Some little-known pre-war projects of the Soviet Naval Academy

[Kresta II]

Before and during the Second World War, the Naval Academy conducted not only research work, such as "Choosing the main caliber of artillery and justification of firing methods for a battleship with a displacement of 45,000 - 60,000 tons" or "Repelling attacks by enemy light forces by aviation", but also advanced design of ships of various classes. Such design was often carried out as a set of graduation projects of academy officers within a single task. Its results were taken into account when developing technical specifications (TTZ) for ships, their armament, machinery and equipment, and successful design solutions were used in the development of preliminary designs of ships in the NTK of the Navy and design bureaus.

Here are some ship designs developed at the Naval Academy in 1938-40:

1. Battleship with 406-mm artillery in quadruple turrets (probably 3x4) - 1938;
2. Cruiser with powerful anti-aircraft weapons for the Baltic Sea - 1939;
3. Light cruiser for the Baltic Sea - 1938;
4. Armored destroyer leader - 1940;
5. Heavy cruiser for the Northern Fleet (probably 3x4 305 mm) - 1940;
6. River monitor for the lower reaches of the Dnieper river - 1940;
7. Light cruiser with a displacement of 11240 tons - 1939.

New artillery systems were developed for ships and coastal batteries, such as:

1. 3-gun turret 406mm for battleship - 1938;
2. 3-gun turret 254mm for heavy cruiser - 1938;
3. 406 mm cannon for a 3-gun battleship turret - 1938;
4. 3-gun 12" (305 mm) turret for heavy cruiser - 1938;
5. 2-gun 152mm turret for rearmament of the light cruiser "Krasniy Caucas" - 1940;
6. 4-gun 16" (406 mm) turret for battleship - 1940;
7. 130mm universal turret for destroyers and destroyer leaders - 1940;
8. 457mm coastal defense turret- 1940;
9. 406mm coastal defense turret - 1940;
10. 4-gun turret 305mm for heavy cruiser - 1940;
11. 457mm coastal defense gun - 1940;
12. 122mm turret for river monitor - 1940.

 

[Kresta II]

Some developments of torpedo weapons of the Naval Academy:

1. Radio-controlled torpedo 21" - 1937;
2. Turbine engine for torpedo 21" - 1938;
3. Internal combustion engine for torpedo 21" - 1938;
4. Non-contact fuse for torpedo - 1938;
5. Aviation glider torpedo - 1938;
6. Torpedo with an aircraft engine 21" - 1938;
7. Traceless electric torpedo for submarines - 1940;
8. Turbine for 21" torpedoes with a speed of 60-70 knots - 1940;
9. 18" triple rotary torpedo tube for a squadron submarine - 1939;
10. Portable torpedo tube for rivers, narrow and shallow areas - 1940.

 

[Kresta II]

The Naval Academy's development of ship engines included a number of steam turbines for battleships, cruisers and destroyers (including three for submarines) with LaMont, Velox and direct-flow boilers and diesel engines of various capacities up to 300,000 hp for an aircraft carrier.

In guided naval weapons, a ship command station of radio-controlled torpedoes, equipment for a number of remotely controlled ships - a target ship, a submarine, a large torpedo boat, a smoke screen boat, and an infrared homing torpedo boat were developed.

 

[Roodbaard1958!]

Voor en tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog voerde de Marine Academie niet alleen onderzoekswerk uit, zoals "Kiezen van het belangrijkste kaliber van artillerie en rechtvaardiging van schietmethoden voor een slagschip met een verplaatsing van 45.000 - 60.000 ton" of "Afweren van aanvallen door vijandelijk licht krachten door de luchtvaart", maar ook geavanceerd ontwerp van schepen van verschillende klassen. Een dergelijk ontwerp werd vaak uitgevoerd als een geheel van afstudeerprojecten van academieambtenaren binnen één taak. De resultaten ervan werden in aanmerking genomen bij het ontwikkelen van technische specificaties (TTZ) voor schepen, hun bewapening, machines en uitrusting, en succesvolle ontwerpoplossingen werden gebruikt bij de ontwikkeling van voorlopige ontwerpen van schepen in de NTK van de marine en ontwerpbureaus.in

Hier zijn enkele scheepsontwerpen die in 1938-40 op de Marine Academie zijn ontwikkeld:

1. Slagschip met 406 mm artillerie in viervoudige torentjes (waarschijnlijk 3x4) - 1938;
2. Kruiser met krachtig luchtafweergeschut voor de Oostzee - 1939;
3. Lichte kruiser voor de Oostzee - 1938;
4. Gepantserde torpedojagerleider - 1940;
5. Zware kruiser voor de Noordelijke Vloot (waarschijnlijk 3x4 305 mm) - 1940;
6. Riviermonitor voor de benedenloop van de rivier de Dnjepr - 1940;
7. Lichte kruiser met een waterverplaatsing van 11240 ton - 1939.

Er werden nieuwe artilleriesystemen ontwikkeld voor schepen en kustbatterijen, zoals:

1. Geschutskoepel met 3 kanonnen 406 mm voor slagschip - 1938;
2. Geschutskoepel met 3 kanonnen 254 mm voor zware kruiser - 1938;
3. 406 mm kanon voor een geschutskoepel met 3 kanonnen - 1938;
4. 3-kanon 12" (305 mm) koepel voor zware kruiser - 1938;
5. 152 mm geschutskoepel met 2 kanonnen voor herbewapening van de lichte kruiser "Krasniy Caucas" - 1940;
6. 4-kanon 16" (406 mm) koepel voor slagschip - 1940;
7. 130 mm universele koepel voor torpedobootjagers en torpedobootjagers - 1940;
8. 457 mm kustverdedigingskoepel - 1940;
9. 406 mm kustverdedigingskoepel - 1940;
10. 4-kanonkoepel 305 mm voor zware kruiser - 1940;
11. 457 mm kustverdedigingskanon - 1940;
12. 122 mm koepel voor riviermonitor - 1940.

Interesting, are there more details dealing with the designs for the ships? Are the designs mentioned in the lists also available?

 

[Kresta II]

The data and even the drawings should be available at the Naval Archive in St. Petersburg (RGAVMF), but as far as I know, no one has studied them yet. I have not seen details about them in modern publications.

 

[Silencer1]

Did you already seen this site, dedicated to history of torpedo and mine warfare, with a primary attention to its developement in Russia and USSR?
There were nice collection of Western/Eastern weapons as well.

 

[Kresta II]

Unfortunately, there is very little information about torpedo weapons on this site, especially about experimental torpedoes.

 

[Silencer1]

Unfortunately, there is very little information about torpedo weapons on this site, especially about experimental torpedoes.

Perhaps, there were other sites, covering this subject - but I'm not aware of them. Seems, that mass-produced and used in actual service types are covered more or less comprehensive. Perhaps, prototypes and experimental examples could await their researchers somewhere in deep... of archives?

 

[Kresta II]

Unfortunately, there is very little information about torpedo weapons on this site, especially about experimental torpedoes.

Perhaps, there were other sites, covering this subject - but I'm not aware of them. Seems, that mass-produced and used in actual service types are covered more or less comprehensive. Perhaps, prototypes and experimental examples could await their researchers somewhere in deep... of archives?

Some details about experimental pre-WWII Soviet torpedoes and work on them can be found on this russian website. For example:

Back in 1936, the Ostekhbyuro began research on the creation of a torpedo with an engine running on nitric acid and turpentine — ACT (nitrogen-turpentine torpedo). It was expected that the torpedo would have a fantastic speed at that time — up to 90 knots. However, this required a turbine engine with a capacity of over 1800 hp. It was not possible to create such a turbine in the dimensions of a torpedo at that time. I had to make do with a piston engine from torpedo 53-38. Full - scale tests of the ACT began in 1939 . It was repeatedly possible to get a speed of 45 knots with a torpedo range of 11-12 km . The results were tempting, but the toxicity of nitric acid vapors forced the work to be abandoned (in fact, the tests continued until the German attack in 1941 - Kresta II).

The research conducted by S.L.Osherov's group with a turbine engine with a capacity of 600 hp looked more realistic. On the instructions of NIMTI, research began at the Boiler &Turbine Institute in 1937. The engine consisted of two six-stage turbines of opposite rotation at a speed of 12,000 rpm. By the end of 1939, the Kirov Plant had manufactured three sets of turbines. After bench testing, the turbines were submitted to sea trials. The war interrupted them.

At the same time, work was underway to create a traceless thermite torpedo (BTT). The research was conducted by V.A. Polikarpov and V.I. Senderikhin. The work is based on the results obtained by the Institute of Physics and Technology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. The possibility of creating a traceless torpedo with a power plant running on steam obtained as a result of thermite melt was viewed. Model tests gave encouraging results, but the work was also interrupted by the war.

Promising from the point of view of improving the characteristics of torpedoes were also considered to be the research started back in 1933 by an employee of the NIMTI A.B.Topolyansky. Their essence was to enrich the air entering the engine with up to 40% oxygen. Unfortunately, it was not possible to stabilize the combustion process and exclude the explosiveness of the oxygen-air mixture at that time (nevertheless, tests of the "oxygen" torpedo under the "Voda" ("water") program were also conducted until July 1941 - Kresta II).

It is also known from other sources that in the early 1930s the Ostekhburo developed a "super torpedo" of SU caliber 24" (610mm) and 27" (684mm) with a range of 18.5 km. It was assumed that it would be used from surface ships and even torpedo boats (in 1932, a TTZ was issued for a torpedo boat for SU torpedoes with a displacement of 50 tons and a speed of 45 knots with an armament of 2 0.5" machine guns). The development of this torpedo was unsuccessful.