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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.
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
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".
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
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.
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.
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.
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