Decembrist-class submarines

5
1 November 1926, a special technical bureau No. 4 (Technical Bureau) was established at the Baltic Shipyard to prepare working drawings for the head submarine. He was headed by an engineer B.M. Malinin.
B.Malinin, after graduating from the shipbuilding department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1914, worked in the scuba diving department of the Baltic Shipyard, where he supervised the repair of the submarine of a small displacement (Som and Shchuka) and completed it according to the drawings of IG Bubnov Submarines of the type "Bars" and "Killer Whale", and in 20-ies headed this department.



In terms of the depth of knowledge of the construction and technology of the construction of pre-revolutionary submarines, engineer BM Malinin had no equal in the country.
In 1924, he developed a draft design of a two-body, semi-integral torpedo submarine with a displacement of 755 t. Its armament consisted of three bow, six traverse torpedo tubes, a full ammunition - 18 torpedoes, two 100 mm anti-aircraft guns and 76 mm.
Although the project suffered from many serious flaws, it at the same time testified to the maturity of the design ideas of its author.

In addition to BM Malinin, the Technical Bureau included EE Kruger (graduated from the Polytechnic Institute, participated in the First World War, and from 1921 he was in charge of the repair shop of the submarines at the Baltic Plant) and A. N. Scheglov (graduated The Marine Engineering School, after special training at UOPP in Libava, served before the war as a mechanical engineer at the submarine of the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet, was assigned to the diving department of the Baltic Shipyard, and in 1924 he began to develop the draft design of the underwater mine layer.

Along with the engineers of Techbureau worked designers, draftsmen A.I. Korovitsyn, A.S.Troshenkov, F.Z.Fyodorov, A.K.Shlyupkin.
BM Malinin wrote that a small team of the Technical Bureau (from 7 people) had to simultaneously solve three problems that are closely related to each other:
- to conduct the development and construction of submarines, the type of which we had until that time is unknown;
- To create and immediately use the theory of submarines, which was not in the USSR;
- To educate in the design process frames of submariners.

A week before the laying of the first Soviet submarines in the Technical Bureau, on the recommendation of Professor Pyotr Papkovich, engineer SA Bazilevsky was received. He had just graduated from the shipbuilding department of the Polytechnic Institute in 1925 and worked as a senior engineer of the USSR Maritime Register of Shipbuilding.
The workers of the Techbureau were faced with one seemingly modest task - to create a ship no less efficient than the modern submarines of the largest capitalist states.
The management of the USSR Navy created a special commission to oversee the development of design-technical documentation and the construction of submarines (Kompad Mortehupr).
AP Shershov, a prominent specialist in military shipbuilding, was appointed its chairman. The commission was attended by the head of the diving department of Mortehupra L.A.Beletsky, seamen-specialists A.M. Krasnitsky, P.I. Serdyuk, G.M.Simanovich, later - N.V. Alekseev, A.A.Antinin, G.F.Bolotov, K.L.Grigaytis, T.I.Gushlevsky, K.F.Ignatiev, V.F.Kritsky, Y.Ya.Peterson.

KF Terletskiy, a former submarine officer of the Baltic Fleet, a very energetic and active organizer, was appointed the main builder and responsible deliverer of the submarines.
The transfer mechanic was GM Trusov, who participated in the First World War on the submarines "Minoga", "Vepr", "Tour" and produced from machine noncommissioned officers to sub-lieutenants for the Admiralty. During the "Ice Passage", he was elected chairman of the shipboard committee of the Submarine "Tour", then served as a senior mechanical engineer of the underwater mine layer "Worker" (formerly "Yorsh"). He was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

The duties of the captain were assigned to A.G. Shishkin - former assistant commander of the submarine "Panther".
The Operational and Technical Commission provided substantial assistance in choosing the optimal solutions for the general layout and configuration of the project with weapons, mechanisms and equipment. fleet. It was headed by A.N. Garsoev and A.N. Zarubin. The commission included A.N. Bakhtin, A.Z. Kaplanovsky, N.A. Petrov, M.A. Rudnitsky, Ya.S. Soldatov.
By February, 1927 managed to prepare a set of “backfilling” drawings: a sketch of the general arrangement, a theoretical drawing and drawings of the middle part of the submarine hull without bulkheads, tanks, superstructures and extremities.
The official laying of the firstborn of the Soviet submarine shipbuilding took place at the Baltic 5 plant in March 1927 g.
Mortgage boards (silver plates with the text of B.Malinin and the silhouette of the submarines) were laid on the tanks of the quick submersion of the submarines Dekabrist, Narodovolets and Krasnogvardeets.
After 40 days, 14 on April 1927, in Nikolaev, the 3 PL for the Black Sea Fleet was laid. They were given the names "Revolutionary", "Spartacist" and "Jacobin".
GM Sinitsin, the head of the diving bureau of the Nikolaev factory, supervised their construction; BM Voroshilin, former commander of the Tigr submarine (BF), Political worker (AG-26, Black Sea Fleet), and then the commander of the separate division of the Chelyabinsk fleet, was appointed captain.
The construction was supervised by representatives of the Naval Forces (Nikolayevsky Komnab) A. A. Yesin, V. I. Korenchenko, I. K. Parsadanov, V. I. Pershin, A. M. Redkin, V. V. Filippov, A. G. Khmelnitsky and others.

Dekabrist type submarines had a double body, riveted design. In addition to a durable hull, capable of withstanding outboard water pressure when diving at the maximum depth of diving, they had a second, so-called light hull, completely covering the solid hull.
Durable hermetically sealed enclosure consisted of plating and set. Sheathing was a shell casing and made of steel sheets. For the Dekabrist-type submarines, high-grade steel was used, which was used before the revolution to build Izmail-type battlecruisers and Svetlana-type lightweight cruisers.
All sheets of thick plating durable hull were made with a hot hammer on spatial patterns. A set of durable hull consisted of frames and served to ensure the stability of the skin, giving the whole structure sufficient rigidity. The ends of the shell of a robust housing were end bulkheads, and transverse bulkheads divided its internal volume into compartments.
The robust hull was divided into 7 compartments by six steel spherical bulkheads. For communication between the compartments in the bulkheads, there were round holes with a diameter of 800 mm with doors quickly closing with a creamer-mounted wedge device.
The lightweight body with smooth sleek lines also had a lining with stiffening ribs reinforcing it: transverse - frames and longitudinal - stringers, which are roofs of ballast tanks. Its bow and stern permeable extremities were given a pointed shape to reduce wave drag.
The space between the strong and light bodies (inter-breasted space) was divided by transverse bulkheads on 6 pairs of main ballast tanks.

Underwater, they were filled with water and communicated with the outboard medium through the Kingston (valves of special design). Kingstones (one for each tank) were located in the lower part of the light hull along the median plane of the submarine. They provided simultaneous filling of tanks of both sides. When immersed, water entered the tanks through ventilation valves installed on the longitudinal stringers of the light hull above the waterline.
When submarines sailed submergedly, the kingstones of all main ballast tanks were open, and the ventilation valves were closed. To ascend from the underwater to the surface position, the ballast water was removed (purged) from the tanks with compressed air. The strength of the light hull was supposed to ensure that the Decembrist submarines sailed in heavy storm conditions and even in ice conditions.

B.M. Malinin himself was engaged in questions of acceleration, maneuverability and strength. The calculations of the strength of the light hull, internal tanks and enclosures, as well as buoyancy and stability in surface and submerged positions were entrusted to A.Schglov, designing a propeller shaft, steering, spire and periscope devices - E.E.E. Kruger, immersion and ascent systems, pipelines of general ship systems, as well as calculations of unsinkability and strength of spherical bulkheads - S.А. Bazilevsky.
The development of electrical equipment was undertaken by the electrical engineering bureau of the Baltic Plant, headed by A.Ya. Barsukov.
In May, the engineer PZ Golosovsky, who graduated from the MVTU named after Bauman on aircraft construction. Young employees who were also not previously associated with submarine construction — A.V. Zaichenko, V.A.Mikhaiolov, I.M. Fedorov, joined the work.
Soon, the Technical Bureau number 4 was divided into 4 sectors, which were headed by A.N. Shcheglov (corps), E.E. Kruger (mechanical), S.A.Bazilevsky (systems sector) and P.P.Bolshedvorsky (electrotechnical).
Almost all the calculations for the Dekabrist type submarines were of a dual nature: on the one hand, they used precise methods of construction mechanics of a surface ship, on the other hand, approximate refinements to these methods, which tried to take into account the features of the submarines.

Among the designs that are specific to submarines and are absent on surface ships, first of all, it is necessary to refer spherical bulkheads of a solid hull. It was possible to calculate the main bulkhead panel for strength under load from the side of concavity in 9 atm and on shape stability from the side of bulge. The calculated pressure on the bulkhead on the convex side was taken as no more than 50% of the same pressure on the concavity side.

We again had to create a methodology for most calculations of buoyancy and stability. The buoyancy reserve of the Decembrist submarine was 45,5%. The reserve of buoyancy is equal to the waterproof volume of the ship located above the design waterline. The reserve buoyancy of the submarine corresponds to the amount of water that must be taken in the tank to submarine submerged. In the submerged position, the PL buoyancy margin is zero, in the surface submarine, the difference between the submarine and surface displacement. For submarines in a surface position, the buoyancy margin is usually within 15 - 45%.
The following circumstances were taken as the basis for choosing the location of transverse bulkheads on submarines of the type "Decembrist".
On the submarine there were two compartments: the nose and diesel, the length of which was determined by the equipment located in them.
In the nose compartment housed the state part of the TA, their service devices and spare torpedoes. In diesel - diesel engines, friction clutches on the line of the propeller shaft and control stations.

All other compartments allowed a decrease in length in a fairly wide range. Therefore, it is these two compartments that were supposed to limit the required reserve of buoyancy. It was adopted by analogy with calculations of strength equal to twice the volume of the largest compartment (that is, without taking into account the volume of machinery and equipment in the compartment).
Consequently, the remaining compartments could be smaller.

At the same time, it was necessary to keep the number of bulkheads within reasonable limits, since the displacement of submarines depended on their total mass. The main requirements were for the shelter (survivability compartment).
He had to have the necessary devices to control the general ship diving and ascent systems, drainage (drainage) systems, as well as for personnel to reach the surface. With spherical bulkheads, the strength of which is not the same from different sides, only that compartment can be a shelter, which is separated from both adjacent compartments by bulkheads bulging in its direction.



On the submarine of the type "Decembrist", the central post (CP) was selected as the shelter-compartment, in which the main and reserve command posts (PCGs and PCRs) were located. The legitimacy of such a decision was due to the fact that, firstly, the CPU concentrated the largest number of means to fight for survivability (blowing ballast water, draining, controlling the course of the submarine, sluicing, etc.), secondly, it was one of the shortest and therefore the least vulnerable, since the probability of flooding any compartment is roughly proportional to its length, and thirdly, it concentrated the commanding personnel most prepared to fight for the salvation of the damaged submarine of its crew. Therefore, both durable bulkheads of the CPU were convex inside it. However, spare posts for purging the main ballast with high-pressure air were also provided in the end compartments.
Of all the difficulties encountered by the designers, the greatest was the problem of immersion and ascent. On a Bars-type submarine, water ballast was taken during immersion using electropumps for at least 3 minutes, which was considered unacceptably long after World War I. Therefore, the method of calculating the filling of tanks of the main ballast by gravity for submarines of the type "Decembrist" was created anew. Constructive implementation of the immersion system focused only on the laws of hydraulics.
The double-breasted tanks were divided along the median plane by a continuous vertical keel without facilitating cuts. But at the same time, to simplify the system, one common Kingston was put on each pair of side tanks, embedded in the vertical keel and not providing the density of their separation, either in the open or in the closed state. The ventilation pipes of each pair of such tanks were also interconnected in the superstructure and supplied with one common valve.
For ventilation valves, pneumatic actuators were used as the simplest and most reliable, and the kingstones were controlled by roller actuators, which were brought to the level of the residential deck in those compartments where Kingston itself was installed. The position of all kingston plates and ventilation valves was monitored from the CPU using electrical sensors and lamp indicators. To further improve the reliability of immersion systems, all ventilation valves were fitted with redundant manual actuators.

The basis of the instructions for diving and ascent was based on a solid principle: the main ballast should be received only simultaneously in all tanks. At the same time, the center of gravity of the received water ballast remains all the time in the lowest position possible. And this provides the greatest stability of the weight, which was the only thing to be considered at this time.
For immersion main ballast was taken in the two end. 6 pairs of double-breasted and one medium (total 15 (tanks. The latter was also located in the inter-breasted space, but in its lower part, near the mid-section, and differed in smaller volume and increased strength. It was supposed to provide the possibility of its more rapid blowing with high-pressure air in case of accident. The idea of ​​this device was borrowed from the submarine type "Leopard", where thus the "tear-off keel" of the submarine of earlier designs was replaced. The filled medium tank had to fulfill the role of a "blown keel".
An innovation was the use of a tank of fast immersion. Prefilled with water, it gave the submarine a negative buoyancy, which significantly reduced the time of transition from surface to submerged position. Upon reaching the submarine periscope depth, this tank was blown through and the submarine acquired normal buoyancy, close to zero. If a Bars-type submarine had to move from a surface position to an underwater position of at least 3 minutes, then a Decembrist type submarine had enough 30 seconds for this.

Dekabrist type submarines had 2 deck (superstructural) tanks intended for navigation in a positional position.
They were very useful on Bars-type submarines with their slow process of filling main ballast tanks with centrifugal pumps. An urgent immersion from the positional position in the presence of deck tanks required much less time, but with the transition to the reception of the main ballast by gravity, the need for these tanks disappeared. On the submarines of subsequent types (except for submarines of the type “Baby” of series VI), deck tanks were refused.

A special role on the submarine performs compressed air. It is practically the only means for blowing tanks of the main ballast underwater. It is known that on the surface of one cube. m of compressed air compressed to 100 atm, you can blow approximately 100 tons of water, whereas at a depth of 100 m - only about 10 tons. For different purposes, the submarine uses compressed air of various pressures. Purging the main water ballast, especially during an emergency ascent, requires altitude air. At the same time, for the purpose of trimming, for the system of mechanical mixing of the electrolyte in the battery cells and normal ascent, lower air pressure can be used.
On the Dekabrist type submarines, each of the two blowing systems (high and low pressure) had a trunk with spurs, one per 2 tank. Air bypass to another side was provided only through ventilation pipes. For a more uniform air distribution along the sides, the non-return valve of the left and right side alternated in staggered order. In addition, they were equipped with restrictive washers, with which it was possible to achieve almost the same duration of blowing all tanks along the length of the submarines. Separate on the sides of the ventilation valves were placed only on tank pipes No. 3 and No. 4 in the area of ​​solid cutting, which interfered with the connection of tanks between burs, the second valves of the same tanks were not separated. All these decisions were made by submarine designers of the Decembrist type quite deliberately, and were not the result of any mistakes, although later on this point of view was often expressed.
Analysis of the concept of submersion submarines to a particular depth and the duration of its stay there allowed us to introduce the concept of "working" and "marginal" depth of immersion. It was assumed that the submarine would be at the extreme depth only in the case of extreme necessity and the shortest time, at the shortest course or without a course, and in any case without trim.
At the working depth, it should be provided with complete freedom of maneuvering for an unlimited time. Although with some limitation of trim angles.

Decembrist-class submarines


Submarine "Decembrist" was the first domestic submarine, designed for maximum immersion depth of 90 m.
The firstborn of the Soviet submarine could not become a warship that meets the requirements of the time, without modern equipment.

At the same time, it was impossible to go beyond the predetermined weight loads. Therefore, the number of drainage pumps was halved, the leaded main cables were replaced with vulcanized ones, one main transverse bulkhead was replaced with a lighter one, the rotational speed of ship fans was increased by 1,5, etc.
As a result, the calculated displacement of the submarine "Dekabrist" coincided with the primary, design, and by the beginning of the construction of the next series of submarines in a few years, the technology of making lighter according to the mass characteristics of the mechanisms was mastered by our industry.

The disadvantage of the "Decembrist" type submarine should be considered the placement of the main supply of fuel outside the strong hull ("fuel" for refueling). Of the total fuel supply of about 128 tons, only 39 tons were inside the strong hull, the remaining 89 tons were housed in four side ballast tanks No. 5,6,7,8 This made it possible to increase the cruising range of the surface economic speed by 3,6 times compared to the Bars-class submarine, but the Second World War showed that such placement of fuel often led to the for violations of the density of the seams of the lining of the light hull with close ruptures of deep or aviation bombs or artillery shells.

It was possible to ensure the specified autonomy of the Dekabrist submarine sailing on fuel in 28 days.
A fundamentally new system, not previously used anywhere else in the domestic submarine shipbuilding, was the air regeneration system for the internal premises of the Dekabrist submarine - removing excess carbon dioxide and replenishing the loss of oxygen in the air, i.e. maintaining in the submarine air mixture a favorable concentration. The need for this system arose in connection with the requirement to increase the duration of a continuous stay under water for up to three days instead of one day for Bars submarines.
The air regeneration system maintained the autonomy of all compartments. It provided the ability for the submarine to remain continuously under water for 72 hours..

At the request of the operational and technical commission of the Navy, much attention was paid to the conditions of servicing the battery. In contrast to Bars-type submarines, the battery pits were made airtight, and the elements in them were placed in 6 rows with a longitudinal passage in the middle. The tightness of the pits guaranteed the protection of the batteries from ingress of seawater into the submarine (above the deck deck), which could cause a short circuit and the release of a suffocating gas - chlorine. The height of the premises was sufficient for the passage of a person and the maintenance of all elements. This required a significant expansion and increase in the height of the battery pits, which worsened the habitability of the residential and office premises located above them and caused difficulties in locating some of the mechanisms, drives and pipelines.
In addition, the increase in the center of gravity somewhat affected the stability of the submarine - their metacentric height in the surface position turned out to be about 30 cm.

It was far from simple to solve the problem of the main mechanisms for the Decembrist submarines, which arose during the design of the first IG Bubnov submarines, i.e. before the revolution. The limited amount of interior space, especially in height, made it difficult for them to use engines of the desired power.
For submarines of the type "Bars" engines were ordered in Germany, but with the beginning of the First World War, their delivery to Russia stopped. We had to use diesel engines in 5 times smaller power, taken from the gunboats of the Amur Flotilla, which led to a decrease in surface speed to 11 knots instead of the projected 18.

However, the mass construction of more powerful engines for submarines in tsarist Russia was never established.
After the revolution, buying overseas engines, specifically designed for the submarines, became impossible. At the same time, it turned out that the German company MAN, which had been carrying out orders for the manufacture of diesel engines for the Russian fleet before World War I, began building diesel locomotives for which it had adapted diesel engines previously intended for submarines. At the beginning of the 20s, she supplied several such engines for the first Soviet diesel locomotives E-El-2. These engines could develop power up to 1200 hp. at 450 rpm Within one hour. Their long work was guaranteed at power in 1100 hp and 525 rpm It was them, and it was decided to use for the submarine type "Decembrist".



However, this compromise solution was, to a certain extent, a step backwards: the Bars-type submarine project provided for the 2 x 1320 hp engines, although the displacement of these submarines was almost 1,5 times less than the Decembrist submarine displacement.
But there was no other way out. I had to go to lower the surface speed by about one node.
In 1926 - 1927 the domestic industry created a non-reversible diesel compressor for the "42 - B - 6" submarine of the 1100 horsepower. Long-term tests confirmed its reliability and efficiency. These diesel engines went into mass production and were then installed two by two on the subsequent submarines of the I series. They provided them with the surface speed of the 14,6 node.
The decrease in speed was also affected by the fact that the propellers installed on the Dekabrist-type submarines were not optimal, because they were not selected experimentally, as it was practiced earlier when building each warship.

At that time, a large underwater speed was not considered one of the main tactical elements of the submarine, therefore, when designing the Decembrist submarines, the main attention was paid to increasing the navigation range of the submarine economic speed.
For this purpose, special electric motors with two anchors of different power (525 hp and 25 hp for the economic course) were created. The battery was divided into 4 groups with the possibility of their serial or parallel connection.
In each group of the battery, 60 of DK brand lead elements was used; the nominal voltage on the tires of the main station could presumably vary from 120 to 480. However, they very soon had to abandon the upper limit of these voltages, since the industry could not yet guarantee the strength of electrical insulation in conditions of high humidity in the interior. Therefore, the battery groups on the Dekabrist type submarines were connected in series only in pairs, the upper voltage limit was reduced to 240 c. Anchors of low power of both economic stroke electric motors could be switched from parallel connection between each other to a series one, which led to a decrease in the voltage on their brushes to 60 volts while maintaining the total voltage in the excitation windings.
In this mode, the submarine speed in 2,9 knots was reached during 52 hours. This corresponded to a completely unprecedented diving range in 150 miles!
Submarines of the type "Decembrist" could have passed this speed under water, without emerging, the distance from the Luga Bay to the exit to the Baltic Sea, i.e. while in her operating area, she could actually control the entire Gulf of Finland.
The main rowing electric motors of the Dekabrist-type submarines made it possible to develop an underwater speed of around 9 knots within two hours. This met the requirements of that time, but was achieved only after a long and persistent work to improve the contours of the protruding part of the hull.

The basic one weapons Dekabrist type submarines were torpedoes. After World War I, 1914 - 1918's. the length of the torpedoes in all the fleets of the world increased by 1,5 times, the caliber increased by 20%, and the mass of the combat charge increased by 3 times !.
By the beginning of the construction of a submarine of the type "Decembrist" in the USSR there were no such torpedoes, they began to be designed simultaneously with the submarine. It should be noted that these torpedoes were not even by the end of the construction of the Dekabrist type submarines, which had been swimming for a long time with arrays in torpedo tubes, which allowed using 450 mm caliber torpedoes for training firing.
Creating a new torpedo caliber 533 mm was a longer process than the design and construction of submarines. Simultaneously with the submarine and torpedoes, V.A. Skvortsov and I.M. Ioffe also designed torpedo tubes. Particular difficulties arose in the development of the device to recharge them in a submerged position. Those places where it was most convenient to place such a device were required to install steering and spike motors with their drives.

The artillery armament of the Decembrist-type submarine initially consisted of two 100-mm guns mounted on the superstructure deck in closed fairing shields closing the smooth cuttings around the fencing. But the discussion of the project in the operational-technical commission led to the conclusion that it was necessary to raise the nose-gun above the deck in order to exclude wave flooding. In this regard, it was necessary to abandon the stern gun of the same caliber, so that the submarine did not lose stability in the surface position. This made it possible to establish the nose gun, fenced with a bulwark, at the level of the navigating bridge. Instead of aft 100-mm guns installed 45-mm anti-aircraft semi-automatic.

During the overhaul and modernization of submarines of the type "Decembrist" in 1938 - 1941. The 100-mm cannon, which constrained the already narrow bridge and obstructed the view, especially when moored, was re-installed on the deck of the superstructure. This somewhat reduced the swinging range and increased the submarine stability. At the same time, the cutting configuration was changed.
The Dekabrist submarine steering device, which maneuvers the submarine, consisted of one vertical steering wheel and two pairs of horizontal rudders. Electric and manual drives were used to transfer the steering wheels.
The control of the electric drive of the vertical rudder was carried out by regulating the excitation of the servo generator, driven in rotation with a constant number of revolutions from the DC motor coupled with it. Its manual drive had a 3 control post: on the bridge, in the CPU and in the aft compartment. All of them were connected to each other with roller drives and worked on a common differential coupling with an electric drive. This clutch created the independence of the hand drive from the electric one and made it possible to switch from one control system to another without any switching.
The rudder shaft of the vertical rudder was tilted to the nose by 7 degrees. It was believed that when it was put on board, it would do the work of horizontal rudders, helping to keep the submarine from ascending to circulation. However, these assumptions were not justified, and in the future they refused from the inclined vertical rudder.

Control of horizontal rudders was only in the CPU and was associated with end sections of roller drives. In the CPU, electric motors and steering handlebars were installed, and here they were switched using cam clutches.
Nasal horizontal rudders could fold along the side of the superstructure ("collapse") to reduce water resistance at large underwater passages and to protect against breakages on a steep wave in the surface position, when the vertical swing increases. Their "heaping and falling off" was carried out from the nose compartment. For this purpose, an electric motor was used, which serviced the spike device and windlass of the above-mentioned Hall-type anchor.

In addition to the surface anchor on the submarine type "Decembrist", an underwater anchor was provided - lead, mushroom-shaped, with a cable instead of an anchor chain. But his device turned out to be unsuccessful, which led to a curious situation when testing. When the Dekabrist submarine stopped to anchor at the 30-meter depth (at the depth of the sea 50 m), the anchor cable jumped off the drum and jammed. The submarine turned out to be tied to the bottom of the 2. In order to break away, it needed to overcome the weight of the anchor, the resistance of the ground that quickly sucked in the anchor, and the weight of the water column that pressed on top. The mushroom anchor has great holding power and it is no accident that it is used as a dead anchor to hold floating lighthouses, buoys and other navigational and hydrographic landmarks. Only after a large bubble was given to the nasal cistern, the Dekabrist Submarine jumped to the surface, but with such a trim on the nose (40 degrees), which much higher than allowable by then the concepts of the norm. The mushroom anchor for submarine type "Decembrist" preserved, but divers prefer not to use it.

For the first time in the world, Dekabrist type submarines were equipped with a set of emergency rescue equipment, alarm systems and communications with emergency submarines, life support and crew rescue, and means of lifting submarines to the surface.

After the completion of the design work, the general location of the weapon, the technical means and the deployment of personnel on the Dekabrist-type submarines, which had 7 compartments, was as follows:
The first (nasal torpedo) compartment was, as already indicated, the largest in volume. It housed 6 torpedo tubes (three rows vertically, two in a row horizontally) for torpedoes of the 533 caliber mm. Each of them was a cast bronze tube in hermetically closed front and rear covers. The front of the torpedo tubes through the end bulkhead durable hull out of the compartment in the nasal permeable tip of the light body. In it, against each torpedo tube, there were niches covered with breakwater shields. Before the torpedo shot they opened. Drives were used to open and close the front and rear covers and the breakwater shield. From the torpedo apparatus, the torpedo was pushed out by compressed air with the front open and the closed back of the apparatus open.

6 spare torpedoes were stored on racks. The compartment had in the upper part a combined torpedo-loading device, an electric motor that ensured the operation of the spire, the windlass of the surface armature and the bow horizontal rudders, and the provision tank. The first served to compensate for the weight of spent spare torpedoes and was filled by gravity with seawater torpedo tubes or from the side. The bow trim tank, as well as a similar feed tank, was intended for trimming submarines, in which it is capable of sinking and maneuvering freely under water.

The first compartment also served as living quarters for part of the personnel. This is how one of the Commanders of the Decembrist submarines describes the nose compartment: “Most of the submariners were located in the first compartment - the most spacious on the Subaru submarine. It also housed the dining room of a personal crew. The deck of the first compartment is lined with steel plates that are soles the boots and shoes were erased to shine, and a light layer of solar oil made them matte. 12 of 14 torpedoes were located in this compartment. Short teams to rush to the enemy ship's board. The rest of the 6 torpedoes, located on special racks, three from each side, were waiting for their turn. Because of the thick layer of dark brown grease, they looked very uncomfortable in the residential compartment. Despite the fact torpedoes were placed one above the other, they occupied a significant part of the room.Along the torpedoes were installed three-tiered beds, which collapsed in the daytime, which somewhat increased the free space. In the middle of the compartment there was a dining table, on which at night another 3 submariner slept. Dozens of valves of various sizes and many pipelines completed the decoration of the first compartment. "

An end ballast tank was placed in the nose of the light hull.
In the second compartment, in the lower part of the robust case, in the battery well (welded construction) there was the first group of battery from 60 elements, above which the radio room and the living room were located.
The third compartment housed another 2 group of batteries, and above them - the premises of the commanding staff, galley, mess room and ventilation systems with electric fans for forced and natural ventilation compartments and battery pits. The double-breasted space was occupied by fuel tanks.

The fourth compartment was set aside for the central post, which was the main control post and the submarine survivability. Here was equipped GKP - a place in which the control devices of submarines, its weapons and technical equipment. For the first time in the national submarine shipbuilding a centralized submersible and submarine control system was applied.
In the lower part of the compartment, there was an equalization tank and a tank of fast immersion. The first served to compensate for the residual buoyancy for static balancing of the submarine at a given depth by means of receiving or pumping out of it outboard water. With the help of the second tank the minimum time of submarines leaving to the specified depth was ensured during urgent immersion. When sailing in the sea in a cruising position, the tank of fast submersion was always filled with seawater, and in the submerged position it was always drained. An artillery cellar was also located in the lower part of the compartment (120 mm 100 shells and 500 mm 45 shells). In addition, a drainage pump and one of the blowers were installed in the compartment to blow the main ballast tanks with compressed air during ascent. The inter-breasted space was occupied by the average tank ballast master.



Above the compartment was a cylindrical durable cabin with a diameter of 1,7 m with a spherical roof, which was part of a solid hull. On the submarine type "Bars" in this cabin was located GKP. But when designing a submarine of the type "Decembrist" by the decision of the operational-technical commission, it was transferred to the CPU. It was supposed to protect him in such a way in the event of an enemy ramming strike. For the same purpose, the cabin was fastened to the sturdy hull not directly, but through special coaming (vertical sheets bordering the logging base along the perimeter), connected to the sturdy hull with two rows of rivets.
The cutting itself was attached to the coaming only one row of the same rivets. In the case of a ramming strike put into the wheelhouse, it was possible to count on breaking only a weak rivet seam, which protected the robust case from breaking its waterproofness.
The cabin had two entrance hatches: the upper one was heavy for access to the navigating bridge and the lower one for communication with the central post. Thus, if necessary, the cabin could be used as a lock chamber for the exit of personnel to the surface. At the same time, it provided a rigid support for the commander and antiaircraft periscopes (the first for inspecting the horizon, the second for inspecting the air sphere).

The fifth compartment, as well as the second and third, was a battery. It housed the fourth group of the battery, surrounded by tanks of lubricating oil (they were usually called oil). Above the accumulator well was the living quarters of the foremen, and on the board was the second blower for the ascent of the submarine.
In the sixth compartment were installed internal combustion engines - diesel engines, which served as the main engines of the surface course. There were also disconnecting couplings of two propeller shafts, lube oil tanks, auxiliary mechanisms. In the upper part of the diesel compartment was equipped with an entrance hatch for the engine command. Like the remaining entrance hatches, he had double constipation (top and bottom) and an elongated coaming (shaft) protruding inside the compartment, i.e. could serve as a rescue hatch for escaping personnel to the surface.

All six compartments differed from one another by spherical bulkheads, and the partition between the sixth and seventh compartments was made flat.
The seventh (aft torpedo) compartment housed the main rowing motors, which were the main engines of the underwater stroke, and the motors of the economic course, which ensured long-term sailing under water at economic speeds, as well as their control stations. In this electromotive compartment were installed horizontally in a row 2 stern torpedo tubes (without spare torpedoes). They had breakwaters in the light housing. The compartment also contained steering gears and auxiliary mechanisms, aft trim tank, in the upper part - a combined torpedo-loading and inlet hatch.

A second end ballast tank was located in the aft end of the light hull.
3 November 1928, the head submarine of the series I "Decembrist" descended from the stocks to the water. The ceremonial platoon of the Scuba Diving Training Detachment participated in the solemn ceremony. During the completion afloat, many mistakes were made in the design of the first Soviet submarine, but most of them were corrected in a timely manner.
The running test of submarines of the Decembrist type was conducted by a state commission chaired by the authorized Permanent Commission for Testing and Acceptance of newly built and overhauled ships Ya.K.Zubareva.

During the first testing of the Dekabrist submarine in May 1930, the selection committee was seriously concerned about the inclination that occurred when diving after opening the kingston tanks of the main ballast tanks (with the ventilation valves closed). One of the reasons was the lack of weight control during the construction of the submarine, and they were overloaded. As a result, their stability was underestimated compared with the design, and the impact on the immersion and the ascent of negative stability was significant. what provided the greatest weight stability. Meanwhile, when filling only two pairs of ballast tanks, as was done during mooring tests, the draft of the Dekabrist submarine did not reach the level of their roofs (stringers). Consequently, the free surface of the water remained in the tanks and its transfusion from side to side was inevitable, because the ventilation pipes of both sides, with the valves closed, communicated with each other. The air in the tanks passed from one side to another in the direction opposite to the direction of water. Negative stability eventually peaked.

Undoubtedly, this could have been avoided with the participation of its designers in the mooring tests of the Dekabrist submarines.
But by this time B.M. Malinin, E.E. Kruger and S.A. Bazilevsky, under false charges of hostile activity, were repressed. They had to investigate the reasons for the current situation in a situation that was fundamentally far from being creative. However, as BM Malinin later noted, as a result, S. A. Bazilevsky developed (in the prison cell) a theory of the submersion and ascent of one-and-a-half and two-body submarines, which was his undoubted scientific work.
To eliminate detected defects (design and construction), longitudinal bulkheads were installed in deck ballast tanks and separate ventilation of tanks of the main ballast was introduced. In addition, they removed high-pressure compressors, anchors with a chain and strengthened additional floating volumes (floats). The need for a regulating damper on the low-pressure air distribution box was found out, the presence of which made it possible to regulate its supply to the tanks of each side, which was required for the ascent of the submarine during strong seas.

When one of the submarines of the Dekabrist dive to a considerable depth, there was unexpectedly a strong blow from below. Submarine lost buoyancy and lay on the ground, and at a depth slightly exceeding the limit. After an urgent ascent, it turned out that the Kingston quick-dip tank, which opened inwards, had been pressed by the outboard pressure from its saddle. Prior to that, the empty tank spontaneously filled with water, which broke into the tank under high pressure and that caused a hydraulic shock. The lack of construction of the valves of the tank for rapid immersion was eliminated - in the closed position, they began to press the water pressure to their nests.

18 November 1930 received a welcoming telegram from Moscow: “The Revolutionary Military Council of the Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea. To the Director of Baltvod. Commander of the Submarine Dekabrist. Congratulations to the Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea.” that in the hands of the revolutionary seamen of the Baltic "The Decembrist" will be a formidable weapon against our class enemies and in future battles for socialism will cover its red flag with glory. Head of the Naval Forces R. Muklevich ".
October 11 and November 14 1931. Subscriber "Narodovolets" and "Red Guard" were put into operation. The commanders of the first Soviet-made submarines were B.А.Sekunov, M.K.Nazarov and K.N. Griboedov, mechanical engineers M.I. Matrosov, N.P.Kovalev and K.L. Grigaitis.
Since the spring of 1930, the command personnel of the BF submarine brigade began to study the Dekabrist type submarines. The trainings were supervised by a GM Trusov, a mechanic.

Also in 1931, the submarines "Revolutionary" (January 5), Spartacist (May 17) and Jacobins (June 12) were incorporated into the Black Sea Forces. Their crews, led by the commanders V.Surin, M.V.Lashmanov, N.A. Zimarinsky, mechanical engineers T.I. Gushlevsky, S.Ya.Kozlov, actively participated in the construction of submarines, the development of mechanisms, systems and devices. , D.G. Vodyanitsky.

The crews of the Dekabrist-type submarines initially consisted of a 47 man, and then a 53 man.

The creation of Dekabrist type submarines, the first two-part submarine riveted submarines, was a genuine revolutionary leap in domestic submarine shipbuilding. Compared with the Bars-type submarines, the last in pre-revolutionary shipbuilding, they had the following advantages:
- cruising range of economic surface speed increased 3,6 times;
- full surface speed increased 1,4 times;
- cruising range at an economic submarine speed has increased 5,4 times;
- working depth of immersion increased in 1,5 times;
- dive time reduced by 6 times;
- the reserve of buoyancy, providing floodability, increased in 2 times;
- The total mass of the combat charge of the full stock of torpedoes has grown by about 10;
- The total mass of artillery salvo increased 5 times.

Some tactical - technical elements of the submarine type "Decembrist" exceeded the design task. For example, he got the submerged speed not of the 9, but of the 9,5 node; float on the surface in full swing is not 1500, and 2570 miles; cruising range at an above-water surface speed is not 3500, but 8950 miles; in the underwater, not 110, but 158 miles. Onboard Dekabrist submarines there were 14 torpedoes (and not 4, but 6 nasal torpedo tubes), 120 100 mm shells and 500 45 mm shells. The submarine could be at sea up to 40 days, its underwater autonomy in terms of electric power reserve reached three days.
In the autumn of 1932, the submarine "Decembrist" was subjected to special research tests to accurately identify all of its tactical and technical elements. The tests were conducted by a commission chaired by Ya.K. Zubarev, his deputy was A.E., Kuzaev (Mortehupr), from the shipbuilding industry N.V. Alekseev, V.I.Govorukhin, A.Z.Kaplanovsky, M.A.Rudnitsky, V.F. Klinsky, V.N.Peregudov, Y.Ya.Peterson, P.I. Serdyuk, G.M.Trusov and others. S.A. Bazilevsky who was under arrest participated in the tests.

The test results confirmed that the submarine type "Decembrist" in their TTE with a smaller displacement is not inferior to the same type of British and American submarines. The British began building an Oberon submarine (1927 / 1475) in 2030, which had 6 bow and 2 stern TA (total torpedoes 14) and one 102 mm gun. Their only advantage is the surface speed of 17,5 nodes. It is more likely that the surface speed did not exceed 16 nodes (coefficient C = 160.



TACTICAL-TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF PL. TYPE "DECKRIST"

Displacement - 934 t / 1361 t
Length 76,6 m
Width is greatest - 6,4 m
Surface draft - 3,75 m
The number and power of the main engines:
- diesel 2 x 1100 hp
- electric 2 x 525 hp
Speed ​​full 14,6 knots / 9,5 knots
Cruising range full speed 2570 miles (16,4 knots)
Cruising range at an economic speed of 8950 miles (8,9 knots)
158 miles under water (2,9 knots)
Autonomy 28 days (then 40)
Operating depth immersion 75 m
Extreme depth of immersion 90 m
Armament: 6 bow TA, 2 aft TA
General ammunition torpedoes 14
Artillery weapons:
1 x 100 mm (120 shells),
1 x 45 mm (500 shells)
In September, the letter-digital names D-1934, D-1, D-2, D-3, D-4, D-5 were assigned to the submarine 6. In the same year, the submarines D-1 (commander V.P. Karpunin) and submarines D-2 (commander L.M. Reisner) attempted to make a trip to Novaya Zemlya. In the Barents Sea, they were met by a fierce storm - “Novaya Zemlya bora”. Submarine had to take refuge in the Kola Bay.
In 1935, the PL D-1 visited Belushya’s lip on Novaya Zemlya. In 1936, PL D-1 and D-2 for the first time in stories diving through the Matochkin Strait Shar reached the Kara Sea. Returning to the Barents Sea, they 22-23 of August visited the Russian Harbor, located on the northern coast of New Earth.

Then PL-2 and D-3 (commander M.N.Popov) made high-latitude voyage to Bear Island (Bjorno) and Spitsbergen banks. After this, the D-2 submarine went to the Lofoten Islands, located off the west coast of Norway. The hike continued under the conditions of a severe storm with a power of up to 9 points. During this autonomous voyage, the D-2 Submarines passed 5803 miles on the surface and the 501 mile underwater, and the D-3 Submarines - a total of 3673,7 miles.
In the winter of 1938, the submarine D-3 took part in an expedition to remove from the ice the first in the history of the North Pole drifting polar station, led by I.Papanin. After completing the mission, the PL D-3 returned to the base, leaving 2410 behind astern.
21 November 1938 was withdrawn from the Polar D-1 Submarine under the command of Art. Lieutenant MP Avgustinovich. For more than a day, the 44 continued its autonomous voyage along the route Tsyp-Navolok - o. Vardø - North Cape - about. Bear - oh. Hope (Hepen) - about. Mezhdusharsky (Land) - o.Kolguev - Cape Cannes Nose - Cape Holy Nose - o. Kildin. In total, the submarine passed the 4841 mile, of which the submarine 1001 mile.

In April-May, 1939, PL D-2, under the command of Art. Lieutenant A.A. Zhukov, providing the radio connection for the aircraft of V.Kokkinaki during his non-stop flight to the USA, left Iceland from the northern part of the Atlantic.
Submarine D-3, which was successively commanded by Lieutenant Commander FV Konstantinov and Captain 3 of the rank MA Bibeev, sank 8 enemy transports with a total displacement of 28140 brt and damaged one transport (3200 brt). She became the first in the history of the Soviet Navy Red Banner Guardship.
Submarine D-2 led the fighting in the Baltic. In October 1939 she arrived on the White Sea-Baltic Canal in Leningrad from the North for major repairs. The outbreak of war prevented her from returning to the Federation Council. In August 1941, she was enrolled in the CBF. It is one of the few Soviet submarines operating in the area most distant from Kronstadt and Leningrad near the Baltic Sea Theater, west of Fr. Bornholm. Under the command of Captain 2 of the rank of RVLindeberg, the submarine D-2 sunk the transports "Jacobus Fritzen" (4090 brt) and "Nina" (1731 brt) and for a long time the Deutschland ferry (2972 brit) , plying between the German and Swedish ports.

The crews of the D-4 ("Revolutionary") and D-5 ("Spartacist") Black Sea Fleet submarines, which were successively commanded by Lieutenant Commander I.Ya. Trofimov, achieved remarkable combat successes. 5 transports with a total displacement of 16157 brt were destroyed, including “Fight Feddersen” (6689 brt), “Santa Fe” (4627 brt) and “Varna” (2141 brt).
Total on the combat account of the submarine type "Decembrist" 15 sunk ships (49758 brt) and two damaged (6172 brt) enemy transport vessels.

One of the submarines of the type "Decembrist" - "D-2" ("Narodovolets") - served the Navy for more than half a century. In the post-war period, it was converted into a training station, where the Red Banner Baltic Fleet submariners were improved. 8 in May 1969. A memorial plaque was opened on it: “The firstborn of Soviet shipbuilding - PL“ Narodovolets ”D-2 was laid in 1927 in Leningrad. It was commissioned in 1931 in. From 21933 in 1939, was part of Northern military flotilla. From 1941 to 1945, she conducted active hostilities against the fascist invaders in the Baltic. "
Submarine D-2, now installed on the bank of the Neva Bay near the Sea Glory of Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, is a perpetual monument to Soviet designers and engineers, scientists and production workers, to the heroic Baltic sailors.











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  1. mamba
    +1
    25 December 2012 14: 55
    Therefore, both solid bulkheads of the CPU were convex inside it.
    For the shelter compartment, the solid bulkheads would have to be bulged outward from it, like the bottom of a bottle of champagne. Maybe the author is wrong? Indeed, dams and bathyscaphes are built on this principle. request
  2. mamba
    +1
    25 December 2012 15: 29
    You can add a little more about the fate of the Decembrist class submarines:
    D-1 - In 1939-1940. took part in the Soviet-Finnish war. Patrolled in the Varangerfjord area. She made three military campaigns. I have not achieved success. November 13, 1940 died under obscure circumstances during a training dive in Motovsky Bay at a depth of 255 meters while practicing combat training tasks. The entire crew (55 people) died. December 31, 1940 expelled from the fleet.
    D-3 - June 10, 1942 exit to the last eighth military campaign in the Second World War. The boat did not get in touch again and did not return to the base. Together with the boat, 53 members of its crew were also killed. Probably, the boat was blown up by a mine in the area of ​​Helnes Cape, or at the Bantos A barrier at the entrance to the Kola Bay, which was placed on March 20, 1942 by the Brummer and Cobra minelayers, who so safely escaped torpedoes from the D-3 a week before the mine setting. 8 August 1942 expelled from the Navy.
    D-4 - November 11, 1943 exit on the last seventeenth military campaign in the Second World War. On November 23, near Evpatoria, the boat sent the transport "Santa Fe" to the bottom at 4.627 brt. On December 4, 1943, she was presumably sunk in the Kalimitsky Gulf southwest of Cape Uret by the Uj-103 and Uj-102 anti-submarine ships after an unsuccessful attack by landing barge No. 566. The entire crew was killed (presumably 53 people). On December 29, 1943, she was expelled from the Navy.
    D-5 - in the spring of 1943 - being repaired. She no longer participated in hostilities. Since October 15, 1946, it has been at the disposal of the Research Mine and Torpedo Institute of the Navy. On October 2, 1948, the boat was reformed into an experimental one. January 12, 1949 assigned to the subclass of large submarines. June 16, 1949 renamed to "B-32". On December 29, 1955, she was disarmed and expelled from the Navy in connection with delivery to the OFI for dismantling and sale. On January 18, 1956, it was disbanded and subsequently cut into metal on the basis of Glavvtorchermet in Sevastopol.
    D-6 - August 18, 1941 went to sea, but 60 miles west of Sevastopol it was raided by enemy aircraft, was damaged and was forced to return and again get up for repairs. On November 12, 1941, during the bombing of the Marine Plant in Sevastopol, it was secondarily damaged. On June 26, 1942, due to the impossibility of evacuation with disassembled corps and mechanisms, it was blown up by the crew on the order of the command on the eve of the Soviet troops leaving the city. July 11, 1942 expelled from the Navy. In the spring of 1945 it was raised by the emergency response service of the Black Sea Fleet. On June 7, 1945, due to the inexpediency of restoration, it was again expelled from the Black Sea Fleet in connection with the surrender to the OFI for dismantling and cutting for metal.
  3. AK-47
    +1
    25 December 2012 21: 03
    1 November 1926, a special technical bureau No. 4 (Technical Bureau) was established at the Baltic Shipyard to prepare working drawings for the head submarine. He was headed by an engineer B.M. Malinin.

    The outstanding engineer died in Leningrad in the early morning of September 27, 1949. He was 60 years old. They buried B.M. Malinin at the Bolsheokhtinskoye cemetery. On the stele of dark polished granite, the inscription: "Designer of the first Soviet submarines, State Prize laureate, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Boris Mikhailovich Malinin. 1889-1949".
  4. AlexMH
    0
    25 December 2012 21: 16
    I was in St. Petersburg on a boat-museum D-2 - very interesting, I recommend everyone to go. This is on Vasilievsky Island, not far from the Krasin, another ship-museum. Only further to the sea. There is not much space on the boat, frankly speaking, you can feel the hardships of the life of submariners. But everything is kept in an impeccable condition, well, or rather 7 years ago it was like that - the museum staff commands respect. Diesel engines, torpedo models, a radio room - everything is as if it were alive, even if you put it on the water :)
  5. +2
    12 November 2013 22: 47
    Thanks for the article, "+".

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