-knot speed off Cape Chauda. A direct hit was achieved, the boat fell apart in two and sank.
At the beginning of November, tests of KSShch missiles were moved to the Balaklava area, where the citadel (central part) of the unfinished heavy cruiser Stalingrad was used as a target. Prior to that, artillery and torpedo firing was conducted on the Stalingrad compartment, and the aviation was practicing all types of bombing. During the shooting, the team did not leave the target. It was believed that the armor of "Stalingrad" (side - 230-260 mm, deck - 140-170 mm) will reliably protect the crew. On December 27, 1957, the rocket, having flown 23, 75 km, hit the side of the "Stalingrad". As a result, a figure-eight hole appeared in the board, with a total area of 55 m2.
On October 29, 1957, a funny incident occurred during the launch of the 16th rocket during state tests. The KSShch rocket, instead of darting along the rail, began to slowly crawl and after some seconds fell overboard. No one noticed that the rocket jumped into the sea without a starting motor.
The heart-rending cry of the watchman brought everyone out of their stupor: “Polundra! A bomb is falling on the ship! " Everyone's heads went up. Indeed, the ship was falling … but not a bomb, but a starting engine. It seemed that he was really about to crash into the destroyer. People rushed to take cover. Fortunately, everything worked out: the starting engine, rotating strongly around its longitudinal axis, fell into the sea 35 m from the nasal cheekbone of "Bedovy".
Can-opener
Interesting is the shooting in 1961 of the destroyer "Gnevny" at the destroyer "Boyky" - the first target ship that retained all the superstructures, artillery mounts and torpedo tubes. At the same time, the "Boyky" was not put on the barrels and from the drift constantly changed its position.
At the moment of launch, the rocket and the target were in the same diametrical plane. The missile hit the target at the joint between the deck and the side, at the base of the stern flag post. The result was a ricochet, and the rocket went along the center line of the ship above the deck, sweeping away everything in its path. At first, these were the stern gun turrets, then the superstructures with the rangefinder post located on them, then the stern torpedo tube. Everything was swept overboard, right down to the forecastle.
Further, the rocket entered along the forecastle, cutting it like a can opener, and got stuck in the area of the bow 130-mm gun. At the same time, the dockmast fell on one side, and the bridge with the control tower and another 130-mm cannon - on the other. If the flight of the rocket had not been filmed, no one would have believed that this could be done with a ship with one rocket, and even with an inert warhead.
No less impressive was the shooting in June 1961 at the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov. Shooting from a distance of 68 km was conducted by the "Prosorny" rocket ship. The rocket hit the side of the cruiser and formed a hole in the form of an inverted figure eight, with an area of about 15 m2. Most of the hole was made by the main engine, and the smaller part was made by the warhead in inert equipment. This hole alone was not enough. The rocket pierced the cruiser from side to side and left the starboard side of the cruiser just under the foremast. The exit hole was an almost circular hole with an area of about 8 m2, while the bottom cut of the hole was 30-35 cm below the waterline, and while the rescue ships reached the cruiser, it managed to take about 1600 tons of seawater. In addition, remnants of kerosene from the tanks of the rocket spilled over the cruiser, and from this a fire broke out, which was extinguished for about 12 hours. The cruiser prepared for decommissioning did not have anything wooden on board, but the fire literally raged - iron was burning, although it is difficult to imagine.
The entire Black Sea Fleet fought for the life of the cruiser. With great difficulty, "Admiral Nakhimov" was rescued and taken to Sevastopol.
Champion
The KSSH became the first ship-to-ship missile in the world. The missile was not exported, and therefore it was not able to take part in local wars. But during the tests, it sank many more warships than any other anti-ship missile in the world.
The last KSShch missile launches took place in 1971 in the Kerch region from the Elusive missile ship. The ship fired five missiles, which were supposed to be intercepted by the newest Shtorm air defense system. KSSCh missiles flew at an altitude of about 60 m, and none of them was shot down.
