"For the crew on the ship - uniform number 3, first term!"
Dedicated to the ships and crews of the naval units of the border troops...
A phone call from an old friend. The usual dialogue: “How are you? How’s your family? When did you get back?” — “It’s the same as always, everything’s normal for my age... Say hi to you from home! Shall we meet up and hang out?” — “Let’s have a beer this weekend, at the same bar.” — “Deal. You owe me the roach.” — “Okay.”
And again, just like before: "Do you remember... Did you have a lot of crazy people?" - "Are you kidding? We had a selection process - wow! Well, like everywhere else... Every first one!" - "I bet you didn't have any like us?! For beer!" - "Come on!" - "Listen, you had a patrol boat nicknamed "Mad"?" - "Well, there was such a thing..." - "Tell me, don't keep me in suspense!" - "First, let's have some roach... And beer!"... And then begins a story that could only happen in a movie or a book...
I'll tell you from the first person, although my fellow soldiers from the 2nd Brigade were involved in the events... I still remember the real circumstances...
Well, here we go…
To begin with, a little about these cheerful guys from the naval units of the border troops, or “Kamchatka border guards” for short.
Talking about Kamchatka's geography is a waste of time; just look at the map. It's cool, there's plenty of water, animals, and fish, lots of snow, volcanoes, and geysers with sulfur springs. There are few people, and those who are there are all sailors, fishermen, and ship repairmen—in other words, everyone revolves around the sea. There's an airport, several shipyards, fish processing plants, a port, and a whole host of military personnel of all stripes and varieties.
Kamchatka Peninsula
There's everyone there - pilots, sailors, tankers, and so on, and so on, and so on... And among all this wealth - the border guard sailors themselves.
Reference (composition of forces and means, in military terms)
By the early 1980s, the 1st Red Banner Border Patrol Ship Division (1st KDIPSK) was deployed in Kamchatka, based on a separate brigade. It consisted of two brigades, a division of transport ships, a group of boats, a headquarters, and supply and ship repair units. The division inherited the number—military unit 2376. By that time, the KTP (Red Banner Pacific Border District) had been divided, creating a separate Kamchatka Border District with headquarters in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, demonstrating the importance the state attached to the region.
Salt Lake Bay
The 1st Brigade (1 BPSCR, military unit 9870) consisted of the flagship
- a veteran of the border service, the Project 52 PSKR Purga cruiser, armed with a 4x100 mm B-34USM main caliber and six 2x37 mm ZU-21-M anti-aircraft guns, built between 1938 and 1957 (decommissioned in 1990), with a displacement of 3800 tons;
- 5 rank 1 PSKR project 97P with KA-27 helicopters on board (1x2x76 mm AK-726 + 2xAK-630, displacement 4500 tons);
- 5 PSKR 2nd rank project 745P (2xAK-230, displacement 1500 tons).
The Project 97P navigated smoothly through half-meter-thick ice, and if not overzealous, it could even overcome almost a meter, but only with great care and unhurried pace. The Project 745P was confident in ice up to 30 cm thick, and could even overcome half a meter if the ice was fresh.
PSKR 1st rank "Purga" project 52. Displacement of 3800 tons, maximum speed of 17 knots, crew of 219 people (during the war - 284). Armament: 4x1 - 100 mm universal artillery mounts "B-34USM" (ammunition 1094 rounds), 4x2 - 37 mm anti-aircraft machine guns "V-11M" (total ammunition 14.000 rounds), 4 mortars "BMB-2" (12 depth charges), 12 depth charges on racks, 30 mines type "KB". With an ice thickness of 18 cm developed a speed of 10 knots.
Project 97P "Iceberg" surface-to-surface missile cruiser. Avacha Bay. 1989.
Project 745P Kamchatka surface-to-surface cruiser
The 2nd Brigade (2 BPSKR, military unit 9871) consisted at that time of old Project 264 naval minesweepers being decommissioned (there were 2 units left at that time), replaced by 2nd rank ships (according to the MChPV classification) of Project 1124P, of which there were already 5 units at that time (Bditelny, Bezuprechny, Zorky, Reshitelny, Smely), and at that time - 2 1st rank PSKR of Project 11351P with a displacement of 3600 tons and a speed of 31 knots (Dzerzhinsky since 1984 and 70 years of the VChK-KGB since 1988) with a helicopter on board, the number of which should have been increased to 3 units.
PSKR "Vorovsky" project 264A
PSKR "Bditelny", project 1124P, 1985. Displacement 1065 tons, speed 35 knots, 1x2 Osa-MA SAM launchers (20 9M-33 SAMs); 1x2 57-mm AK-725; 2x2 533-mm TA (8 53-65K and SET-65 torpedoes); 2x12 RBU-6000 (48 RGB-60 depth charges); 2 release gear (12 RGM depth charges)
PSKR "Dzerzhinsky" pr. 11351P 1x2 PU ZIF-122 SAM "Osa-MA2" (20 missiles), 1x1x100-mm AK-100; 2x6x30mm AK-630M; 2x4 533 mm TA; 2x12 RBU-6000 (96 RSL-60 bombs); Helicopter Ka-27PS
The division of transport ships consisted of two Project 1595P transports with a displacement of 4500 tons (incidentally, by border standards, quite fast – its maximum speed was 17 knots), a tanker, and another old Project 229 transport.
The boat group consisted of a flagship "admiral's" boat, usually moored on keel blocks at the base pier, and four to six Project 1496 boats with a displacement of 102 tons. Some of these boats were stationed at border command posts: one at the Magadan border detachment (Nagaev Bay), one in Ust-Kamchatsk, assigned to the border command post, and one at the border command post in Severo-Kurilsk. Three to four boats were stationed at the division base in Solenoye Ozero Bay in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
There was also a group of three Project 1496 boats and one T-4 (tank barge) as part of the 110th Border Detachment (Provideniya Bay, Chukotka). In 1990, this group was expanded into a 1st-rank boat division, reinforced by three new Project 1496 boats, specially built at the Sovetskaya Gavan shipyard. These very small boats, with a displacement of only 102 tons, completed the inter-base voyage from Sovetskaya Gavan to Provideniya Bay under their own power, albeit with an escort from the division's ships.
All of this was spinning, working and shooting, which was regularly practiced during exercises, including joint ones with fleet.
PSKA Project 1496 of the 110th Border Detachment, Providence Bay, Chukotka
All of this, except for the Chukotka Division, was united into the 1st Red Banner Division of Border Patrol Ships, abbreviated as the 1st KDIPS, the regular position of division commander being Captain 1st Rank.
Ships of the 1st division in Solenoe Ozero Bay
There were no ugly ships in the division. And the "heavy" artillery"in the form of the PSKR "Purga" since the 50s, and the hard workers of the projects 745P and 97P, and simply an arrow flying across the water, the beauties of the project 1124P, and the power of the project 11351P, which by that time had already decorated Solenoe Ozero Bay and took up almost all the free space in it...
The feat of the commander and crew of the PSKR "Bditelny"
PSKR pr.1124P
This ode is to "motorcycles", also known as "bicycles"... An ode to the 2nd rank border patrol ships of Project 1124P...
They earned these cheerful names for the cosmic roar of their turbines, especially at full speed, their speed, and their excellent maneuverability. These ships were also beautiful, and only a beautiful ship is good on the water. This project was intended to replace the old Project 264A naval minesweepers; they were built for the Pacific Theater of Operations at shipyards in Khabarovsk (this is the same shipyard that built the Project 1124P with the Osa SAM system) and Komsomolsk-on-Amur (they were built without the SAM system and with a different armament configuration).
We, the First Brigade, laughed at these delicate little ships, calling them "disposable" and "glass," but we valued them for their firepower and speed. After all, speed was precisely what we lacked for service—the enemy had faster fishing schooners and trawlers, and chasing US warships at our speeds was simply ridiculous...
By the way, about “disposable” – well, that’s a joke: there was an opinion that the Project 1124 was designed for 30 minutes of combat... Hmm...
And so in May 1987 they showed themselves in all their glory...
It must be said that a maritime border isn't just barbed wire and a plowed control strip. And as a service dog, it's not Julbars, but a couple thousand tons of steel and a few dozen tough guys...
The border line itself runs 12 nautical miles from the outermost points of the coastline. However, international maritime law also includes the concept of bays.
Historical According to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, bays can be declared internal waters of a country. Both the United States and the USSR had such historical bays. However, even then, the Americans attempted to challenge our country's right to do so, and not only from the podium, starting in the late 1960s. In the 1980s, in the Pacific theater of operations, the Americans attempted to assert their right not to consider our bays internal waters of the USSR in Peter the Great Bay and Avacha Bay. Naturally, we put a stop to this, responding to the situation. Little has changed now.
The main danger, of course, was for ours missile Submarines—they would have been practically trapped by the enemy at their base, unable to reach deployment and launch zones. And although by that time launches could even be carried out from the pier, this didn't add to their joy. Meanwhile, the Americans brazenly claimed that the Gulf of Mexico was an inland sea of the United States, while the Russians would make do with 12-mile territorial waters and no inland seas.
And so, on May 21, 1987, our intelligence assets detected the American nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Arkansas, armed with Tomahawk missiles... where? ...That's right, in Avacha Bay! It was brazenly pacing around there, demonstrating that it didn't care a damn about all the Foreign Ministry's squeals and other quiet cries from the USSR. And, of course, it was quietly conducting reconnaissance and hydroacoustic imaging of the potential combat zone...
Guided missile cruiser Arkansas
But the USSR back then wasn't just about squeaking about concerns; it could also deliver a punch. And it did.
Our "motorcycle," the Project 1124P patrol cruiser "Bditelny," was scrambled to expel the intruder from territorial waters, and the Project 11351P patrol cruiser "Dzerzhinsky" was also preparing to depart. The fleet also raised alert and dispatched standby forces to the site of the intruder, but the brunt of the confrontation fell on our "Bditelny."
The ships of this project, which served in the 1st Disciplinary Guards, had almost full naval armament, including the Osa air defense missile system, torpedoes and depth charges, RBU-6000 rocket launchers, and, of course, naval artillery. These Defense, anti-submarine warfare systems, and air defense missile systems were not a sham; their use was constantly practiced during exercises within the framework of the air defense naval units and jointly with the fleet.
Loading anti-aircraft missiles onto the Vigilant surface-to-air missile system
The division's ships were based in Salt Lake Bay. Avacha Bay, the largest bay in the world—it could accommodate the entire world fleet, according to reference books. Salt Lake Bay itself was small, and there were many ships in it, even including those in service and undergoing repairs. They were crowded, the mooring bollards on the piers were tightly tied with mooring lines from various ships, and sometimes the rules of good seamanship were violated, causing the mooring lines to become entangled. Undoing the mooring lines took time. While you untangled your own and others' "ropes" from the bollards, especially while being accompanied by a detailed, salty account from the mooring crews about the origins of your parents, your mothers, and all the relatives back to the tenth generation of those mooring crews who had tangled these knots…
That day, the patrol cruiser "Bditelny" was moored at the 1st Brigade, facing the pier. It was a beautiful sunny day, a day off, the crew had relaxed a bit, and the officers were mostly at home. Then the commander was urgently summoned to division headquarters. There, he received orders to summon the officers aboard, was given a combat mission, and was ordered to immediately set sail for Avacha Bay to stop an American ship from violating the USSR's border.
Commander of the "Bditelny" patrol ship, Captain-Lieutenant V.N. Kaloshin, 1985. Unfortunately, no other photographs of this officer could be found...
The commander galloped onto the ship, followed by the rest of the ship's officers, summoned from their homes by the duty officer's alert (a process well-practiced in the division—the officers' quarters were within 10 minutes' reach of the unit). As he ran, across the entire pier, he yelled, "Battle alert!" The ship's alarm bells rang loudly, and the crew, scalded, ran to their battle stations. The mechanics started the "motorcycle," first puffing smoke and howling diesel engines, quickly preparing the turbine. The boatswain reported, "The mooring lines are tangled with someone else's ropes..." A short order came from the control room: "Cut them down!" And the boatswain chopped the mooring lines with an axe.
The ship, unmoored, leaped from the pier like a greyhound and raced toward the exit of the base and Avacha Bay. They requested permission to exit the bay from the duty officer of the waterway security department, who began mumbling, "Wait for permission, the roadstead is closed." (Later it became clear why—a Project 667BRDM nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine was entering the bay from an autonomous position.) The commander of the PSKR "Bditelny," Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Nikolaevich Kaloshin, shouted across Avacha Bay on Channel 16 of the duty VHF: "Yeah, I..." added something about something with the instrument to the duty officer, and "I'm leaving depending on the situation!" A minute later, the commander stepped on the gas, then increased the speed to medium speed while still in the bay, then to full speed, and when he turned toward the exit of Avacha Bay, 163,5 degrees, he increased the speed to full speed.
This was too much – such recklessness was unacceptable. The speed on the lines was no more than 9 knots, while the "Bditelny" was going full speed... It was terrifying... This ship's maximum speed is 35 knots, and in the narrow channel, it had to pass the Project 667BRDM SSBN, colloquially known as the "humpback," at full speed, behind the massive hump of missile silos behind the conning tower. The "humpback"'s commander, stunned and twirling his finger at his temple, stared at the suicidal border guard and potential nuclear bomber racing like a madman down the fairway...
When such a "motorcycle" is racing at full speed, the sea is cut by the bow like a knife, the cut wave rises high and rolls off the side, and a white surf appears behind. It all looks so beautiful that you forget everything else! And so the "Bditelny" was going—not even walking, but flying—that day, on alert.
One more small digression...
During my entire service, I personally only had to give the "Combat Alert" signal twice. Daily drills were routine, from damage control exercises to preparing the ship for passage through a narrow channel, launching a boat, and other various shipboard activities. The drill was sounded by a bell—a loud ringing bell—and consisted of three short and one long signal, lasting approximately 15-20 seconds. The crew would disperse to their battle stations, usually already dressed—this was necessary to prevent injuries. Within 5-6 minutes, readiness reports would be received from all battle stations, meaning the equipment would be activated and brought to immediate readiness for use, the gun mounts would be prepared to load shells, but no shells were loaded. The main engine would warm up and be ready for full operation.
Combat alert... hmm...
The first time I had to pull the bell lever and hold it for an agonizing 30 seconds, the crew's reaction showed that their understanding of combat and their readiness for it hadn't faded in the routine of everyday service. People were literally thrown out of their bunks and quarters by the "Battle Alert." Sailors rushed to their battle stations, barefoot, in their underwear, with their work clothes and shoes in their hands or under their arms. Doors and hatches rattled as they were locked, and the balusters of the gangways rattled like shotgun pellets. Readiness reports poured in nonstop to the main command post, the engines were brought up to operating mode in two minutes, although the regulations called for 15... Gunners flew like bullets to the AK-230 barbettes, ammunition belts, like a card trick, were loaded into the gun breechblocks, and the pneumatic reloaders dryly clicked the first rounds into the breech. The tension was so intense, it felt like a single touch would explode like an atomic bomb. There was a slight ringing in their ears; in that state, the crew was ready for anything. That's what "Battle Alert" is...
Meanwhile, the American cruiser Arkansas penetrated six miles into our territorial waters and brazenly prowled along the border within them, clearly demonstrating its disregard for international maritime law and the Soviet Navy. The patrol cruiser Bditelny quickly approached this insolent vessel, using lights and flags to signal the violation of our territorial waters and demanding that it leave.
Our ship exposed its broadside to the cruiser the first time, but it turned away and continued on through the USSR's internal waters. The border guard exposed its broadside again—and the story repeated itself. We reported the situation and the lack of response from the intruder to the division command post.
On the cruiser, they pretended they couldn't see or hear anything; no one appeared on the deck or bridge. The enemy continued to brazenly trample our land, or rather, our waters... Then, over the MCC, the Americans brazenly started waving flags that said something like, "Baby, don't move, watch my movements," which basically meant telling us to go to hell...
At the "Bditelny" command post, the public address system was switched on from the radio room at the ZAS post. As participants recall, the division commander's voice came over the speakers: "Volodya, Moscow has given the go-ahead for EVERYTHING. Do whatever you want, but make sure he's not in our waters within 20 minutes.!»...
...The nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Arkansas, armed with Tomahawk missiles, and a small, nimble border guard with torpedoes, a surface-to-air missile system, two cannons, and a displacement almost 10 times smaller...
So ramming became the only and final option. What followed was something that could only happen in the Soviet and Russian navies.
... Time was ticking... The ship was going at full speed on a parallel course with the intruder, not allowing it to penetrate further into the territorial waters of the USSR.
The commander whispered to the first mate, and both went below to their cabins. A few minutes later, the ship's commander, Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Kaloshin, and the first mate, both in full dress uniform and wearing medals and decorations, ascended to the bridge.
The first mate announced over the radio in a matter-of-fact and calm voice: “Ship uniform number three, first term.”
The ship's combat alert was announced to the first-term dress uniform, meaning full dress. The crew understood.
It was a simple border guard ship. In peacetime. A simple commander. A simple crew. Simply. Doing. Their. Duty.
On the bridge, the order was given to raise the flags on the MSS: “I order you to leave the territorial waters of the USSR, otherwise you will be subject to weapon"The PSKR pulled away from the cruiser, turned to port, and headed toward the oncoming ships to ram them. The political officer blasted the Soviet National Anthem over the upper deck and throughout the compartments...
A flag was raised on the topmast, meaning "Dying but not surrendering." The distance was rapidly closing, and the PSKR was heading full speed ahead, aiming to ram the American cruiser.
The nerves were stretched taut, even at every nut and rivet, and not just at the crew…
And the American couldn't bear the pressure and turned away into the open sea. They passed each other on their starboard sides, less than two cables' lengths apart.
The commander, political officer, and first mate came out onto the bridge of the patrol ship "Bditelny." The American ship was running around, and Yankees poured onto the bridge. They, the Americans, saluted the coast guard ship.
Our commander didn't salute the disgraced enemy, but gripped the railing until his knuckles whitened. The Yankees headed out to sea and languished there for a few more days. Our "Bditelny" and the fleet's duty forces watched over them for a week, then the PSKR returned home.
Upon returning to base, the crew was greeted by an orchestra, the division commander shook hands with each sailor, and two months later, the ship's commander went to the academy without competition.
Reference: The PSKR "Bditelny" of project 1124 was launched on April 18, 1981 at the Khabarovsk Shipyard, commissioned on September 25, 1981, and decommissioned in 1998. It also took part in the 1983 search operation at the site of the crash of the South Korean Boeing.
The commander of the patrol cruiser "Bditelny" was Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Nikolaevich Kaloshin (died in 2021); senior assistant Captain-Lieutenant Bozhinsky; deputy commander for political affairs Captain 3rd Rank Golovanov; commander of BC-5 Ivandyukov; commander of BC-3 Savelyev, who read the MSS signs; signalman Yura from Krivoy Rog was the first to spot the "Arkansas"; and boatswain Kovalenko. I apologize for any errors in the names and ranks, as some sources are contradictory, and some of the participants are no longer alive.
P.S. An hour later, the Project 1135 frigate pulled up, smoking like a samovar. The American, according to acoustics, was quietly slapping along under the reactor, only the propellers were faintly audible, while our Project 1135 roared loudly across the entire ocean. After a while, our naval aviation and amused herself by practicing approaches and attacks. As it later became clear, the aircraft were covering the departure or return of our submarine, creating interference for the enemy.
The Arkansas repeatedly violated the border in Avacha Bay and elsewhere, but subsequently, it reluctantly complied with the demands of the border ships, and the Yankees no longer had any desire to test us off the coast of Kamchatka...
This case was described in the American press, but without details.
I will add that on May 21, 1987, the ships of the 1st Disciplinary Penetration Test Fleet "Dzerzhinsky", the Penetration Test Fleet "Bditelny", the Penetration Test Fleet "Reshitelny", as well as ships of the Kamchatka Flotilla of the USSR Navy, in particular, MPK-143 and MPK-145, took part in this operation, that is, this was practically the benefit performance of Project 1124 in all its versions.
Well, we've had our time... The beer is gone, and so is the roach... Until next time...
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