"Mackerel". Forgotten fishing "rocket carrier"
Georgy Ternovsky is rightfully considered one of the most ardent enthusiasts of using rocket systems on navy. Apparently, this influenced his appointment to the Department of Armaments and Ammunition Supply of the Navy. His "reactive mania" was well known to everyone - various projects and plans rained down from the officer as from a cornucopia. But, despite, in general, the positive reviews of the authorities about his research and even the recommendations of practical tests of rocket artillery in the Navy, there were many opponents of rocket launchers. As a result, even before the war, research in this area was carried out, and even came to practical firing, they did not find wide application, they simply did not have time.
Georgy Ternovsky (pre-war photo)
After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Ternovsky, absorbed in his artillery concerns, was now the flagship of the Odessa base, and after the retreat of the Novorossiysk naval base, there was no time for his projects either. But the old love does not rust, and most importantly, some “sobering up” of skeptics came after the successful use of the BM-13 Katyusha. In addition, for the sake of enhancing artillery power in difficult military conditions, the authorities have become more susceptible to new ideas. And these ideas, by the way, were realized not only on the Black Sea.
Ternovsky’s passion for the “Eres” was known at the headquarters of the stockbroker before the planning of the landing of the 43rd year. So, for example, on George’s initiative, installations for using RSs were already successfully mounted on “small hunters”. Two guides for the RS were attached directly to the 45-mm guns, and aiming at the target was carried out using the mechanisms of this gun itself. At the same time, nothing prevented firing directly from 45 matches. At first, these innovations were designed to fight against aviation the enemy - in those conditions, the main threat to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet. But Ternovsky considered it simply a way to introduce rocket artillery in the Navy. He was convinced that in the near future rockets would submit to ground, sea, and air targets. And he was right.
Rear Admiral Bachelors on board the armored boat of the Danube Flotilla inspects the installation for 132-mm RS
To the credit of the senior officers of the Black Sea Fleet, they were supportive of the undertakings of Ternovsky and other enthusiasts, and many became ardent advocates of the use of "ereses." So, after testing the installations from board MO-084 of Lieutenant Krivonosov, who was part of the army of defenders of the reactive idea, the commander of the NBM George Holostyakov and the general aviation Vasiliy Yermachenkov congratulated Ternovsky and by all means promoted the mounting of such installations on as many small hunters as possible.
Not long in coming and baptism of fire. 2 April 1942 of the year from Novorossiysk to Kerch left a small convoy, which included the “hunter” Krivonosov I already mentioned. Soon a Nazi torpedo bomber appeared on the horizon and began to enter the combat course. Suddenly, the “hunter” was wrapped in smoke, and the sky was strewn with fire arrows. The German torpedo bomber suddenly plunged into the clouds of close gaps for himself. The car visibly shaken, and the confused from such a “hello” pilot immediately refused to attack and drew away from such a stubborn and mysterious target.
A few days later, another convoy sailed from Novorossiysk to Anapa, also guarded, but already by three boats with jet installations. On one of them was George Ternovsky. This time, a volley of missiles has dispersed an entire flock of eight U-87 dive bombers.
G-5 with installation for PC
Having heard about the successful baptism of the Black Sea "Katyushas", the Black Sea officers, all as one, were eager to receive such weapons on their ships. With the blessing of the Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet, Rear Admiral Ivan Yeliseyev, the installation of “erasov” was made even in the G-5 babies, the conditions of service on which already resembled the convenience of sprats in a tin can.
A natural continuation of the introduction of reactive artillery in the fleet was its use on ground targets. The D-3, CM-3 and, of course, MO-4 boats armed with “erasies” made lightning and unexpected attacks on coastal targets in Yalta, Feodosia, Anapa, etc. Sometimes the Germans could not even understand where they were firing from, because the rate on jet artillery in the fleet was so unpredictable. So, at the very end of 1942 of the year, “hunters” SKA-044 and SKA-084 in the area of Cape Iron Horn with volleys of “erasov” suppressed a whole German artillery battery.
At the same time, Ternovsky did not leave the work on improving the jet systems in the fleet; moreover, now he was not alone. Combat use of installations gave impetus to the manifestation of enthusiasm among other officers of the fleet. The relative simplicity of installation of installations has generated various homemade variations with all sorts of ways of fixing and targeting. Tactical features of the use of reactive artillery also changed.
But, despite the rather extensive experience of combat firing by the “eresas”, it was not so easy to get “good” for the fire support of the assault force. Legal doubts still tormented the command. It is one thing to "cut" the sky over the open sea or cover the whole square, located on the territory occupied by the enemy. And it is completely different to support the troops with fire in the impenetrable darkness of the night and at the same time not to cover our own. However, faith in jet artillery took over. For this purpose, 3 boats were identified that had previously worked ashore shooting for training purposes.
But this violent Ternovsky was not enough. And then there came the time newsthat Andrei Zubkov’s 100-mm battery must first concentrate fire in the area of Yuzhnaya Ozereyka to support the main landing. Therefore, George hurried to the headquarters with a dizzying idea to equip installations for launching the RS though a seiner, even a schooner. But to arm in an adult way so that the volley of “eresov” would be more than comparable to their glory on the coast. So to say, that “the organ of Stalin” played the death music in Nazi heads. This was supposed to compensate for the loss of battery support # XXUMX in the first hours of the landing. As a result, both Bachelors, and Rear Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, and Major General Alexei Nesterenko, who led the Guards mortar units and made a significant contribution to the modification of "eresov" in the conditions of the war in the mountains, gave "good".
Of course, even in his wildest dreams, Ternovsky did not think that, in order to implement such a daring plan, they would immediately earn, for example, the canoe ship “Red Georgia”. But the dedicated Mackerel KTSH-606 was far from being a gift. Mackerel was a mobilized fishing seiner with a speed of 7 knots. All the weapons of the modest laborer consisted of one 7,62-mm machine gun and one cutter trawl. The case of a clumsy seiner, of course, was wooden. Soon through the efforts of the naval engineers on the deck of the Mackerel, according to various sources, they installed up to 12 launchers for 82-mm rocket projectiles.
Approximate model KTSH-606 "Mackerel" (from the funds of the Novorossiysk Museum-Reserve)
On a dark night with 3 on 4, February, the commander of the “Mackerel”, Chief Executive Vladimir Zholudov, who quite recently quietly caught his fish on the same wooden and low-speed trough in the same waters, and therefore knew all the depths and bends of the coast, brought the trawler out of Gelendzhik Bay. Senior on board was the flagship artillery base, Captain-Lieutenant George Ternovsky. Seiner, now a minesweeper, was jam-packed with 82-mm shells. Tipping heavily from wave to wave, Mackerel headed for Tsemesskaya Bay. The launchers were carefully sheathed, the crew remained dead silence, and in the dark only the ship's engine roared, and the winter sea wind whistled.
Finally arriving at the entrance to the bay, the Mackerel drifted in anticipation of the landing forces. Everybody understood perfectly well that it was worth a single projectile to pierce the seiner case with such a filling as the entire crew headed by the flagship would go to heaven to the accompaniment of a stunning firework. Finally, less than half an hour remains before the operation. George gathered the commanders for the last briefing and gave the command to uncover the installations.
An order was received by the commander of the landing detachment of Lieutenant Commander Nikolai Sipyagin to go to the agreed point of opening fire, the landing ships rushed towards Stanichka. Simultaneously with this order, smoke-curtain boats swept alongside the minesweeper. Everything, now everything will go more fun. In the blink of an eye, mobile and stationary artillery batteries of the base grinned with fiery flashes, and sometimes reddish geysers of ruptures soared into the sky near the coastal strip, slowly moving deeper and deeper into the land, clearing the road for the paratroopers.
For the time being, lurking enemy artillery bristled into the night darkness. Glavsarshina Zholudov, who himself was at the helm, led the Mackerel to the opening point of fire. Ternovsky instantly set goals, a volley followed, and the "Stalin's organ" spoke in his deafening voice. "Mackerel" completely plunged into the blue cloud. 96 RS went to say their “hello” to the nazis, who had dug in along with the guns in a place with the romantic name Cape of Love. Finally, the minesweeper jumped out of the smoke screen, and the crew was able to see the fruits of their risky labor. On the shore, where they went to the RS, a whole forest of earth-breathing fires grew, fires began. Volley "Mackerel" became a team for boats armed with "eresami."
The crew of the predatory "Mackerel" has already prepared to give the next volley. The minesweeper went overboard to the shore and disappeared again into the gray smoke. Blowing off this artillery cloud, the assault ships rushed past, literally crashing into the shore. A battle broke out on land, slowly disintegrating into separate pockets.
Ternovsky and Zholudov were so carried away that they didn’t even notice how they almost came right up to the shore and eventually ended up under the mortar and machine-gun fire. Minesweeper covered with splinters. The first wounded among the gunners appeared, and the head of the violent flagship wound. "Mackerel" began to slowly move away from dangerous proximity, when it suddenly lost its course - the oil line struck. But Ternovsky has already chosen a goal, so to speak, if they lay down, then slam the door. Fortunately, the next volley covered the German mortar. Motorists vividly patched a break through, and Mackerel, having shot off the RS, now with a sense of dignity, steadily went towards the base.
Soon Kunikov wrote to the commander of the landing party detachment, Sipagin, about Ternovsky: “It helped us a lot! Report to Gorshkov and Kholostyakov ... Such innovation in the amphibious assault force will always be a success ... Support my petition. We must reward this tireless innovator ... "
George Ternovsky (photo 1943 of the year)
It was hard to overestimate the psychological effect of multiple artillery salvos. For example, Romanians, who were in the affected area of the RS, completely draped in the very first minutes of the attack. Some of the proud sons of Bucharest were racing so fast that the very next day they were caught by their own north of Abrau. And one of the prisoners described the picture of covering their positions with the Black Sea “Katyushas”: “We knew about this terrible land weapons, but no one even assumed that it was already on Russian ships. Better death at once than to see this! ”
Vladimir Zholudov was awarded the Order of the Red Star with the support of the assault force for the debut of rocket artillery, and was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree after Victory Day. For Georgiy Ternovsky, it seems to be a small, but the first and sign, operation of the minesweeper "Mackerel" was only the beginning of the glorious path of the Russian military. His war will end in far North Korea, for which he will be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
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