Atlantic Odyssey of "Yantar" has put America on its ears
On that day, it left the naval base Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad Region and headed for St. Petersburg. There, "Amber" did not last long. I loaded some equipment in containers and went out to sea again. On the way, I turned to Baltiysk for several hours and from there 10 of August headed for the Atlantic.
Now is the time to tell about this unique vessel. It was built at the Kaliningrad Baltic Yantar Shipyard under the 22010 Cruises project developed by the Almaz Central Securities and Design Bureau. The OIC ordered by the General Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is named after the enterprise on which it was built. His bookmark took place on July 8 2010 of the city - on the day when the 65 anniversary of Yantar was celebrated. And the ship was handed over to the Navy 23 in May of this year - shortly before the 70 anniversary of the Kaliningrad plant.
The amber displacement is 5200 T, length is 108,1 m, width is 17,2 m. The maximum speed of the OIS is 15 nodes, and the cruising range is 8000 miles, autonomy is 60 days. The crew consists of 60 people. Four diesel generators with power of 1600 kW each provide electricity to all systems and units of the vessel. The propulsion system of the OIC is the most modern. These are the two spinwheel columns that allow the Amber to turn on the heel, that is, almost in place. There are also two thrusters in the bow. They are necessary so that, during the work of the OIC, it can remain in the same place as a dead man. And the accuracy of determining this place is provided by precision navigation equipment.
"Amber" is designed to study the depths of the sea and the ocean floor. That is why its main “armament” includes two autonomous deep-sea devices of six-thousandth, remote-controlled underwater vehicles, hydroacoustic stations for various purposes and other similar equipment. In the nose of the OIC there is a helipad. That is, it is possible to connect the rotary-wing machine to the activity of the vessel. “At Yantar, a unique on-board research facility has been installed, which allows you to capture the parameters of the ocean environment both on the move and on the foot. There are no such complexes anywhere else in the world, ”the vice-admiral Alexey Burilichev, head of the Main Directorate for Deep-Water Research of the Russian Defense Ministry, Hero of Russia, notes.
Autonomous deep-sea vehicles (AGA) АС-37 "Rus" of project 16810 and АС-39 "Consul" of project 16811 developed by SPBMB "Malachite" and built "Admiralty Shipyards" at navy respectfully rank 3 ships. And there is a reason. These small, or rather ultra-small submarines with an underwater displacement of about 25 tons with a sturdy titanium alloy hull and a crew of three are not only able to "dive" to a depth of more than 6000 m, but also work there for 10-12 hours. They are designed to classify objects on the seabed, carry out their photo and video shooting, perform underwater technical work using a manipulator, and raise objects weighing up to 200 kg to the surface. AC-37 and AC-39 are equipped with tethered telecontrolled devices that carry out additional reconnaissance and have the ability to penetrate inside some sunken objects.
The vehicles move freely under water at a three-node speed using a propulsion-steering complex consisting of six electric motors (two for vertical, three for horizontal and thruster) developed and produced by NPO Vint, as well as the automatic control system of NPO Aurora". All this technique is comparable to space, and surpasses it in a number of criteria. 14 June 2011. The Consul made a record dive to the depth of 6270 m.
Now АС-37 and АС-39 have found a floating base in the face of “Yantar”. In the central part of the OIC superstructure there is a hangar for the storage and maintenance of AGA and other deep-water equipment. The vessel is equipped with a powerful lifting device for working with the "Consul" and "Rus".
After Yantar was in the central part of the Atlantic, deep-sea tests of unique equipment were once again carried out. But when 23 August OIC began to carry out work just south of the Canadian island of St. Johns, from North America he heard moans and complaints. "US intelligence ships, airplanes and satellites are closely watching the Russian military vessel in the Atlantic, which took place near the base of US nuclear submarines and underwater transit routes," the Washington Times raised panic. Charges of espionage and undermining US national security were heard against the Russian OIC. The Washington Free Beacon reported, for example, that the US strategic command notified the Wyoming American SSBN that Scotland had arrived in Scotland, which had never been done before for security reasons. According to the author of the publication, it simply did not make sense to hide the passage of the submarine, since Yantar, which was engaged in underwater exploration and mapping off the coast of the United States, was aware of this submarine sailing. “Were there any Russian submarines in the Atlantic Ocean, when Wyoming was crossing it on the way to Scotland, it is not clear,” writes the publication. “However, in the future this will help the actions of Russian submarines in the Atlantic Ocean.”
Not avoided insinuations against the Russian OIC and respectable The New York Times. October 25 newspaper published an article by David Sanger and Eric Schmitt, which stated that the special concern of the American intelligence services is the possibility of a Russian attack during any conflict on submarine cables. Immediately having broken the Internet connection, "Russians will leave political and economic institutions of the United States, as well as ordinary citizens, without means of communication." “Every day I’m worried about what the Russians can do,” the newspaper quotes Rear Admiral Frederick Regge, commander of the submarine forces of the US Navy in the Pacific.
Admiral John Richardson did not stand aside either, only in September of this year he assumed the post of Chief of Naval Operations of the US Navy (see National Defense magazine No. XXUMX / 10). “Such a connection is very difficult to restore,” he said in an interview with the American correspondent in London, The Financial Times. “This is a threat to the entire global system, the information systems that are related to well-being, are linked to security.”
For the sake of objectivity, it is worth noting that none of the American officials questioned the right of the Russian ship to work in international waters. “We respect the freedom of all countries to use military ships in international waters in accordance with international laws,” said a Pentagon spokesman.
As for the intelligence nature of the activity of "Yantar" in the Atlantic, none of this special secret did not. After all, the ship belongs to the GUGI, which is often called the “underwater GRU”. As noted on this in an interview with RIA News Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, chief of the Russian Navy's Chief of Staff, who was in 1998-2005, “Soviet and then Russian submarines repeatedly carried out operations to install sensors on American cables in the Atlantic area for information, and the Americans carried out similar operations on our shores. Since then, hardly anything has changed. ”
In turn, the correspondent of the American television channel Fox News asked a senior Pentagon representative about the activities of the US Navy's oceanographic ships near Russian territorial waters. And he received the following reply: “Of course, we have them there. What do you think all these oceanographic vessels do? Whales are being studied? ”American nuclear submarines are actively participating in intelligence gathering about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. One of them - Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) - is specially built for operations of delicate properties. And so it was from the first post-war years, that is, before the beginning of the Cold War era.
In the fall of 1999, the book by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew “Blind Man's Bluff”, which had the subtitle “Untold story American underwater espionage "(The untold story of American submarine espionage). It mainly deals with secret operations of the US Navy submarines against the USSR after World War II. Since I had something to do with the preparation of this publication, I want to refer only to one episode from the chronicles of the Cold War underwater. In August, the American nuclear-powered special-purpose submarine Halibat installed 1972 in August next to the submarine cable of the USSR Ministry of Defense, connecting Kamchatka with the mainland, a device, by the way, of quite significant dimensions that removed and recorded secret information on a magnetic tape. From time to time, American submarines during the operation, codenamed Ivy Bells (“Ivy Flowers”), made their way into the Sea of Okhotsk to the “gold mine”, as in the Pentagon, the CIA and the NSA called the cable, and took records of the negotiations from it. This went on for quite some time.
However, in Washington they did not know that some time after installing the device, the anchor of some Soviet civilian vessel caught on him. Navy divers came to the rescue. They also have found transatlantic six-meter "gift". The relevant Soviet services used it to its fullest, driving disinformation through the cable. The discovery of the underwater “bug” initiated an inspection of all the underwater Soviet communications. And when the listening device was detected on one of the communication lines near the Kola Bay, no one was surprised. And he, too, was made a tool to drain the "deza".
The installation of “bugs” was confirmed in 1980 by an NSA officer Ronald Pelton, recruited by Soviet intelligence in the United States, who was issued in 1985 by the agent defector Vitaly Yurchenko. After that, using a spy "device" in the Sea of Okhotsk did not make sense. He was raised from the bottom and presented to the public.
But the “bug” set by Halibat was at a depth of 120 m. Working with objects located at depths greater than 500 m, and even more so 1000 and 6000 m, is much more difficult, if not impossible. But “Yantaru” can do such work. The secret lines of the Pentagon's DoDIN information network pass along the bottom of the Atlantic, stationary hydroacoustic monitoring stations are located there that monitor the movement of Russian nuclear ships, as well as underwater "beacons" with which American submarines compare the accuracy of their course. In general, there are many interesting things under the multi-meter strata of water. Therefore, there is enough work for the newest Russian OIC. Yantar itself can install equipment in the depths and collect information of interest to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and other Russian structures. Oceanographic research vessel can also monitor the testing of the newest American submarines built at the shipyards in Groton and Newport News, monitor the actions of the US Navy submarines in combat training grounds and monitor their transatlantic crossings.
The absurd speculation that Yantar cuts strategically important lines of communication were strongly rejected by serious overseas specialists. According to Canadian underwater intelligence expert Stephen Watkins, “it seems more likely that it (ie, the Russian OIC - editor’s note) uses its underwater sensors to map the defense system to prepare for future operations and how to get around, “blind” or destroy American sensors. ”
This estimate seems more accurate. The GUGI already has suitable tools for cutting cables and destroying deep-water objects.
11 August this year in the Severodvinsk Ship Repair Center "Zvezdochka" took place the ceremony of withdrawing from the boathouse of the submarine "Moscow Region", undergoing deep modernization, and in fact, restructuring of the XNUM project 64BDRM into the large submarine of the special purpose BS-667 under the XNX project from the SSBN KDRNM project. "Ruby". Now it is already launched. This submarine will be the carrier of the so-called nuclear deep-water stations of the 64 rank.
Atomic deep-sea stations (AGS) are relatively small nuclear-powered submarines with titanium hulls capable of operating at depths, according to reference books, more than 1000 m. They are intended for scientific research and special operations. The first three AGS of the 1910 “Kashalot” project with an underwater displacement around 2000 and the development of the Malakhit SPMBM (chief designer - E. Korsukov) were built by the Admiralty Shipyards and in 1986-1994. transferred to the customer. In the West, these boats were designated Uniform.
The next AGS 1851 / 18511 “Nelma” trio with an underwater displacement around 1000 t was designed by the same Malachite (chief designer - Hero of Russia SM Bavilin) and built by the same “Admiralty shipyards”. There are no clear photographs of these submarines. But if you trust the Covert Shores resource, which specializes in collecting and summarizing information about the forces and means of special underwater operations, then in the bottom of the nasal tip of these submarines there are powerful manipulators capable of performing a variety of tasks: from collecting various types of elements weapons on the seabed prior to the "gnawing" of submarine cables. Western designation of boats of this type - X-Ray.
Finally, the most famous of the AGS - the АС-31 of the 10831 project underwater displacement 2100 т - due to the design features of its robust hull, which is a “chain” of titanium spheres, received the unofficial name “Losharik” The submarine was designed by the Malakhit SPMBM (the main designer is the Hero of Russia Yu.M. Konovalov) and built by Sevmash. She entered service in 2006 year. During the Arktika-2012 expedition in August-October 2012, this boat collected soil and rock samples at depths of 2500-3000 for twenty days. This record is unlikely to be broken in the foreseeable future. Is that any regular AGS Russian production.
A nuclear submarines of special purpose (PLASN) deliver AGS to the place of work. In essence, these are submarines-transporters. Now BS-136 "Orenburg" of the 09786 project developed by CDB MT "Rubin" is playing this role. It was re-equipped from the SSN K-136 project 667БДР in the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center. A special compartment is embedded into its body, into which the AGS is “hidden” and transported to the place of deep-sea exploration. It was the BS-136 “Orenburg” submarine in September that 2012 delivered the “Losharik” under the ices to the North Pole, and that from its womb several times “ran off” to the bottom of the Earth's crown.
In place of "Orenburg" will come "Moscow." Atomic repair and upgrading, in preparation for the upcoming missions, and nuclear deep-water stations. AGS and PLASN transporters are organizationally part of the 29-th separate brigade of special purpose nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet and are based on Deer Bay.
That is why “Amber”, which made a “cruise” along the entire Atlantic coast of the USA, had no need to cut the submarine cables. He performed other tasks that he successfully coped with.
Talking about his first Atlantic odyssey, one can not fail to mention one remarkable episode. Returning from the voyage, the OIC entered October 19 in Ceuta to replenish stocks. The authorities of the Spanish enclave in Africa have taken extraordinary security measures at the pier, where a Russian military vessel was moored. Meanwhile, in Madrid, talks were held between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Pyrenean State, José Manuel García Margallo, and the Secretary of State, John Kerry. Contrary to expectations, the American guest did not touch on the subject of the visit by “Amber” of Ceuta. But when, at the end of August, Novorossiysk diesel-electric submarines entered the port, a terrible noise arose in the West at the request of Washington. Say, Madrid betrayed NATO! Now, it seems, everything was ok. And knowing that the head of the US foreign ministry likes to play guitar on long flights across the oceans and continents, the Spanish Foreign Minister gave his visitor a magnificent six-stringed instrument. Now John Kerry has a chance to improve his class of the game.
28 September, completing the testing of technical means and equipment in the deep-water areas of the Atlantic Ocean, "Yantar" came to the place of his permanent residence permit - Guba Deer on the Kola Peninsula. “The Northern Fleet has been replenished with a unique research vessel of a new generation, which has no analogues in the world in terms of technical equipment,” said Admiral Vladimir Korolev, commander of the Northern Fleet, at the welcoming ceremony. “The technical capabilities of the Yantar ship will allow raising the hydrographic and research activities of the Northern Fleet in the World Ocean, and especially in the Arctic, to a new qualitative level.”
The Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is planning the construction of a second oceanographic vessel of a similar project for work in the Pacific Ocean. That, you see, is logical. According to Alexei Burilichev, some changes will be made to its design taking into account the operating experience of “Yantar”. The second oceanographic vessel has a working name. “In order not to be offended by the designer, let's call him Almaz,” noted the head of the GUGI. And most likely, they will build a new OIC on the same Kaliningrad Yantar. “A team of professional people has been formed at this enterprise, the cooperation is clear, and equipment has been developed for the hull operations of such vessels,” said Burilichev. Let's wait for the bookmark "Diamond"!
- Alexander BRAIN
- http://www.nationaldefense.ru/includes/periodics/maintheme/2015/1214/143117336/detail.shtml
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