Part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the Nevskoye Design Bureau is the oldest organization in Russia engaged in the design of large surface ships. It was here that a series of Project 1143 heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, Project 1123 anti-submarine helicopter carriers, a number of special-purpose ships, and all large landing ships were created.
THE ROLE OF AMBIENT OPERATIONS INCREASES
In the last decade, there has been an increase in the interest of military specialists from many countries of the world in moving from sea to land. This is primarily due to the fact that almost two-thirds of industrial enterprises and more than half of the world's population are concentrated at a distance of no more than 50 km from the coast. The class of universal amphibious assault ships, which was established in the recent past as part of the modern world navies, has now reached a high level of technical development. This makes it possible to solve many combat missions in conditions of regional conflicts and carry out humanitarian operations.
And yet, first of all, landing ships and various landing vehicles are created to solve military problems. The coastal water area, equipped by the enemy with various means of anti-amphibious defense, significantly complicates amphibious operations. In addition, during a naval landing operation, many other obstacles have to be overcome. In this regard, it is necessary to solve more and more complex problems associated with the creation of landing ships and boats. Their design becomes more complicated, the cost of creation and operation increases. The solution of new tasks assigned to them entails the need for the emergence of new structural types of ships.
The amphibious assault operation as a form of military operations developed during the First World War. During the Second World War, a difference appeared - self-propelled military equipment, including armored ones, including heavy tanks, was widely used. This technique required a significant change in the approach and basic principles for the design and construction of amphibious craft.
In the period 1942-1945, the views of specialists and the command of the naval forces on the use of amphibious assault vehicles changed significantly. The accumulated experience demonstrated the need to solve amphibious missions in remote areas. It took the creation of means with a long cruising range. In this regard, in addition to the construction of coastal landing craft, the serial construction of new types of ships and vessels began to unfold.
In the Soviet Union, during the Second World War, landing ships and boats were not built, although during this period more than a hundred landings were landed, in which surface warships of almost all subclasses were used to accommodate advanced detachments. The absence of amphibious ships and boats entailed great difficulties in carrying out the tasks of amphibious assault. The landing party had to wade long distances, fight without artillery and tanks. This led to large losses. In turn, the level of landing losses during the landing battle directly influenced the success of amphibious operations in general.
The Soviet Union ended the Second World War with a significantly weakened Navy, in which there were no specially built landing ships. Former allies, especially the United States, continued to develop their shipbuilding base and, with its help, create a balanced naval force. During the Second World War, the United States gained a lot of experience in the creation of landing ships, ships and boats of various types, which made up a large group that received the universally recognized name "Marine amphibious forces" in reference books and various publications. In Russia they are called "Marine landing forces".
AMERICA IS THE LEADER
In the first post-war decades, the United States delivered various types of amphibious assault ships created during the Second World War to China, Greece, Turkey and other countries. In this regard, the composition of the countries that possessed the means of amphibious landing has expanded significantly.
In the 1950s, for its naval forces, the United States continued to build amphibious assault ships, similar to the subclasses created during the war, but with more advanced basic tactical and technical characteristics. The improvement was mainly related to increasing the speed, primarily of large tank landing ships of the LST type, the construction of which was a priority during these years.
Large amphibious assault ships of the LST type were supposed to ensure the landing of the first airborne echelons at a higher pace. At that time, they were the only type that had the ability to "horizontal cargo handling" during the landing of self-propelled equipment and airborne weapons. This made it possible in a number of cases, under favorable military-geographical conditions, to achieve greater success, since the amphibious military equipment was able to move under its own power from ship to shore along the bow gangway. The amphibious transports and dock ships provided the possibility of expanding the landing bridgehead and strengthening the positions of the landing force disembarked from the LST-type ships, and ultimately ensured the success of the landing of subsequent echelons.
SOVIET EXPERIENCE
The world powers, with the exception of the USA, Great Britain and France, have stopped building large and small landing ships. Military experts had different opinions on this matter. One of the weighty arguments against the creation of such ships and ships was that in the conditions of significantly strengthened anti-amphibious defense means, successful amphibious assault forces were considered unlikely.
This period can be considered the final stage in the creation of naval amphibious, or landing, forces of the military generation. The creation of domestic amphibious assault craft began in the 50s of the last century with the development of project 1785 at TsKB-50 of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry - a self-propelled pontoon with a bow ramp.
The first Russian medium landing ship of special construction was the Project 188 landing ship. The lead ship was built in 1958. Project developer - TsKB-50. The ship of project 188 provided the ability to transport and land five medium tanks and 350 marines with weapons and light equipment on an unequipped shore. Its bow landing device - two-winged gates and a ramp - made it possible to provide access to the water or reception from the water of floating army equipment weighing up to 15 tons. The personnel of the landing force was located in a special room under the tank deck. The wheelhouse, bridge and landing control post were protected by bulletproof armor. To protect against homing torpedoes, a towed guard of the BOKA type was used for the first time on the ship. The artillery armament consisted of two 57 mm mounts. The long full speed of 14 knots was provided by two diesel engines of the 37DR type with a capacity of 4000 hp each. each. The cruising range was 2,000 miles, the autonomy in terms of provisions was 10 days.
It was the largest Russian landing ship of special construction at that time. Its full displacement reached 1460 tons, length - 74.7 m, width - 11.3 m, draft at full displacement - 2.43 m. Serial construction of these ships was carried out at the shipyard in Vyborg. In total, in 1957-1963, 18 ships were built according to this project.
With the arrival of Nikita Khrushchev to the leadership of the country, the development of the Marine landing forces of the Navy slowed down significantly. The concept of building a surface fleet that existed at that time was rejected by him. The artillery ships were scrapped. The construction of surface ships, including landing ships, was reduced, and the development of the Marine Corps completely stopped. The Marine Corps units in the fleets were disbanded in May 1956. This was reflected in the development of landing ships, the creation of which was just beginning.
A different position in understanding this issue was taken by Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Sergei Gorshkov, who since 1956 has been in charge of the Navy and largely determined the direction of building ships and ships both in the second post-war decade and in the future, right up to the mid-80s. years. As a result of the admiral's persistent efforts in the early 60s, the Marine Corps units were recreated in all Russian fleets. An intensive development of landing methods began in various conditions of conducting operations in coastal areas.
In the 60s, in the world practice of shipbuilding, the construction of landing ships and boats continued, the appearance of which was formed on the basis of the experience of the Second World War, but at the same time, in accordance with the new concepts of the use of amphibious forces, their improvement continued. The naval amphibious forces created in the pre-war, war and post-war years in different countries had certain indicators of the effectiveness of amphibious operations. The presence of such forces allowed these countries to solve many transport and landing tasks and reduce the possible losses of troops landing on the enemy's shore. This explains the continuation of the serial construction of such means in the USSR and in other countries until the 70s.
The development of antiamphibious means and the emergence of new means of destruction required a different approach to the manning of amphibious forces with landing ships and boats. This approach began to be implemented in the 60s with the introduction of aircraft weapons on landing ships.
Helicopters were massively and successfully used in hostilities in Vietnam in 1964-1975. Since that time, landing ships and amphibious transports began to be equipped with take-off and landing pads for occasional reception of helicopters. At the same time, the development of ships with an unconventional hull shape and the introduction of new principles of movement began in the world. Research has intensified to analyze the possibility of increasing the speed of amphibious assault craft through the introduction of dynamic principles of maintenance. Serial construction of such ships began in the USSR.
During this period, the United States began to introduce the concept of creating a universal amphibious assault ship capable of replacing all subclasses of large amphibious assault ships in terms of transport and landing tasks. At the beginning of the 60s, in the USSR, in accordance with shipbuilding programs, the creation of landing ships continued, ensuring the solution of tasks to assist the advancing ground forces in coastal areas.
LARGE LANDING
In 1963, TsKB-17, which later became the Nevsky Design Bureau, was transferred from TsKB-50 by the decision of the GKS to design and engineering work on the creation of large landing ships, which later became the second main direction of the bureau's specialization. According to this decision, the chief designer of the Project 1171 tank landing ship Kuzmin was transferred to TsKB-17 with a group of employees who worked with him. During the construction process, the lead ship was reclassified into a large landing I rank. In 1964-1975, 14 large landing ships of project 1171 of four modifications were built. Ships of the "Voronezh Komsomolets" type became the first Russian amphibious assault ships capable of successfully solving missions in the oceanic zone. High seaworthiness ensured safe sailing in all maritime and ocean theaters.
The creation of the lead large landing ship of Project 1171 in 1969 was awarded the State Prize, the laureates of which were Ivan Kuzmin, Nikolai Semenov, Nikolai Maksimov, Yuri Koltsov, employees of the Nevsky Design Bureau, which is now part of the USC, and specialists from the Yantar plant and the customer's organizations are active participants in the design and construction of this ship.
In 1963, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Military Shipbuilding developed a draft tactical and technical assignment for the design of a large amphibious assault ship of a new type, specially adapted for use in the oceanic zone in conditions of long-term combat service. The tactical and technical assignment, approved by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy at the beginning of 1964, provided for the development of two variants of the ship in the draft design - without and with the main dock chamber. The project of the new type was assigned the number 1174.
The new ship was intended for landing equipment as part of the first landing echelon on the coast with a difficult terrain (low slope) of the ground in conditions of enemy opposition. This required the presence on it, in addition to self-defense weapons, also combat means of suppressing individual firing points of enemy anti-amphibious defense on the coast; ensuring an increased (compared to large landing ships of the second echelon) speed, better protection of forces and means of landing at sea crossing, greater survivability and unsinkability, and an improved layout of equipment to reduce the time of its loading and unloading.
When TsKB-17 was completed at the end of October 1964, the development of the draft design 1174, it was decided to change the version of its execution: the version with a dock chamber became the main one. The design of the ship was carried out using the weapons and equipment mastered by the industry with the widespread introduction of mechanization and automation.
In August 1967, based on the results of consideration of the technical project and proposals for it, the Navy and the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry decided to adjust it with an increase in the width of the dock chamber to double the number of pontoons accepted and the possibility of receiving promising hovercraft landing vehicles. In addition, it was planned to strengthen the artillery and aviation weapons through the additional installation of four 30-mm A-213 assault rifles and an increase in the number of Ka-252TB helicopters to four. The revised technical design was approved in May 1968.
The construction of a large landing ship of project 1174 was carried out by the Baltic shipyard "Yantar", which is currently part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. The lead ship of this type, Ivan Rogov, was laid down at the horizontal building site of the new slipway complex in September 1973. The construction technology provided for the maximum reduction in the amount of outfitting work, with an exit to the sea one year after the launch of the ship. After testing, it was handed over to the Navy in June 1978. In terms of the versatility of the solution to the problem of amphibious assault and the uniqueness of the landing complex, the Ivan Rogov ship with a dock camera and helicopter armament had no analogues in the practice of world military shipbuilding at that time. It was the first to introduce the use of air-cushion landing craft, which could leave the dock chamber while the ship was moving.
In 1981, its creation was awarded the State Prize, the laureates of which, along with other active participants in these works, were Chief Designer Boris Pikalkin and Deputy Chief Engineer of the Nevsky Design Bureau Yevgeny Timofeev. Until the end of 1989, the Yantar plant built and handed over to the fleet two serial large amphibious assault ships of this type, with the replacement of individual samples of military and technical means with more modern ones on the latter. "Ivan Rogov" and "Alexander Nikolaev" joined the composition of the landing forces of the Pacific Fleet, and the third large landing ship "Mitrofan Moskalenko" - the composition of the Northern Fleet.
FAILED DEBUT
Large landing ships of project 1174 became the crown of the Soviet period in the development of the amphibious forces of the fleet. Photos courtesy of the author
In 1981, the Navy and the USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry, having considered the proposals of the General Staff of the Armed Forces on draft plans for the construction and design of ships for 1981-1990, decided to include in the design plan the development of technical proposals for a new large amphibious assault ship-helicopter carrier of project 11780. The results of consideration of technical proposals by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, it was found expedient to further develop Project 11780 with the following main TTE: displacement of about 25 thousand tons, landing capacity - a reinforced motorized rifle battalion, six landing boats of the 1176M type or three air cushion boats of the 1206 type, 12 transport and combat helicopters Ka-252TB or 24 Ka-252PL anti-submarine helicopters for anti-submarine missions.
In terms of landing capacity, the Project 11780 large amphibious assault helicopter carrier was practically on par with the built and projected amphibious assault ships of the US Navy of that time, and in terms of the carrying capacity of the landing craft and the combat capabilities of self-defense fire weapons, it surpassed these ships. The creation of a ship capable of performing such diverse tasks as the landing of an assault force and anti-submarine defense had no analogues at that time in the world military shipbuilding.
The technical design was developed in 1984-1986. Its options were repeatedly considered by the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry, the conclusions of all basic enterprises were received and agreed upon. However, the deadline for the creation of the lead ship of Project 11780 was postponed to 1997. After the collapse of the USSR at the end of 1991, the question of building a BDKV project 11780 for the Russian Navy was not raised.
NEW STAGE
In January 1984 and October 1985, orders of the Council of Ministers of the USSR were signed, in accordance with which the Nevsky Design Bureau was appointed as the lead one for providing technical assistance to the Polish People's Republic in terms of the design and construction of landing ships of projects 775 / III, 778 and 756 for USSR, as well as projects 767 and 769 for the Polish Navy.
In 1994, in accordance with the tactical and technical assignment issued by the Navy, the bureau began designing a new large landing ship, which was to replace the large landing ship of Project 1171, as well as designed and built in Poland in 1970-1992. medium landing ships of projects 771, 773 and large landing ships of project 775. One of the main tasks of the latter is to ensure passage by inland shipping routes.
At the stage of preliminary design, several options for the layout of the ship were developed. Based on the results of its consideration and approval in 1998, an option was chosen that most fully meets the requirements of the Navy. The implementation of these requirements in the technical design entailed an increase in the ship's displacement while maintaining the general layout and architectural features adopted in the approved version of the draft design. The technical design of the large amphibious assault ship and the performance of contractor's work were carried out from 1999 to 2004.
The design of this ship for the first time in the practice of the Nevsky Design Bureau was carried out on the basis of the introduction of modern technological solutions and a unified information base of design data, three-dimensional prototyping of the ship as a whole and all main rooms and posts, landing devices and structures, a technological chain of information processing using the latest applied and specialized software packages.
After the approval of the technical design in December 2004 at the Baltic shipyard "Yantar", the laying took place and construction began on the lead large amphibious assault ship of the new generation, which was named "Ivan Gren" in honor of Admiral Ivan Gren, chief of artillery of the Leningrad naval defense. Now the lead ship has begun a test program.
At present, the amphibious assault operation is one of the most difficult types of joint actions of all branches and branches of the armed forces of the country. Over the past decades, domestic shipbuilders have accumulated extensive experience in the design of various types of amphibious assault ships. The successful delivery of a number of ships built for the Navy and a foreign customer suggests that the Russian shipbuilding industry in general and the United Shipbuilding Corporation in particular are able to cope with the task of creating a new generation amphibious assault ship.
