Soviet border guard sailors in Afghanistan
While there is considerable information about the participation of Soviet Army and Air Force units in the 1979–1989 military operations in Afghanistan, few know about the actions of the KGB Border Troops there. The fact that sailors from the Naval Units of the Border Troops (NPUB) of the KGB also fought there will come as a surprise to most readers. According to a widely held theory, the head of the Border Troops, Army General V. A. Matrosov, immediately after the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, ordered the destruction of all documents related to the border troops' actions in the area.
The Amu Darya is the second longest and most voluminous river in Central Asia. Its discharge volume is similar to that of the Nile and 1,2 times greater than that of the Dnieper. Fed primarily by snowmelt and glacier water, the river's maximum flow occurs in summer and its lowest in January and February. The Amu Darya ranks first in Central Asia and among the highest in the world in terms of turbidity—one cubic meter of its water contains over 3,7 kg of silt.
This capricious river frequently changes its course and deposits layers of sand. The banks of the Amu Darya often erode and collapse into the river in huge chunks, forming sandbanks and islands, making navigation very difficult. In winter, the Amu Darya does not freeze completely, but in particularly cold winters, it freezes over: near Termez for 32 days, near Nukus for 120 days. The width of the Amu Darya is 120-1500 meters, and the depth is 2-10 meters.
Views of the Amu Darya in its various sections
Here's how I.I. Chernikov describes the navigation conditions on this river in his book, "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MONITORS. Defenders of Russia's River Borders":
It must be said that the vessels of the Amu Darya Flotilla were built for extremely difficult navigation conditions. With its high initial velocity and relatively steep drop, the Amu Darya in summer takes on the character of a torrent, rushing violently across an endless sandy plain. At low tide (from October to April), the current is significantly calmer, but then, unfettered by strong banks and flowing over soft, loose sand with frequent fluctuations in water level, the Amu Darya continues to be a capricious, wayward creature of the desert. What is elsewhere called a fairway changes its position so frequently that marking it with conventional signs is meaningless.
Thus, conventional river navigation methods were impossible on the river. Before navigating the fairway, one had to find it. There was only one way to do this: considerable navigational experience, acquired over the years and requiring a great deal of visual and memory training, along with a special pilot's sense. The color of the water was used to guide vessels. While generally a dirty brown, it took on various shades in deep and shallow waters. Pilots guided vessels along the fairway, taking into account the daylight, the direction of the current, the size of the breakers, and other factors. As darkness fell, steamboats approached the shore and moored until dawn. Only in very rare cases was navigation conducted at night, and even then not in all areas.
Undoubtedly, given such a purely individual nature of navigation, groundings occurred not only due to shallows, bank slip, and current speeds reaching up to 16 km/h, but also, quite often, due to simple chance or pilot error. Incidentally, shallows, like everything else on the Amu Darya, are temporary: they creep, wash away, grow higher or lower, have no fixed depth, and so on.
The river often played cruel tricks on ship captains. Academician A.N. Krylov describes in his memoirs an anecdotal incident where one of the steamships ran aground a few hundred meters from the shore during a flood, failed to weigh anchor in time, and ended up amidst the sand. Since the anchor had been dropped and the vessel was under pennant, the crew regularly received "naval rations as required." The logbook was meticulously kept under the general heading: "While at anchor near the village of Abdul Chekmen, incidents occurred from midday." This voyage, "by land as by sea," continued for over two years, until some "high-ranking official" arrived from St. Petersburg and brought "legal proceedings" against the commander and officers. However, during the investigation, the grounding was attributed to "unavoidable accidents." Otherwise, the commander excused himself by citing the fact that the Amu Darya River was prone to completely unexpected floods, and he kept the steamship entrusted to him in constant readiness to refloat at the first opportunity. Service was conducted entirely in accordance with the naval regulations, and provisions were paid entirely in accordance with the accounting regulations. The court found no criminal offense, everyone was acquitted, and the case was dismissed.
Thus, conventional river navigation methods were impossible on the river. Before navigating the fairway, one had to find it. There was only one way to do this: considerable navigational experience, acquired over the years and requiring a great deal of visual and memory training, along with a special pilot's sense. The color of the water was used to guide vessels. While generally a dirty brown, it took on various shades in deep and shallow waters. Pilots guided vessels along the fairway, taking into account the daylight, the direction of the current, the size of the breakers, and other factors. As darkness fell, steamboats approached the shore and moored until dawn. Only in very rare cases was navigation conducted at night, and even then not in all areas.
Undoubtedly, given such a purely individual nature of navigation, groundings occurred not only due to shallows, bank slip, and current speeds reaching up to 16 km/h, but also, quite often, due to simple chance or pilot error. Incidentally, shallows, like everything else on the Amu Darya, are temporary: they creep, wash away, grow higher or lower, have no fixed depth, and so on.
The river often played cruel tricks on ship captains. Academician A.N. Krylov describes in his memoirs an anecdotal incident where one of the steamships ran aground a few hundred meters from the shore during a flood, failed to weigh anchor in time, and ended up amidst the sand. Since the anchor had been dropped and the vessel was under pennant, the crew regularly received "naval rations as required." The logbook was meticulously kept under the general heading: "While at anchor near the village of Abdul Chekmen, incidents occurred from midday." This voyage, "by land as by sea," continued for over two years, until some "high-ranking official" arrived from St. Petersburg and brought "legal proceedings" against the commander and officers. However, during the investigation, the grounding was attributed to "unavoidable accidents." Otherwise, the commander excused himself by citing the fact that the Amu Darya River was prone to completely unexpected floods, and he kept the steamship entrusted to him in constant readiness to refloat at the first opportunity. Service was conducted entirely in accordance with the naval regulations, and provisions were paid entirely in accordance with the accounting regulations. The court found no criminal offense, everyone was acquitted, and the case was dismissed.
The Russians began naval exploration of Central Asia as early as the 19th century. The Russian Empire had the Aral Flotilla of the Naval Department (1852-1883), which also operated on the Syr Darya River, followed by the Amu Darya River Flotilla of the Military Department (1886-1917). During the Civil War, Soviet Russia also acquired naval flotillas: the Aral (1919-1920), Amu Darya (1920-1921), and Syr Darya (1922).
Gunboat of the Amu Darya military flotilla, early 20th century
Gunboats of the Amu Darya Military Flotilla, 20s
More than half of the Soviet-Afghan border ran along the Amu Darya and Panj rivers. Border river forces on the Amu Darya River near Termez were formed in May 1923, consisting of four motorboats and 38 personnel, and were under the command of the Main Political Directorate (Amu Darya Border Detachment of GPU Vessels of the Turkestan Border Guard District). In 1927–1928, another reorganization of the border guard naval units took place, resulting in the establishment of naval border bases subordinate to the commanders of coastal border units. The bases combined the border vessels stationed in their areas. Organizationally, the personnel were subordinated to the base leadership, and operationally, to the command of the border detachments and commandant's offices whose areas the ships served. During this period, the Amu Darya River Base was also established by order of the OGPU. This base was soon disbanded.
With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the remnants of the Basmachi, who had settled in Afghanistan, became active again. Encouraged by German agents, they repeatedly carried out provocations on the Soviet border. Therefore, some of the vessels of the Central Asian Shipping Company were armed and used to patrol the Soviet-Afghan border. After the war, coastal border patrols guarded this section of the border. The Termez border detachment also included a group of MChPV boats (at least in the first half of the 70s).
The area of responsibility and structure of the Red Banner Central Asian Border District
Flag of the ships and boats of the KGB of the USSR
In 1979, following the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, the situation on the Soviet-Afghan border deteriorated significantly. Over the course of the year, rebel groups reached the Panj River in the Khorog, Moscow, and Panj border detachments and occupied key positions along the border. For example, in October, approximately 600 rebels entrenched themselves opposite the 12th outpost of the Khorog border detachment. Incidents of infiltration into Soviet territory by mujahideen sabotage groups and Pakistani army units increased. Attempts to plant magnetic mines on civilian vessels, including bulk carriers and barges, were recorded. Fortunately, this did not result in losses, as there were no reports of damage to vessels of the Central Asian Shipping Company. To strengthen security along the most dangerous sections of the border—the Panj and Pamir—Soviet border garrisons were deployed, and a continuous security zone 15 kilometers wide was created along the entire border.
Guard the state border of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics! Termez, 80s
In this regard, in accordance with a decision of the USSR Government, the 45th Separate Patrol Boat Division (45th ODSK) was formed in 1981, based in Termez (Uzbek SSR). This unit's mission was to protect a 300-kilometer stretch of river border between the settlements of Nizhniy Pyandzh (Tajik SSR) and Bossagi (Turkmen SSR). The unit was part of the KSAPO (Red Banner Central Asian Border District).
Coastal base of the 22nd MChPV brigade in Termez
Division Commanders:
Captain-Lieutenant (later Captain 2nd Rank) Yu.V. Vasiliev (1981–1985)
Captain 2nd Rank V.F. Petrenko (1985–1987)
Captain 2nd Rank N. Melnikov (1987–1988).
The division was armed with border patrol boats (PSKA), created on the basis of tugboats of project 1606 "Kostromich" (PSKA-202, 203, 208, 209, 211, 213, 217, 218, 220, 221, 223, 225), as well as small border boats (PMKA) of project 1207 "Pelikan" (MK-408, 459, 473, 474) and project 1398B "Aist" (PMKA-426, 505, 537, 552, 553, 544, 579, 635, 640, 650, 651, 653, 654, 656, 658-662, 664, 665, 687).
In the summer of 1988, following the transfer of eight Project 1204 Shmel border patrol ships (PSKR-342, 343, 347, 358, 371, 373, 374, 377) from the Amur in October 1987, the 22nd Separate Patrol Ship Brigade (22nd OBSKR, military unit 9873) of the MChPV was created on the basis of the 45th division under the command of Captain 2nd Rank E.I. Kozin. At that time, 58 officers, 72 warrant officers, 23 extended-term servicemen, 8 female servicemen, 20 employees, and about 400 sailors and petty officers of conscript service served in the brigade.
Let's briefly describe history creation, design and main tactical and technical characteristics of the above-mentioned ships and boats.
Main performance characteristics of ships and boats of the MChPV
The development of the Shmel-class armored boats was primarily prompted by the growing tensions along the Soviet-Chinese border in the early 60s, a significant portion of which ran along the Amur and Ussuri rivers. Development of Project 1204 was led by TsKB-5 (now the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau) from 1965. The chief designer was Yu. Yu. Benois, then L. V. Ozimov, and then M. V. Koshkin. Construction of the ships took place from 1967 to 1974 at the Zaliv shipyards (Kerch), Imene 61 Kommunars (Nikolaev), and PO Almaz (Leningrad). A total of 118 units were built for the Navy and border troops (10 for the Baltic Fleet, 30 for the Pacific Fleet, 16 for the Black Sea Fleet, and 62 for the naval units of the KGB border troops). In the Navy they were classified as artillery boats (AK), and in the MChPV as border patrol ships (PSKR).
Project 1204 PSKR, general appearance
Project 1204 boats were designed not only for operations on rivers and lakes, but also in shallow coastal waters. Their seaworthiness was grade 3. The Shmels could be transported on standard four-axle railway platforms with minimal equipment dismantling. Theoretically, after being launched and loaded with ammunition and fuel, the boat could be ready for combat missions within 5-6 hours.
These were steel, flush-deck, flat-bottomed boats with tunnel-mounted propellers, divided into 12 compartments by watertight bulkheads. The main propulsion system was a twin-shaft diesel engine with M-50F engines and reverse gearboxes. The ship's power plant consisted of two 25 kW diesel generators (380 V, 50 Hz). Fuel capacity was 4,75 tons, lubricating oil 0,3 tons, and fresh water 0,2 tons.
Theoretical drawing of the "hull" of Project 1204
There is a tower in the bow tank The PT-76B featured a dual-stabilized 76mm D-56TS cannon (150 rounds) and a 7,62mm SGMT machine gun. Fire control was performed by the gunner using a TShK-2-66 sight. The D-56TS cannon had a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute, an effective rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute, and an effective range of 4000 meters.
The stern is equipped with a twin 25mm 2M-3M gun mount (the first boats were equipped with a twin 14,5mm 2M-6 machine gun mount) and a BM-14-17 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) with 17 launchers. The BM-14-17 mount's ammunition complement consisted of 34 M-14-OF 140mm high-explosive fragmentation unguided turbojet projectiles weighing 39,6 kg, stored in fenders along the sides of the upper deck. The MLRS was aimed at its target using a lifting and rotating mechanism manually operated from the deck. The mount was also reloaded manually. The maximum firing range is 10,000 m.
Four AGS-17 "Plamya" grenade launchers were mounted in an armored "casemate" behind the conning tower. For minelaying, the boat's stern was equipped with ramps and mine rails, which could hold either 10 YaM mines or four IGDM-500 mines.
Project 1204 PSKRs in Termez. In the foreground are turrets with D-56TS guns.
MLRS BM-14-17
The stern of the Shmel (left to right): casemate with loopholes for automatic grenade launchers; BM-14-17 mount; fender with ammunition for the BM-14-17; 2M-3M artillery mount.
The boat was equipped with armor for the cabin (10 mm walls, 4 mm roof), sides (8 mm thick armor belt from 26 to 43 frames) and deck in the area of the engine room and engine control post (4 mm), turret (15 mm front, 10 mm walls, 10 mm roof), turret barbette, where ammunition was located (10 mm), 2M-6 machine gun turret (7 mm), machine gun "turret" barbette (10 mm) and a 26-frame bulkhead (4 mm). The vertical armor protected against a 7,62 mm bullet from a distance of 100 m and against small fragments.
Casemate with loopholes for grenade launchers
The PSKRs were equipped with a Donetsk-2 radar, an NEL-7 echo sounder, a Gradus-2 gyromagnetic compass, a KT-M3m magnetic compass, an ME-5 night vision device, R-617 and R-619 radio stations, and other electronic equipment.
Compared to previous armored boat designs, the habitability was improved. All living quarters were isolated as much as possible from the engine room, grouping them in the forward section of the hull. An engine control station was located between the living quarters and the engine room, and the bulkheads were covered with special vibration-absorbing insulation. The living quarters were equipped with artificial ventilation and electric heating, and the galley was equipped with an electric stove and a refrigerator. The PSKR crew consisted of 14 people (two officers, two warrant officers, two petty officers, and eight sailors).
Before being transferred from the Amur to the Amu Darya, the patrol ships underwent repairs and refitting at a ship repair yard in Khabarovsk. Since the Amu Darya's waters were heavily silted, the diesel engine cooling system was redesigned. Closed-loop cooling system heat exchangers were installed along the sides below the waterline, replacing the flow-through seawater cooling system. Potable water reserves were increased.
PSKRs, Project 1204, in Termez
Border patrol on the deck of the PSKR
"Bumblebee" and "Stork" on the Amu Darya
To be continued ...
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