Is there a Poseidon?
Around the latest miracle torpedo "Poseidon" (aka "Status-6"), a whole historiography of heated disputes has already developed. Many articles discussing its characteristics, possible device and especially the damage that a torpedo can cause to an adversary.
However, I think that these discussions are worthless, since there are some reasons to believe that Poseidon so far does not really exist as a product capable of independently sailing at least a mile away. Therefore, the debate about its characteristics is a discussion of a purely speculative subject. Discussing speculative things is also very useful, but you need to clearly understand what relates to a pure theory and what to a real model of marine weaponswhich can be applied immediately.
What evidence?
There is not so much evidence of the reality of Poseidon, so they can be listed. The diagram shown on television, two photographs, one of which has a torpedo in the workshop, and the other something in a transport and launch container, lifted by a crane, and, finally, a video of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which shows how something is shot from the transport and launch container, like the one in the photo.
The diagram on paper must be rejected as strong evidence, since, as you know, paper will endure everything.
The video is also unproven, since it shows very muddy frames of something being shot from something that cannot be unambiguously identified. It can be assumed that we were shown shots of a shot of some product from TPK, like the one shown in the photo. In any case, the lid of the container is very similar.
But is this "Poseidon"? It was not possible to collect unequivocal evidence. In principle, the most affordable way is to compare the dimensions of the product in one photo and the container in another. This does not prove much, but when coincidental, at least it suggests.
Only here the size of the container is unlikely to be determined from the photograph. The container hangs on the traverse (a device for slinging and lifting long loads with a crane). Knowing the dimensions of the traverse, it would not be so difficult to calculate the dimensions of the container suspended under it. This traverse is an unusual, special manufacture, designed to lift oversized cargo with the possibility of balancing cargo. A patent belonging to the design bureau of heavy engineering was issued for it, which describes in detail the device and the principles of operation of this beam. But the dimensions are not indicated in the patent, and due to the fact that this product is piecewise and not standard, its technical data are also not available in the public domain.
The same applies to another photograph. Although approximate calculations are possible by the height of the person (who is visible behind the torpedo), it is very rude, since the growth of people varies quite a lot, and therefore you can make a mistake. Other objects or pieces of equipment, standard, with a known size, are also not present in the frame, in any case, I could not find them.
Against the background of the products, there are various kinds of pipes (the sizes of which are standard), visible spans of the workshops (the sizes of which are also standard), however they are quite far from the product and therefore using them as a scale will also lead to gross errors.
So, we cannot independently compare at least the geometric dimensions of the two products from the photographs presented, and it follows that it is far from the fact that the torpedo in one photo is the same torpedo in the other photo, and that it is fired in the video presented. This cannot be confirmed by anything. If someone believes that Poseidon has actually been tested, then this is only a matter of faith in the relevant statements.
Life-size layout
Photos carry a lot of different information, including the one that the shooter did not want to display. For example, from a photo of a torpedo in the workshop, we can conclude that this is not a real torpedo, but only its overall size in full size, possibly made for a certain kind of test.
The fact is that on any real torpedo there is a certain number of hatches, valves and connectors, which are intended for servicing and putting the torpedo into combat readiness. In addition, on a combat torpedo, the warhead is detachable, which is clearly visible both in color and in bolt fastening of the warhead to the hull.
In the presented photo, we see, firstly, the complete absence of such hatches, valves and connectors on the body of the product. And there should be a lot of them and more than the torpedo. There should be a large hatch for access to the reactor, a hatch for access to the propulsion system, hatches for access to the hydraulic rudders. There should be connectors for cables designed to control and control torpedo assemblies (especially the reactor) while it is docked to the launch boat. Moreover, since they say about Poseidon that it can swim far and change the depth of immersion, which suggests the possibility of a change in buoyancy, that is, the presence of ballast tanks and the valves that it relies on.
Finally, the warhead must be detachable. In the photo we see the exact opposite: a detachable stern with a screw-steering group, and the rest of the hull is not enough that does not have hatches and valves, so it is also made one-piece.
By virtue of these observations, I believe that the product shown in the photo is a mass-sized torpedo model designed for testing in the pool, as well as for towing. It probably does not have an engine and is towed by a boat for testing (the holes in the head are very similar to the closures for securing the towing end). Since it is huge and noticeably larger than other torpedoes, it is advisable to find out how it behaves, say, at the 30 nodes: does it keep its course and depth, does it have enough rudders for maneuvers, and so on, and in marine conditions, with excitement, currents and fluctuations in water salinity. If you make a device designed for long-distance autonomous navigation in the underwater position, then you can’t do without such tests.
So, most likely, at the moment, "Poseidon" simply does not exist as a product that can swim at least a mile, not to mention something more. The mock-up may say that work is underway on some product, which in the distant future may become Poseidon, but there is no complete certainty that this is so. In general, all this can be misinformation from the very beginning and from the first word, moreover, misinformation for a wide variety of purposes.
Therefore, I would propose to moderate the ardor somewhat, since a discussion of the characteristics and capabilities of Poseidon is only a pure theory.
Information