SAET family: the first domestic self-guided torpedoes

4
Straight torpedoes were pretty effective. weapons, however, when using them, it was necessary to take into account a lot of various factors affecting the probability of hitting the target. The solution to this problem could be a torpedo with its own guidance systems capable of detecting a target and further controlling the movement of the weapon. Soviet engineers began to study the creation of such systems in the thirties of the last century, but the first self-guided torpedo of domestic development appeared only in the 1950 year. She was put into service under the name SAET-50. Consider the project of creating the first domestic "Self-guided acoustic electric torpedoes".

Studies and Trophies

The first research on the topic of homing torpedo weapons in our country began in the year 1936. Specialists of the Research and Development Mine-Torpedo Institute (NIMTI) worked out several variants of the architecture of the guidance systems and chose a passive acoustic system. According to some data, at that time it was even possible to develop and assemble a prototype of a passive sonar homing system, which in 1939 was mounted on a serial torpedo 53-38. During the experiments with this product, it turned out that the combined-cycle torpedo machine produces too much noise that interferes with the operation of sonar and does not allow it to find a target. Attempts to change the mode of operation of the engine did not lead to any tangible results.

According to other sources, the impossibility of installing a passive speaker system on a vapor-gas torpedo was established already in the mid-thirties. Such equipment could be used only on electric torpedoes, distinguished by low noise of the power plant. By the beginning of the second half of the thirties, the specialists of NIMTI and related organizations had already developed the first versions of electric torpedoes. However, as far as is known, no attempts were made to install acoustic equipment on them.


The scheme of torpedoes SAET-50. Figure Wunderwafe.ru


Various works on the subject of self-guided torpedoes continued until the very beginning of World War II. After the attack by Nazi Germany, enterprises, institutes and design bureaus of the torpedo industry were forced to tackle more pressing issues and abandon active work in a promising direction. The promising program was renewed only at the very end of 1944 of the year.

In the middle of September, the German U-44 submarine (type VIIC) led 250 to Kronstadt. This July 30 submarine flooded the Soviet small hunter MO-105, after which it was attacked by the hunter MO-103. The attack using depth charges resulted in the death of the submarine and most of its crew. In September, the submarine was raised and delivered to the Navy base in Kronstadt. Secret documents, the Enigma encryption machine, and the latest G7es torpedoes (also known as TV and Zaunkönig) were discovered on board the boat. Weapons passed to specialists for review.

SAET project

After examining the captured torpedo, the Soviet designers began to develop their own analogue of this weapon. Work on the new project started at the beginning of 1945. The project received the symbol SAET - "Self-guided acoustic electric torpedo". The head developer of the project was SRI-400 (now the Central Research Institute "Gidropribor"), the works were supervised by N.N. Shamarin. In addition, the project involved NIMTI and the special design bureau of the Dvigatel plant (Leningrad). Together, the engineers of the three enterprises prepared a new project.

In the course of creating the SAET product, torpedo designers had to face some serious problems. Due to objective reasons, they did not previously work with electronic systems. Did not have this experience and the plant "Engine". For this reason, experts literally had to learn without interrupting design. The lack of necessary components, in turn, was solved by an interesting method. In the design of the experienced torpedoes of the SAET, it was proposed to use parts of domestic production, as well as some units removed from the trophy "Tsakunenig".

Studies of the mid-thirties showed that a homing torpedo with existing technologies can only be electric. In 1942, the Soviet fleet was adopted electric torpedo ET-80. It was proposed to use it as a basis for a CAET product. She borrowed all the main units, which, however, underwent some improvements in order to install new homing equipment.


Torpedo ET-80 - the basis for the SAET. Photo Keu-ocr.narod.ru


The overall architecture of the ET-80 torpedoes was retained during the conversion to the AETS, but some changes were made to the design. So, the head fairing got a straightened "cut off" front part, in which they installed the antenna of the hydro-acoustic guidance system. Other units of the equipment placed in the same place and executed as a single unit. To accommodate the homing system, the combat compartment had to be re-arranged, reducing the size of the explosive charge. In its front part there were several curved notches for the installation of the necessary equipment.

Behind the homing system, an explosive charge was placed behind which the battery compartment was placed. The aft part of the torpedo was given under the control equipment, including the Aubrey gyroscopic device, hydrostat and steering gear. The main motor was also located there. Being a direct development of ET-80, the SAET product retained the lead-zinc B-6-P battery, which consisted of individual batteries 80. As the basis of the power plant, an electric motor of the biotech type PM5-2 with a rotating anchor and stator was used. Engine power was 80 kW.

The torpedo's hull has undergone minimal changes, consisting in the refinement of the hemispherical head fairing. Conical tail fairing, as well as X-shaped stabilizers with rudders remained in their places. As before, coaxial propellers were used. Torpedo caliber SAET was equal to 533 mm, length was 7,5 m. Product weight slightly exceeded 1,8 t.

When developing a guidance system for a new torpedo, Soviet engineers copied and reworked the equipment of the captured German torpedo. Under the leadership of V.A. Kosarev and V.M. Shakhnovich developed a system designed to detect noise from enemy ships and then aim the torpedo at the target. The main element of this system was a hydroacoustic antenna, which included four vertical receivers. This equipment used the magnetostriction effect (more precisely, the magnetoelastic effect or the inverse magnetostriction, also known as the Villari effect): under the influence of sound waves from the ship, the antenna plate of the antenna deformed and vibrated, which caused its magnetization to change. Electronics recorded this change and took appropriate action.

SAET family: the first domestic self-guided torpedoes
The scheme of the German torpedo G7es / TV. Figure One35th.com


As in the German prototype, on the SAET, four receivers were divided into two channels, right and left, in pairs. Taking signals from two pairs of plates, the torpedo electronics had to compare their strength and determine the direction to the target. According to the results of the comparison of the signal strength, commands for steering cars were issued. The operating frequency of the guidance system for the SAET was equal to 25 kHz. The range and response depended on the type of target. Thus, a ship of the “destroyer” type at a speed of about 20 nodes could be seen from a distance of 1 km. On 12-16 nodes, the same target could only be seen with 600-800 m.

The principle of combat work torpedo SAET looked like this. Before the shot, the submarine torpedo should have set the depth of the stroke. After that, the torpedo was ejected from the torpedo tube, turned on its own engine, and began to move in a given direction. The available control devices borrowed from the base ET-80 should have monitored the preservation of the desired course and depth of course. At a distance of several hundred meters from the submarine carrier, the homing equipment was switched on and the speed was automatically reduced to eliminate interference from its own propellers. The task of the homing equipment was to fix sound vibrations from the target ship and determine the direction to it with the subsequent issuance of commands for the steering gears. Homing was supposed to work until the moment of collision with the target.

By the end of 1945, SRI-400 and related organizations have completed the development of a new project and prepared a complete set of necessary documentation. Soon after, the engine plant manufactured several pilot torpedoes, which were planned to be used in future tests. As already mentioned, due to the lack of production of some components, part of the parts for the SAET had to be removed from the German G7es torpedoes. Probably, they used both captured components from torpedoes of the U-250 boat, as well as products taken at manufacturing enterprises.

In 1946, the ready-made prototypes of the SAET torpedoes, as well as several samples of the German G7es / TV, were taken to Makhachkala for inspection at the Caspian sighting station. Over the next few months, torpedoes of the SAET were tested in the Caspian Sea, as well as comparative tests, during which the new Soviet development “competed” with the German prototype. Tests have shown that the installation of new equipment had almost no effect on the characteristics of speed and range. Like the ET-80, the SAET product could reach speeds up to 27-29 nodes and cover distances up to 4 km. When you turn on sonar equipment, the speed of movement decreased, as a result of which the range of the stroke increased slightly.


Aerial of the German torpedo G7es (left) and a similar unit of the Soviet SAET-50. Photo Militaryrussia.ru


In total, 117 shots were fired during the comparative tests, and the 41 torpedo was launched at a moving training target. Analysis of the results of shooting by Soviet and German torpedoes showed that this weapon is equivalent in its characteristics. The new Soviet SAET was not inferior to the German product Zaunkönig. In addition, the self-guided torpedoes in practice have confirmed all their advantages over the straightforward systems. The work on copying foreign development ended in success and promised a marked increase in the combat effectiveness of submarines.

Project SAET-2

Upon completion of the tests, the SAET torpedo could be used by the submarine forces of the Soviet Navy, launch its mass production and begin the process of developing new weapons by the fleet. However, the warlords did not hurry. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet submariners were not very interested in the ET-80 torpedo, which later became the basis for the AETS. The first domestic electric torpedo was inferior to earlier vapor-gas ones in speed and range. Thus, the adoption of SAET products with similar characteristics was inappropriate.

In 1946, the designers of the special design bureau of the Dvigatel plant under the guidance of P.V. Matveyev developed a new electric torpedo ET-46. In the same year, experimental products were manufactured and tested, after which the torpedo was adopted by the Navy submarines. The torpedo ET-46 was a further development of the design of the ET-80, taking into account domestic and foreign developments. So, the German G7e torpedo with an electric power unit had a great influence on the design of this product.

The main difference between the ET-46 and the ET-80 was the power plant. It included a B-6-IV type lead-acid battery with 74 separate cells. A new PM5-3M high power engine was also used. Due to such innovations 1810-kg torpedo could reach speeds up to 31 knot and overcome up to 6 km. Thus, the ET-46 hardly differed from its prototype in speed, but it had one and a half times longer range.

The advantage of the new torpedo in the characteristics led to the corresponding decision of the customer. It was proposed not to launch the SAET torpedo into the series, but to develop a similar weapon based on ET-46. The new project received the designation SAET-2 - “Self-guided acoustic electric torpedo, 2 model”. NII-400 was once again responsible for the development of this product, and the Dvigatel plant and NIMTI participated in the project as related organizations responsible for some research and production of finished products.


Layout SAET-50. Figure Wunderwafe.ru


From the point of view of the general aspects of the design, the project SAET-2 was relatively simple. On the base torpedo it was necessary to install an updated fighting compartment (with a proximity fuse) with a notch for the homing equipment, the hydroacoustic system itself and a set of equipment for its connection with the steering vehicles. Nevertheless, the development of a new torpedo was quite difficult. Design work on the new product was completed only in 1948 year. During this time, in the design of the base torpedoes introduced all the necessary new units. In addition, some principles of the power plant operation were changed, which led to the adjustment of characteristics.

After all the modifications, the mass of the product was reduced to 1650 kg with 300-kg charge in the fighting compartment. The maximum torpedo speed of the SAET-2 was limited to 23 nodes. When homing was turned on, the speed was automatically reduced to 15 nodes, after which the screws did not interfere with the sonar system. The maximum stroke range was determined at the level of 7 km. At maximum speed 23 node torpedo could pass only 4,6 km.

In 1948, the development of design documentation for the SAET-2 product was completed. Shortly thereafter, the plant "Engine" released the first batch of new weapons. In March, 1949, the test of these torpedoes began, the platform for which became the Black Sea landfills. Before the end of the summer, 212 torpedo launches were completed, including 107 on a moving target and 81 from a submarine vehicle. Factory tests recognized successful, which allowed to proceed to the preparation for the state.

The next round of inspections started at the end of 1949 of the year and continued until April of 1950. During this time, 76 shots were fired, of which 47 were fired at target ships. Two more torpedoes in full combat configuration were fired at the target, which was the rock on the shore. Night firing was also conducted using additional light devices mounted on torpedoes. During 30 such shooting, it was possible to establish a sufficiently high efficiency of the homing systems. All experienced torpedoes confidently passed under the bottom of the target ship (due to the installation of a large depth on a hydrostat). Not faced with a training goal, torpedoes made a re-entry and again passed under it. One of the products of SAET-2, according to some data, was passed under the target eight times, after which the battery charge ended.

State tests of the torpedoes of SAET-2 were considered successful. In 1950, it was put into service under the name of SAET-50. The decoding of the alphabetic part of the designation remained the same, and the number denoted the year of adoption. Soon, the plant "Engine" has mastered the production of new products and began to supply these weapons to the fleet. The carriers of the armed torpedoes were to be submarines in service.


Torpedo Yu-4 is a Chinese copy of SAET-50. Photo Militaryrussia.ru


The first production batch of the SAET-50 was completed in 1951. The verification of this weapon forced the specialists to work on fine-tuning the structure. The homing system was unstable, and the proximity magnetic fuse showed insufficient reliability. The elimination of these shortcomings has proven to be rather complicated and lengthy. The first combat-ready torpedoes of the new type were transferred to the customer only in 1953 year.

Approximately in the mid-fifties, the torpedoes of SAET-50 were exported. China became the first and only foreign buyer of such weapons. Initially, he acquired only finished products, and after the deterioration of relations with the Soviet Union, he mastered the production of his own unlicensed copy. The Chinese torpedo was called Yu-4. In the future, the production of such torpedoes was established in the DPRK. With the help of Chinese specialists in North Korea launched the assembly of self-guided torpedoes CHT-02D. This product was a Yu-4 torpedo adapted to the capabilities of the North Korean industry.

Torpedo SAET-50M

After the completion of the SAET-2 / SAET-50 project, Soviet engineers continued to develop new weapons. In 1952, the special design bureau of the Dvigatel plant began the development of a modernization project for the existing SAET-50. The works were supervised by S.N. The runaways. Through the use of some new parts, it was proposed to improve the basic characteristics of the weapon, providing it with longer operation in the troops. It took several years to carry out such an upgrade - the SAET-50М project was completed only in 1955.

The most notable innovation project SAET-50M was the use of so-called. denoising system. By installing new parts, it was proposed to reduce the level of background noise received by the sonar antenna, and thereby improve its performance. To protect against excessive noise, the antenna and its receivers in the frontal part of the body were covered with a new rounded fairing. In the tail section of the hull special rings for air outlet appeared.

To improve the driving characteristics offered by the new battery. Instead of the B-6-IV product, the BAM-3 lead-acid batteries were mounted in the central compartment of the case. As a result of such improvements, the maximum speed of the torpedoes increased to 29 nodes, and during the operation of guidance systems it could move at speeds up to 20 nodes. The maximum stroke range was determined at the level of 6 km.


Museum specimen torpedoes SAET-50M. Photo Militaryrussia.ru


In 1955, the torpedo SAET-50M passed all the necessary tests and was put into service. As in the case of the base SAET-50, only submarines were carriers of such weapons. SAET-50M were produced only for the Soviet Navy and were not exported.

***

Despite the beginning of work in the mid-thirties, until the very end of World War II, the Soviet fleet remained without self-guided torpedoes. The industry, in turn, did not have the opportunity to engage in such projects. For this reason, the first product of this class was developed in our country only after the end of the war, and with a wide use of foreign ideas and solutions. In addition, the development and fine-tuning turned out to be a difficult and lengthy process, because of which the fleet received the first operational torpedoes of the AETS-50 only in the early fifties.

Despite all the difficulties, the Soviet designers were able to solve the task and submit a new weapon to the navy with the ability to independently search for a target. Later, new torpedoes with more sophisticated equipment and enhanced characteristics appeared, but the early products of the SAET family deservedly retained the honorary title of the first domestic developments of their class. So, SAET based on ET-80 was the very first self-guided torpedo in the USSR, and SAET-50 became the first production model of its family. In addition, all these projects allowed the designers to obtain the necessary experience and eventually led to the emergence of newer and more sophisticated weapons.


Based on:
http://submarine-at-war.ru/
http://flot.com/
http://weapons-world.ru/
http://uboataces.com/
http://militaryrussia.ru/blog/topic-472.html
Shirokorad A.B. Weapons of the domestic fleet. 1945-2000. - Minsk: “Harvest”, 2001
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4 comments
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  1. -1
    21 March 2016 09: 36
    Thank. Read with great interest. And in the 30s we already had our own (in the sense of Soviet development) torpedoes? Or any licensed?
    1. +2
      21 March 2016 11: 32
      This is the sixth or seventh article in the cycle. Read first and find the answer to your question.
      1. +1
        21 March 2016 15: 03
        Thanks, I found it.
      2. -1
        31 March 2016 03: 40
        Quote: MooH
        This is the sixth or seventh article in the cycle. Read first and find the answer to your question.

        not in this illiterate slop cycle

        Gusev is better right away (he’s online)
    2. -1
      21 March 2016 12: 16
      Quote: excomandante
      And in the 30's, did we already have our own (in the sense of Soviet development) torpedoes?

      extremely unsuccessful 53-27
      and the "sawmill", yes, "whistled"
      especially in "Ostekhbyuro"
      when Spain burst out "it suddenly became clear" that the fleet was in the railway station (including with torpedoes).

      So they "accelerated" the licensed 53F and 45F
  2. -1
    21 March 2016 12: 05
    article is just nonsense
    the truth is not so much the author, but the CHIEF OF THE MIND AND TORPEDOUS DEPARTMENT of the Institute of Weapons of the Navy Korshunova. To put it mildly, this chief in the materiel of torpedoes (as well as their combat use) was very weak.
    SAET-1 and SAET-2 are just nonsense, there were simply no such torpedoes, and the "version" about the source code of some "SAET-1" in the form of ET-80 and "SAET-2" in the form of ET-46 is Korshunov's "grass" ...
    The author, on the other hand, preferred to openly WASH "sources" instead of serious ones (for example, R.A. Guseva)
    A similar trash heap is the "militarirash", the owner of which, DIMMI, no longer remembers where he lied like a gray gelding.
    The fact that the photo shows how SAET-50M is not such (SAET-50M had a metal pointed fairing), and most likely it is a STEAM-GAS (yes, exactly!) 53ВА (i.e. the 53-56В version with CCH).

    Well, according to SAET-50, quite exhaustively
    The opinion of my opponents that the development of the first serial of our passive SSNs was based on domestic pre-war developments does not correspond to reality. Here is an excerpt from Rudolf Gusev’s book “Such a Torpedo Life” (no comment): “... took part in the disarmament of the German T-5 torpedo, with which the SAET-50 was“ copied ”...
    When we disarmed the German T-1944 homing torpedo in the 5 year, they were also initially taken for fools. And the speed of the torpedo was not enough - 23 node, and in general they clearly did not fight for speed. The emitting coil of a non-contact fuse was wound directly on the torpedo's body. After all, it seemed, you can embed it flush. So what? Flush crashed - a non-contact fuse stopped working. Slightly increased speed - the equipment is deaf. Then they began to copy 1: 1. And only later, gradually, gradually improve. In five years, we managed to add 6 nodes ”
    .
    Read more: http://vpk-news.ru/articles/6997


    pointed to the most interesting documents of the "Special Technical Bureau of the USSR Navy" (Systroretsk, "captured Germans" worked)
    1947 report (!!!!) engineer Gustav Glaude, incl. about the inappropriateness of using the equal-signal guidance method for SSB torpedoes, and about the significant advantages of the phase one, it was written on a huge amount of work in Germany (it reached 90 rounds per day at a torpedo testing station)
    As a result, the first phase SSN TsNII "Gidropribor" managed to "create" only by 1984. ("reproducing on the domestic element base" the American SSN of the early 60s).
    Until now, Gidropribor has not completed a single development of its own SSN with a phase direction finding method.

    http://otvaga2004.mybb.ru/viewtopic.php?pid=427089#p427089
  3. -1
    21 March 2016 12: 13
    In one of his books, Larion was surprised to read that he was lucky to work with such "luminaries as ... Leonid Kovalev!" Well, the leading figure was dug up by Yuri Leonidovich! From the point of view of the naval torpedo — Leonid Kovalev, the head of the torpedo exploitation department — utter torpedo darkness. Doesn't know a single torpedo. The knowledge of power sources in which he is a candidate of technical sciences is only at the level of molecules and atoms. For the rest, whatever you ask, there is only one answer: this is a complex question and it has not yet been investigated. So what were you doing there, Christmas tree sticks? Torpedo batteries were developed under his scientific supervision. The result is as follows. Battery BAM-3 for torpedoes SAET-50M. The battery turned out to be so poisonous that the sailors were poisoned in boats. I had to remove the torpedo from the boats. MZ-2 battery for small torpedoes SET-40 and MGT-1. Leaking electrolyte along the glue lines led to the destruction of torpedoes. Because of these leaks, more than 70 torpedoes were written off only to the Pacific Fleet. The ZET-1 battery for the SAET-60 torpedo is very dangerous: the ingress of electrolyte into the active mass of the battery, which is quite possible with a large keel pitch of the submarine and personnel errors in the preparation of the torpedo, can lead to battery fire. And next to it is a military charging compartment, in which there are more than three hundred kilograms of explosives. Such a battery and the combat charging compartment located next to it caught fire on the B-44 submarine of the Black Sea Fleet. The tubes of the torpedo tubes of the 1st compartment were damaged. Glory to those, Lord, there were no explosion. So for such "luminosity" during IT they could stroke well and not on the head, but in the exact opposite place. Yuri Leonidovich - the man of the poster, laws of distribution of random variables, range, speed and probability of defeat. Serial torpedoes for him are such prose that one can speak about it only as something before the year before. And if you take into account that Yuri Leonidovich did not even know serial torpedoes in person, then for him, of course, Leonid Kovalev is a luminary. Since a candidate of sciences means a luminary, it cannot be otherwise.

    http://avtonomka.org/vospominaniya/content/161-kapitan-1-ranga-bozin-larion-mikh
    ajlovich-ocherki-torpednoj-zhizni.html
    Yuri Leonidovich in the text has a surname Korshunov
  4. PKK
    0
    21 March 2016 13: 39
    If Das BOOT, in time to get homing acoustic torpedoes in the Atlantic, all the ships were hiding.
  5. 0
    31 March 2016 03: 42
    by the way, this is not "military Vrasha", but stolen dimmi i have

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