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T-15 - torpedo atomic: characteristics

By the end of the 1940s, the nuclear program in the USSR was developing at an impressive rate. Resources for this task have never been spared. In many respects this was due to the events in Japan, to the cities of which the Americans dropped two atomic bombs at once . It was necessary to hurry, not to be in place of the Japanese.

In 1949, the first bomb was tested ... and immediately it turned out that for delivery to the probable enemy there are only slow-moving Tu-4s. But even then it was clear that this, to put it mildly, is not an option. First, these aircraft are very old and could not defend themselves against those interceptors that were in the arsenal of the United States. Secondly, I did not want to be scattered by the pilots: after completing the assignment, they had one way out - to try to throw themselves with parachutes over the territory of Mexico.

This situation was not acceptable to anyone in the country's leadership. Numerous investigations were started in the field of creating delivery vehicles, one of the most impressive being the T-15. This torpedo, happened to her "work", could carry all the eastern coast of the United States.

Why torpedo?

This was due to the fact that the submarine was the most in the Soviet Navy. Already during the Great Patriotic War it has been repeatedly proven that they can make their way to the very coast of the enemy, and in case of a probable atomic war this was vitally important. Even if the Americans had ventured to implement their "Dropshot" plan, the T-15 torpedo would have become an effective weapon of retaliation.

But to make a decision is one thing, but to realize it is much more difficult: the largest diameter of torpedo tubes on Soviet submarines is 500 mm, and the diameter of the "miniature" atomic bomb is all one and a half meters. How to be? The sailors really wanted the appearance of an adequate torpedo, but the nuclear scientists insisted on the opposite.

Key Developers

Who was the head of the T-15 project? The torpedo was proposed by VI Alferov. He took an active part in the creation of the first atomic bomb, so he had experience. It was immediately after the tests that he "squeezed" his vision of the problem, and insisted on developing a large torpedo under the "hydrogen" charge.

It should be noted here that the fleet was not informed of this decision at all. The fact is that Alferov did not use the sailors' popularity, since it was he who initiated the persecution of Admiral Kuznetsov. So there was a paradoxical situation, when naval armament was developed exclusively by "land forces".

It is believed that the immediate author of the project was the notorious academician Sakharov. The super-torpedo T-15 (100 megatons!) Was to be used to strike the eastern coast of the United States. It was assumed that when the "torpedo-king" exploded, such a wave would arise that the entire infrastructure of the enemy would be washed away, not only the shore, but even the one that was in the deepest part of the land. To this day, the S-15 torpedo is considered to be the most powerful weapon of this class, even if it has not been accepted for service.

Suggested layout

The fleet was informed about new weapons only in 1953, and the sailors themselves were not delighted with it. The fact is that on the submarines, which were supposed to carry such torpedoes, the entire first compartment turned into a giant apparatus for launching this projectile. Thus, the T-15 torpedo is the only case in world practice when a separate class of submarines was developed for the transportation of a single projectile. True, and the characteristics of the latter were such that they fully covered the costs.

The total length of the device is more than 20 meters. Among other things, it was envisaged the presence of two 533 mm torpedo tubes intended for self-defense. Places at the same time remained so small that at the disposal of the crew there would be only two torpedoes (there was no stock).

Presumptive characteristics of T-15

So, how did the T-15 differ? The torpedo could impress anyone with its monumental dimensions. Its length was 23 meters, and the weight reached 40 tons. And the mass of the immediate combat unit accounted for four tons. All the rest is a huge rechargeable battery, the resources of which were enough to develop a speed of about 29 knots. It was assumed that the range could be up to 30 kilometers. What was the "filling" of the T-15? The torpedo, most likely, could carry only the thermonuclear warhead on board.

The latter was developed by a separate design bureau under the leadership of Khariton Yu. B. The detonation could be made both by a contact fuse and by means of telemetry. The first option was recommended for those cases, if in the event of a nuclear war already underway the boat would be noticed by enemy forces. In this case, there was a threat that the S-15 torpedo had already left the torpedo tube, but the submarine itself could have been destroyed by that time. To manage the shooting, the specially designed Tantal complex was used.

When the theory is at variance with practice

The main technical characteristics of the torpedo carrier were approved at the end of 1953. Already by July 1954, a preliminary draft of the submarine was ready, on board which was to be the nuclear torpedo T-15. By the end of the year, he was examined by the first instances and recommended the further transfer of documentation for discussion. Only then did Admiral Kotov, who at that time was commander of the Soviet Navy, were allowed to the project. It was then that other leaders from the fleet introduced the course.

Expert conclusions

They formed an expert commission, which was supposed to deal with the general expediency of such a project. It immediately became clear that the Navy's leadership did not like not only the Soviet nuclear torpedo T-15 itself, but also the characteristics of the submarines on board which were supposed to place such weapons. Specialists rightly noted that the cost of such a missile carrier is incredibly high, it must be constantly maintained in combat readiness, and it will be very difficult to do this with such dimensions of the torpedo.

In addition, the crew of the submarine actually turned into a suicide bomber: with the explosion of a charge of 100 Megatons, they, along with the submarine, would simply be torn to pieces, since they would have had a maximum of 100 kilometers from the epicenter.

As a result, it was finally decided that the Soviet T-15 torpedo is a rather dubious project, and it is more expedient to create such weapons that could be used through conventional 533-mm torpedo tubes. In March 1955, all the research was thrown into this area. The atomic torpedo T-15 itself remained only on paper.

What came to replace the T-15?

It was replaced by a torpedo T-5. Also atomic, but already possessed adequate dimensions. However, developers had to overcome a lot of difficulties. For example, for a long time it was not possible to "teach" the torpedo not to stray from the required depth. Moreover, during the sea trials, in four cases out of 15 it could initiate the firing of the fuze "independently".

In addition, for the normal functioning of the warhead, extremely capricious because of the large amount of electronics, a temperature of 5-20 degrees Celsius was required. Given the fact that our submarines often visited the Arctic Circle, the requirements looked extremely heavy.

Despite this, as early as April 1955, a new torpedo was tested on Novaya Zemlya. Undermined it in the sea, at a depth of about 12 meters. We used an attenuated charge whose power did not exceed three kilotons. It should be noted that the warhead, which was equipped with a "cobalt" torpedo T-15, was never tested in real conditions. And this is understandable: the capacity of "product B", it's "Kuzkina mother," did not exceed 60 megatons. Experiencing a charge twice as powerful engineers and military just did not dare.

Incidentally, in the not so distant past, our country was developing a new ICBM on the basis of the Proton rocket, whose power was to exceed ... 150 megatons. But even this project did not go beyond the drawings because of its ultimate power. So far, no one can confirm or deny the possibility of an uncontrolled chain thermonuclear reaction when testing a weapon of this power.

State testing

State trials of the successor to the T-15 were started in 1957. According to their program, three stages were planned: one shot with a "dummy", the second with a full-fledged military torpedo, but without an atomic filling, the third - a real explosion of a T-5 with a nuclear warhead.

All stages were successful, but revealed a lot of problems, including some deviation of the projectile from the course, as well as some problems in control systems. Despite this, all the negative aspects were of little significance, the program for the creation of nuclear torpedoes finally came to an end with success.

End of story

They were accepted for service in 1958. They were issued by a limited series in the city of Alma-Ata. But already in 1960 the production was completely curtailed. There were many reasons. Firstly, "galloping" development (only five years) could not affect the driving performance, which was significantly lower than that of those torpedoes that were already in service. Secondly, it was in 1960 that special serial 533-mm torpedoes began to arrive in the troops, in which a nuclear warhead could be used. It is because of this development of special weapons of this type was collapsed.

At the same time, the T-15 torpedo, the characteristics of which we described, as well as the T-5, gave Soviet science a wealth of valuable information, which was subsequently used repeatedly to create special ammunition.

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