A ship with giant hydrofoils. MRK project 1240 "Hurricane"
Small missile ship of project 1240 "Uragan" on automatically guided hydrofoils was created in the midst of the Cold War. The design of the unusual ship began in 1964. The projected ship was in many ways ahead of its time, developing speeds of up to 60 knots (111 km / h). This development of the domestic industry can be safely called the pride of the Soviet naval fleet.
True, the unique warship was built in only a single copy.
Designing "Hurricane"
In the Soviet Union, they actively worked on the creation of hydrofoil ships. Experimental work on similar projects in the country was carried out back in the 1930s. So, in 1937 and 1941, TsAGI conducted tests of boats with controlled deep-sunk wings. After the war in the late 1940s and early 1950s, similar work continued. The idea of reducing the level of hydrodynamic resistance by lifting the ship's hull out of the water attracted Soviet designers of warships at the time.
A side effect of this interest was the creation in the USSR of a numerous line of civilian hydrofoils. At the same time, the Soviet Union gained world recognition in this area. Numerous "Meteors", "Rockets", "Comets" have become a recognizable hallmark of the Soviet passenger shipbuilding. The ships of these projects were in demand outside the country, including exported to Western countries. These successes would not have been without work on the creation of hydrofoil warships.
The efforts of Soviet designers and engineers were rewarded in the late 1950s, when work began to be carried out at a qualitatively new technical, design and theoretical level. Large torpedo boats pr. 206M "Shtorm" became a successful project and were built in the USSR in large series.
MRK project 1240 "Hurricane" in the dry dock in Sevastopol
At the same time in the USSR, there was a rapid development of small missile boats.
Interest in these ships around the world pushed the 1967 sea battle, when two Egyptian Soviet-made missile boats of the 183P Komar project sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat. It was the first in stories a case of sinking of a surface ship by anti-ship missiles.
Naturally, in the Soviet Union, there were ideas to combine new missile weapons with hydrofoil ships, developing a huge, even by today's standards, speed. As part of the implementation of this concept, a project was developed for a small rocket ship of project 1240, which received the code "Uragan".
The design of a new rocket ship, a distinctive feature of which was to be deeply submerged automatically guided hydrofoils, began in 1964 by specialists from TsKB-5 (today TsMKB "Almaz", St. Petersburg). The chief designer of the project was Vadim Mikhailovich Burlakov. In the process of creating hydrofoil RTOs, an experimental passenger ship "Typhoon" was developed and built.
This passenger gas turbine vessel on automatically steered wings was completed in 1969 and was actively operated in the 1970s on the lines of sea and river passenger shipping companies. The results obtained in the course of civil operation were used to improve the project of MRK project 1240 "Uragan". At the same time, the civilian Typhoon could boast of a high operating speed - 44 knots (81,5 km / h), the maximum speed reached 50 knots (92,6 km / h).
MRK "Hurricane" with raised hydrofoils and aft wing columns with propellers
The only rocket ship, built according to the project 1240 "Uragan", received the designation MRK-5 and was laid down in Leningrad in 1972. In 1976, the MRK on hydrofoils went out for testing and at the very end of 1977 - on December 30 - was introduced into the fleet in the Baltic. The entire 1978 MRK was in trial operation. After the completion of all tests, the ship from the Baltic was transferred by inland waterways to the Black Sea.
The ship arrived in Sevastopol in November 1979. In the city of glory of Russian sailors, the small missile ship was included in the 166th division of the 41st missile boat brigade of the Black Sea Fleet, where it served until 1990, when it was expelled from the fleet.
Technical features of the project 1240 small missile ship "Uragan"
At the time of construction, the new Soviet rocket ship was already amazing. Not only the novelty of the applied technical solutions, but also the size. At the time of construction, the MRK became the largest hydrofoil ship in the world. At the same time, by the standards of surface ships of the fleet, the MRK, of course, was not a giant. The ship's standard displacement was 342 tons, and the total displacement was up to 432 tons.
The greatest length of the ship - 56,6 m (without steering columns, the length decreased to 49,8 meters), width - 10,17 m.Together with the wings raised from the water, the width of the ship increased immediately to 21,14 m. wings was only 2,35 m. The crew of the ship consisted of 34 people, among whom there were 7 officers.
You can estimate the dimensions of the Hurricane's hydrofoils in contrast to passenger cars.
The MRK hull was made of a special aluminum-magnesium alloy, hydrofoils were made of titanium alloy. The size of the wings can be judged by the change in the width of the ship, taking them into account in the raised position, as well as by the numerous photographs that have come down to us. In the raised position, the wings protruded far to the sides at an angle of almost 45 degrees. The underwater wing device of the ship, which has an automatic lift control system, provided the MRK with stabilization in roll, trim and height above the water surface.
The ship was propelled by a powerful gas turbine unit, which consisted of two turbines. Through gearboxes, they transmitted rotation to the propellers mounted on the lowered wing feed columns. Each column had two propellers. The total capacity of the gas turbine power plant was 36 liters. from. This power was enough to provide the unique ship with a maximum speed of 000-57 knots.
For the movement of the ship in the displacement position, when the bow wing and both wing feed columns rose from the water, a diesel power plant (trolling unit) with a capacity of 2200 hp was used. from. The trolling unit consisted of two diesel engines powered by water jets. The maximum speed in this position reached 10 knots.
The autonomy of the ship in terms of food supplies on board was estimated at 5 days. The cruising range at a speed of 45 knots did not exceed 700 miles; at a continuous trolling speed of 8,5 knots, it increased to 1500 miles. For a hydrofoil ship, the MRK-5 had very good seaworthiness. When moving on hydrofoils, the seaworthiness of the ship was estimated at 5 points. With such a rough sea in the Baltic, the ship developed a speed of 50–55 knots during tests. In the displacement position of the hull, the seaworthiness of the ship increased to 6–7 points.
The composition of the weapons "Hurricane"
Despite its relatively small size, the Project 1240 Uragan small missile ship on hydrofoils possessed a formidable weaponry. The main strike capabilities of the ship were provided by two paired onboard launchers of the P-120 Malachite (2x2) anti-ship missiles. The missiles of this complex (according to the NATO codification SS-N-9 Siren) could hit targets at a distance of 15-150 km.
More information about the project can be found in the magazine "Marine Collection", No. 3 for 2015
The cruise missile of the Malachite complex with a starting weight of 5400 kg carried a warhead weighing 800 kg. It was possible to install special nuclear weapons with a capacity of up to 2 megatons. The length of the rocket body was 8,84 m, the diameter was 0,8 m, the wing span of the rocket was 2,5 m. The Malachite anti-ship missile was subsonic, with a maximum flight speed of Mach 0,9.
In addition to anti-ship missiles, the MRK-5 also carried anti-aircraft missiles - one two-beam launcher of the Osa-M air defense missile system with an ammunition load of 20 missiles. Unlike the land-based versions of the complex, on the ship version, only two missiles were always ready for launch (rate of fire two rounds per minute). The complex ensured the destruction of targets at a distance of up to 15 km, the reach in height - up to 4 km.
The artillery armament of the boat was represented by a six-barreled 30-mm artillery mount AK-630, which could be used to combat enemy air targets and to combat light surface forces. The maximum effective firing range of the installation, capable of providing a rate of fire of up to 4000-5000 rounds per minute, was 4000 meters.
The fate of the ship
It is believed that the experienced MRK-5 demonstrated good seaworthiness, stood out for its excellent speed and proved to be a tenacious ship. However, its disadvantage was the overall complexity of operation. The ship, saturated with modern equipment and automation, turned out to be too complicated for the fleet, the basis of which was conscript sailors. For efficient operation, the ship required a crew of professional sailors.
MRK-5 moves on hydrofoils
Some sources indicate that the inadequate level of training of conscripts became the cause of breakdowns and accidents on board.
In any case, the prototype small missile ship of project 1240 "Uragan" was built in a single copy and, unfortunately, has not survived to this day.
In 1992, after the withdrawal from the fleet, the MRK sank after a fire in the Streletskaya Bay of Sevastopol. The ship was later raised and scrapped.
Information