The development of bridge-crossing facilities of the engineering troops of the Armed Forces of Russia was based on the rich military-historical experience of the Russian army.
Elements of military engineering already existed in the army of Kievan Rus. In the campaigns, paths were laid, bridge crossings were arranged. A specialty appeared - bridge workers, who were engaged in the construction of bridges and river crossings. These were the first predecessors of Russian sappers and pontoons.
Special ferry property, as a service means carried by the troops, appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. It was a ferry park, consisting of five boats (plows) and a wagon train, transported "with the troops on a par with artillery weapons", as well as 20 carpenters, led by a bridge foreman with them.
In 1704, a pontoon park was developed, which, with the staff of a pontoon team, was introduced into the Russian army. The design of the pontoons was repeatedly improved: at first it was a wooden frame with tin sheathing, in 1759, at the suggestion of Captain Andrei Nemiy, the sheathing made of tin was replaced with canvas. These pontoons were at that time an effective ferry means and were in service until 1872.
Crossing the Danube. KOVALEVSKY Pavel Osipovich. 1880. Oil on canvas
Providing troops with river crossings became more and more important
Experience was accumulated in arranging crossings over large water obstacles, such as the Dnieper, Berezina, Neman, during the pursuit of the Napoleonic army, and subsequently across a number of rivers in Western Europe.
crossing the remnants of the Napoleonic army across the Berezina river
As a result of the military reforms of 1860 - 1870. significant changes took place in the engineering troops, which received more advanced ferry facilities, in particular, in 1872 - the metal pontoon-oar park of P. P. Tomilovsky.
The crossing of the Russian army across the Danube in 1877
When overcoming the Danube in 1877, pontoons with sappers ensured the crossing of troops on floating bridges, covering the flanks of Turkish ships with river mines. When arranging crossings, in addition to service means, local floating means and building materials were widely used.
The legacy of the Red Army passed from the old army in a small amount of the Tomilovsky pontoon-oar park (the carrying capacity of the pontoon bridge is 7 tons), the Negovsky motor-pontoon park (the carrying capacity of the floating bridge is up to 20 tons), light ferry means: a bag and a collapsible sailboat M. A.. Iolshina, Polyansky's inflatable floats. These funds were adopted as service funds and were used during the Civil War of 1918 - 1920.
Insufficient number of service means forced the widespread use of local and improvised means (fishing boats, ferries, barges, barrels, logs, etc.).
The role of local and improvised means increased even more, since the use of the existing sedentary pontoon parks to provide crossings when sequentially crossing several rivers was impossible.
In the period from 1921 to 1941, Polyansky's floats were modernized, the carrying capacity of the pontoon-oar park - the bridge was increased to 10 tons. In 1926 - 1927. a bridge-crossing park is being created on A-2 inflatable boats (carrying capacity 9 tons). The park was transported on horse-drawn twin carriages. Experiments were carried out on the use of tug boats, outboard motors with a capacity of 5 to 12 hp.
In 1932, the MPA-3 pontoon fleet was put into service on A-3 boats with a maximum carrying capacity of 14 tons. The MPA-3 fleet was transported on carts adapted for both horse and mechanical traction.
The appearance of tanks weighing 32 tons and artillery systems with an axle load of 9 tons determined the creation of two types of pontoon fleets: heavy and light. This task was successfully solved by the Military Engineering Academy and the Military Engineering Range (NIMI RKKA since December 12, 1934) in 1934 - 1935, when the heavy pontoon fleet Н2П was adopted by the Red Army, and soon the light fleet was adopted by the NLP. The pontoon parks were developed under the direction of I. G. Popov by a group of specialists: S. V. Zavadsky, B. N. Korchemkin, A. I. Uglichinin, N. A. Trenke, I. F. Korolev and others. In these parks, for the first time, high-quality steels were used for the manufacture of the topside, and for the motorization of crossings - tug boats.
The development of the domestic motor transport industry made it possible to use tractors for the transportation of new fleets, and then cars.
The carrying capacity of the ferry from the pontoons of the Н2П fleet is 50 tons. The Н2П fleet consisted of open-type metal pontoons, spans made of metal girders, gantry supports and wooden floorboards. The transportation was carried out by ZiS-5 vehicles. The main drawback of the park, identified during subsequent operation, was low survivability due to undecked (open) pontoons.
For the motorization of new pontoon fleets, the following were developed: boat BMK-70, marine outboard engines SZ-10 and SZ-20 (for the movement of ferries from H2P and NLP).
In 1935, one set of the H2P park with pontoons made of aluminum alloy was manufactured for trial operation.
The assembly of pontoon-bridge structures from a set of unified elements with a wide change in the number of pontoons in the floating support, girders in the supporting structure and the length of the bridge span made it possible to build floating bridges and assemble ferries of various carrying capacities. To increase the pace of bridge erection from new parks, an articulated-cantilever bridge guidance system of the type of the MdPA-3 park was adopted, in which the river part of the park was made up of identical links assembled near the coast, and then introduced into the bridge line and quickly closed with the help of two simple hinged locks. The inclusion of the BMK-70 towing motor boats in the fleet and the use of outboard motors SZ-10 and SZ-20 contributed to the reduction of the bridge laying time.
These technical solutions of the NLP and N2P parks provided them with high tactical and technical indicators, and the principles of the formation of pontoon-bridge structures laid down in them turned out to be so successful that they were later used in the development of even the post-war pontoon-bridge park of the CCI, which in fact represented a deep modernization of the N2P park …
From the set of the Н2П fleet, floating bridges of the articulated cantilever system with a carrying capacity of 12 and 24 tons and ferries with a maximum carrying capacity of 50 tons were initially induced. After the KB heavy tank was put into service in 1940, bridges of a continuous system were developed and tested, which ensured the construction of bridges from the elements of the Н2П park under loads weighing up to 60 tons. At the same time, instructions were issued to the troops for assembling six types of bridges from the fleet: 16 20, 30, 35, 40 and 60 tons, both articulated-cantilever and continuous schemes. It should be noted that at this time the Wehrmacht had a pontoon-bridge fleet with a maximum carrying capacity of up to 16 tons, and the US Army - up to 32 tons.
The main disadvantage of the mentioned means - low transport characteristics (carrying capacity, cross-country ability), did not correspond to highly maneuverable combat operations.
In 1939 g. A special pontoon fleet SP-19 was adopted, which had closed self-propelled pontoons and made it possible to build double-track bridges and collect ferries for any military cargo (from 30 to 120 tons) through wide water obstacles with high current speeds.
ZIS-5 for transportation of pontoon fleet Н2П
During the Great Patriotic War, existing ferry facilities were modernized and new ferry facilities were created:
- DMP-42 was developed by significant modernization of the wooden bridge park DMP-41;
- wooden lightweight pontoon-bridge park DLP (carrying capacity of the bridge and ferry - up to 30 tons);
- park Н2П-41 - modernized version Н2П;
- heavy bridge park TMP (with metal closed semi-pontoons).
Pontoon fleet N-2-P, towed by tractors S-65, moves towards the front
The pontoon-bridge parks Н2П and ТМП in terms of the main performance characteristics - simplicity of design, carrying capacity, ease of use, high rates of bridge laying were more advanced than similar means of the fascist German army and the Anglo-American troops.
Motorization means were developed in the form of outboard motors and towboats: BMK-70 (1943) and BMK-50 (1945).
Loading howitzers onto pontoons. District Novorosiska, August 1943
Successful experience in operating pontoon-bridge parks with wooden pontoons made it possible to develop and put into service in 1943, as a service tool, a light DLP park. Floating bridges of various carrying capacities could be assembled from glue-plywood half-pontons of two types, weighing 640 kg each. Hidden half-pontoons could be nested one into the other, which made it possible to transport several products on an ordinary truck. The pontoon frame was assembled from pine planks and beams and sheathed with bakelized plywood.
The DLP park made it possible to build bridges with a carrying capacity of 10, 16 and 30 tons and ferries with a carrying capacity of 6, 10, 16 and 30 tons. The maximum length of a bridge with a carrying capacity of 10 tons from a set of DLP park is 163 m, and a 30-ton one - 56 m. In terms of the rate of bridge building, the DLP park was approximately twice as large as the NLP park and was more difficult to flood in combat conditions.
A significant disadvantage of wooden parks was the need to pre-soak them after long-term transportation or storage.
After the war in 1945-1947. Taking into account the operating experience, a new wooden pontoon park DMP-45 with a carrying capacity of 60 tons with improved pontoons was developed.
The experience of overcoming water barriers by troops with weapons and military equipment during the Second World War is of great historical interest. The widespread use of ferry facilities during large-scale military operations made it possible to take a fresh look at their ratio in the troops: there was a gradual abandonment of bridge crossings in favor of ferry and landing - due to their greater survivability and maneuverability.
ZIS-151A with the bow section of the pontoon park of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 1954
In 1946-1949. a heavy pontoon park of the CCI was developed, in the design of which the idea of combining into a single transport block and located on its rotary turnstile a package of elements of the superstructure and the roadway, which eliminated the need for pontoons to carry 220 kg girders and 80-kg flooring boards, was partially implemented and allowed reduce the time of bridge pickup. The carrying capacity of floating bridges is 16, 50 and 70 tons, ferries - 16, 35, 50 and 70 tons. The operations of unloading the pontoon block into the water and loading it onto a car were mechanized. The park was transported by vehicles ZiS-151 and ZiL-157 (since 1961). Motorization of the fleet on the water was carried out by tugboats BMK-90 or BMK-150.
Towing - motor boat BMK-150
In 1949 - 1952 developed and adopted in 1953 by the lightweight pontoon park of the LPP with the use of the structural elements of the CCI park in its design, but with the solution of the block principle to a greater extent.
ZIL-157K with a section of the pontoon park of the BOB, 1962
In 1960 g.instead of the CCI and LPP parks, the PMP pontoon-bridge park was adopted, which received world recognition, the progressive design of which was used as a prototype for the creation of the pontoon parks of the US and FRG armies.
A large team of specialists took part in the development of the park, including the main creative initiators: Yu. N. Glazunov, M. M. Mikhailov, V. I. Asev, S. I. Polyakov, A. I. Londarev, I. A. Chechin, B. K. Komarov, A. S. Kriksunov, V. I. Saveliev and others. In 1963, the work on the creation of the PMP park was awarded the Lenin Prize.
The floating bridge from the PMP park differed from the previous products on separate supports (TPP and LTP) in its design in the form of a continuous strip of metal displacement links docked together, folded into a compact block in the transport position.
For the first time, the idea of combining all the elements of a floating bridge - a floating support, a supporting superstructure and a roadway - was put into practice.
This bridge design provided:
- several times decrease in the bridge pickup time;
- multiple increase in the capacity of the bridge due to the carriageway width of 6.5 m;
- quick coupling of the bridge with the shore and the elimination of the need for the construction of coastal piers due to the successful design of the coastal links and the presence of steel lining, laid close to the coastal link;
- good fit of the floating bridge into the cross-sectional profile of the water barrier due to the low draft and effective design of the coastal links;
- high survivability of the floating bridge and ferries;
- quick transition from the floating bridge to the ferry crossing due to the ease of disconnecting the links;
- reduction in the number of pontoon vehicles in the fleet and in the fleet servicing calculation;
- the possibility of ferries approaching the shore in shallow water conditions and the absence of the need to set up piers
- for loading and unloading transported equipment.
Later, the park was modernized and adopted in 1975 under the code PMM-M. The modernization consisted of the following:
- inclusion of hydrodynamic shields in the set of the park to increase the stability of the bridge on the current from 2 to 3 m / s;
- changes in the design of the coastal link: its deck is made straight-line without kink;
- a change in the design of the pavement, which increased its durability;
- introduction to the fleet of: an additional four BMK-T tugboats, means of reconnaissance of water obstacles, a set of means for commandant service at crossings, rigging equipment for holding a bridge on rivers with high flow rates, means of equipment for crossings in winter.
Pontoons PMP, PPS-84, NARM
Subsequently, as a result of work on the development of the design of the floating bridge-tape, the means of its motorization and transportation of the PMP fleet, the PPS-84 and PP-91 fleets were developed and mass-produced.
PP-91
