Russia needs different ships
“Quantitative and qualitative composition of the fleets and the Caspian flotilla they are maintained at a level corresponding to threats to the national interests and security of the Russian Federation in a specific regional direction, and are provided with appropriate infrastructures for basing, shipbuilding and ship repair. ”
From the maritime doctrine of the Russian Federation to 2020
From the maritime doctrine of the Russian Federation to 2020
The territory of Russia, as is well known, is washed by the waters of the thirteen seas of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific basins. More than 60% (about 37653 km, taking into account 19724,1 km of the Russian sector of the Arctic) of the state border of the Russian Federation with a total length of about 62 262 km is the sea border. Our country is a de facto and de jure great sea power, and therefore it simply must have a strong modern navy.
The combat power of the fleet, which is able to protect the sea borders and national interests of the country anywhere in the oceans, is determined primarily by the presence in its composition of modern ships of all classes, including various types of power plants.
About the Navy
The Navy is a type of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The main purpose of the Russian Navy in peacetime is to protect the national interests of the country, and the demonstration of the naval flag of Russia in all seas and oceans. In wartime, the forces and means of the Navy are used to conduct combat operations independently or jointly with other types of armed forces, to destroy enemy forces on the high seas, in coastal areas and in coastal bases, and to destroy the military-industrial potential of the aggressor state.
In addition, the Navy is able to perform other tasks. In wartime, this is a violation of the enemy’s trans-oceanic and sea communications; protection of their shipping; support for maritime flanks of ground forces during joint operations; landing and support of amphibious assault forces; naval blockade of the coast of the enemy, the evacuation of troops from the coastal areas and others. For the successful solution of everyday and combat missions, the navy has everything necessary, including nuclear strategic forces.
The Navy, being a subsystem (component) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, at the same time is an independent, autonomous system of a lower order, which includes its subsystems and elements (types of troops), namely, submarine and surface forces, marine Aviation and infantry, coastal missile and artillery units, and logistics.
The functional purpose of each branch of the Navy is different. So, coastal troops are designed to protect the coast and important objects located in the coastal zone. Surface forces (surface combat ships of various ranks) have a wide range of tasks. Their main purpose is to search and defeat submarines and surface ships of the enemy, disembark and support amphibious assault forces, detect and neutralize sea minefields. The submarine forces of the Navy (submarines), in addition to the above tasks, are capable of performing the tasks of detecting enemy submarines and defeating enemy surface and ground targets. The air forces of the Navy (naval aviation) perform missile-carrying, anti-submarine, and reconnaissance functions, and are capable of destroying ships, submarines, and enemy vessels in the seas and oceans or in ports and bases. In addition, naval aviation covers the actions of the Russian Navy while it performs combat missions and is stationed in bases.
Thus, the navy, having a structure that is in many respects similar to a higher level system (armed forces), unlike other types, can perform a larger number of different combat missions completely independently and autonomously.
The Navy, as is well known, has a number of principal features that radically distinguish it from other types and branches of the armed forces.
Firstly, the Navy is armed with the most expensive military equipment - warships. Thus, according to domestic media, the cost of building one ship, for example, the Admiral Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorsh series, is at least 18 billion rubles, one ship of the Admiral Grigorovich series - 13 billion rubles, and one nuclear submarine of the type “ Borey ", respectively, 39 billion rubles. It is obvious that the operational and other costs of maintaining warships also cost the state treasury not cheap. High costs for the creation and maintenance of a modern navy can be afforded not by everyone, but only by an economically developed country that has the necessary scientific, technical and industrial base, has a high intellectual and technical potential with an appropriate education system.
Secondly, naval ships are collective weaponswhich is managed not by an individual, but by a whole team — the crew, whose work and coherence not only determine the results of combat missions, but the life of the ship as a whole.
Third, the modern combat ship, being the most complex engineering structure, reflects in its design and armament a whole complex of the latest achievements of science and technology, and therefore, the naval composition of the navy: sailors, foremen and officers have always been presented and presented today quite high professional requirements. Due to the complexity of naval equipment and weapons, the training periods and the level of education of naval specialists often exceeded similar figures for specialists of other types of armed forces, including those in the most difficult years of the Great Patriotic War.
Fourthly, the Navy ships have a given autonomy and high mobility; therefore, they are able to perform combat missions in various areas of the world ocean for many months. Naval ships can secretly approach the shores of any maritime state and have weapons on board to counteract their aggressive intentions toward Russia and its allies. This feature, along with a high level of professional training, imposes on every crew member the obligation to thoroughly study all the maritime theaters in which events potentially hostile to our country can take place.
Fifth, along with the knowledge of his immediate and related specialty, each Navy specialist is required to perfectly know the theory and survivability of the ship, be able to control its combat and technical means, replace its commander and lead subordinates in an emergency and combat situation.
Sixth, the crew of the ships should be a single organism, work out all their actions, for example, in the fight against fires, water and for the survivability of technical means to automatism. Achieving the victory of a ship in combat and emergency situations is impossible on the one hand without clear organization, interaction and coherence of all personnel, and on the other, without the skills of each individual crew member.
Seventh, naval personnel need to know the tactics and strategy of modern naval combat, tactical and technical characteristics and capabilities of combat forces and means not only of their fleet, but also of the fleets of a potential enemy.
Eighth, while sailing, ships and their crews, unlike military personnel of other branches of the armed forces, are constantly at the forefront of the confrontation and represent a great maritime power - the Russian Federation.
Finally, the personnel of the Navy must know the tactics not only of the sea, but also of the land, of the battle, since under certain conditions military sailors can be sent to the land front.
It is these fundamental features in all countries of the world that distinguish the navy from other branches of the Armed Forces. It becomes obvious that the navy is different from other types of the Armed Forces of modern Russia in tactical and strategic terms, which is why the Navy should not be treated as an auxiliary type of Russian armed forces.
Ship classes
Speaking of ship classes, it should be recalled that with regard to equipment in the most general sense, a class (from the Latin classis — category, group) is considered as a collection of objects or products (in this case, ships), singled out according to their single functional purpose, similar to the technical device the same technical specifications as well as other distinguishing features. Items and products that make up a class are also elements. Classes include subclasses (or elements of several lower categories), also combined into one group for a single functional purpose, structure, and the same characteristics. Obviously, all of the above applies to the classes of ships of the Navy.
Each class of ship is determined by its functional purpose and combat capabilities, implemented in its tactical and technical characteristics and armament.
Currently, ships and vessels of the Russian Navy are divided into the following classes:
1) Attack-combat ships: aircraft carriers, cruisers, submarines, destroyers, missile and torpedo boats, anti-aircraft ships, anti-submarine ships, patrol ships, minesweepers and others.
2) Support ships: floating bases, floating workshops, floating docks, supply vessels, research ships and apparatuses, emergency rescue ships, special ships, training ships.
3) Basic floating equipment: icebreakers, tugboats, barges, tankers, aquarius, ships-stations without winding demagnetization, floating cranes, block ships, killectors, heaters, non-self-propelled floating facilities, messengers and traveling vessels, etc.
Analysis of the modern naval composition of the Russian Navy shows that:
1) to the beginning of the XXI century in the Russian Navy, as well as throughout the world, there was a clear and scientifically based system (and subsystems) of ship classes, corresponding to the strategy and tactics of their use;
2) each class of ships has its own purpose and occupies its specific place in the general structure of the Navy;
3) all classes of ships are interconnected and able to interact with each other;
4) in case of underestimation, exclusion or absence of any class of ships, the existing balance of the Navy may be violated.
Not so long ago, in the Russian media, there was a message that Russia would not build ships of a class above the frigate. This means that the well-established system of the Russian Navy can be broken, resulting in, ultimately, a decline in the functioning of not only the Navy, but the country's armed forces as a whole.
As is known, it is impossible to create a universal ship, therefore, to fulfill its functions in full, the Russian Navy must have all classes of ships capable of solving numerous tasks and reliably ensure protection of Russia from sea directions in different climatic zones and in various maritime theaters of operations. It is such an integrated approach to the construction of various classes of naval ships that, in their opinion, will allow not only to have a modern combat-ready fleet, but also to preserve the shipbuilding technologies accumulated by many generations of domestic shipbuilders - from boats to aircraft carriers.
GEM ships
Currently, ships of the naval forces of different countries of the world are equipped with boiler-turbine, diesel, gas turbine, nuclear, combined (diesel-gas turbine, diesel-electric and other) main power plants (GEM). In addition, each power plant (main power plant) has its own advantages and disadvantages.
It should be recalled that the “parent” of the absolute majority of shipboard power plant - diesel, nuclear and gas turbine - is a shipboard steam turbine installation (KTEU) (previously called steam power - authors' note) history from the second half of the 18th century. Combat qualities of KTEU were tested in two world wars and in many local military conflicts at sea. In addition, the boiler-turbine power plant (or rather its main boilers) can operate on various types of fuel from standard (F-5 fuel oil) to firewood, which is important for a warship. Despite these obvious undeniable merits of the boiler-turbine power plant, its equipment of Russian ships under construction was completely abandoned, preferring other GEMs, for example, a combined diesel-gas turbine power plants, including imported ones.
According to the authors, the decision to equip ships under construction with diesel-gas turbine units imported is premature, since its adoption did not practically consider, and therefore did not take into account, the possibility of introducing economic sanctions against Russia, that is, the economic opposition of the countries-exporters of ship engines navy modern domestic ships. Confirmation of this, for example, is the refusal of the Ukrainian enterprise GP ZNKG Zorya-Mashproekt (Nikolaev, Ukraine) and the German company MTU Friedrichshafen (Baden-Baden, Germany) to supply gas turbine units and diesel engines, respectively, to equip the GEM of ships under construction . As a result, the imposed sanctions were the main reason for the suspension of the implementation of the domestic shipbuilding program for an indefinite period.
Disrupting the implementation of the Russian shipbuilding program once again shows that ships under construction and vessels of the Russian Navy must be equipped with all currently known power plants, without exception, and only domestic production. In addition, it is necessary to actively develop and implement other types of ship power plants.
Various approaches to the improvement of traditional and development of new non-traditional types of power plant will not only preserve the accumulated design experience and domestic schools of the ship engine, boiler, gas and steam turbine construction, but also significantly increase the survivability and combat capability of Russian naval ships, as well as make domestic shipbuilding independent and independent of external political and economic factors.
On the modern role of the Navy
According to Russian media reports, the Russian Defense Minister, Army General Shoigu SK, objectively analyzing the realities of today, said that Russia had to abandon the construction of ships of the first rank, which is mainly due to the lack of financial resources in the country.
According to the authors, there is another, equally important problem that prevents the Russian Navy from equipping the newest surface ships of the first rank. This problem is the prevailing and ingrained thinking in almost all maritime countries of the world about the secondary role of the navy. Such thinking is called land and is in the opinion that the main task of the Navy is only to ensure the flanks of the land army in joint operations on coastal directions. In other words, the navy is assigned only a supporting role in operations on coastal directions. The experience of modern wars and local conflicts at sea convincingly shows that today the role and place of the navy has changed dramatically, which means that the current continental or land thinking about the role of the Navy in modern war and local conflicts no longer corresponds to modern realities. Suffice it to recall the Anglo-Argentine conflict 1982 of the year, in which only one type of armed forces of Great Britain participated - the naval forces, and the operation “Desert Storm” 1991 of the year, where the US naval forces at the initial stage of the operation were assigned the main role in suppressing resistance of the armed forces of Iraq, the blockade of the coast and the violation of enemy sea communications.
In modern warfare, according to the authors, one should not rely only on ground forces and / or military space forces. Each type and branch of the armed forces is capable of solving only its own specific tasks, at the same time tasks assigned, for example, to the navy, other types and branches of the armed forces are simply not capable of solving. Of all the types of armed forces, only the Navy is able to solve individual tasks of other types and branches of the armed forces.
On the sources of financing the construction of new ships
The authors fully agree with the opinion of the defense authorities: today there is a shortage of funds in the country, but this is not a reason to weaken the naval component of the Russian Federation. Money for military needs, including the development of the Navy, you need to earn. There are all possibilities for this today.
It should be recalled that the navy is the only kind of armed forces that is able to work for the country's economy and bring profit to the state treasury, which means that the Navy is able to earn some of the money that is so necessary in current conditions, including , and on the construction of ships and vessels of a new generation.
Today in the world, the institutions of all states are known to work on a commercial basis. In the activities of the Armed Forces of Russia, there has been and has been practicing making money for a long time, for example, in training and retraining foreign military personnel in Russian military schools. Perhaps the time has come for certain types of activities of the Russian Navy in providing certain services to foreign countries and domestic private companies also to be transferred to commercial relations, earning money at the same time.
Russian sailors are fighting international piracy, ensure the safe presence of ships at sea, assist ships in distress and ships, and carry out complex rescue operations. Part of this assistance, previously performed free of charge by the Russian Navy, can now become services provided to foreign and domestic firms on a commercial basis. Such a transfer of gratuitous assistance to paid services is quite natural, since as a result of the work of the Russian Navy, substantial material resources are earned or saved; material damage caused, for example, by unlawful actions of terrorist organizations, natural factors (storm conditions), military actions, etc. is prevented or minimized.
Thus, the Russian Navy is fully capable of earning some of the money on its own, including for its own needs. Currently, as a paid service, you can perform the following work:
- wiring caravans of ships through dangerous areas of the sea, for example, controlled by sea pirates;
- protection of fishing and mining areas in the sea;
- protection of supporting vessels at sea;
- lifting sunken boats;
- survey of the seabed for the presence of minerals and sunken objects;
- detection and trawling of mines in the open sea, territorial waters and navigable canals of other countries;
- assisting in the struggle for the survivability of ships and vessels and their transportation to ports.
Experience in performing some of the listed works in the navy of the Russian Federation already exists. Suffice it to recall the combat trawling and clearing of the Suez Canal from submerged ships in the 1950 and 1970's, as well as the wiring of caravans of ships by Russian ships through the Gulf of Aden in 2008. This experience has been accumulated in the past on the basis of free aid.
One of the ways to obtain funds for the construction of warships can be the sale of intellectual property of military personnel, including the navy. Indeed, Russian military personnel, exploiting the most complicated military equipment, possess enormous knowledge and submit numerous applications for rationalization proposals and applications for inventions, the results of which can be used by public and private enterprises, including enterprises of the military-industrial complex. To this end, it is necessary to intensify inventive and rationalization work in the armed forces, bring it in full compliance with Russian legislation and the governing documents of the Russian Defense Ministry, encourage military inventors and, most importantly, legally transfer the Federal Institute of Industrial Property from the keeper (pantry) of inventions to the organization, implementing these inventions.
The domestic history of the navy knows another, now forgotten, method of obtaining funds for the construction of ships - voluntary donations of citizens of the country.
It is known that in the Tsushima battle (14 — 15 of May 1905) the Russian Imperial fleet of 38 participating ships of various classes from the Russian side lost the 21 ship, as a result of which the Russian military fleet as a type of the armed forces of Tsarist Russia practically ceased to exist. In the state treasury of the necessary funds for the restoration of the fleet and the construction of new warships, however, a way out was found: throughout the Russian Empire, a collection of voluntary donations was organized to recreate the domestic fleet. Regardless of the maritime department, due to the abundant flow of donations from public organizations and citizens for the restoration of the fleet, a special committee to strengthen the fleet for voluntary donations was established. As you know, the largest sums for the construction of ships were made by large Russian industrialists of the time. By 1910, the amount of fees reached 17,3 million rubles, which today corresponds to 86,5 million.
In the shortest possible time, the funds collected by citizens were built and put into service by the new 19 fleet of the newest destroyers of the Russian fleet (at the time they were called mine cruisers. - Note by the author), whose combat and operational characteristics were not inferior to those of similar ships. class.
According to the authors, despite the difficult situation of the domestic economy and the low incomes of our citizens, the acquired domestic experience in attracting funds from citizens and public organizations for the construction of new ships of the Navy may well be used today, but only under the conditions of voluntariness, transparency of receiving money, their targeted expenditure, strict public control over their expenditure and complete reporting. The example in the donation of funds for the construction of the domestic fleet, according to the authors, should be shown by large Russian corporations having their own interests in the coastal waters and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.
Instead of conclusions
The basis of the national security of any country, as you know, are national interests, threats (to the interests) and protection (of the interests). Recently, according to media reports, in various regions of our planet the national interests of Russia are increasingly confronted with and intersect with the interests of NATO member countries, including the United States. This means that threats to the national interests of Russia, at least in the near future, will only increase, which increases the likelihood of the need to protect the national interests of our country in the future, including the seas and oceans. In addition, for several years now, the USA has been implementing its modernized plan under the code name “Anaconda Loop”, developed and first tested in the US Civil War 1861 — 1865 years. In accordance with this plan, the NATO military-political bloc, which is still hostile to Russia, gradually covers the territory of our country along its external borders with military bases, narrowing the “anaconda rings”. Under current conditions, Russia's freedom, independence and sovereignty will be determined only by the presence of modern armed forces, including in its membership and a powerful navy.
For the qualitative and quantitative development of the Russian Navy, a long-term forecast of the development of foreign policy conditions is necessary. Judging by the foreign policy realities of the present, this forecast, at least for the coming years 15 — 20, is still disappointing. This means that, in accordance with the Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Navy, it is obliged to have ships of all ranks and classes with different known and proposed power plants. That is why for the construction of ships it is necessary to use all the reserves in the country to receive funds, and this is not a whim, but an objective requirement of time.
References
1. Great Soviet Encyclopedia (electronic version). Article "Fleet".
2. Ship charter of the Russian Navy. - Moscow: Military Publishing, 2001.
3. Carvers A. Russia can no longer afford the ocean fleet // Business newspaper "Vzglyad" (electronic version).
4. Bolosov A. N. Pre-Revolutionary Russia. Construction of ships for the Russian fleet on donations during the Russian-Japanese war // Site “History of the State” (electronic version).
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