A warship with a powerful anti-submarine potential was forced to fight not with modern submarines, but with ordinary motor boats and boats, whose crews are armed with hand-held small arms. If we talk about "Fearless", then its former commander N. G. Avraamov, who received the ship in 1992, wrote about it: “If there were at least two Project 11540 ships in the Baltic, we practically had a search and strike group (PUG), which could solve the problem of blocking all dangerous directions that exist there. "(See the almanac" Typhoon ", issue 21, 2/2000). And pirates "demand" at least two dozen of these ships. So it turns out that the world community "shoots at sparrows with cannons." But it is certainly necessary to fight pirates.
It should be noted that there is still a reason in the direction of ships of the main classes to the shores of Somalia. First, they go on trips that contribute to the naval and combat training of crews. Secondly, large ships have greater autonomy and better seaworthiness than small ones, and therefore are more reliable. Third, they can carry a heavy, permanent-based helicopter. Experience has shown that fighting pirates is difficult without helicopters. A heavy helicopter is more "weather-resistant" and is capable of landing a special forces group on a vessel suspected of piracy, and, if necessary, ashore.
LBK type "Freedom" in the sea
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that it will hold a competition in September to develop a project for a new corvette for the needs of the Navy. We are talking about a ship that should replace Project 20380 (the lead ship is "Guarding"). It is assumed that five companies will take part in the competition, three of which are part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. Other participants are likely to be a foreign company and a certain design bureau, which actually specializes in the design of civilian ships.
Future king of the coastal zone
Reducing the displacement of a ship significantly reduces its seaworthiness and habitability, especially when it is at sea for a long time. The crews are "worn out". And the requirements remain the same: minimum displacement (price), maximum seaworthiness (autonomy) and the presence of a heavy helicopter (potential).
The problem of combating piracy, the problem of establishing a legal regime in the exclusive economic zone exist not only in relation to the Gulf of Aden. It is there, at a considerable distance from their bases, that it may be advisable to use ships of an unlimited navigation area, ships "self-sufficient" for a long period of time. But in the seas surrounding Russia, to one degree or another, there is a problem of protecting biological resources, combating illegal migration, etc.
To combat pirates A. Mozgovoy proposes to use several variants of patrol ships with a displacement of 600 to 1200 tons, equipped with light helicopters of permanent or temporary deployment. Among these projects are developments and Zelenodolsk Design Bureau.
Indeed, the presence of such ships can reduce the cost of anti-piracy operations. But for them it is required to equip points of permanent or temporary basing, repair shops, etc. And this is both money and the solution of a number of difficult political and interstate legal issues.
Meanwhile, the Zelenodolsk Design Bureau has proposals for a variant of a ship of "modest" displacement - about 1000 tons - with increased seaworthiness and habitability with a permanent basing of a heavy helicopter. The bureau has completed the elaboration of a trimaran architecture environmental monitoring vessel.
Environmental monitoring vessel type SAR.
In England and the United States, trimarans are already under construction (for example, in the United States, the littoral warship Independence was recently launched). The Russian trimaran type SAR (vessel with outriggers) is significantly different from them. It consists of a displacement hull and two lateral buoyancy (outriggers) connected to the hull by "bridges" in which the entire power plant (EU) is located. In fact, these are two modules of the right and left sides of the version, the replacement of which with the same ones, pre-manufactured, significantly reduces the repair time. The propellers are in the outrigger gondolas. At the same time, the ship's hull is completely freed from EI, to which, as a rule, practically all the most useful middle part is given on single-hull ships. On a trimaran, the stern, freed from the shafting, can be completely retracted under the helicopter "economy", including the hangar. It is much easier to solve here the issues of explosion and fire safety, habitability, protection, reliability, and other regulatory requirements for design are fulfilled.
The shipbuilding characteristics of such trimaranes were verified by comprehensive tests of towed models at the V. I. acad. A. N. Krylov and a self-propelled model with a length of about 10 m and a displacement of 2.4 tons in an open reservoir. Due to the increased width due to the outriggers, the lateral stability is significantly increased, and, consequently, the seaworthiness of the vessel.
Tests of the model showed that, in comparison with single-hull vessels (according to recalculation - with an excitement of 6 points), the amplitudes of side roll decrease by 5-6 times, pitching - 3 times, vertical overloads - by 2, 5-3 times, and up to excitement 4- 5 points do not reach the human sensitivity threshold of 0.15 m / s2 (the beginning of motion sickness).
The tests simulated the separation of one of the outriggers. With an appropriate shift of the steering wheel, this practically did not affect maneuverability. The narrowed ATS body has a reduced wave impedance. The location of the screws in the nacelles (as in the pushing version, and especially in the pulling one) contributes to a higher efficiency. Therefore, the speed properties of the vessel practically do not suffer.
In principle, the CAP scheme provides a comprehensive improvement in the main shipbuilding, operational and economic characteristics of ships and ships for the construction of which it will be used, since its properties do not depend on the type of payload.
The CAP concept, developed by Stanislav Rudenko, is confirmed by a number of copyright certificates, as well as candidate and doctoral dissertations of its ideologist.
The disadvantage of this scheme is its increased width, which, according to some experts, will complicate the basing and docking of the vessel. However, there are more fears than reasons here. To inspect the nacelles and outrigger propellers, the ship can be tilted with a crane or pontoon. There are other methods of docking using floating docks that do not exceed the ship's displacement. If there is no berth at the berth, the vessel can stay in the roadstead. There are boats for communication with the coast.
That is why, as a patrol ship for effective and economical fight against pirates, the most preferable is a trimaran ship of the SAR scheme with a displacement of 600 to 1000 tons of increased seaworthiness and autonomy, carrying a heavy helicopter of constant deployment. These capabilities of a SAR vessel are consistent with the development of an environmental monitoring vessel and are unattainable for a single-hull ship of the same displacement.
