The displacement of the destroyer of the project is 30 bis live. Domestic weapons and military equipment

It is known that intelligence information is one of the most important tools of strategy and tactics, which makes it possible to know in advance the plans of a potential enemy and, accordingly, to develop appropriate countermeasures in advance.

With the advent of radio-electronic equipment on ships, naval intelligence acquired particular importance. The interception and decoding of the emissions of various radio engineering systems have become the most important sources of intelligence information.

The impetus for the creation of radio intelligence ships in the USSR was their appearance in the late 1950s in NATO countries. And the first ships of the USSR Navy, equipped with electronic intelligence stations, were the destroyers of project 31.

It is about these ships and in question in the monograph brought to your attention.

The destroyer "Silent" of project 31 on the Sevastopol roadstead on November 7, 1960 (from the funds of the Museum of the History of Shipbuilding and the Fleet).

background

In the history of wars at sea from ancient times to the present day, one can find many examples of how naval battles were won solely thanks to correctly staged reconnaissance. The fate of the naval commanders, who paid insufficient attention to reconnaissance of their enemy, as a rule, turned out to be unenviable. In all ages, including the current one, intelligence information has been one of the most important tools of strategy and tactics, which makes it possible to reveal in advance specific plans and types of threats from a potential enemy, which means that it makes it possible to develop appropriate countermeasures in advance.

As you know, in the late 1930s, the Americans and the British initiated the accompaniment of their ships to the exercises of the fleets of potential opponents, primarily Japan, recording all the intercepted signals, the decoding of which brought them intelligence, which turned out to be very useful during the war years. Therefore, systematic reconnaissance of the forces of a potential enemy was still in Peaceful time is one of the most important conditions for the effectiveness and high combat readiness of any modern navy.

Naval reconnaissance acquired particular importance after the widespread introduction of various radio engineering systems in the fleets, the interception of radiation from which is one of the most important information. Thus, electronic reconnaissance became all-encompassing and permanent, and reconnaissance ships equipped with special electronic equipment appeared in the fleets to implement new tasks.

To a certain extent, the impetus for the development of this class of ships in the Soviet Navy was given by their appearance abroad, primarily as part of the US Navy and other NATO countries. And qualitative changes followed after the sensational story of the capture in early 1968 by North Korean sailors of the American electronic intelligence ship Pueblo.

For a number of reasons, the USSR Navy lagged behind potential opponents in this regard, and the first ships Soviet fleet, equipped with electronic intelligence stations, were Project 31 destroyers, converted in the late 1950s and early 1960s from Project 30bis ships.

Due to the traditional closeness of the intelligence topic "thirty-first", both in domestic and foreign literature, not enough attention was paid. They were mainly considered as derivatives of the family of more numerous Project 30bis ships from which they trace their ancestry. That is why very little is known to a wide range of readers about the destroyers of project 31. In a number of very authoritative sources - both domestic and foreign - one can find many discrepancies even in the question of the number of "thirty first". So, the numbers from 7 to 9 are called, while due to the specifics of placing one complex of reconnaissance equipment on a pair of carriers, the number of Project 31 ships could only be even, not exceeding eight pennants.

There are many errors and inaccuracies regarding the tactical and technical characteristics, the composition of weapons, the place and timing of re-equipment (modernization), etc., not to mention photographs of these now rare ships.

When preparing the monograph, documents and materials (acceptance certificates, photos, test reports, reports, correspondence materials of enterprises, etc.) of the Central Naval Museum (St. Petersburg), the Museum of the Pacific Fleet (Vladivostok), the Nikolaev Regional State archive, the Museum of the Shipbuilding Plant named after 61 Communards and the Museum of the History of Shipbuilding and the Fleet (Nikolaev), as well as information from private collections and publications in domestic and foreign press.

The names of the ships are given in accordance with the documents on their enrollment in the lists of the fleet, the names (numbers) of the construction plants, as well as the enterprises-developers of certain types of ship's weapons and equipment, are indicated at the time of the construction of the ships.

The author expresses his gratitude for the help in the preparation of the monograph to Captain 1st Rank (Ret.) Yu.N. Romanov (St. Petersburg), captain 2nd rank V.V. Linnik (Vladivostok), as well as amateur historians: V.V. Kostrichenko (Sevastopol) and A.N. Badyakin (Kerch).

The issue uses photographs from the collection of the author, as well as from the collections of A.F. Kioseva (Berdyansk), VA Levitsky (Nikolaev), S.V. Zernova (Kherson), A.N. Odainik (Odessa), BA Aizenberg (Kharkov), T.V. Stefanyak (Kyiv) and from materials posted on the Internet.

A group of Project 30bis destroyers on mothballing, SF, late 1950s. A similar picture could also be observed in the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean (photo from the collection of A. Odainik).

Project development

The creation of project 31 radio intelligence ships was preceded by the development at TsKB-53 of a number of options for modernizing serial ships of project 30bis, providing for the improvement of their air defense and anti-submarine defense. Nevertheless, every year the need of the Soviet Navy for specialized ships equipped with effective air defense and anti-aircraft defense systems became more and more urgent.

By 1955 - 1956, it became clear that against the background of the dynamic development of potential opponents of attack aircraft and nuclear submarines, the USSR Navy actually does not have adequate means to combat them. Even the newly built ships did not meet the new requirements for equipping them with anti-aircraft defense systems and, in fact, turned out to be outdated, unable to solve the assigned tasks in the new conditions. This mainly concerned the numerous Project 30bis destroyers, which then formed the basis of the light forces of the USSR Navy (a total of 70 units were built).

By the mid-1950s, these relatively new torpedo-artillery ships were morally obsolete and no longer met the changing conditions of the war at sea. This situation created a lot of difficulties for the command of the Navy, who did not know how to dispose of the many “thirty” ships that were forced to be mothballed, which, against the backdrop of the aggravation of the international situation, strangely coexisted with the hypervigilance actively cultivated in the country. Therefore, the issue of modernizing the "thirty" was on the agenda quite acutely.

As one of the top-priority measures to strengthen the PLO facilities, several factories in the country simultaneously began upgrading previously built ships of projects 30bis and 56 into variants of projects 31 and 56PLO.

The history of project 31 dates back to September 1955, when the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral S.G. Gorshkov approved the operational-technical assignment (OTZ) for the conversion of project 30bis destroyers into electronic intelligence ships (RTR) designed to conduct radio and radar reconnaissance, determine the characteristics of operating enemy radar stations (RLS), radio stations and radio navigation systems of the enemy, and interfere with work the latter, as well as conducting operational and tactical intelligence.

Preliminary design was carried out at TsKB-57 - by June 1956, it presented three options for re-equipping (modernizing) destroyers with the placement of a set of reconnaissance equipment on them.

The first option provided for the preservation of the 130-mm artillery of the main caliber on the ship and the replacement of the anti-aircraft guns with two quadruple 57-mm artillery mounts (AU) ZIF-75 with remote guidance and a radar channel for controlling fire from the Fut-B radar. Torpedo armament abolished the axis. The vacated space was occupied by the RTR complex - its equipment was located at the level of the upper deck and additional posts were equipped. However, in this case, a significant overload occurred, which reduced the lateral stability, and the speed decreased.

The second option looked preferable in this regard - to reduce overload, it provided for the abandonment of 130-mm artillery. At the same time, the number of 57-mm ZIF-75 assault rifles was increased to three (one each to replace the 130-mm and 85-mm AUs that were removed). Other things being equal to those of the first variant and maintaining satisfactory stability, the ship upgraded according to the second variant lost only 0.5 knots of full speed.

The third option was a development of the second and was even more radical - it provided for the replacement of the main boilers and the redevelopment of the internal layout for more convenient placement of posts and premises in general.

For further design, the second option was chosen - it turned out to be the most suitable according to the criterion, in modern terms, "cost - efficiency". In other words - the least expensive and at the same time quite effective.

In the TTZ for the development of a technical project approved on July 30, 1956 by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral N.E. Basisty, additionally included one 16-barreled rocket launcher RBU-2500, located in the bow, with the Smerch control system, as well as a hydroacoustic station (GAS) of the Pegas-2M type (GS-572). At the same time, the number of 57-mm ZIF-75 assault rifles was reduced to two, but already with the approval of the TTZ, the same N.E. Basisty recommended to return to the scheme with three ZIF-75 assault rifles.

In accordance with the international situation (the fleet was being prepared for war with the use of nuclear weapons), the project provided for a significant amount of anti-nuclear defense (PAZ) measures, which included such as reinforcement of the hull and superstructures in order to ensure a safe radius in the event of an "explosion of an atomic bomb of medium caliber" in 2000 m along the hull and 3000 m along the superstructures, as well as sealing the outer contour (with the exception of the engine and boiler rooms). As part of providing anti-nuclear protection, the ship was equipped with a stationary degassing and decontamination system, as well as a water curtain system (SVZ), which was introduced for the first time in domestic practice.

In accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of August 25, 1956, eight Project 30bis destroyers were to be converted according to project 31, at the rate of two ships for each of the four fleets.

At the same time, the results of the consideration of the technical project 31 in the structures of the Navy in March 1957 turned out to be completely unexpected for the developers. As if in retaliation for the construction of a large series of already obsolete Project 30bis destroyers, imposed by industry at the end of the 1940s, contrary to the concept of the Navy and common sense, the central administrations and the Navy Research Institute spoke extremely negatively and critically about the technical project 31. The main claims were made to the composition of the armament of the ship. So, its anti-aircraft armament was recognized as clearly insufficient, and the rejection of 130-mm main-caliber artillery made the ship defenseless not only from air attacks, but also from enemy surface.

It was also noted that samples of reconnaissance equipment in the marine version were still under development, and their coastal versions, the parameters and mass-dimensional characteristics of which were laid down by the designer in the documentation, were distinguished by both a very cumbersome design for placement on board a destroyer and unreliability in operation. . As a result, this option of re-equipment of the ship had to be abandoned.

Nevertheless, no one canceled the task of re-equipment, and work on project 31, now called the “comprehensive modernization project for project 30bis EM,” continued within the framework of the already revised TTZ, approved by the Navy shortly after the aforementioned devastating review of the technical project 31. New development provided for the combination of the tasks of strengthening anti-submarine weapons and equipping the destroyer with electronic intelligence (RTR) equipment.

In the final version, the “technical project 31”, which retained the previous designation, combined two previous developments: TsKB-53 - in terms of strengthening air defense systems and TsKB-57 - to strengthen anti-submarine weapons of project 30bis destroyers. The composition of the armament was again changed: while maintaining the 130-mm artillery, the old standard anti-aircraft artillery mounts for the ships of the project 30bis were replaced by three single-gun 57-mm guns ZIF-71 and two twin guns ZIF-Z1 1*. PLO funds were limited to two RBU-2500 and two jet fodder installations (RKU).

1* Note: along with this, there was also a variant of anti-aircraft weapons consisting of two 45-mm guns of the ZIF-45 type and four 25-mm guns 4-M-120P (project 30-BK). designed by TsKB-53 even before the joint decision of the Navy and the SME of the USSR of January 1956 on the development of a project to strengthen the anti-submarine weapons of the Project 30-bis ship.

Project 31 destroyer silhouette.

But since there were no more reserves left to save all the design performance characteristics of the ship, then to reduce the load, the electronic intelligence equipment complex, due to which, in general, all problems with overload arose, was divided and spaced into two ships, which were now supposed to be share. This original decision contains an important, little-known feature today - the ships of the Z1 project were modernized according to two different options - No. 1 and No. 2.

At the same time, the RTR equipment installed on the ships of option No. 1 was capable of providing search and interception of operating radio stations in the VHF, HF, SV and DV bands. At the same time, the VHF range was only partially covered, since on the ship of option No. 1, radio reconnaissance facilities were limited to only three Gafel radars out of five, providing 60% of the VHF range.

The rest of the complex was located on the ship of option No. 2, designed to complement the radio intelligence of the ship of option No. 1.

The detection of operating radars was provided by the Bizan-8 search station, and the determination of the nature of the radiation and characteristics of the radar was provided by the Gafel stations operating in narrow frequency subbands.

As a result, the full conduct of radio intelligence in the entire frequency range waspossible only with the paired use of ships. The sailors joked about this, quoting a line from a children's poem by A. Barto - “Tamara and I go as a couple” ... And indeed, each Project 31 ship individually is unequal in terms of the composition of radio intelligence and is not interchangeable with a ship of another option. Knowledge of this feature should give naval historians answers to many unclear questions regarding both the number of ships modernized according to project 31 and the reasons for their deployment in pairs in fleets 2*.

Project 30bis destroyer "Silent" (photo from the author's collection).

Later, anti-aircraft weapons were unified, limiting it to one type of artillery mounts - the ZIF-71, which favorably differed from the ZIF-31 in its lower mass, twice the rate of fire and better ballistics. As a result, instead of the previous 85-mm and 37-mm guns, standard for the Project 30bis destroyer, the Project 31 ship received five new 57-mm ZIF-71 single-barreled automatic guns with the Fut-B radar fire control system and an ammunition load of 700 rounds per trunk. The unification made it possible to save from 28 to 30 tons of load mass under the "Armament" article.

In the meantime, the SET-53 long-range self-guided electric torpedo was adopted by the fleet, more effective for hitting underwater targets than all other PLO systems that existed at that time. This forced once again to revise the composition of weapons, retaining one stern torpedo tube, modernized for firing anti-submarine torpedoes. Management of torpedo firing was assigned to new system devices "3vuk-31". At the same time, to compensate for the resulting overload and to ensure stability, they abandoned both jet stern installations (RKU), as well as the command and rangefinder post (KDP), which became unnecessary due to the refusal of the optical fire control channel.

Admiral S.G. Gorshkov, Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, submitted the adjusted TTZ for the project 31 destroyer for approval to the USSR Minister of Defense Marshal G.K. building more modern ships, S.G. Gorshkov applied for permission to modernize three times the number of destroyers than planned, increasing it from the previously approved 8 to 24: it was supposed to have eight Project 31 ships for the open oceanic Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet and four each for the closed Black Sea Fleet and KBF. The remaining destroyers of project 30bis were also proposed to be upgraded in accordance with project 31, but without the installation of electronic intelligence equipment (project 31P). On June 3, 1957, the proposals of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy were approved by Marshal G.K. Zhukov.

The anti-submarine armament of the Project 31 ship included two RBU-2500 rocket launchers with the Smerch control system, which received target designation from the new Hercules hydroacoustic station (GAS).

As a result, the bow superstructure, on which these installations were placed, became noticeably wider, from side to side. The traditional stern bombers have also been preserved.

The ship received a new general detection radar "Fut-N". From the previous armament of the ship, only the artillery of the main caliber remained unchanged, consisting of two 130-mm twin-gun turret artillery mounts of the B-2LM type (rate of fire - 1O rounds per minute, ammunition - 600 shells), retrofitted with a system of fire control devices (PUS) "Mina -31" and the D-200 remote control system. True, due to the superstructures more developed than those of the Project 30bis ships, the firing angles of both installations slightly decreased. And on the site of the abolished command and rangefinder post (KDP), antenna posts of the Gafel radio intelligence stations were placed (on the ships of options No. 1 and No. 2 they differed appearance and location).

As a result, the standard displacement of the project 31 ship increased by 284 tons, including about 100 tons of solid ballast, and amounted to 2600 tons, and the estimated full speed value decreased to 33 knots. The estimated cruising range was reduced by 550 miles - from 3600 to 3050 miles.

Despite the universal capabilities of anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense inherent in the destroyer, the "thirty-first" after the completion of modernization (re-equipment) was officially classified as an "electronic reconnaissance ship", intended for "anti-submarine, anti-aircraft and anti-boat defense, connecting ships at sea, as well as carrying out sentinel service and conducting electronic intelligence.

In November 1957, the development of technical project 31 (chief designers D.S. Barbarash, and then L.V. Voishvillo) was completed.

Once again, the review of the technical project was difficult, representatives of the central institutes of the Navy continued to critically evaluate the future "RTR ship", and Technical management The Navy opposed its approval. It considered it expedient, as a last resort, to convert no more than two destroyers "to gain experience and clarify the requirements for ships of this class."

Nevertheless, the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy had other considerations in this regard, thanks to which the technical project was still approved. True, the criticism partly had an effect - instead of creating 24 RTR ships based on Project 30bis destroyers, the production of RTR ships was limited to only eight pennants, in fact, returning to the original version of the number, in accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of August 25, 1956.

Technical project 31 was approved in February 1958, the Navy determined the ships to be converted, and the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry (SME) provided for the inclusion of these works in production plans their enterprises.

As for the modernization of the remaining destroyers of the 30bis project in accordance with the 31P project (without installing the RTR complex on them), the critical remarks regarding the "thirty-first" made at the stage of consideration of the technical project actually predetermined their fate. In May 1958, the 31 P project was considered at a special meeting under the leadership of the Navy Civil Code, again recognizing its anti-aircraft weapons as insufficient, consisting of five 57-mm single-barreled artillery mounts.

For this reason, it was considered inappropriate to modernize anti-submarine weapons, although its composition as a whole was considered quite acceptable. But due to the fact that the threat from aviation was considered a priority, everything rested on resolving the issue of strengthening air defense systems. This turned out to be not an easy task, no positive decision was made, so the bulk of the 30bis destroyers, with the exception of eight modernized according to project 31 and two modernized according to project 20BA (for the Egyptian Navy) 4 * ships, ended its life in its original form.

2* Note: as one of the options, it was supposed to additionally install on the head EM "Silent" VHF radio receiver 1-314 with a panoramic attachment R-320. amplifier-converter of telegraph signals TG-Z0 and accept this equipment as part of the radio intelligence equipment of all ships of project 31 (no data on implementation).

3* Note: The calculated probability of hitting a submarine with one torpedo corresponded to the probability of hitting it with volleys of both RBU-2500s when the ammunition was completely used up. It is noteworthy that almost all subsequent Soviet anti-submarine ships of projects 56plo, 56K, 56A and 61 retained this kind of anti-submarine minimum - one anti-submarine five-pipe torpedo tube (TA) and two rocket launchers, and on large anti-submarine ships (BPK) of projects 57A, 1134 and 1135 the number of TAs was even increased.

4* Note: two EMs. AI Naser and Damiet (former "Permanent" and "Desperate"), transferred by the Soviet side to the UAR Navy in April 1967, were upgraded under the ZOBA project. They replaced the 85-mm AU 92-K and Z7-mm AU V-11 (on the aft superstructure) with a quad AU ZIF-75 with a radar guidance channel from the Fut-B radar. In the bow, similar to the Z1 project, two RBU-2500 units were mounted, and the former one, the Tamir-5N GAS, was replaced with GS-572 (Hercules). The ship also received a new Fut-N general detection radar and a Don navigation radar with an antenna post on the foremast.

The destroyer "Opasny" - a view of the superstructure from the bow: both 16-barrel installations RBU-2500 and the bow 130-mm AU B-2LM, the AP radar station "Zalp" and the AP radio intelligence stations are clearly visible (photo from the collection of B. Eizenberg).

Project 31 destroyer design

The ship's hull is all-welded (with the exception of the riveted connection of the upper deck with the side, superstructure trim corners and removable overlay sheet structures), made of SHL grade steel (cold-alloyed), the framing system is longitudinal. In architectural terms, the hull had a traditional forecastle with a significant rise to the stem, which ensured a decrease in flooding in waves. There was also a slight rise at the poop deck.

The hull of the ship was divided by 17 main transverse watertight bulkheads, reaching the upper deck, into 18 compartments. The unsinkability of the ship was ensured when any two adjacent compartments were flooded.

The ship had a forecastle deck (up to the 78th frame), an upper deck, a lower deck and a platform in the bow and stern ends. The double bottom was only in the engine and boiler rooms.

The design of the bow superstructure on the Project 31 destroyer has undergone changes. Instead of the abolished 37-mm machine guns and the removed command and rangefinder post, two 16-barreled 212-mm stabilized RBU-2500 rocket launchers with the Smerch-31 PUSB system (ammunition load 96 RGB-25) and GAS "GS-572" appeared on it ”, as well as the antenna post of the Gafel radio intelligence stations. As a result, the width of the superstructure increased significantly, thereby somewhat limiting the firing angles of the first main battery turret.

The open bridge inherited wind deflectors from Project 30bis, which made it possible to shield the oncoming air flow and thereby protect the crew members on the bridge from the wind.

To the left and to the right of the superstructure, on the cut of the forecastle, 57-mm AU ZIF-71 No. 1 and No. 2 were placed.

Due to the revision of the composition and nomenclature of electronic weapons, the changes affected the design of both masts. So, on the foremast they equipped the AP of the Zalp-M2 artillery radar and the Don navigation radar, and on the main mast - the Fut-N radar.

On the roof of the superstructure and the platform of the main mast, antenna posts of three Gafel radio intelligence stations (RTR) were placed, which, due to their differences for ships of options No. 1 and No. 2, had a different configuration and appearance.

Main power plant with echelon arrangement and GTA with a total capacity of 30,000 hp. remained unchanged. True, in order to protect the radar antenna posts on the mainmast from the effects of hot exhaust gases, it was necessary to increase the height of the canopies of both chimneys, at the same time giving them a characteristic shape rounded towards the stern.

The space vacated after the dismantling of the bow TT between the first chimney and the main mast was occupied by premises and reconnaissance posts, and additional generators were placed there.

On the sides in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe rear chimney, both AP fire control radars for anti-aircraft artillery "Fut-B" were mounted. Further, a rotary five-tube 533.4-mm torpedo tube PTA-53-31 was installed in the stern, adapted for firing anti-submarine torpedoes SET-53 with a remote guidance system SSSP "Crystal" with a powder firing system and a system of torpedo fire control devices (PUTS) "3vuk -31".

57-mm ZIF-71 assault rifles No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 were placed on the aft superstructure. In addition to it, 14 depth charges of the BB-1 type were preserved in the aft below-deck bombers, as well as mine rails on the upper deck.

Destroyer "Fearless" in combat service, view of the superstructure and RBU-2500. The antenna posts of the Gafel stations on the roof of the superstructure are covered with a canvas awning. Pacific Fleet, 1970s (photo from the collection of V. Kostrichenko).

The implementation of measures for anti-nuclear protection was carried out, if possible, without capital alterations of structures - this is how reinforcements of doors and hatches were made, as well as closed contours of premises equipped with autonomous ventilation systems with separate filter-ventilation units (FVU), degassing and decontamination systems, as well as washing the outer surfaces of the ship.

The layout of the anchor and boat devices was the same as that of the ships of the 30-bis project, with all their shortcomings. Mainly, the destroyers of the project 31 suffered from active splashing due to the elements of the anchor device protruding beyond the dimensions of the hull.

The ship's watercraft consisted of one project 378 motor command boat, one ten-oar motor work boat and one six-oared yal. Tayuka had rigid life rafts fixed in regular places on the second boiler casing.

The layout of the living quarters for the crew was the same as on the Project 30bis EM. The officers' cabins and the officer's wardroom were located on the upper deck under the forecastle and in the bow superstructure. The premises of the foremen were located in a separate compartment in the stern on the lower deck, where the wardroom of the foremen was also located. The sailors and foremen of military service were accommodated in seven separate cockpits on the lower deck, of which four were in the bow and three in the stern of the ship.

To protect against attacking torpedoes, the ship was equipped with two towed acoustic guards of the BOKA type with two spare emitters.

Placement of antenna posts of radar stations "Fut-N" and "Fut-B" on the EM "Fearless" project 31 (photo from the collection of V. Kostrichenko).

The radio equipment of the Project 31 ship included one Fut-N radar for detecting air and surface targets (with an antenna post on the main mast), one Zalp-M2 main-caliber artillery fire control radar (with an antenna post on the foremast) with simulator "Mirage" and two radar fire control anti-aircraft artillery "Foot-B" (on board on the aft superstructure). There was also one Don navigation radar with the Palma block, infrared equipment for joint navigation "0gon-50", standard for destroyers of the identification radar of the "friend or foe" type (interrogating device "Nickel-K" and response device "Khrom-K ").

The equipment of the ship also included the combat information post "Tablet-31", the search radar "Bizan-8", the reconnaissance radar "Gafel-9-10", "Gafel-11-14" and "Gafel-15-16", as well as the system of simultaneous operation of the radar of the 3vezda-31 spacecraft.

Radio reconnaissance equipment included a set of R-313 search equipment with the Signal-P prefix and a set of R-317, R-670 and R-672 radio receivers with objective recognition terminal equipment and recording equipment.

Instead of the previous hydroacoustics standard for Project 30bis ships, a new sonar station GS-572 (Hercules) with a lifting and lowering device DU-4M2 was installed on the "thirty-first".

The ship had chemical weapons in the form of a set of smoke equipment DA-1 (in the aft echelon), an automatic signaling device for the presence of poisonous substances "ASOV-1", equipment for external detection of the presence of radioactive contamination "KDU-13", a water protection system (SVZ), chemical ventilation (“FVU-200-57”) and collective chemical protection (167 gas-protected rooms), as well as storage facilities for special protective clothing (11 waterproof cabinets), degassing equipment (two degassing and decontamination systems SSDD "), storage places for decontamination ny projects and property. And, finally, the destroyer was equipped with a standard degaussing device.

Modernization and testing

The lead ship of project 31 was the destroyer "Silent" (serial number C-1112) from the Black Sea Fleet. Having unloaded all the regular ammunition in Sevastopol, on December 7, 1957, the ship arrived at the enterprise where it had once been built - at the Nikolaevsky Shipyard No. 445 (aka Shipyard named after 61 Communards). It was there that the ship had to undergo an average repair and re-equipment according to project 31.

"Silent" was placed at the berth of workshop 12. Gradually, all weapons to be replaced were dismantled from it and two new masts were installed. At the same time, the bow superstructure was expanded for the installation of RBU-2500 and the height of the chimney peaks was increased. "Silent" became the first ship of the Soviet fleet, on which standard radio intelligence equipment was installed, designed to search for and intercept operating radio stations in the ultrashortwave, shortwave, medium wave and longwave ranges (search station "Bizan-8", radio intelligence stations "Gafel 9-10", "Gaffel 11-14" and "Gaffel 15-16"). In addition, the ship was equipped with two R-313 search stations with the Signal-P and R-317 prefix, two R-670 and R-672 radio receivers, as well as a system for ensuring the simultaneous operation of the ship's radar. Zvezda-31".

Upon completion, in accordance with the approved project and repair lists, of all repair and modernization work provided for by the Contract for Medium Repair and Conversion dated February 20, 1958 No. 58090/46/fs, and additional agreements No. 59056/52fs dated February 28, 1959 and 21 fs/P-18-60 dated February 25, 1960, the ship began mooring trials on January 15, 1960, which ended on May 17. True, at the time of entering the tests at the Besshumny, there were still no many products that were undersupplied by the industry: 8 submersible electric pumps, overpressure valves of the filtering unit, heating elements for the wheelhouse windows, a set of boiler pipes for one KV-30 boiler, etc. . (total 11 titles).

3factory sea ​​trials The destroyer "Silent" began on May 18 near the city of Sevastopol and ended on May 21, and literally the next day state tests began.

The tactical and technical elements (TTE) of the Besshumny destroyer were tested according to the program of state tests of the lead ship No. 31-947-Z.L-25052, as well as according to the programs and methods of individual types of weapons.

The destroyer "Silent" project 31 on state tests (from the archive of the Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

The lead destroyer of project 31 "Silent" (option Ns2), view from the bow (from the archive of Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

The lead destroyer of project 31 "Silent" (option N92), view from the stern (from the archive of Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

Aft 130-mm B-2LM turret and 57-mm ZIF-71 machine guns on the destroyer "Silent", in the background on the right - the destroyer "Fearless" (from the funds of the Nikolaev Museum of the History of Shipbuilding and the Fleet).

On June 13, 1960, "Silent" returned to Nikolaev and was delivered to the factory for control opening of mechanisms and painting. From June 21 to June 27, the ship was docked in the factory floating dock for cleaning and painting the underwater part. On June 30, they completed the elimination of the shortcomings identified during the testing process and issued all the acceptance documents, after which the signing of the acceptance certificate for the destroyer "Silent" took place.

In total, the conversion and testing of the lead ship took 2 years 6 months and 24 days. The cost of re-equipment work amounted to almost 1.5 million rubles in 1960 prices.

The lead ship of project 31 in version No. 2 was the destroyer "Fearless" of project 30bis (serial number S-1114) of the Black Sea Fleet, built at the Nikolaevsky SS3 N ° 445. At one time, this plant, where it arrived on July 1, 1958, produced a medium repair of the ship and its re-equipment (by the way, the work was carried out already during the period of the "Silent" being there).

On the "Fearless" they carried out a generally similar amount of work on the repair and re-equipment (modernization) of the ship. The difference was the installation on the ship of standard radio reconnaissance equipment according to option No. 2 (radio reconnaissance radars "Gafel 12-13", "Gafel 11-14" and "Gafel 17-18"). In all other respects, the destroyer almost completely repeated the ship of the N2 1 variant, with all its advantages and disadvantages.

After the completion of repairs and refitting, the destroyer underwent docking in the factory floating dock with cleaning and painting of the underwater part of the hull (June 29 - July 4), and from August 6 to October 23, 1960 - mooring tests, after which she moved to Sevastopol for factory commissioning ( October 25 - 27) and state (October 28 - November 25) tests. At the time of leaving the plant, there were no devices and products of ten items that were not supplied by the industry at Bezboyaznenny.

Destroyer "Fearless", Black Sea Fleet, 1960 (from the archive of the Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

The destroyer "Fearless" of project 31 (option No. 2) - a view from the bow, the location of the antenna posts of the Gafel stations on the roof of the superstructure, which is different from the EM "Silent" (option No. 1), is clearly visible (from the archive of the Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

Destroyer "Fearless" - view from the stern to the B-2LM stern artillery mount and antenna posts of both Fut-B radars (from the archive of Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

The tests of the destroyer at the ranges of the Black Sea Fleet were carried out according to the program of testing a serial ship and individual types of weapons. The obtained main fuel cells of the ship corresponded to the approved design and specification, with the exception of the full speed value, which turned out to be 1.6 knots less than the design one (33 knots) due to the lack of specification parameters of the main boilers due to their wear. Based on the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy dated November 16, 1960, the received speed was counted.

Destroyer "Silent" in the parade, Sevastopol, November 7, 1960 (from the funds of the Nikolaev Museum of the History of Shipbuilding and the Fleet).

As on the "Silent", on the "Fearless" radio reconnaissance devices "R-310" and "R-314" had large return emissions of the first local oscillators, which significantly exceeded the standard values.

The commission also noted that the detection range of operating radars by the Bizan-8 search receiver is 40 percent less than the detection distance by Gafel reconnaissance stations, which, under normal radar observability, does not provide target designation at distances of 225 -320 cable.

On November 7, 1970, the destroyer "Fearless" returned to the plant and was put to the opening of the mechanisms, revision and final painting. After eliminating the comments and completing the measures provided for by the program of state tests of the ship, on November 25, 1960, the state commission signed the acceptance certificate for the EM "Fearless". In total, 2 years 4 months and 25 days passed from the time the ship was put into the plant until the signing of the act.

Summarizing the comments made by the selection committee, common to the ships of both versions of Project 31, it is important to note the following. First of all, equipping each ship of the pair with only a part of the radio reconnaissance equipment did not allow using one of them to illuminate the situation in the entire frequency range.

It was also noted that the antenna post of the Gafel radar on the second bridge was poorly placed, providing a field of view of only 160 °. In addition, due to the absence in the equipment of the simultaneous operation of the Zvezda-31 radar of interference suppression blocks for the Gafel 11-14 radar, the operation of this station while the Fut-N, Fut-B, " Don" and "Zalp-M2" turned out to be almost impossible. In addition, there was an increase in temperature in the radio reconnaissance posts, the hydroacoustic cabin and the Fut-N radar up to 35 - 50 ° C, as well as increased exposure of personnel to microwave radiation from operating radars at open posts of 57 mm ZIF-71 assault rifles.

Due to the low altitude of the antenna posts of the Fut-B radar (8.3 m from the waterline), the range of the station turned out to be 20% less than on the ships of projects 56 and 57bis, the AP of which was located at a height of 15.5 m from the waterline.

Due to short deliveries by industry, on both Nikolaev ships (and almost certainly on all the rest of those undergoing re-equipment under project 31 at other plants in the country), at the time of the tests, there were no Bug and Vizir radio reconnaissance direction finders provided for by the project, without which the use of equipment radio intelligence was impossible.

The selection committee also made a number of minor comments that limited the effectiveness, in general, of the new ships for their intended purpose.

In total, the re-equipment (modernization) under project 31 on five SS3 and SR3 countries in Nikolaev, Leningrad, Severodvinsk, Kronstadt and Vladivostok (according to other sources - in Komsomolsk-on-Amur) was carried out by 8 ships of project 30bis.

In addition to "Silent", according to option No. 1, the following were converted: "Guarding" (from 10/14/1957 to 7/14/1961), "Fiery" (from 1/19/1958 to 12/27/1960) and "Faithful" (from 11/11/1960) .1957 to 28.4.1961).

According to option N ° 2, in addition to the “Fearless”, the following were converted: “Dangerous” (from 10/14/1957 to 3/6/1962), Swift (from 10/20/1957 to 8/5/1961) and Vortex (from 29.1. .1959 to 20.7.1961).

Externally, the ships of options No. 1 and No. 2 of project 31 differed slightly from each other in the size of the antenna posts of the Gafel stations and their placement on the superstructure and on the mainmast platform. In addition, unlike others, the peaks of the chimneys on the Nikolaev ships had smoother rounding towards the stern.

"Swift", "Silent" and "Fearless" differed in the execution of the lining on the cut of the forecastle - the rest of the ships of the project looked different.

There were also smaller differences in the form of the design of reinforcements under the topmast of the mainmast on the "Silent" and "Fearless". True, due to the practical absence of reliable photos of the Pacific EMs Verny and Vikhrevoy, it is very difficult today to judge their external differences.

In addition, already during the period of being in the Northern Fleet, on the “Dangerous” and “Guarding” on the aft superstructure, light openwork masts were installed to place corner reflectors on them, which allowed these ships to play the role of large and high-speed ships of a potential enemy during exercises.

Service

For a correct understanding of the role and place of the fleet in general and destroyers in particular in the country's defense system, let's take a brief digression into history.

In the light of the plans for the defense of the country from sea and ocean directions that existed in the 1950s, the fleet worked out the tasks of repelling amphibious assaults of potential enemies.

It was assumed that in the event of a war, the Soviet Navy would have to fight with the opposing forces of potential enemies near its shores, under the cover of fighter and bomber aircraft, mainly by surface forces (light cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats) in interaction with submarines. Surface strike aircraft carrier and amphibious formations were considered a potential enemy. Western countries, primarily the United States and Great Britain, as well as other NATO countries.

Accordingly, in the light of the adopted defensive doctrine, all Soviet fleets until the end of the 1950s worked out the tasks of repelling a potential invasion from the sea direction, where the destroyers had to act in close cooperation with light cruisers and inflict torpedo and artillery strikes on enemy ships.

For example, in the Baltic, a scenario was worked out for conducting a battle by artillery cruisers with the support of destroyers with equal or superior enemy forces on the outskirts of the Baltic Strait Zone (from the Baltic). Along with this, the fleet also practiced landing troops on enemy territory in the strait zone itself, while the destroyers, along with the cruisers, were to provide them with artillery support. In the latter case, a flank breakthrough to Western Europe from the territory of the GDR was provided by tank and mechanized formations of the Ground Forces of the Internal Affairs Department.

"Silent" (tail number 545) and "Bezbyaznenny" (tail number 580) in the Kara Sea during the transition to the Pacific Fleet, the picture was taken from the board of the Uporny DBK. The photograph clearly shows the differences in the shape, size and location of the AP stations of the RTR of both ships. (1961) (photo from the collection of A. Kiosev).

Project 31 destroyers "Dangerous" (tail number 622) and "Guarding" ("Tamara and I go together") - together at sea, together at the pier (photo from the author's collection).

Over time, the scenario of the exercises changed, but until the very collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, the task of landing operational-tactical and strategic landing forces to capture the straits remained, so the magnificent 130-mm artillery of destroyers of projects 30bis and 31 remained in demand.

Black Sea Fleet until the end of the 1950s, he practiced combat with infiltrated ships of a potential enemy in the central part of the Black Sea, within the reach of coastal missile-carrying aircraft from the Crimean airfields and / or from the airfields of the Allied countries under the Warsaw Pact. Another important task here, as in the Baltic, was to work out fire support for the planned strategic landing on the Bosporus in case of war and, accordingly, to ensure the actions of the ground forces of the Warsaw Pact countries against the southern flank of NATO in the Balkans.

During this period, the Northern Fleet practiced combat with enemy surface forces and fire support for landings, as well as guarding its internal convoys. Over time, when the fleet was replenished with nuclear submarine missile carriers, the main task of the surface forces Northern Fleet was to ensure the deployment of shock nuclear submarines, forcing NATO anti-submarine lines and protecting areas of combat positions of strategic submarines.

Pacific Fleet Until the end of the 1950s, he also worked out the tasks of repelling, in cooperation with aviation, possible enemy landings on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, striking at enemy convoys and landing formations, guarding his own convoys. Another task was fire support for the landing in the event of a war on the island of Hokkaido.

In the 1970s, the tasks of the USSR Navy were supplemented by ensuring a naval presence in the World Ocean, displaying the flag, protecting the state interests of the USSR and protecting Soviet shipping.

With the development of military equipment, means of detection and delivery, with the change in the forms and methods of modern warfare at sea, the tasks of ships also changed. First of all, in order to strike directly at the territory of the USSR, the Navy of potential adversaries no longer needed to enter the Black Sea and risk their ships. Now they could attack targets with the forces of aircraft carrier aviation, being in the eastern Mediterranean, and later - with the forces deployed in the Mediterranean and Norwegian Seas (and later in the Indian and Pacific Oceans) of nuclear missile submarine formations.

The Soviet Navy was faced with the need to identify and control the location of the advanced groups of the US and NATO navies and take preemptive measures by early deployment of their forces and assets in these areas. Proceeding from this, the task of carrying out the so-called combat service (BS) by the forces of the fleet was gradually formed and implemented. At the same time, the tracking organization was supposed to ensure, if necessary, the immediate guaranteed destruction of the detected groups or the weakening of a nuclear strike on the territory of the USSR.

The only and most effective way In order to carry out combat service by the diverse forces of the fleet, continuous monitoring of potential targets already in peacetime was recognized in order to inflict an annihilating or, in any case, paralyzing blow on them in the event of a war. Therefore, in the conditions of military service in peacetime, the ships were almost in full readiness for the immediate, upon receipt of the order, the use of their weapons - they did not need time to deploy and search for the enemy.

Naturally, under such conditions, at each stage, the role of naval intelligence in general and radio engineering in particular increased immeasurably. That is why at first the few ships of Project 31 were distributed equally between the Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet.

Thus, Silent and Fearless, originally intended for the Black Sea Fleet, were transferred to the North in the summer of 1961. From there, after appropriate preparation for sailing in the ice behind the icebreakers (including docking with the replacement of standard propellers with temporary steel propellers), they, as part of the Special Purpose Expedition, crossed the Northern Sea Route to the Pacific Fleet, where Verny and Vortex were already located.

"Swift", "Fiery", "Dangerous" and "Guarding" became part of the Northern Fleet. In the end, with a change in the situation, "Fiery", "Swift", and in 1984 and "Dangerous" moved to the Baltic, where they ended their service. The most stormy fate went to "Fiery", who managed to visit the Northern, Black Sea and Baltic fleets. The lead destroyer Besshumny, which was finally excluded from the lists in 1994, served the longest of the "thirty first" (since 1985 - already as a training ship).

Rare photo - three project 31 EMs at the berth; in the foreground - "Fiery" (tail number 617), followed by "Dangerous" and "Guarding". The differences are clearly visible in the shape, size and placement of the antenna posts of the radio reconnaissance stations of the ships of the 1st and 2nd variants. Polyarny, 1962 (photo from the collection of A. Odainik).

The destroyer "Silent" in the Vilkitsky Strait during the transition to the Pacific Fleet. The picture was taken from the board of the "Fearless". 1961 (from the funds of the Nikolaev Museum of the History of Shipbuilding and the Fleet).

"Silent"

EM "Silent" (serial number S-1112) of project 30bis, enrolled in the lists of ships of the USSR Navy on March 15, 1950. The ship was laid down on slipway SS3 No. 445 in the city of Nikolaev on October 31, 1950, launched on May 31, 1951, and entered service on November 30, 1951. December 31, 1951, raising the Naval flag, became part of the Black Sea Fleet.

In the period from December 7, 1957 to June 30, 1960, the ship was modernized and rebuilt on SS3 No. 445 in the city of Nikolaev according to project 31. Upon completion of the tests, the Besshumny received tail number 207 (ship commander - Captain 2nd Rank S.G. Lesnoy) .

In the period from June 15 to September 24, 1961, as part of the Special Purpose Expedition (EON), "Silent" (tail number 545) made the transition by the Northern Sea Route from Severomorsk to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and from September 26 was transferred to the Pacific Fleet.

In the 1970s, Besshumny had tail number 444, then 412. On June 15, 1979, the destroyer, which by that time had received tail number 743, was disarmed and expelled from the Navy in connection with the planned transfer to the Fund Property Department (OFI) for disassembly and laid up, however, on October 1, 1985, it was removed from the joke and converted into educational and training vessel UTS-536.

In September 1994, the ship was finally excluded from the lists of the Navy's watercraft and handed over to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal.

Project 30bis destroyer "Fearless" (photo from the author's collection).

Project 31 destroyer "Fearless" - anchoring. Black Sea Fleet, 1961 (photo from the collection of A. Kiosev).

"Fearless"

EM "Fearless" (serial number C-1114) of project 30bis was added to the lists of ships of the Navy on June 22, 1951.

Laid down on slipway SS3 No. 445 in the city of Nikolaev on March 26, 1951, launched on August 31, 1951, and commissioned to the fleet on January 11, 1952. On July 6, 1952, he raised the Naval flag and became part of the Black Sea Fleet.

On October 15 - 16, 1953, as part of a detachment of warships (OBK), the Black Sea Fleet paid a visit to Constanta (Romania), and on October 19 - 22, 1953 - to Burgas (Bulgaria).

The destroyer "Silent" after modernization under the project 31 option 1 (from the archive of the Shipyard named after 61 Communards).

In the period from July 1, 1958 to November 25, 1960, it was modernized and rebuilt at Shipyard No. 445 in Nikolaev according to project Z1 (commander - Captain 2nd Rank M.M. Gromov) with the assignment of board number 207. In the summer of 1961, "Fearless" as part of OBK moved from Sevastopol to Severomorsk, from where, in the period from June 15 to September 24, with tail number 580, he crossed the Northern Sea Route to the Pacific Ocean and from September 26 of the same year was transferred to the Pacific Fleet.

During various periods of service in the Pacific Fleet, the Fearless wore tail numbers 789, 750 and 778.

June 3, 1976 "Fearless" was taken out of service, disarmed and transferred to the "target ship" (SM) class with the assignment of the name SM-274 on August 19, 1976 to ensure the implementation of combat exercises.

On August 12, 1977, SM-274 was excluded from the lists of the fleet in connection with the transfer to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal.

The name of the ship was inherited by the Project 956 destroyer of the Pacific Fleet, which entered service on November 28, 1990.

"Fiery"

EM "Fiery" (serial number C-178) project 30bis. Enrolled in the lists of ships of the Navy on December 3, 1947.

Laid down on August 14, 1948 in the construction dock of Shipyard No. 402 (Molotovsk city), launched (removed from the dock) on August 17, 1949, delivered on December 28, 1949. February 12, 1950 raised the Naval flag and became part of the Northern Fleet.

In the period from January 19, 1958 to December 27, 1960, it was modernized and rebuilt at Shipyard No. 402 (the city of Severodvinsk) according to project 31. After modernization, on October 5, 1963, it was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet, and from October 12, 1964 - again to the Northern fleet (tail number 617), from November 6, 1968 - to the Leningrad Naval Base (LenVMB) and from November 16, 1968 - to the Baltic Fleet.

As part of the operational naval exercise "Pechora" in the Northern Fleet in the summer of 1965 on the topic "Destruction of the strike groups of the enemy fleet in the initial period of the war" "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Resourceful", "Fiery" (tail number 060) and "Responsive", patrol ships "Cougar", SKR-72, SKR-73 and SKR-77 from June 18 to July 7 entered combat service in Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic. The tasks of the detachment, along with participation in the exercises, were the search and reconnaissance of the activities of US nuclear missile submarines that had begun combat patrols in the Norwegian Sea. The ships were replenished with fuel during combat service from the Volkhov and Terek tankers.

Project 31 destroyer "Fearless" in combat service, Pacific Fleet, 1978-1979 (OW).

In the search area for a nuclear submarine, the ships of the search and strike group (destroyers Ognenny and Responsive) on June 22-23 discovered the British diesel-electric submarine S62 Aurochs, which was monitoring the Zheleznyakov and the ships accompanying it. The destroyers continuously pursued the submarine for 31 hours and 26 minutes and eventually forced her to surface to recharge her batteries.

In the period from November 6, 1967 to November 16, 1968 and from February 8, 1969 to October 10, 1970, Ognenny (tail number 331) was undergoing repairs at the Shipyard named after. A.A. Zhdanov in Leningrad. In 1972 - 1976, the ship bore tail number 459, then - 477.

In the period from October 13 to 28 and from November 13 to December 15, 1971, while in the war zone, the destroyer Ognenny carried out a combat mission to provide assistance armed forces Egypt. In the period from 10 to 15 August 1972, the ship visited the port of Helsinki (Finland).

In July 1978, the destroyer Ognenny (tail number 610) was mothballed in Liepaja, and on December 25 the ship was disarmed, expelled from the Navy in connection with the transfer to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal. On May 21, 1981, the ship was disbanded.

"Guardian"

EM "Guarding" (serial number C-191) project 30bis. Enrolled in the lists of ships of the Navy on April 15, 1949. Previously, this name was borne by the Project 30 destroyer, which was going to be built before the Great Patriotic War at Shipyard No. 199 in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, but in 1941 the order was canceled.

On November 25, 1950, it was laid down in the dock of Shipyard No. 402 (Molotovsk city), launched (removed from the dock) on July 26, 1951, and delivered to the fleet on November 28, 1951. On January 13, 1952, he raised the Naval flag and became part of the Northern Fleet.

Project 30bis destroyer Ognenny before modernization, Northern Fleet, February 1955 (photo from B. Eisenberg's collection).

The destroyer "Fiery" on the Neva, 1972 (photo from the collection of A. Odainik).

In the period from October 14, 1957 to July 14, 1961, it was modernized and rebuilt at the Shipyard named after. A.A. Zhdanov in Leningrad under project 31. After the modernization, the Guardian (tail number 624) was again part of the Northern Fleet, but on May 3, 1962, as part of the general reduction of the USSR Armed Forces, it was withdrawn from service, mothballed and laid up.

On February 27, 1987, the destroyer was disarmed, expelled from the Navy in connection with the transfer to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal. On July 30, 1987, the ship was disbanded. After that, the disarmed destroyer was used in the last nuclear tests on the island of Novaya Zemlya. In June 1990, the ship was sold for scrap to England, dismantled in the city of Blyth.

"Dangerous"

The destroyer "Opasny" (serial number C-196) of project 30bis. March 15, 1950 enrolled in the lists of ships of the Navy. Previously, this name was borne by the lead destroyer of project 30 (since May 16, 1941 - "Fire") built by the Nikolaevsky Shipyard No. 200, which entered service in 1945 and was excluded from the fleet in 1958.

On October 20, 1951, it was laid down in the construction dock of Shipyard No. 402 (city of Molotovsk), launched (decommissioned from the dock) on June 1, 1952, and commissioned on December 9, 1952. On January 4, 1953, he raised the naval flag and became part of the Northern Fleet.

In the period from October 14, 1957 to March 6, 1962, the destroyer was modernized and rebuilt in Leningrad according to project 31. After modernization, it was part of the Northern Fleet (tail number 622), on May 3, 1962, it was decommissioned, mothballed and laid up , but on July 31, 1979 it was reactivated and re-commissioned.

In the period from December 11, 1981 to August 3, 1983, a major overhaul took place in Murmansk and on October 16, 1984 it was transferred to the Baltic Fleet.

Destroyers "Fiery" and "Swift", Liepaja, July 1978 (author's photo).

Project 30bis destroyer Opasny before modernization (Internet).

March 5, 1987 was disarmed and expelled from the Navy in connection with the transfer to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal. On July 30, 1987, the ship was disbanded.

"Loyal"

The destroyer "Verny" (serial number C-19) of project 30bis. Enrolled in the lists of ships of the Navy on April 15, 1949. Previously, this name was borne by the former Japanese destroyer Hibiki built in 1933, inherited by the USSR as reparations (since 1948 - training ship "Dekembrist"), scrapped in 1953.

Laid down at Shipyard No. 199, launched (de-docked) on May 17, 1951, commissioned on December 26, 1951. On June 10, 1952, he raised the Naval flag and became part of the 5th Navy in the Pacific. On April 23, 1953, he became part of the Pacific Fleet.

In the period from November 11, 1957 to April 28, 1961, it was modernized and rebuilt at Dalzavod in Vladivostok according to project 31 and rejoined the Pacific Fleet, but already on May 3, 1962, it was withdrawn from service, mothballed and laid up in Novik bay. On March 21, 1981, the ship was disarmed, expelled from the Navy in connection with the transfer to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal, and on August 28, 1981, it was disbanded.

"Swift"

The destroyer "Stremitelny" (serial number C-607) of project 30bis. Enrolled in the lists of ships of the Navy on October 7, 1948. The name was inherited from the destroyer of the project 7 of the Northern Fleet, which died on July 20, 1941 in Polyarny. Earlier in the Russian fleet, this name was borne by the destroyer of the Sokol type (until March 9, 1902 - Pheasant) of the Black Sea Fleet, which was sunk by the crew on June 18, 1918 in the city of Novorossiysk in order to prevent its capture by German troops.

Laid down on slipway SSZ No. 190 in Leningrad on May 15, 1950, launched on April 15, 1951, delivered to the fleet on July 4, 1951. On August 5, 1951, he raised the Naval flag and became part of the 4th Navy in the Baltic. The destroyer "Fiery" at the naval parade, Riga, July 1976 (photo from the collection of T. Stefanyak).

From December 24, 1955, it was part of the Baltic Fleet, from August 6, 1961 - to the Northern Fleet, and from November 6, 1967 it was again transferred to the Baltic.

In the period from October 22, 1957 to December 30, 1960, it was modernized and rebuilt at the Kronstadt Marine Plant according to project 31, after which it was transferred from the Leningrad Naval Base to the Northern Fleet.

July 22, 1961 "Swift" as part of a detachment of warships ( light cruiser"Zheleznyakov" and the destroyer "Desperate") returned to the Northern Fleet to the place of permanent deployment.

On July 6, 1962, while moored on the Kildin roadstead, the destroyer Strimitelny (tail number 620, commander - Captain 3rd Rank N.N. Zakharov) was rammed by a large missile ship Thundering in poor visibility conditions, the stem of which crashed into the starboard side of the area of ​​the fourth boiler room, as a result of which, in addition to damage (boiler No. 4 was destroyed and the shaft of the first machine was deformed), a fire broke out due to a short circuit, which was extinguished.

At the same time, sailor Dmitriev, who was in the boiler room No. 4 at the time of the impact, died. A minute before the collision, the torpedo operator senior sailor Emelyanchik, on his own initiative, managed to deploy a torpedo tube with five live torpedoes, which turned out to be just on the line of impact, to a safe position, thereby saving the ship from explosion and death. Later, the sailor was awarded the nominal watch of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

The emergency repair of the ship at the SRZ-35 shipyard was completed on October 30, 1963 (the fourth boiler room was not restored). After that, the ship became part of the Northern Fleet (tail number 061).

From October 17, 1967 to October 2, 1968, Stritelny carried out medium repairs on Kronstadt

Marine plant, after which the ship was transferred to the Baltic Fleet based on Liepaja. On December 20, 1969, the destroyer was mothballed.

In October 1971, the destroyer was transferred to the Tallinn Naval Base (Naval Base) as part of the 23rd division of reserve ships. In May 1978, the Swift (tail number 428) was transferred to Liepaja, where on June 20 it was reactivated and put into operation (tail number 603).

Project 306is destroyer Stremitelny before modernization, 1953 (TsVMM).

On February 8, 1982, the ship was disarmed and reorganized into the PKZ-33 floating barracks (commander - lieutenant commander P.I. Petrov). On April 6, 1984, PKZ-ZZ was expelled from the fleet and on June 25 of the same year was transferred to the OFI for sale. In June 1990, the ship was sold for scrap to Spain.

"Vortex"

The destroyer "Vikhrevoy" (serial number C-17) of project 30bis. Enrolled in the lists of ships of the Navy on December 1, 1948.

Laid down on February 28, 1950 in the construction dock of Shipyard No. 199 (Komsomolsk-on-Amur), launched (removed from the dock) on September 15, 1950, delivered to the Navy on December 27, 1950. On March 18, 1951, he raised the Naval flag and became part of the 7th Navy based in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. From April 23, 1953 he was part of the Pacific Fleet.

In the period from January 29, 1959 to July 20, 1961, the ship was modernized and rebuilt at Dalzavod in Vladivostok according to project 31. After the modernization, the ship was returned to the Pacific Fleet.

A year later, on May 3, 1962, the Vikhrevoy destroyer, as part of the general reduction of the USSR Armed Forces, was decommissioned, mothballed and laid up in Novik Bay, but seventeen years later, on September 15, 1979, they were mothballed and put back into operation.

On June 7, 1983, the ship was disarmed, expelled from the Navy and transferred to the OFI for dismantling and cutting into metal. March 15, 1984 the ship was disbanded.

Project evaluation

Archival documents show that about half of the ships of project 31 most spent its existence in reserve. However, this does not mean that the Project 31 destroyers did not justify themselves as reconnaissance ships.

The fact is that the re-equipment and modernization of ships under Project 31 were completed during the period of active and unilateral reduction of the USSR Armed Forces, carried out at the initiative of N.S. Khrushchev. And he, as you know, did not like the fleet (however, like aviation). It was a time when almost finished cruisers were sent straight from the factories for scrapping, so putting some of the Project 31 destroyers into reserve can be considered not the worst option for the latter.

The first of the destroyers pr.31 modernized in Leningrad (presumably "Swift") with a covered model of an unknown product on the aft automatic platform. According to Western experts, it was most likely a fake, designed to mislead Western intelligence. Late 1961 snapshot (photo by USN NH80284).

Ships of project 31 (as well as project 30bis) suffered from active spray formation in waves due to the elements of the anchor device protruding beyond the dimensions of the hull (photo from the collection of V. Villald).

The greatest need for Project 31 destroyers was felt in the Northern and Pacific Fleets, where they were eventually concentrated, for which Silent and Fearless made a rather difficult transition to the Pacific Ocean by the Northern Sea Route.

Assessing the service of the "thirty first" in the Northern and Pacific fleets as electronic intelligence ships, it is important to note that for some time they were the only ones of their kind in the USSR Navy *. Moreover, the very presence of such ships in the USSR Navy, regardless of how important information they managed to get in this or that particular situation (the latter lies outside the scope of this narrative and, perhaps, will forever remain the property of the military archives inaccessible to the public), was essential for the security of the country.

Despite the individual design flaws of the ships noted during the tests, they, nevertheless, favorably differed from their non-modernized counterparts in the class - Project 30bis destroyers - in terms of armament and technical means. Already at the exercises of the Northern Fleet "Pechora", as already mentioned above, due to the presence of the destroyer "Ognenny" of project 31 in the Soviet naval search and strike group (KPUG), during the search anti-submarine operation, it was possible to detect in a timely manner and, after a long pursuit, force to surface British submarine.

At the same time, the 57-mm ZIF-71 assault rifles, which the destroyers were armed with, did not provide a solution to the tasks of air defense against high-speed aircraft even by a single ship, not to mention the air defense of the formation, and over time this shortcoming only intensified.

* Note: the first four small reconnaissance ships (MRZK) of special construction of projects 393 and 393A "Val", "Vertical", "Lotsman" and "Bakan" were handed over to the Shipyard named after 61 Communards in Nikolaev in 1964 - 1965), and the first four large reconnaissance ships (BRZK) of project 394B "Crimea", "Primorye", "Kavkaz" and "Transbaikalia" - by the Black Sea Shipyard in 1969 - 1971), and after them in the same place in 1972 they handed over two BRZK "Zaporozhye" and "Transcarpathia » project 994.

Project 31 destroyers "Fearless" and "Silent" Pacific Fleet moored Russky Islands, 1970s (photo from the author's collection).

In this regard, the non-universality of the 130-mm main caliber artillery was especially distinguished. Who knows, if the latter were as versatile as on American or British ships, it is quite possible that the fate of the destroyers of Project 31 and 30bis would be completely different.

Due to the weak air defense, the “thirty-first” in war conditions could not act independently and conduct reconnaissance without the support of other forces of the fleet (by the way, even the air defense of the more modern destroyers modernized around the same time according to the 56PLO project, consisting of four quadruple 45-mm artillery mounts and two twin universal 130-mm artillery mounts of the main caliber, were eventually recognized as weak, in connection with which the “fifty-sixth” received one anti-aircraft gun instead of the aft artillery mount of the main caliber missile system- so the destroyers of project 56A appeared).

It makes no sense to repeat the well-known, repeatedly published design flaws of the "thirty" - most of them were preserved on the "thirty first". Among them are low autonomy, restrictions on the use of weapons in a storm due to thorough splashing and flooding of the forecastle deck, etc.

One of the significant shortcomings of the "thirty-first" remained the electric power industry, based on direct current sources * - three turbogenerators of the TD-7 type with a total power of 450 kW and three diesel generators of the DG-75 type (one of them was parking) with a total power of 225 kW.

* Note: even before the war, the leading fleets of the world switched to the use of alternating current, which made it possible to increase the power-to-weight ratio of ships (for example, on German serial destroyers of the 1936-A type, it reached 550 kW). In our country, attempts were also made to switch to alternating current. In particular, in 1934, an experimental destroyer project was developed, and in August 1941, the Terrible destroyer of the 7-UE project, which was a serial “improved seven” with alternating current electric power, was put into operation.

Despite this, as well as the experience of the war and the study of the state of affairs in foreign fleets, the introduction of alternating current on Soviet ships stalled. Even on the serial destroyers of project 30, en masse laid down before the war, they kept the electric power industry on direct current. And through the efforts of the industry, which was not interested in restructuring the cooperation system established before the war, the direct current electric power industry “migrated” to the post-war ships of the 30bis project, and from there to the destroyers of the 31 project.

As a result, ships with such energy did not make sense to modernize and replace certain types of weapons and electronic intelligence (RTR) with more modern models.

Finally, the forcedly adopted concept of spreading the RTR equipment over two carrier ships created certain operational difficulties and inconveniences. It is for this reason that Project 31 destroyers were transferred to other theaters in pairs, subject to the presence of options No. 1 and No. 2 in a pair of ships.

So, in addition to "Silent" and "Fearless", transferred to the Pacific Fleet, a similar transition from the North to the Baltic was carried out by "Fiery" and "Swift". Apparently, the pairing of the “thirty firsts” partly took place until the very end of their active career, which is confirmed by numerous photographs. In particular, a number of photographs of "Silent" and "Fearless" are known, standing side by side at the pier of Russky Island in the late 1970s, as well as "Swift" and "Fiery" in Liepaja.

Summing up, we can conclude that the Project 31 ships, although with certain reservations, nevertheless justified the hopes placed on them.

V. I. Nikolsky, D. Yu. Litinsky, Illustrations by Yu. V. Apalkov. Destroyers of the "Brave" type. Draft 30bis.

Chapter 4

The ships being completed (or under repair) were usually separated from the structure of the fleets into separate brigades of ships under construction (under repair). After the end of the cycle of factory and acceptance tests and official enrollment in the Navy, new ships were included in existing formations or new ones were formed from them.

The new Project 30bis destroyers that joined the fleets formed brigades that were part of the squadrons of surface ships. Such an organization repeated the scheme established in the pre-war years. The changes affected the quantitative composition of the battalion - after the war, the destroyer battalion was formed by six ships, while the tactical organization developed before the war provided for a four-ship battalion.

The most famous in the fifties was the destroyer brigade of the Black Sea Fleet, nicknamed the "royal". The special location of the fleet commander, then the first deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy and commander-in-chief Admiral S.G. Gorshkov, who in 1939-1940 was himself the brigade commander of the destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet, put the brigade - of course, unofficially - in a privileged position and made service in it the subject of aspirations of many " destroyers". The Black Sea "thirty-bis" were distinguished by a special external "chic" - they were always flawlessly painted with light-ball paint, they had white railings and anchor capstans and chains on the deck. At the end of the fifties, one of the ships of the “royal brigade”, whose honorary duties for some time included transporting N.S. Khrushchev to the Crimean dacha, was completely painted with white paint. During construction, all ships of project 30bis were supplied with boards with overlaid letters of the name, which were strengthened on both sides in the stern and in the area of ​​​​the bow tower. The Black Sea destroyers were also distinguished by the fact that larger overhead letters flaunted on their sides - like on the pre-war "sevens". The Baltic and Black Sea "thirty-bis" carried two-digit side numbers (corresponding to their tactical designations), the Pacific and northern - three-digit, applied to the sides forward of anti-aircraft guns located at the forecastle cut.

More than a dozen new destroyers in each maritime theater were an excellent school for ship commanders. The plans to create a powerful navy also reflected the necessary personnel training system - for normal operation, the ocean cruising fleet needed officers who had gained practical experience in commanding a warship on "workhorses". Being assigned to a destroyer under construction, the commander had the opportunity to thoroughly study the structure and features of the ship even before it entered the Navy, acquiring control skills during tests and improving them on the very first miles traveled under the naval flag.

As soon as they entered service and completed their course tasks, destroyers of project 30bis began to represent our country abroad. A few months after Stalin's death, in July 1953, the cruiser Sverdlov passed through the Iron Curtain, sent at the invitation of Great Britain to officially represent the USSR at the traditional naval parade on the occasion of the coronation of a member of the English royal dynasty. In October of the same year, a detachment of ships of the Black Sea Fleet, consisting of the cruisers "Frunze", "Kuibyshev" and four "thirty-bis" under the flag of the chief of staff of the fleet, Vice Admiral V.A. Parkhomenko, visited Romania and Bulgaria, and the Baltic cruiser and three destroyers made a visit to Poland. The West saw the new Soviet destroyers for the first time the following year, 1954, when in July two Baltic ships escorted the cruiser Ordzhonikidze to Helsinki and four the Admiral Ushakov to Stockholm. In September 1955, the "thirty-bis" were able to see the British - in April, a detachment of ships of the Baltic Fleet, consisting of the cruisers "Sverdlov" and "Alexander Suvorov", the destroyers "Sharp-witted", "Looking", "Able" and "Perfect" under the command of Admiral A.G. Golovko arrived in Portsmouth on an official visit. Also in April of the following year, accompanied by "Perfect" and "Watching", whose commanders already knew the features of navigation in these waters, the cruiser "Ordzhonikidze" came with N.S. Khrushchev, N.A. Bulganin and members of the government delegation on board. The detachment of ships was commanded by Rear Admiral V.F. Kotov. The commanders of both destroyers, like all other participants in the campaign with distinguished guests, were awarded tokens "For the trip to England." In July of the same year, "Angry", "Severe" and "Sverdlov" visited Holland, in August "Swift", "Crushing" and "Ordzhonikidze" - in Denmark. The destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet in the summer of 1954 escorted the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" to the Albanian port of Durres, in 1956 the "Permanent" and "Irreproachable" together with the cruiser "Mikhail Kutuzov" under the flag of the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral V.A. Kasatonov visited the Yugoslav port of Split and Albania . Two Pacific "thirty-bis" - "Thoughtful" and "Impressive" - ​​in June 1956, together with the cruiser "Dmitry Pozharsky", paid an official visit to the People's Republic of China, having visited the port and naval base of Shanghai.

An interesting coincidence: the English reference book "Jane's Fighting Ships 1956-1957", which in its previous editions only approximately estimated the program for the construction of Soviet destroyers, surprisingly accurately indicated the total number of built ships of project 30bis ("Skory" -class) - 72 units. By seventy The British probably added two Project 7-U destroyers to the new ships, completed in parallel with the Thirty-Bis.

In 1958, the destroyers of the Northern Fleet visited “abroad”: the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral A.T. Admiral S.M. Lobov, who was holding the flag on the cruiser, which was accompanied by the destroyer Desperate, visited the same ports a month later. After 1958, the Scandinavian countries were able to see the Soviet warships that came on a friendly visit only a few years later. The reason for the protracted pause, perhaps unwittingly, was the destroyer of project 30bis. In August 1958, an emergency occurred in the Baltic Fleet, the circumstances of which became public only three decades later. The commander of the "Crushing", which arrived from Baltiysk in Gdynia to the Special Detachment, where foreign teams were trained on several ships preparing for transfer to the Indonesian Navy, left on a ship's boat for Sweden. The destroyer was brought back to Baltiysk by the first officer, an investigation began. And the "culprit" - "Crushing" - "away from sin" was later sent to its destination - to the island of Java. The next official visit to Sweden took place seven years later, when at the end of June 1965 three ships from the 76th destroyer brigade left Tallinn and headed for Stockholm - the cruiser Komsomolets, the destroyers Surovy and Angry. A week before the foreign campaign, "Severe" and "Angry" took part in joint exercises of the DCBF and the troops of the Leningrad Military District. The plan of the exercises provided for the landing of ground troops on the coast of the Gulf of Finland in the Primorsk region. The motorized infantry division, equipped with reservists called up from the reserve for military training, was to be delivered to the landing site by temporarily mobilized MMF ships. The detachment of combat security and fire support ships consisted of the two destroyers mentioned, waiting for the completion of the loading of people and equipment on the Ust-Dvinsky roadstead. Having completed the task of escorting the convoy at the passage through the Gulf of Finland, with the onset of darkness, the destroyers began shelling the "enemy-occupied" coast. Controlled with the help of a pre-landed correction post in a square designated for this purpose, shooting “in the squares” was carried out with live shells, so the calculation of the corps had to act in a real combat situation - as it happened more than twenty years ago. The destroyers also conscientiously and effectively carried out fire support for the landing, as did the "sevens" during the last war.

In the late fifties and early sixties, in connection with the reduction of conventional weapons announced by the Soviet government, most of the "thirty-bis" were put into reserve and put into conservation. At that time, six mothballed destroyers could be seen in the Merchant Harbor of Tallinn, in the same condition the ships stood at several base points on three other fleets. Then - in the early sixties - the destroyers of the 30bis project were "devoid of names." Overhead brass letters disappeared from the sides of the ships. Those remaining in the ranks received three-digit tail numbers. Destroyers were transferred from one theater to another. The lead ship of the Baltic "Smely" series, which at that time was commanded by Captain 3rd Rank V.G. Kudryavtsev, was in the Northern Fleet in July 1961 and provided nuclear tests at the Novaya Zemlya test site. Several destroyers built by the Leningrad plant ended up in the Black Sea theater. Among them were "Perfect", "Solid" and "Serious". The Illuminated, built in Molotovsk, also got there. Implemented for the first time in the history of the Soviet Navy, the scheme for naming ships of one theater - each plant built destroyers whose names began with one letter, handing them over to "its own" fleet - was thereby violated. Proposed by N.G. Kuznetsov back in 1940, a simple and logical system of naming ships of the same class, linked to the tactical organization of formations and greatly simplifying combat and daily management, did not take root in the fleet. And beginning with the same letter, the names of the "thirty-bis" built at the same plant for knowledgeable people remained only evidence of the geography of the "origin" of the ships. It is worth noting the fact that none of the Project 30bis destroyers that remained in the Soviet fleet was renamed. These ships passed the craze of opportunistic name changes in honor of various “party congresses”, “Komsomol members”, etc. The adjectives, traditional for the domestic fleet, the names of destroyers played a role here.

In the second half of the sixties, when the combat service system was introduced, Project 30bis destroyers were among the first to enter the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. They turned out to be sufficiently adapted for long autonomous voyages, although this, of course, was not envisaged in the design. The ease of operation and reliability of the "thirty-bis", well mastered by the personnel, allowed them to successfully compete with ships of later construction in combat service. They did not bring major troubles to the fleet, let alone catastrophes. Two examples from the "biography" of the destroyer "Serious", which was in the combat composition of the Soviet Navy for a long time, can illustrate both various technical aspects of the ships of this project, and the history of their service. In 1969, "Serious" was in combat service in the Mediterranean. The ship was heading to the rendezvous point under two boilers at a 14-knot course in a six-point storm, when suddenly the fireboxes in both main boilers went out. The destroyer turned out to be deprived of power and power and began to drift towards the coast. Attempts to kindle fireboxes in other boilers were unsuccessful. As it turned out, the fuel in all service tanks turned out to be flooded - probably as a result of sea water entering through the "ganders" (air tubes) of tanks brought to the upper deck or filtering through cracks in the second bottom, which were discovered later and welded directly into the sea with compressed tanks . With great difficulty, it was possible to start a diesel generator (water was also found in the service fuel tank), after which the auxiliary boiler was ignited and the watered fuel was pumped out of the service tanks. At the moment when steam was supplied to the turbines from the commissioned main boiler No. 1 and the ship set in motion, as a result of the drift, it was already in Libyan territorial waters. The second case occurred in 1973, when the "Serious" was in the shipyard of the naval base Poti. A huge floating crane torn off by a strong wind from the mooring lines from the opposite wall, having passed 3-4 cable lengths through the factory water area and having managed to accelerate enough during this time, fell on the starboard side of the destroyer in the bow. A surface hole was formed in the side ceiling, about one and a half meters long and about a quarter wide. From such a strong blow, one could expect great destruction, but the ship turned out to be strong enough.

Rugged and reliable hulls "thirty-bis" provided not only a long service life, but also a low level of underwater noise. According to one of the leading domestic experts on the problem of underwater noise, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Captain 1st Rank V.N. Parkhomenko, they were one of the quietest surface ships of the Russian fleet.

In the sixties and seventies, no more than two dozen ships out of 70 built were simultaneously in the combat strength of the fleet. In addition to those preserved in conservation, a number of destroyers were used as floating training stations and experimental ships. Designations UTS-286, UTS-27 and UTS-538 received the Pacific "Verky", "Eternal" and "Attentive", "Fierce" became OS-19. Project 30bis destroyers helped to solve the acute problem of securing nuclear submarines when there were not enough vessels in the fleet logistic support special building. The main boilers of the thirty-bis nuclear submarines withdrawn from the reserve and delivered at the bases of the nuclear submarines regularly supplied them with steam for domestic needs until full-fledged floating bases appeared.

The brigade organization of destroyer formations survived until the mid-seventies, when brigades of anti-submarine and missile ships already appeared in the fleets. Then, some of the outdated and worn-out destroyers were assigned to naval bases, and in the early eighties, "thirty-bis" and project 56 destroyers began to be included directly in the formations of landing ships, since main task of the torpedo-artillery ships remaining in service at that time, fire support for the landing was recognized marines and ground forces on the coast.

In the early seventies, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, the names were "returned" to the destroyers. The letters of the ship's name that appeared again on the sides in the stern did not change and were not painted over before each entry into combat service, as happened with the side numbers. The elimination of "impersonality", which for obvious reasons was painfully perceived by the commanders and crews of the destroyers, came at a time when the "thirty-bis" celebrated the twentieth anniversary of their service.

In the first half of the seventies, destroyers with the most worn out main mechanisms and hulls were withdrawn from the combat strength of the DCBF. But the Baltic "thirty-bis" did not stand up to the walls of the ship-breaking bases, but remained to wait at the distant piers for the last order in their lives. Such a day came for "Angry" in July 1976, when the tugboats of the Tallinn Naval Base for the last time took him to the raid and delivered him to the designated square of the water area of ​​the training ground. The destroyer, surrounded by rafts with movie cameras mounted on them, was to, as befits warship, go to the bottom, accepting the battle - "Angry" participated in the exercises of the DCBF. The formation of surface ships led by the cruiser "October Revolution" under the flag of the commander of the fleet, working out together with naval missile-carrying aircraft the execution of an attack by a strike force of a mock enemy, was supposed to end the exercise with live fire. According to the plan, test missile firing by the P-120 complex was to be carried out by a small missile ship of project 1234. The first missile, fired from a distance of about 30 kilometers, exploded, triggered by touching the destroyer's davit, without causing serious damage to it. The second KR hit the corps of the veteran of the 76th brigade in the middle part, quickly sending him to the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Movie cameras, which correctly recorded the explosion of the warhead of the first missile, did not work when the second one hit, but. The divers who examined the ship reported heavy damage to the hull.

In December 1983, the service in the 176th brigade of reserve ships for the destroyer Otradny ended. Three months later, in April, Otradny, hit by a P-120 anti-ship missile fired by a small missile ship, sank to the bottom near the Northern Fleet's missile firing range.

In 1985-1988, the last Project 30bis destroyers were withdrawn from the fleets. The Black Sea Fleet parted ways with Stormy, Merciless, Trouble-free, Serious, Perfect, Solid, Baltic - with Severe and Powerful, Pacific - with Attentive. Now these ships are waiting for cutting into metal at ship cemeteries. "Merciless", converted into a floating barracks (PKZ-36), stands in the South Bay of Sevastopol as a kind of sad monument to the "royal brigade", and on Far East in one of the bays of Strelok Bay, aground, with the trunks of the bow tower lifted to the sky and tilted, as if on a steep circulation, covered with rust, but not losing the strict beauty inherent in the ships of this project, the Pacific "Volny" is living its life.

Starting to create the main, at that time, project of the destroyer of project 30-bis, Soviet naval specialists had experience in the creation and combat use of destroyers of projects 7 and 7U and leaders of EM projects 1, 20 and 38. It should be noted that the work to improve the ships class "destroyer" continued during the war.

Work on the destroyer of the 30-bis project was originally entrusted to the Central Design Bureau No. 17 (TsKB-17) of the People's Commissariat of the Shipbuilding Industry. The basis for this was the joint decision of the NKVMF and the NKSP dated October 08, 1945. However, in less than two months, by a letter from the Navy Naval Forces dated November 28, 1945, the armament of the new destroyer of the "second series" of project 30 bis was finally approved and the executors of the project of the latter were reassigned - a new TsKB-53 was formed, the chief designer of this project was approved by A L. Fisher. Soon, by resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N3 149-75 of January 28, 1947, the technical project 30 bis, which was finally developed in TsKB-53, was approved.

Project 30-bis made some changes in comparison with the project of the destroyer "Ognevoy": the main dimensions (length, width and height of the side) were slightly increased, the hull was for the first time fully welded, and its design allowed the use of new, more advanced technology. The strength characteristics of hull structures met the requirements that existed then in military shipbuilding.

According to the technical design, the 30-bis destroyers had a standard displacement of 2351 tons, a normal displacement of 2726 tons and a total displacement of 3101 tons; main measurements (largest / on DWL): length 120.5 / 116 m, width 12/11 m, average draft 3.86 m (at normal displacement) and 4.25 m - the largest. The speed was equal to: full - 36.6 knots, technical and economic - 15.7 knots and operational and economic - 19 knots. The cruising range, respectively, was 1000, 3660 and 3600 miles.

The onboard weapons and weapons included 2X2-130 / 50 mm / cal, deck-tower artillery mounts "B-2-LM" (with an ammunition load of 150 rounds per barrel); 2X2-85/52 mm/cal, "92-K" turret gun mounts (ammunition load - 300 rounds per barrel), as well as 7X1-37/63 mm/cal of "70-K" deck automatic anti-aircraft gun mounts. Since 1951, the destroyers of the 30-bis project were re-equipped with new anti-aircraft guns of the same caliber "V-11" instead of the latter. Ammunition included 1200 shells per barrel. Torpedo armament consisted of two deck-guided five-tube 53 cm torpedo tubes of the ShA-53-Z0-bis type (ammunition load - 10 torpedoes) and the Mina-30-bis PUTS system. Anti-submarine weapons were provided by two BMB-1 type bombers " or "BMB-2", as well as two stern bombers with ammunition for large depth charges and small depth charges - 22 and 52 pieces, respectively. ) or 60 units of the type "M-26".As on the EM project 30-k, radio equipment was provided: radar for detecting air targets "Guys-1M" (on the project 30-k - "Guys-1B"), radar detection surface targets "Rif-1", artillery radars "Redan" (for the main caliber) and "Vympel-2" (for anti-aircraft caliber). The Rym-1 station was used as a navigation radar. It should be noted that, in general, artillery ( AU "B-2-LM", AU "70-K") and anti-submarine weapons EM project 30 bis by the time these ships entered she was already morally and technically obsolete and did not quite meet the requirements for them at that time. But due to the installation of new radar detection tools and firing stations, the combat capabilities of these ships were increased. The Tamir-5N GAS was also relatively new. The crew of the destroyers consisted of 286 people, including officers.

The creation of destroyers under the 30-bis project for Soviet shipbuilding was an extraordinary phenomenon that had not been seen before. Firstly, in the entire history of the domestic fleet and shipbuilding, it was supposed to build the largest number of units in a series of large surface ships (a total of 68 units of Project 30-bis EM were built and commissioned into the Navy). Secondly, during the construction of the 30-bis project, our shipbuilders for the first time set a truly speed record for the creation of a destroyer-class ship - already on the sixth ship of the EM series of the 30-bis project, the construction time was reduced by 2 times compared to the lead ship! And the labor intensity of building the last ships of the series has been reduced by 40%! It took just over one year to build one of these destroyers! Thirdly, the construction of the destroyers of the 30-bis project was carried out very intensively: the entire EM series, which began in 1948, was completed in 1953. At the same time, it should be taken into account that for the first time "fully welded" ships were built and at the same time new technological methods of construction were used.

Main technological processes, characterized by their own characteristics during the construction of the 30-bis project EM, were grooving, hull metal processing, as well as assembly and welding of the ship's hull on the slipway and outfitting work. So, for example, during construction, the building was technologically "broken" into 101 sections; sections were assembled and welded in the assembly (hull) shop in special "beds", after which the sections were transported to the slipway shop, where the assembly assembly and body welding were carried out according to a given technology. If we characterize the amount of welding work on the hull of the destroyer of the 30-bis project, then it is necessary to indicate that only the "length" of the welds on such an object was approximately 16,000 m. For welding work on one such ship, approximately 17 tons of welding electrodes were required, and the electricity consumption for welding was about 150 thousand kWh.

The composition and layout, placement of the power plant and auxiliary mechanisms were approximately the same as on the EM projects 30-k and 30. The location of the boiler rooms and engine rooms is also echelon: two bow boiler rooms - one engine (bow) room; two aft boiler rooms - one (stern) engine room. The main steam boilers of the KV-30 type, installed on these EMs, belonged to the type of water-tube four-collector boilers. They had a radiation-convective heating surface and air heaters with fan blowing air into the boiler room. 2.8 MPa, temperature 310°C.

As the main turbo-gear units on the destroyers of the 30-bis project, as well as on the EM of the 30-k project, GTZA of the TV-6 type was used. They developed power in forward gear up to 60,000 hp. with. (the motor power of full forward gear was 30 thousand hp for each such unit) and in reverse gear - 15 thousand hp. with. To transmit torque to the propellers, two propeller shaft lines were provided.

How successful the destroyers of the 30-bis project turned out to be can be judged by the results of their tests - the lead ship in the series - the EM "Brave", as well as the EM of another plant "Otchetlivy". "Brave" was tested in the Baltic, in the Gulf of Gdansk near Baltiysk - the naval base of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Laid down at shipyard No. 190 NESI on May 16, 1948 and launched on September 29, 1948, this ship was presented for state trials by the builder on November 03, 1949. In general, the state and factory tests of the "Brave" were successful and confirmed the parameters laid down in its design. However, some significant shortcomings were also revealed, which mainly imposed restrictions on the use of ship weapons in conditions of heavy seas and at high speeds.

It turned out that, despite the fact that in order to ensure better germination of the ship on the wave and non-flooding on the "Smelly" (compared to the destroyers of projects 7, 7U and 30), the deck height was increased, the sheer of the forecastle in the upper deck at the aft end was made, and also installed on the forecastle, a breakwater, seaworthiness turned out to be insufficient 2 and 3.

When the ship was moving at sharp heading angles against a 5-point oncoming wave and a speed of more than 18 knots, firing from the bow turret of the main caliber turned out to be impossible due to water getting into the gun barrels. In addition, the design of artillery turrets "B-2-LM" and "92-k" (respectively 130- and 85-mm caliber) did not ensure their water resistance when splashing against a wave at 4-5-point sea waves, and this reduced the combat capabilities of the destroyer.

Due to the flooding of the boiler turbofans in such waves, the "Brave" could not reach a speed of more than 28 knots, although on a measured mile against a small wave its speed reached more than 35 knots! It was also noted that when the destroyer's displacement was less than the "normal displacement", the ship became rolly, that is, insufficiently stable. In addition, at full speed, the circulation diameter reached a very large value - 8.5 times the length of the ship's hull, which exceeded the required characteristic.

Most of the comments and shortcomings indicated here were also confirmed during extended sea trials of another Project 30 bis destroyer - "Otchitlivy", conducted in the autumn of 1951 in the Barents Sea. True, on its hull, unlike the "Brave", two side keels were welded with total area 28 m2, as they say now - "passive type stabilizers".

The construction of destroyers of the 30-k project was carried out at four shipyards of the country - in Leningrad (now St. Severodvinsk) at plant No. 402 (nowadays it is called the Production Association "Northern Machine-Building Enterprise"), in Komsomolsk-on-Amur - plant No. 202 (now, is named after Lenin Komsomol) and in Nikolaev at plant No. 200 - now PO "Shipbuilding plant named after the 61st Communards".

In 1947, the fleet received the first two destroyers of the 30-k project - Impressive (the lead one, built by plant No. 202) and Prudent (built by plant No. 402). In 1948, 5 ships of this project were already put into operation: in Komsomolsk-on-Amur - "Vlastny" and "Hardy"; in Molotovsk - "Okhotny" (later renamed "Stalin"); in Leningrad - "Excellent" and in Nikolaev - "Naughty". The last 3 ships entered the Navy in 1949 - "Exemplary", "Courageous" and "Gifted" - were also built by Leningraders. After the delivery of the destroyers of project 30 of the first series (that is, project 30-k), these plants began mass construction of welded project 30-bis. Their construction was carried out in 1948-1953.

After the construction of the Project 30 bis EM was completed, some of the ships underwent modernization, during which a number of individual types of combat and technical equipment were replaced with modern ones, or were removed from the ship altogether. The main areas of modernization work carried out on the 30-bis, which at that time were part of our fleet, were the strengthening of radio-technical weapons, the combat means of ships that solved the tasks of air defense and anti-aircraft defense, as well as improving the habitability of destroyers personnel. When there was a question about the transfer of Soviet ships to the fleets of the socialist states - members of the Warsaw Pact, no significant changes were made to the projects of the transferred ships, and therefore no further refinements were made. So, in 1965, the EM project 30 "Fire" was transferred to the Navy of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, after which it received a new name - "George Dimitrov". Project 30-bis destroyers "Skory" and "Sharp-witted" after their withdrawal from the Baltic Fleet in 1957-1958 were transferred to the Navy of the Polish People's Republic.

Destroyers are completing their almost forty-year journey. Most of them have already been written off from the composition of our Navy, and those that are still in service are, as a rule, used for training purposes, in particular, when working out the tasks of fighting for survivability by the personnel of formations of surface ships. But, looking at the past of the Soviet Navy, one should not forget such objective facts as the fact that these ships were simple and reliable in operation, and it was these destroyers who had the opportunity to begin the development of the oceans, where they subsequently transferred the solution of combat service tasks to more modern ones. fellow destroyers of project 56, large missile ships of project 57 bis, missile cruisers of project 58, as well as anti-submarine ships of project 61.