A HYMN TO ST. ANDREW'S ENSIGN

Red Star. June 26, 2003. Anatoli Dokuchayev

We have received the sixth volume of the "Russia's Arms and Technologies. XXI Century" encyclopedia titled "Ships of the Navy". It is the second book devoted to naval warfare. The first book tells us about naval weapons. This project is a joint effort of authoritative specialists working in Russia's defense industry complex and in the Defense Ministry together with scientists, historians and journalists of the Arms and Technologies publishing house. Published in Russian and English these books give exhaustive information about modern weapons systems produced by Russia's leading manufacturers and about the advanced defense technologies used by them. The encyclopedia is published under general direction of Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

The time span from the mid-1970s to early-1980s was a period of rapid growth for the country's ship building industry. At that time, our country produced naval ships with the total displacement of more than 300,000 tons and was the world's second naval shipbuilding economy. More than 100 ships were under construction at national shipyards simultaneously. Annually, our Navy received four or five nuclear submarines, including strategic nuclear missile boats, one large air-capable surface ship or one missile cruiser, three or four destroyers, one heavy submarine hunter, many medium- and small-displacement combatants, minesweepers and auxiliary ships.

In the 1990s, our shipbuilders did not lay down new ships. They mainly completed the construction of ships laid down in the Soviet era. The high rate at which military orders began to dry up (in some years there was a decrease in defense orders by more than a factor of two) increased the time of their construction to 3 - 7 years. However, despite multi-fold cutbacks of funds allocated to shipbuilders, they managed to complete at least one ship annually of such class as missile cruiser Peter the Great, heavy submarine killer Admiral Chabanenko, nuclear submarine Gepard and mine sweeper Valentin Pikul. It vividly demonstrates that our research, engineering and production base has not ceased to exist. More to that, a wide spectrum of research, design and experimental work is currently underway to make our weapon systems highly effective. Their competitiveness on the international market proves the fact.

We have a chance to look at our Navy's yesterday and today by the eyes of the Navy's Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, Director General of Russian Agency for Shipbuilding Vladimir Pospelov and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy for Armament Vice Admiral Mikhail Barskov, whose analytical articles are published in these books.

In my opinion, a feature of major importance in this book is that it presents all combatants and other ships, which were in naval inventories in the second half of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st centuries and brief characteristics of naval weapons. A complete description of naval weapons can be found in the third volume devoted exclusively to this subject.

The volume describes all classes of submarines, including ballistic missile submarines, cruise missile submarines, missile/torpedo submarines) and various submersible vehicles.

The first submarine presented to the reader is a heavy submarine of Project AV611, which was the lead boat in a series of ballistic missile submarines armed with surface-launched ballistic missiles R-11FM. Its purpose was to gain experience in the operation of submarines carrying this type of weapon, in its operational use and to train personnel to man the future missile submarines.

The reader will also familiarize himself with Project 629A submarine, a lead vessel in a series of boats armed with ballistic missile complex D-4 firing an underwater-launched missile, designated R-21.

And here comes our first nuclear submarine of Project 658 (658M) armed with ballistic missiles. It was designed to attack military and industrial targets with ballistic missiles. The development work on this submarine began in 1958. The first boat was commissioned in 1960 and was operational until the early-1990s. Then, the reader acquaints himself with Project AV611 heavy submarine, Projects 605 and 601 heavy missile submarine and Project 701 nuclear submarine. After that, the authors of the encyclopedia present strategic missile submarines: Project 667 submarine displacing 11,500 t and armed with 16 ballistic missiles RSM-25. A total of 34 submarines of Projects 667A and 667AU were built in the period from 1967 to 1974. All of them have been decommissioned; Project 667B submarine displacing 13,700 t and armed with 12 ballistic missiles RSM-40. A total of 18 submarines of this Project were built in the period from 1974 to 1977. All of them have been decommissioned; Project 667BD submarine displacing 15,750 t and armed with 16 ballistic missiles RSM-40. Four submarines of this Project were built in 1975. All of them have been decommissioned; Project 667BDR submarine displacing 16,000 t and armed with 16 ballistic missiles RSM-50. A total of 14 submarines of this Project were built in the period from 1976 to 1982; Project 941 submarine displacing 48,000 t and armed with 20 three-stage solid-propellant ballistic missiles RSM-52. It featured the most powerful full salvo capability. Six submarines of this Project were built in the period from 1981 to 1989. In the West, this submarine is codenamed the Taifoon; Project 667BDRM submarine displacing 18,200 t and armed with 16 RSM-54 ballistic missiles. Seven submarines of this Project were built in the period from 1985 to 1990.

The last in the row of strategic submarines is Project 955 fourth-generation boat. The lead boat in the series, dubbed Yuri Dolgoruki, was laid down on 2 November 1996. It displacement is 24,000 t, maximum length - 170 m, breadth - 13.5 m, full submerged speed - 29 knots, complement - 107 men. In 1998, Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering started work on a missile system for this submarine firing a solid-propellant multiple-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile. This missile has much in common with the Topol-M ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile, but is not its direct derivative. To enhance operational effectiveness, new technologies are used in the construction of this submarine and in designing the missile for it.

The first USSR's submarine armed with cruise missiles was Project 664 diesel-electric submarine derived from Project 613 medium-class boat (a total of six vessels had been built). Armed with P-5 missiles, this submarine was intended to attack military and industrial targets located in the adversary's territory. While reading this volume, one is given the opportunity to familiarize himself with modern submarines of all design projects armed with cruise missiles, including Project 949A submarine armed with 24 Granit cruise missiles. This submarine displaces 24,000 t. A total of ten boats of this project had been built in the period from 1989 to 1995. On 12 August 2000, a submarine of this class, called Kursk, sank with its crew. Most of its hull disintegrated.

On 21 December 1993, a lead submarine of Project 885, dubbed Severodvinsk, was laid down. Its displacement was 11,800 t and underwater speed - 28 to 31 knots. Due to some reasons, the construction of this boat is progressing very slowly and is not completed until now. It is a fourth-generation multi-purpose submarine designed to attack naval task forces and transports, search for and destroy hostile submarines and to attack coastal targets. The submarine's primary armament may include the Onix operational-tactical missiles, the Kh-35 anti-ship missiles and new long-range cruise missiles.

While reading this book one can see that the Soviet Union (Russia) was in a position to build a lot of different types and classes of submarines: multi-purpose, deep-diving nuclear, diver-carriers, target-submarines, rescue submarines, etc. Moreover, there are some submersible vehicles in Russian arsenals. They include deep-diving Sever-2 and Poisk-2 submersible vehicles, which could operate at depths down to about 2000 m and a nuclear deep-diving self-propelled vehicle Rus' capable of diving to a depth of about 6,000 m. More to that, different underwater rescue vehicles were developed. Undoubtedly, the rescue operation to save the crew of the Kursk submarine would have run another way, if they had been available at that time.

The volume describes all classes of surface ships. The air-capable ships go first. They include the Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov air-capable cruiser, which is currently operational (Project 1143.5). Then go the cruisers, including heavy missile cruisers of Projects 1144.1 and 1144.2. One cruiser of Project 1144.1 (Admiral Ushakov) was under construction in the period from 1974 to 1980 and three cruisers of Project 1144.2 (Admiral Lazarev, Admiral Nakhimov and Peter the Great) were built in the period from 1984 to 1994. All of them are designed to destroy large surface targets and provide all-round anti-air and anti-submarine defense for naval task forces.

The last in the series, Peter the Great, was laid down at the Baltiiski Zavod on 25 October 1986. Upon completion, it made its first voyage to the Northern Fleet in October 1995. The cruiser's displacement is 26,190 t and dimensions - 251 x 28.5 x 10.33 m. The cruiser is powered by a combined propulsion unit (nuclear, steam-turbine), two nuclear reactors, two auxiliary boilers, and four steam turbines delivering 70,000 hp each. The cruiser attains a speed of about 32 knots. Its self-sufficiency period is 60 days. The cruiser carries the world's most powerful weapons: 20 Granit cruise missile launchers, 12 launchers of S-300F and S-300FM surface-to-air missiles (96 missiles), eight Klinok surface-to-air missile system launchers (64 missiles), six Kashtan gun/missile air defense systems (192 missiles), versatile rocket/torpedo launcher designed to fire both the rocket-assisted and ordinary torpedoes, and three helicopters Ka27PL and Ka-25RTs. Cruiser's complement is 727 men. Flying personnel - 18 men.

Then come large anti-submarine and missile ships, destroyers, escort ships, small missile ships, missile boats, torpedo boats, small anti-submarine ships, minesweepers, landing ships, as well as supply and rescue ships.

It is worth noting that the naval development programs adopted earlier have failed to be fully successful. Despite measures taken to fulfill those programs, the Navy lacked funds for maintenance and repair of ships. As a result, in the mid-1990s, a process of decommissioning naval combatants in large quantities began. Even those combatants were put out of service, whose service life did not expire. In recent years, we have managed to slow down the process of deactivation of naval ships. However, the ships with overdue repair schedules account for more than 75 percent.

Separate sections in the book are devoted to experimental and laboratory base, research centers and proving ranges. Thus, the tasks and capabilities of the Krylov Central Research Institute are described. Much interesting information is given to the reader about the research and testing facility of the #1 Central Research Institute of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation, Special Design Bureau of Moscow Power Engineering Institute, Machine Building Research and Production Association, and about the Engineering Systems Safety Research Center of the Defense Ministry of the RF. Exhaustive information is given about the Navy's Operational Training Center established in July 1956. Its task is training of crews for nuclear submarines. Over the years, more than 550 crews of nuclear submarines completed training programs there. They introduced more than 250 submarines received from manufacturers into the Navy's operational inventories.

Some place in the book is devoted to the capabilities of our shipbuilding industry and naval weapons manufacturers. For example, the Rubin Central Design Bureau is a leading diversified enterprise operating in the defense sector. Its primary line of business is designing of complex systems. It has developed projects of fourth-generation submarines, which are now under construction. One of them is a strategic missile submarine called Yuri Dolgoruki and the other is a diesel-electric submarine, dubbed St. Petersburg. Another organization, the Severnoye Design Bureau is involved in designing surface combatants: cruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes and boats. The most significant design projects produced by the Severnoye Design Bureau during the past five tears include the design project of such third-generation warships as the Peter the Great nuclear cruiser and the Admiral Chabanenko large anti-submarine ship. Another organization is the Almaz Central Design Bureau. It designs fast strike missile boats, air-cushion landing craft and fast patrol boats. The State Rocketry Center named after Academician Makeyev develops ballistic missiles. The task of the Machine Building Design Bureau is to equip the Navy with surface-launched, underwater-launched and ground-launched cruise missiles. Overall, this book acquaints the reader with 60 organizations, which develop combat and auxiliary ships and their weapons.

This is what Nikolai Spasski, Director General of the Arms and Technologies publishing house, said about this volume: "We worked on this book enthusiastically. Although our countrymen have realized hundreds of unique projects, which deserve admiration, we have allocated much space to abandoned and new projects, advanced technologies, search and rescue equipment. I think that this approach will attract attention of the mass reader, from shipbuilders through to all those who are interested in marine equipment in general. We know that any scientific or technological breakthroughs have always been of interest to thinking men".

I think that the creators of this volume have succeeded in fulfilling this task: more than three scores of unique developments are presented to the reader's judgment. They include, for example, a heavy air-capable cruiser of Project 1143.7, dubbed the Ulyanovsk, which was our first air-capable cruiser equipped with a catapult for launching aircraft into the air. This ship is equipped with two steam-operated catapults, four aircraft arresters and three aircraft elevators. The cruiser was laid down in 1988. In 1992, a decision was taken to disassemble the ship, although it had already reached a 13 percent level of general technical readiness and the construction of its hull had been completed by more than 40 percent.

The encyclopedia uses a unique Classifier of Items of Supply adopted by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which is compatible with foreign Classifiers. However, the authors of this volume should have given ship names used in open literature and by NATO countries.

This volume of the encyclopedia was issued at the time when three important events for the Russian Navy and Russian shipbuilders took place. Immediately upon completion of the war in Iraq, the Russian naval task force began tactical exercises in the Indian Ocean. At 8.00, Moscow time, on May 16, the crew of the Moskva cruiser launched a cruise missile in the Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea), which hit a waterborne target successfully. On that same day, the crews of the Smetlivy and Pytlivy escort ships attacked naval and air targets with artillery fire and missiles. Soon after, the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers, which cooperated with the naval task force, launched long-range cruise missiles at their targets. World's information agencies noted that after the collapse of the USSR Russia had made first steps on the way to the resumption of its permanent presence in the Indian Ocean. A few days later, naval ships of Russia's Black Sea and Pacific Ocean Fleets took part in a naval exercise, called the Indra-2003, carried out together with the Indian Navy under the "Development of strategic partnership" program.

Almost at the same time, a second corvette of Project 20380 was laid down at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. It is named after one of Russia's glorious destroyers Soobrazitelny. The ship features high speed and endurance. Its crew has been reduced to a minimum, thanks to the use of advanced ship control systems. The Defense Ministry of Russia is funding this order substantially. This means that the ship will be commissioned timely to augment our Navy's might.