Soviet border guard sailors in the Afghan War: "Kostromichi," "Aistok," and "Pelikan"
The Kostromich-class tugboat was developed by the Central Design Bureau of Glavlesprom in the late 40s. The design was approved in 1949. This Project 1606 single-deck steel screw tugboat features a large forecastle, accommodations within the hull, and a semi-recessed wheelhouse. It has a River Register Class of "O." The main propulsion system is a single-shaft unit with a 3D6N diesel engine. This type of tugboat is primarily used in timber rafting and for towing non-self-propelled vessels. It can also be used for cargo transportation (up to 1,5 tons) or for up to 20 people accommodated in living quarters. Vessels of this type were built in Rybinsk from 1972 to 1989. The vast majority of tugs of this type (approximately 500 vessels were built) were used by various civilian agencies. In the Navy, these vessels were used as tugboats and patrol boats, and in the MChPV, as PSKA (border patrol boats).
PSKA Project 1606
3D6N engine of the Project 1606 "Kostromich" boat
Initially, the 22nd Brigade's PSKAs were armed with whatever was available. Photos even show a deck-mounted 14,5mm KPVT machine gun on a wheeled mount. Later, the PSKAs were armed with a forecastle-mounted 12,7mm Utes machine gun, two 7,62mm machine guns (one on each side), and a stern-mounted AGS-17 Plamya grenade launcher. For surveillance and navigation, the Kostroma-class ships were equipped with a radar and night vision device.
PSKA Project 1606 with a KPVT machine gun on a wheeled carriage
The AGS-17 "Plamya" grenade launcher on board the Project 1606 PSKA missile system.
Machine gunner on the deck of the Kostromich
PSKA crew composition:
1. The boat commander is a midshipman.
2. Helmsman, assistant to the boat commander - petty officer 1st class.
3. Gunner (grenade launcher-shooter) - senior sailor or sailor.
4. Radio operator, assistant grenade launcher - sailor.
5. Senior motorman - senior sailor.
6. Junior motorman - sailor.
Lunch on the deck of PSKA pr. 1606
The Project 1398 "Aist" border patrol boat was designed specifically for the border troops, taking into account the specific requirements of their service. It was intended to protect the state border on the Amur, Ussuri and its tributaries, the Danube, and Amu Darya rivers, Lake Khanka and the lakes of the Karelian Isthmus, as well as in the coastal areas of the Gulf of Finland. The boat's intended duties included patrolling waters, transporting border patrols with combat equipment and dogs, delivering cargo to outposts, and carrying out business trips.
It was a boat with an aluminum alloy hull, a wooden deck (the border dogs refused to sit on metal), and a wheelhouse. It was powered by a 3D20 diesel engine and a waterjet propulsion system. The engine's freshwater cooling system was single-circuit, cooled by seawater in special channels in the bottom of the boat's hull. These design features allowed the boat to operate in waters with sandbanks, suspended sand and silt particles in the water, and channels overgrown with sedge, reeds, and shrubs. The boat could accommodate six passengers, and if necessary, 10 people or 500 kg of cargo, and had a seaworthiness rating of 3.
Drawings of the Project 1398B "Aist" border patrol boat
The 3D20 engine of the Aist boat
"Aist" at the Friendship Bridge
"Storks" on the Amu Darya
In September 1967, the lead boat was completed and tested. Serial production was entrusted to the Feodosia shipyard "More." Since 1970, the yard has been building Aist-class boats according to the improved Project 1398B. These boats began to be delivered to all sections of the Soviet Union's maritime and riverine borders. Project 1398T boats, suitable for use in tropical climates, were also supplied to countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America.
Initially, the Feodosia-based More Shipyard was responsible for the construction of Project 1398B boats, but the documentation was later transferred to the Batumi Shipyard. Their construction in Batumi continued until 1991, the year the USSR collapsed and Georgia gained independence. The crew of the small Aist boats of the 22nd Brigade consisted of two men, armed with an RPK machine gun and an AKS assault rifle.
Aist and Kostromich on the Amu Darya
A border guard "Aist" in one of the Amu Darya tributaries
Border patrol landing from the Aist
In December 1968, the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau developed the technical design for the Project 1207 "Pelikan" small river border patrol boat. The boat's wooden hull, covered with fiberglass and epoxy resin, is divided into four watertight compartments. It is powered by a gasoline engine with a type M8 ChSPU-100 reverse gearbox, based on the GAZ-53 automobile engine. The engine's freshwater cooling system was single-circuit. Freshwater was contained in a closed circuit and cooled by seawater through the walls of special channels built into the aft hull, allowing the boat to operate in polluted waters. The propeller was located in a tunnel, reducing the risk of propeller failure when navigating in shallow water. Passenger capacity was 10. Safe operation of the Pelican is permitted in waves up to 3 points (wave height up to 1,5 m).
Drawing of the boat "Pelican"
In June 1970, the first lead boat successfully completed trials and was accepted into service with the border troops. Serial production was transferred to the Rybinsk Shipyard, where it continued until 1976.
Border Pelicans on the Amu Darya
Border Pelicans at the port of Sherkhan (Panj River, Afghanistan)
One of the photographs from the MChPV base in Termez also shows the A-3 type aerosleds, which are designed to transport cargo and passengers on small, shallow rivers, across snow and ice in off-road conditions in winter, and across floating or broken ice during the off-season (fall and spring ice drift). With a displacement of 2,1 tons and a passenger capacity of five, the boat's speed in open water is 80 km/h.
Aerosled boats type A-3 in Termez
The division, and later the brigade, guarded the USSR state border using a mobile patrol. Border patrols typically consisted of one patrol boat and two small boats. For safety reasons, small boats were prohibited from operating alone. At night, patrol boats would move upriver to Nizhny Pyandzh, shut off their engines, and drift downstream, periodically dropping anchor and scanning the area with radar and night vision equipment. (During the day, when anchoring, they chose a location from which they could visually view as far as possible along the border.) Thus, by dawn, the boats would descend to the junction with the Termez Border Detachment, and then ascend again to Nizhny Pyandzh.
The "Shmels" were stationed at points closest to the base due to the shallow river channel. Typically, the PSKA patrols would remain on duty for two weeks and then rotate out. The deployments of small boats sometimes lasted a month or more. Each group of ships and boats operated in its own zone, which was assigned to a specific border outpost, with which the group worked closely.
The brigade also guarded the Friendship Bridge (renamed the Hairaton Bridge in 1989) and the pontoon bridge across the Panj River, as well as the ports on the Amu Darya and Panj (the Afghan port of Sherkhan). Border guard sailors escorted barges along the river, and the PSKAs were used to tow 150-ton barge platforms carrying cargo for border troops and the Afghan population. Airborne assault maneuver groups (AAMGs) of border troops, reconnaissance personnel, and Afghan agents were deployed to the Afghan coast.
PSKR at the Friendship Bridge (Hairatan)
Border special forces on board the Aist
In my free time from border protection – fishing
The 22nd Brigade continued to protect the state border of the USSR, and then of independent Uzbekistan, until March 1992, when border detachments and units of the Central Asian Border District in Uzbekistan were transferred to its jurisdiction. The ships and boats of the 22nd Brigade became part of the Termez Flotilla of the Military River Forces of the State Border Protection Committee of the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
References
1. Sutormin V.A. Development of the Soviet maritime border guard system and its ship-boat composition in 1918-1941. Krasnodar, 2011
2. Sutormin V.A. Development of the OGPU maritime border guard system in 1922-1932.
3. Chernikov I.I. Encyclopedia of Monitors. Defenders of Russia's River Borders. St. Petersburg, 2007
4. Mamakin A. Riverine units of the KGB border troops in the Afghan war
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8. https://svgbdvr.ru/mir-uvlechenii/vospominaniya-o-sluzhbe
9. http://www.voentex.ru/blog/58
10. http://www.voentex.ru/blog/57
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12. https://yosikava.livejournal.com/188796.html
13. http://parohodoff.ru/lodki/kater_pelikan.htm
14. http://akvasvit.ru/category/katera/
15. http://ps.fsb.ru/history/general/text.htm%21id%3D10320628%40fsbArticle.html
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