In the late 80s. of the last century at the "Admiralty shipyards" for the Soviet Navy were built two small special-purpose submarines of project 865 "Piranha" developed by SPMBM "Malachite". Lapping these submarines in a country that has taken the path of collapse turned out to be troublesome. But in the end, these small ships with a total underwater displacement of 319 tons and a crew of three turned out to be very good. They had low levels of physical fields, good maneuverability and significant diving depth (200 m), were easy to operate. The boats were armed with two torpedoes and mines in containers, and transported six combat swimmers. These submarines remained in the memory of millions of Russians thanks to the film by Alexander Rogozhkin "Peculiarities of National Fishing", in which the heroes of the film "evacuate" the forgotten boxes of vodka from the Finnish coast to the Piranha. Unfortunately, the role of the "smuggler" was the last in the fate of the MPL of project 865. In 1999, both boats were scrapped.
However, the designers of the SPMBM "Malachite" did not leave the topic of small submarines. They have developed a whole line of MPL projects with a displacement of 130 to 1000 tons.
With their small size, these submarines carry a variety of weapons, including torpedoes and mines, and on larger boats of the P-550, P-650E and P-750 types, it is possible to place the Caliber-PL (Club-S) or BRAHMOS class cruise missiles. submarine-ship”and“submarine-land”. That is, under certain circumstances, they can even perform strategic tasks. Modern electronic equipment allows them to timely detect targets and proactively attack the enemy. Low levels of noise and electromagnetic fields contribute to extremely low visibility.
High maneuverability is achieved through the use of a low-noise propeller in the rotary nozzle and a backup propulsion system of two outboard steering columns. Thanks to this, boats are able to literally spin in place.
Another major feature of small submarines is the high degree of automation of the processes of combat control and operation of ships. And this is no coincidence. Malachite is the world leader in the field of integrated automation of submarines. The MPL has crews of only 4-9 people, for which quite comfortable living conditions have been created. In addition to the regular crew, the boats accept up to 6 combat swimmers with full equipment.
MPL of this family can be equipped with modules with auxiliary air-independent (anaerobic) power plants (VNEU), which significantly increase the underwater cruising range. This is worth mentioning separately. It was for the "piranhas" in the late 80s. of the last century, the St. Petersburg Special Design Bureau of Boiler Building (SKBK) created an air-independent, that is, independent of the supply of atmospheric air, the Kristall-20 power plant with a capacity of 130 kW. This VNEU with electrochemical generators (ECH) uses hydrogen and oxygen to generate energy. At first glance, the installation process is simple. When hydrogen interacts with oxygen, which is carried out through special membranes that perform the functions of an electrolyte, an electric current is generated and distilled water is formed. The conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy occurs without combustion, without any mechanical effect and, which is especially important for submarines, noiselessly. The efficiency of VNEU with ECH reaches 70-75%. In 1991, after comprehensive tests, VNEU "Kristall-20" was accepted by the customer - the Ministry of Defense. But the collapse of the USSR soon followed, after which neither innovative power plants nor submarines equipped with them were needed.
Meanwhile, according to the calculations of specialists from the Central Research Institute. A. N. Krylov, the underwater autonomy of submarines with ECH is 450% more than that of conventional diesel-electric boats. And in the near sea zone, according to the criterion "cost - efficiency", boats with VNEU have advantages over nuclear-powered ships. The latter circumstance is of fundamental importance, since modern naval concepts provide for the deployment of submarines mainly not on oceanic communications, but off the coast - either ours or foes.
It cannot be said that air-independent installations have been forgotten in Russia. SKBK spent a lot of effort and money on the development of the second generation VNEU "Crystal-27", intended for the boats of the 677 "Lada" project and their export modification "Amur". Specialists of SKBK have found an original way of equipping submarines with hydrogen. This gas is not stored in a container or in a liquefied form, but in an intermetallic compound (an alloy of a metal with a high hydrogen content), which has sharply increased operational safety. But due to lack of funding, the installation was not completed.
In 1998, the Rubin Central Design Bureau, together with the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, took over the creation of anaerobic installations with ECH. As a result, a model of the REU-99 installation appeared, which was supposed to be built into a special compartment of the "Lada" or "Amur" and provide the boat with a duration of diving for up to 20 days. The installation promised to be simple and economical to operate. But one circumstance was embarrassing: cryogenic storage of fuel components - oxygen and hydrogen, placed in containers in the same compartment. After the disaster of the Kursk nuclear submarine, which was killed by an explosion of liquid fuel leaking from a damaged torpedo, the enthusiasm for the installation of the REU-99 sharply diminished. And this project was actually closed. And the entire subject of VNEU was transferred to the Central Research Institute of Ship Electrical Engineering and Technology, where, due to the lack of appropriations, research on anaerobic installations is predominantly theoretical in nature.
Meanwhile, the entire civilized world has gone far ahead. Submarines with VNEU are now serially built in Germany, France, Sweden, Greece, Spain, Japan and South Korea. The Americans are also eyeing them, who regularly invite submarines with anaerobic installations from foreign fleets for "acquaintance" and exercises. And they won't need much time to implement VNEU. They'll just buy the technology they need. But hardly anyone will sell them to us.
Reconstruction of the team of designers and production workers working on the subject of VNEU is a matter of great national importance. Development of a new anaerobic plant based on VNEU "Kristall-20" and "Kristall-27" is possible. And the placement of such engines at the first stage on small submarines will undoubtedly become a significant milestone in the development of domestic submarine shipbuilding.
But back to the MPL. Their predominant "habitat" is coastal waters, shallow and island waters. But they are very good divers. The depth of their immersion ranges from 200 to 300 m. The cruising range is from 2000 to 3000 miles, and the autonomy is from 20 to 30 days. As an example, we will give the tactical and technical elements of the largest submarine of the family - the P-750 type. Its normal displacement is 960 tons (1060 tons - with an air-independent installation module), length - 66.8 m (70.4 m), hull diameter - 6.4 m, full submerged speed - 17 knots, cruising range - 3000 miles, range of continuous underwater passage - 280 miles (1200 miles), immersion depth - 300 m, autonomy - 30 days, crew - 9 people + 6 combat swimmers.
Of particular interest is the composition of the weapons. This submarine has four 533 mm torpedo tubes, from which you can fire not only torpedoes, but also cruise missiles. Torpedo tubes cannot be reloaded at sea. But they are constantly ready for immediate use for single and salvo fire. The MPL also has 8 400 mm torpedo tubes for anti-submarine torpedoes. P-750 is capable of receiving up to 24 bottom mines in outboard mine throwing devices (MSU). And, finally, the boat can accommodate up to four vertical launchers with cruise missiles, including the 3M-14E type of the Club-S complex, designed to strike at coastal targets located at a distance of up to 300 km. That is, such submarines are not only suitable for repelling attacks from the sea, but they themselves are capable of threatening enemy territory. In general, the arsenal of the P-750 exceeds the armament of many larger submarines. It is even inconvenient to class these boats as “small”. After all, the average Pike-class submarine of the III series of the Great Patriotic War era had an underwater displacement of 705 tons, a maximum immersion depth of 90 m, an underwater speed of 2, 8 knots. And the armament consisted of 10 torpedoes and a 45-mm cannon.
“These boats (meaning the MPL - editor's note) can replenish the combat strength of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets and the Caspian flotilla within two or three years,” Vice Admiral Viktor Patrushev emphasized in an interview with RIA Novosti. - Four or six such submarines can completely cover such closed or semi-closed water areas as the Black, Baltic and Caspian Seas. It is surprising that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation still does not pay any attention to them, although their advantages are obvious to any naval specialist."
Indeed, there are almost no diesel-electric submarines left in the Baltic and Black Sea fleets. Their number is calculated in several units, which will not make the weather at the maritime theater. And in the Caspian there are none at all, although this sea is located in a very turbulent region, and the situation there can change rapidly. For example, it costs Iran nothing to transport its small and midget submarines there from the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf by road.
MPL in the Pacific Ocean and in the Barents Sea are capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions in the waters washing Russia, and providing covert escort of nuclear submarines to combat service. They are practically indispensable for building anti-submarine lines in coastal waters. Here it is necessary to refer to the experience of NATO. It is the small diesel-electric submarines of the Ula type of the Norwegian Navy that make up the forward curtain of PLO in the Atlantic. They monitor the movement of Russian nuclear-powered ships and are the first to transmit data about them to the appropriate NATO headquarters and services.
Viktor Patrushev drew attention to the fact that the MPL enjoyed increased interest among representatives of a number of navies of the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia at the International Maritime Defense Show in St. Petersburg. On the eve of IMDS-2009, Oleg Azizov, head of the Rosoboronexport Navy Department, answering a question from the National Defense magazine (see No. 6/2009) as to why Russian small submarines still “haven’t gone” on the international market, said: “In my opinion, the reason is obvious. Russia has extensive experience in the design, construction and operation of small submarines. But it is no secret that the Russian Navy does not currently have such boats in its composition. Their serial construction has been suspended. That is, the absence of MPL in the Russian Navy damages Russia's military-technical cooperation with other states.
