In 1985, the famous action movie directed by Mikhail Tumanishvili “Single Swim” appeared on the screens of Soviet cinemas.
In the film, a group of marines led by Major Shatokhin captures the American underground missile base, located somewhere in the Pacific or in the Indian Ocean.
Many immediately saw that the island was played by the Blue Bay, not far from the New World, and the role of the Soviet ship, Ochakov BOD. But where the director found the underground rocket base was a mystery to the vast majority of viewers. Or maybe it was a grand layout?
No, it was a real top-secret rocket base "Object 100", located in the Crimea under the Balaclava. History its creation is very interesting, and the documents on its construction were stamped “of utmost secret importance”. Even the command of the Navy of the USSR learned about the creation of the first anti-ship cruise missiles, or, as they were called before 1959 of the year, “projectiles”, already when the work on them was nearing its end. The first domestic anti-ship projectiles "Kometa" were created under the patronage of Lawrence Beria himself.
Work on the Kometa projectile was conducted in the Special Bureau No. 1 of the NKVD. Pavel Nikolaevich Kuksenko, Doctor of Technical Sciences, was appointed as the Head and Chief Designer, and Sergo Beria, 23-year-old graduate of the Leningrad Military Academy of Communications, was appointed his deputy.
In 1946, Sergo graduated from the Military Academy of Telecommunications. Budennyy and with honors he defended his diploma, which in its essence was a project of the future Komet missile system. There is no doubt that the project was based on German developments, but in the USSR no one has yet developed such systems.
The first task of the SB-1 was the creation of the Kometa anti-ship projectile. Most of the SB-1 employees were Germans, some of them were prisoners of war, and some voluntarily came to the USSR, fleeing poverty in occupied Germany. Among them were first-class specialists, such as, for example, Eizenberger, Faulshtikh, and others. There was a SB-1 and “special contingent” - domestic prisoners. Among them was a famous mathematician, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, N. S. Koshlyakov.
For the first time in the history of our military industrial complex, and possibly in world practice, when designing the Kometa complex, the control system was not created for a rocket, but, on the contrary, selected variants of the projectile aircraft for the control system developed by the SB-1.
Thus, by the resolution of the Council of Ministers on September 8, 1948 provided for the creation of the Kometa projectile based on the 10 X and 14 X missiles developed by the design bureau of V.N. Chelomey.
On the experimental version of the 3 X-K-14 Comet, differing from the standard 1 X with a larger wing area, a pulsating D-14 engine was installed.
In the first half of 1948, the design bureau of plant No. 51 was preparing the second edition of the draft project on “Komet-3”, but did not have time to complete it. The management of the SB-1 decided to abandon the use of a pulsating engine on the "Comet", which could not provide the missile with the necessary speed.
The design of the Kometa airframe was entrusted to OKB-155, which was led by A. I. Mikoyan. MI Gurevich was directly involved in designing the rocket.
3 November 1949 of the Year OKB-155 presented a new draft design of the Komet projectile, which was very similar to a smaller copy of the MiG-15 fighter. The main difference between the projectile aircraft and the fighter was the wing of a small area with a very large angle of sweep for that time.
The fuselage practically repeated the layout of the MiG-15 fighter with the only difference that between the air channels on the site of the cockpit of the pilot, a compartment of the control system equipment and a high-explosive-cumulative warhead were located on the projectile aircraft.
To speed up the debugging of the Comet, four prototypes of it were made manned. At the site of the warhead was built cockpit with manual control. The maximum speed at an altitude of 3 kilometers was about 1060 km / h, and the landing 270 – 290 km / h. Both the manned and the serial "Comet" were fitted with RD-500 K turbojet engines.
In 1951, two manned projectile aircraft were produced, called "KFOR products" (a stunt aircraft "Kometa"). 4 January 1952, the first flight on the KFOR product, was made by test pilot Amet-Khan Sultan. Tests "Comet" were held off the coast of Crimea between Kerch and Theodosia. The aircraft carrier Tu-4 based at the airport Bagerovo near Kerch. A total of up to 150 manned flights were performed on a Kometa projectile.
At first, for each flight the pilot was paid a pretty decent amount, by the standards of that time, of course. Later, when manned flights became a matter of routine, the authorities decided to significantly reduce the amount of payments. But since the document where this amount was determined, was signed personally by Stalin, the corrected document had to also be sent to the leader. When Amet-Khan Sultan was offered to endorse this paper before being sent to Moscow, he wrote boldly: "My widow does not agree." The leader returned the paper with the resolution: "I agree with the widow Amet-Khan Sultan." At this point the question was settled.
The tests of the Comet are a very interesting topic, but here I will mention only one episode: the shooting at the Krasny Kavkaz cruiser. In the autumn of 1952, the cruiser was disarmed and turned into a target. Nobody wanted to drown such a valuable target, therefore “Comet” had a warhead with inert equipment.
21 November 1952 of the Year "The Red Caucasus" was located in the water area of the Sandy Beam test site in 20 kilometers from the coast. The launch of "Comet" was made from the area at Cape Meganom, when the aircraft carrier Tu-4 K was located at a distance of 80 – 85 km from the target. The rocket hit the side of the cruiser between the chimneys. Despite the fact that the warhead was in inert equipment, the cruiser sank 12 minutes after it hit.
Sergo Beria subsequently compared the first tests of the atomic bomb, which he witnessed, with the action of the Comet projectile: “The impression is certainly strong, but not amazing. I was, let's say, much more impressed with the tests of our projectile, which literally flashed the cruiser Krasny Kavkaz. In one side of the ship entered, out of the other out. "
"Comet" was officially put into service in 1953 year.
In 1954, the decision was made to create two more complexes on the basis of the Komet plane - the ship for the 67 cruisers and the coastal Strela.
Work on the ship complex was limited to testing a prototype on the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov." Then Khrushchev ordered to stop the construction of the missile cruisers of this project.
But the work on the creation of coastal stationary missile systems "Arrow" were in full swing.
The development of the coastal armament system "Strela" was launched at the OKB-155 branch under the direction of A.Ya. Bereznyak 21 on April 1954.
The rocket was created on the basis of the ship's cruise missile "Comet". Its main difference was to equip the starting powder accelerator. Launchers complex "Strela" was supposed to be placed in a well-protected stationary shelters.
I note that in the service documentation of the rocket (missile-projectiles), they initially had an KCC index, and then C-2. Initially, the name "Sopka" referred only to the mobile complex, but later the stationary complex was also called that.
Rocket "Sopka"
To locate the Strela coastal missile system (DBK), two positional areas were identified: on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula and on the northern coast of Kildin Island near the Kola Bay.
In 1954, the state commission chaired by the commander of the coastal defense, Major General of Artillery I. N. Kovalenko, chose the area for the construction of the world's first underground missile system. From the operational-tactical point of view, the ideal place was a forested mountain region near Balaklava. It was here that the construction of the “100 Object” began.
100 Object Scheme
It consisted of two identical launch sites, spaced apart 5,94 km from each other. The first division was located near Balaclava. The second division is located near the village of Reserve. On the maps, both are marked with the word "Leskhoz". At each site, two launch positions and underground facilities were erected, in which the main and reserve command posts, communications equipment, a central post, combat posts for preliminary and final preparation of the missiles for launch, a missile storage of the combat kit and a technical position were located. For the construction of used special heat-resistant concrete.
The starting positions of both divisions were at an altitude of 550 – 600 meters above sea level, which increased the firing range. Not a single 100 Object was viewed from the sea.
Construction was carried out by the 95th specialized department of underground work of the Black Sea fleet. Rooms for the command post and premises for personnel, storage of missiles and fuel, diesel power plants, water and food supplies were cut down in the thickness of the rock. The underground citadel had full engineering support, a set of filtering and ventilation systems, which ensure the vital activity of the object when it is completely sealed after an atomic strike.
In normal mode, the “100 Object” was powered by power cables from Balaclava, but if necessary, the object switched to autonomous power.
Aircraft shells were delivered to the launch sites through tunnels along rails on special platforms with electric motors. Launchers were protected by massive steel caps, which at the start shifted to the side. Within minutes, a colossal launcher design appeared on the surface and could strike with two missiles. In the "Object 100" there were two divisions separated by a distance 6 kilometers, each of which was armed with two launchers. Thus, the rocket battery could simultaneously strike with eight C-2 missiles, capable of destroying a ship of almost any class.
Missile P-35 without accelerator
On the cliff of Aiya, towering more than half a kilometer above the sea, the latest radar station for detecting the Mys target was located. The underground station of the underground battery also had a C-1 M radar and a Burun tracking radar.
The complex was commissioned 30 August 1957 of the year. The first shooting took place on 5 in June of the same year. From 5 June to 6 July, 10 launches were conducted. Direct hits on the target were 4, hits on the “reduced target” were 2, unsuccessful starts were 4.
In September-October 1958, the Black Sea Fleet was inspected by the Home Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense under the direction of Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovsky. October 4 in his presence with excellent results was carried out inspection shooting by two divisions of the 362 coastal missile regiment at a single target at the maximum allowable range. Marshal announced thanks to all the personnel of the regiment.
During the operation of the Strela coastal missile system (in some documents it is called the Scala) (1957 – 1965), 25 Sopka rocket launches were made, of which 18 were successful.
A few words should be said about the second underground stationary complex "Strela". Construction of the “101 Object” began in 1955 on the island of Kildin, a mile and a half from the Murmansk coast of the Kola Peninsula. It consisted of two launch sites, separated by 8 kilometers.
The main difference between the “101 Object” and the “100 Object” was that Kildin did not pierce adits deep into the rocks, but dug trenches up to 6 meters in an open way. In each full-length trench (up to 100 meters) and height, a rectangular box divided into compartments was made of concrete. Then this box was covered with earth. The holes through which underground waters penetrated were sealed with liquid glass.
On each battery, a rocket mounted on a trolley along the track through an open 10-ton armored door was fed to a technical training post. It housed test equipment, lifting equipment, supplies for the production of routine maintenance, preparation for combat use or practical shooting. After the next security door there was a repository of missiles of the combat kit - 6 missiles in the 2 series.
Travel routes for 100 Object missiles
In March, the 1957 of the year was delivered to the "Object 101" material part of the Sopka BRK. For the operation of the “101 Object” in the same year, the 616 th separate coastal missile regiment (OBRP) was formed, which included the 2 missile division.
The first launch of the projectile on Kildin took place on 16 on October 1957 of the year. The target was Vaigach sea tugboat which was in free drift. In tow, a “rose” of corner metal reflectors was installed, which gave the reflecting surface of the target, equivalent to the reflecting surface of the cruiser when irradiated by the Mys radar. The firing range was 70 kilometers. When firing managed to achieve a direct hit in the reflectors.
Second generation coastal complexes
Sailors were just beginning to develop C-2 missiles, and OKB-52 specialists in the suburban town of Reutovo designed a new-generation coastal missile systems.
They became anti-ship complex coastal defense "Redoubt". The coastal missile complex received an index of P-35 B. 16 July 1961 of the year, the Council of Ministers issued a resolution to re-equip the Utyu coastal complexes from Sopka missiles to P-35 B. missiles.
Rocket П-35 with accelerators in the courtyard of the Museum of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol
Compared with the C-2, the P-35 (P-35 B) missiles were a qualitatively new type weapons. Thus, the firing range increased from 95 to 300 kilometers, and the cruising speed from 300 m / s to 500 m / s. The weight of the warhead in P-35 decreased from kg 860 to kg 460. But now it was not a high-explosive warhead, but a cumulative high-explosive. Moreover, on ships and coastal batteries, every fourth P-35 rocket had a special warhead with 20 kT power.
It is fundamentally important that the P-35 was launched from launch canisters. The missile's main engine was turned on inside the container, and immediately after taking off, the wings spread. Thus, the guide of the rocket was approximately equal to the length of the rocket itself (the so-called “zero guide”).
The firing range depended on the flight altitude mode: B1 (400 m), B2 (4000 m) and B3 (7000 m). Why were such regimes necessary?
Containers of missiles P-35 on the "100 Object"
The fact is that the C-2 rocket was aimed from a coastal battery, and this limited its firing range. But the P-35 had a “tricky” control system. Climbing carried autopilot (inertial guidance system). Then turned onboard radar. When a group of targets was detected, the picture obtained by the on-board radar was transmitted to the shore to a radio-technical guidance station. The operator chose the desired target, and then the P-35 itself was already guided by it, dropping to the height of 100 meters.
The lower the rocket flies, the harder it is to find and shoot down. But then the work zone of its radar homing head is small. To increase this parameter, the rocket must be raised to 4, or even 7 kilometers.
It is curious that the P-35 B coastal missiles could be used as reconnaissance aircraft at a distance of up to 450 kilometers. They transmitted data that could already be guided by other missiles. And at the same time, they themselves could hit the detected target. In addition, shipboard and coastal missiles P-35 could direct helicopters and airplanes at the target.
The striking of surface ships at distances many times exceeding the range of direct radar visibility required the creation of an intelligence and target designation system for anti-ship missiles. Such a system was made and consisted of an onboard radar complex for detecting surface targets and radar information broadcast equipment deployed on Tu-16 RC, Tu-95 RC (later Ka-25 RC helicopters) and at receiving points on ships. In the reconnaissance and target designation system adopted for use in 1965 for the first time, a real-time radar image of the inspection area was transferred from a reconnaissance aircraft to a carrier ship of anti-ship missiles.
However, our scientists went further. They decided to direct the anti-ship missiles ... from space. VN Chelomei, the general designer of the P-6 and P-35 cruise missiles, in the 1960 year suggested the creation of a group of satellites formed in a circular orbit, providing uninterrupted observation of the entire world ocean and inland seas.
The final design of the Global Maritime Space Intelligence and Targeting System (MKRTS) provided for a glimpse of the world's oceans with a connected system of seven spacecraft (four active and three satellites - passive reconnaissance satellites). Satellites could transmit information both to a ground point and directly to a submarine with anti-ship missiles and to a surface ship. If necessary, they could also transmit information to coastal batteries.
The Legend space reconnaissance complex with a nuclear reactor was put into service in the second half of 1975.
Starting the P-35 from the 100 Object Underground Shelter
The high efficiency of the MKRTS system was confirmed in practice in the 1982 year during the Anglo-Argentine conflict around the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands. The system allowed to fully monitor and predict the tactical situation. In particular, with its help, the main headquarters of the Navy accurately predicted the time of the landing of the English landing forces on the islands.
Well, what could the P-35 do with the enemy ship? At the end of the 1962 of the year, shots were fired at the leader “Kiev” with a displacement of about 15 tons from an experimental ship OS-3000 in the Caspian Sea. The P-35 rocket with an inert (!) Warhead hit the left cheekbone of "Kiev", opened the deck like a tin can, then the rocket collapsed, and its engine pierced the bottom, and after 3 minutes the leader sank.
6 November 1961 of the year during the State tests the cruiser “Grozny” in the Kandalaksha Bay sank the P-35 missile target ship (the former destroyer “Observant”) with a missile.
Already in combat service 4 in May 1963, the cruiser Grozny sank the P-35 missile with a self-propelled target SM-5 - the former leader of the destroyers Leningrad.
Thus, for a destroyer or frigate, the hit of the P-35 was fatal, and the large cruiser or aircraft carrier was guaranteed to be incapacitated. This, of course, is a cumulative high-explosive warhead. Well, a special warhead in 20 kT in the case of a direct hit would have sent to the bottom of any atomic aircraft carrier.
The re-equipment of the “100 Object” from the C-2 missiles to the P-35 B began in September of the 1964 year. By the middle of 1968, they were mostly completed, autonomous testing began. However, due to failures in financing, the first launch occurred only on 28 in May of 1971 of the year - a direct hit was made at a distance of 200 kilometers. Then, during the acceptance tests, another 5 start-up was made, four of which also achieved a direct hit.
Officially, the Cliff complex near Balaklava was adopted for 28 on April 1973.
In the Northern Fleet, the rearmament took place in two stages. At the first stage, construction work was carried out in the 1 division (Kildin Vostochniy), and with their completion they began construction work in the 2 division (Kildin Zapadny), where the regimental command post was located.
Launchers of the 1 Division of the “100 Object” in 1980's
On the Kildin, the 1 Division with the Utes BRK was put into service in the 1976 year. In the same year, the re-equipment of the 2 division on the island began. In 1983, he went online. It is curious that not P-35 B missiles arrived at its armament, but their modernization - Progress (3 M-44), which were put into service in the 1982 year. The production of missiles for coastal complexes was conducted from 1982 to 1987 year.
The main change in the upgraded rocket was the new onboard guidance system with increased noise immunity and selectivity. For her, new on-board electrical equipment and a start-up unit were developed to provide better performance. The stealth and invulnerability of the rocket are increased when approaching the target by increasing the length of the final segment of the trajectory and reducing the flight altitude in this segment.
Our stationary coastal complexes, unlike mobile ones, which I hope to tell about next time, did not have to shoot at the real enemy.
But they had to keep the US and NATO ships “at gunpoint” more than once. So, in February, 1988, the American warships "Yorktown" and "Caron" tried to enter the territorial waters of the USSR near the Southern coast of Crimea, but were driven out by our ships. Needless to say that the Progress coastal complexes were fully operational?
More often, NATO ships appeared off Kildin Island. So, in the 1983, the US missile cruiser Newcastle appeared in the Barents Sea and cruised for several weeks in neutral waters along the coast of the Kola Peninsula from Liinakhamari to Gremikha. The 616 th missile regiment was alerted. All the time the cruisers were staying near our shores, “combat duty with the task of destroying the cruiser on orders from the fleet command center” rushed.
The Northern Fleet’s Norwegian research vessel “Maryat”, with a displacement of about one thousand tons, especially baked the ship. That is how it was listed in the Norwegian Navy. In fact, this is a reconnaissance ship, and some of the operational crew of the crew were Americans.
As soon as the coastal complexes of the Northern Fleet began to prepare for firing, the “Maryat” and the “Mashka” immediately appeared, as we called it. The Norwegians approached the target for a few meters and took pictures of it before and after the shooting. However, in 30 – 40 minutes before the alarm was declared on the coastal battery, “Mariata” left the forbidden and dangerous zones.
"Mashka" is waiting for P-35
Our patrol ships tried to drive “Mariaat” by all means, up to and including shooting at its wake.
At that time, top political leadership was hoping for “defusing tensions,” and no decisive measures were taken to curb the hostile activities of the vessel. But it was enough to give an order, and the coastal battery could enter the Mashka P-35 B or the Progress, and with a cumulative rather than an inert warhead. And by the way, it would be absolutely legal from the point of view of international law. There is an official procedure for prohibiting ships from entering the missile firing zone, and no other area fencing measures are required from the side conducting the exercise.
Alas, alas, this was not done. And now "Masha" now and then appears near our shores. Only this new, larger, ship built in the 1993 year.
Due to the arrogance of the Norwegians and the incomprehensible delicacy of the naval commanders, our sailors died. Thus, in the 1972 year, the P-35 B complex was being prepared. “At this time, a ship under the Norwegian flag re-entered the restricted area. To clear the area, the commander of the closing forces, without reporting to the command post of the leader, went to the minesweeper to drive out this vessel. After the expulsion of the “Norwegian”, the minesweeper, returning to “his” point of protection of the shooting area, was in the restricted area after the target in the shooting range. The cruiser homing radar visitor "captured" a distant target. The rocket hit the engine room. Minesweeper remained afloat. Several people were killed "- this is how the incident is told in the publication" Beregoviki Polar Region ", published in Sevastopol in 2006 year.
As in the overwhelming majority of cases, the shooting was conducted by an inert warhead. A number of officers and even one major general were removed from office and demoted to military ranks.
Launchers of the 1 Division of the “100 Object” on the eve of the looting
From 1982 to 1985, the P-35 missiles were launched from the coastal batteries of the Northern Fleet as targets for firing anti-aircraft systems. The rocket turned off the homing head, the rocket was launched at low altitude, the rocket was directed from the battery to the warrant of the ships. After the next rocket firing, Admiral I. V. Kasatonov said: “P-35 is not a rocket, but a flying tank. Two anti-aircraft missiles worked on it, and it continues to fly. ”
But then perestroika broke out, the Union soon collapsed. 28 September 1993 from the "100 Object" launched the latest Progress rocket. In 1996, the 100 Object was transferred to Ukraine. The object of the 1 Division was completely looted - they took everything that was possible, including the cables. In 2007, an Estonian businessman bought a large area on the Black Sea coast near Balaklava. It is in this area that the 1 Division of the “100 Object” is located. The 2 division of the facility is conserved. What is his fate - no one knows.
All that remains of the 1 Division of the “100 Object”
On the island of Kildin, by the summer of 1995, the 616 OBRP successfully solved training and combat missions. But, like a bolt from the blue, a directive on the disbanding of the regiment burst out. It was necessary to throw not only the "Object 101", but all the buildings of the island of Kildin. By 31 December 1995, personnel of the 616 OBRP and the entire garrison left the island, called the unsinkable aircraft carrier of the Northern Fleet.