A.V. Platonov, being a professor at the Naval Academy, simply has to be politically correct. But the above is enough to understand what kind of "porridge" was in the minds of our admirals in 1937-1941.

In my opinion, there was no need for aircraft carriers in the Baltic, Black Sea and North. But battleships with 406-mm artillery on the Black Sea were essential for landing troops and supporting the coastal flanks of the Red Army.

Formally, on paper, all our fleets had sufficient fighter arrivals. So, by June 22, 1941, there were 624 aircraft in the Black Sea, including 346 fighters. Is it a lot or a little? For comparison, by August 1, 1939, the entire Polish aviation consisted of 771 aircraft, of which 280 were fighters, that is, the Black Sea Fleet had 1.2 times more fighters than in Poland.

But, alas, the vast majority of the Black Sea Fleet aircraft were of obsolete types - I-15, I-16 and I-153. The main thing is that without exception, all the fighters of our naval aviation were only able to defend their naval bases and approaches to them.

They physically could not operate near Varna, the Bosphorus and Sinop. This means that in 80% of the Black Sea, our bombers, surface ships and submarines were left without cover.

It is quite possible to understand the enthusiasm of the Air Force command for light, high-speed and maneuverable fighters. It was these machines that could withstand the main German fighter Me-109. No long range needed frontline fighters, and excess fuel degrades their flight performance. Finally, light wooden fighters are extremely cheap and fairly easy to manufacture.

But the fleet needed long-range fighters. Moreover, the most interesting thing is that such aircraft were created by the domestic aviation industry.

So, back in the autumn of 1938, N.P. Polikarpov, in an initiative (!) manner, began work on the creation of a twin-engine heavy escort fighter TIS-A. However, the Air Force command reacted to this project very coolly, and prototype TIS-A took its first flight only in the spring of 1941, and then even less attention was paid to the work. As a result, in 1943, work on TIS-A stopped altogether.

Meanwhile, the TIS-A has a speed of 515–535 km/h, armament: 2-20 mm ShVAK cannons and 6–7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns.

And now I will make a small lyrical digression. In several places in the book, the author is forced to dwell on purely technical points. But without them, most of the author's statements will seem fantastic to readers, or even worse, malice and slander against Soviet military leaders.

And now let's continue the story about machines that could become quite normal long-range naval fighters. On May 11, 1938, the ViT-2 twin-engine air tank destroyer, also designed by Polikarpov, made its first flight. It carried very powerful weapons: 2-37 mm, 4-20 mm cannons and 2-7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns. The speed of the fighter was quite tolerable - 513 km / h, but it was planned to increase it to 600 km / h. However, this car did not go into the series.

On the other hand, the Su-2 single-engine two-seat light bomber was put into production in 1940, and by January 1, 1942, more than 500 vehicles had been produced. Takeoff weight of the aircraft is 4150 kg, speed is 512 km/h, payload is 1180 kg. I note that in the first months of the war, the Su-2 was used on the fronts and as a single-seat fighter.

In small series, two twin-engine light bombers designed by Yakovlev were also produced: Yak-2 and Yak-4 (BB-22). In total in 1940-1941. 111 Yak-2s and 90 Yak-4s were produced.

Light bombers Su-2, Yak-2 and Yak-4 were used extremely stupidly in parts and mostly for other purposes. Since their silhouettes and data were classified, they were often shot down by their own pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.

Meanwhile, these machines could be easily converted into long-range fighters, and without bombs and devices for dropping them, flight performance characteristics aircraft increased significantly. On the Black Sea, their task was not to fight the Me-109, but to protect our warships and transports. We must not forget that the timely destruction of a reconnaissance aircraft - some kind of low-speed German or Romanian seaplane - ensured the safe passage of our ships.

During the raid, the targets of our long-range fighters were Xe-111 bombers and Yu-87 dive bombers, nicknamed "lappers" for their non-retractable landing gear.

In 1939, a Special Technical Bureau (OTB) was created in the NKVD system. By the autumn of 1939, the OTB included 4 separate design bureaus, which were led by V.M. Petlyakov, V.M. Myasishchev, A.N. Tupolev and D.A. Tomashevich. All four were prisoners arrested in 1937-1938. Each design bureau designed and built its own aircraft under the general designation "STO" (or "100" - Spetstekhotdel) and then in numerical order. Petlyakov built the aircraft "100", Myasishchev - "102", Tupolev - "103", Tomashevich - "110".

The first task of the Petlyakov Design Bureau was the project of a high-altitude high-speed two-seat fighter-interceptor with two M-105 engines, with a pressurized cabin, with a new design and new technology. It was first called "One Hundred", and later the letters were replaced with numbers - "100".

Double fighter "100" was supposed to have a takeoff weight of 7260 kg, top speed at an altitude of 10 km - 630 km / h, a practical ceiling of 12.2 km and a flight range of 1500 km.

The first flight of the aircraft "100" took place in April 1940, piloted by P.M. Stefanovsky. All subsequent flights were successful. At the May Day parade over Red Square, a slide was made with the landing gear extended.

However, after the visit of the Soviet delegation to Germany and familiarization with German technology, there were smart people who proved to the leadership that we did not need a twin-engine fighter. And this is when in all countries of the world - in Germany, England and the USA - scientists worked on the creation of twin-engine long-range fighters, indispensable for escorting their bombers, for night air defense, for defending ships at sea, and so on.

In the next decades, dozens of books and thousands of articles on domestic aviation of the 1930s and 1940s will be published in our country. In them, the authors even argue about the number of rivets, but for some reason no one has yet named the fools or pests who deprived us of heavy fighters by name. This is not only about the Petlyakov machine, there were several other projects of long-range fighters in the USSR.

As a result, the leadership of the Air Force instructed the Petlyakov Design Bureau to convert the 100 aircraft into a three-seat gliding bomber. The deadline was given ... a month and a half. Petlyakov made a layout within a few days.

And on July 25, 1940, two design bureaus were released from prison at once - V.M. Petlyakov and V.M. Myasishcheva, Both design bureaus were transferred from the NKVD to Minaviaprom

The new dive bomber was named Pe-2. Testing of the first serial Pe-2s began in the late autumn of 1940. And in January 1941, Petlyakov was awarded the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree for the Pe-2. During the war years, our industry produced 11,427 Pe-2 dive bombers.

And only on August 2, 1941, a GKO decree was issued on the resumption of work on the Petlyakov fighter. The conversion of the Pe-2 bomber into the Pe-3 fighter did not take much time, and by August 25, 1941, factory No. 30 had assembled the first five Pe-3s. In total, in August and September, the plant manufactured 114 twin-engine fighters, and by the end of 1941, a total of 196 Pe-3 aircraft were manufactured, and in 1942, another 121 aircraft. (Sch. 2)

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Torpedo boat G-5: dangerous baby

We present you the most massive Soviet boat of the Great Patriotic period - the G-5 torpedo boat.

The development of the G-5 torpedo boat began back in 1928 under the guidance of the famous aircraft designer Tupolev. A small nimble ship was created to deal with large enemy ships. The main combat mission of such a boat is to approach the enemy ship, launch two torpedoes and quickly run away before the enemy deck artillery turns you into a mountain of duralumin and wooden debris.

The G-5 boat housed two AM-34 aircraft engines, specially adapted for use on marine vessels and received the designation GAM-34. In general, these engines were in great demand in the pre-war Soviet Union - War Thunder players are already familiar with them from aircraft and practically the same “engines” were installed in tanks and experimental self-propelled guns. Power point of two such engines allowed to disperse the boat to 51 knots (over 94 km / h). The length of the boat is just over 19 meters, the crew is only 6 people. The boat had no artillery weapons, with the exception of the DShK machine gun. home firepower baby G-5 - two torpedoes 53-38 caliber 533 mm in chute torpedo tubes. These torpedoes were not launched forward, but, as it were, were pushed out of the stern of the G-5 along the course of the boat. In order not to get in the way of their own torpedoes, the boat had to immediately change course after their release.

During production, more than 300 units of G-5 class boats were produced. As a means of combating enemy ships, the boat was not very effective, but it was widely used as an auxiliary vessel and landing craft during the Great Patriotic War. The officers and sailors who served on the G-5 boats received many awards for courage and valor, including the Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

In War Thunder, the G-5 torpedo boat is a reserve in the USSR fleet research tree. A small vessel is very vulnerable to enemy fire, while the G-5's armament does not allow you to quickly and effectively destroy enemy boats in a firefight. But this is not required. But what is required is to move quickly and accurately launch torpedoes! After all, exactly the same torpedoes are installed on, which we have already talked about, and these torpedoes are able to deal with any ship on the battlefield - not to mention the tiny “classmates” of the G-5 in battles at rank I.

Very soon, the dangerous baby G-5 will break into battles in the seas of War Thunder and will become available to all participants in the closed testing of the fleet in our game. Join now!

Team War Thunder!

A torpedo boat is a small warship designed to destroy enemy warships and transport ships with torpedoes. Widely used during World War II. By the beginning of the war, torpedo boats were poorly represented in the main fleets of the Western maritime powers, but with the outbreak of war, the construction of boats increased dramatically. By the beginning of World War II, the USSR had 269 torpedo boats. Over 30 torpedo boats were built during the war, and 166 received from the Allies.

The project of the first gliding Soviet torpedo boat was developed in 1927 by the team of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) under the leadership of A.N. Tupolev, later an outstanding aircraft designer. The first experimental boat "ANT-3" ("Firstborn"), built in Moscow, was tested in Sevastopol. The boat had a displacement of 8.91 tons, the power of two gasoline engines was 1200 liters. s., speed 54 knots. Overall length: 17.33 m, width 3.33 m, draft 0.9 m, Armament: 450 mm torpedo, 2 machine guns, 2 mines.

Comparing the "Pervenets" with one of the captured SMVs, we found out that the English boat was inferior to ours both in speed and in maneuverability. On July 16, 1927, an experienced boat was enlisted in the naval forces on the Black Sea. “Taking into account that this glider is an experimental design,” it was indicated in the acceptance certificate, “the commission believes that TsAGI has completed its task in full and the glider, regardless of some shortcomings of a naval nature, is to be accepted into the Naval Forces of the Red Army ... " Work on the improvement of torpedo boats at TsAGI continued, and in September 1928 the serial boat "ANT-4" ("Tupolev") was launched. Until 1932, our fleet received dozens of such boats, called "Sh-4". in the Baltic, Black Sea and Far East soon the first formations of torpedo boats appeared.

But "Sh-4" was still far from ideal. And in 1928, the fleet ordered another torpedo boat from TsAGI, named "G-5" at the institute. It was a new ship for those times - in its stern there were troughs for powerful 533-mm torpedoes, and on sea trials it developed an unprecedented speed - 58 knots with full ammunition and 65.3 knots without load. Navy sailors considered it the best of the existing torpedo boats, both in terms of armament and technical properties.

Torpedo boat type "G-5"

The lead boat of the new type "GANT-5" or "G5" (planing No. 5) was tested in December 1933. This boat with a metal hull was the best in the world, both in terms of armament and technical properties. It was recommended for mass production and by the beginning of World War II it became the main type of torpedo boats of the Soviet Navy. The serial "G-5", manufactured in 1935, had a displacement of 14.5 tons, the power of two gasoline engines was 1700 liters. s., speed 50 knots. Overall length 19.1 m, width 3.4 m, draft 1.2 m. Armament: two 533 mm torpedoes, 2 machine guns, 4 mines. Produced for 10 years until 1944 in various modifications. In total, more than 200 units were built.

"G-5" was baptized by fire in Spain and in the Great Patriotic War. On all seas, they not only launched dashing torpedo attacks, but also laid minefields, hunted for enemy submarines, landed troops, guarded ships and convoys, trawled fairways, bombarding German bottom non-contact mines with depth charges. Particularly difficult, and sometimes unusual tasks were performed during the years of the Great Patriotic War by the Black Sea boatmen. They had to escort... trains running along the Caucasian coast. They fired torpedoes at ... the coastal fortifications of Novorossiysk. And, finally, they fired rockets at fascist ships and ... airfields.

However, the low seaworthiness of boats, especially of the Sh-4 type, was no secret to anyone. At the slightest disturbance, they were flooded with water, which was easily splashed into a very low, open wheelhouse from above. The release of torpedoes was guaranteed with a wave of no more than 1 point, but boats could simply be in the sea with a wave of no more than 3 points. Due to the low seaworthiness of the Sh-4 and G-5, only in very rare cases did they provide the design range, which depended not so much on the fuel supply as on the weather.

This and a number of other shortcomings were largely due to the "aviation" origin of the boats. The designer based the project on a seaplane float. Instead of an upper deck, Sh-4 and G-5 had a steeply curved convex surface. Providing the strength of the hull, it at the same time created a lot of inconvenience in maintenance. It was difficult to stay on it even when the boat was motionless. If it went at full speed, absolutely everything that fell on it was dumped.

This turned out to be a very big disadvantage during the hostilities: the paratroopers had to be put into the chutes of torpedo tubes - there was nowhere else to place them. Due to the lack of a flat deck, the Sh-4 and G-5, despite their relatively large buoyancy reserves, were practically unable to carry a serious load. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, torpedo boats "D-3" and "SM-3" were developed - long-range torpedo boats. "D-3" had a wooden hull; according to his project, the SM-3 torpedo boat with a steel hull was produced.

Torpedo boat "D-3"

Boats of the "D-3" type were produced in the USSR at two factories: in Leningrad and Sosnovka, Kirov Region. By the beginning of the war, the Northern Fleet had only two boats of this type. In August 1941, five more boats were received from the factory in Leningrad. All of them were consolidated into a separate detachment, which operated until 1943, until other D-3s began to enter the fleet, as well as allied boats under Lend-Lease. The D-3 boats favorably differed from their predecessors, the G-5 torpedo boats, although they successfully complemented each other in terms of combat capabilities.

"D-3" had improved seaworthiness and could operate at a greater distance from the base than the boats of the "G-5" project. Torpedo boats of this type had a total displacement of 32.1 tons, maximum length 21.6 m (length between perpendiculars - 21.0 m), maximum width along the deck 3.9 and along the cheekbone - 3.7 m. The structural draft was 0, 8 m. The body "D-3" was made of wood. The speed of the course depended on the power of the engines used. GAM-34, 750 l. With. allowed the boats to develop a course of up to 32 knots, GAM-34VS of 850 hp each. With. or GAM-34F, 1050 liters each. With. - up to 37 knots, "Packards" with a capacity of 1200 liters. With. - 48 knots. The cruising range at full speed reached 320-350 miles, eight-knot speed - 550 miles.

For the first time, on-board tow torpedo tubes were installed on experimental boats and serial "D-3". Their advantage was that they made it possible to produce a volley from a "stop", while boats of the "G-5" type had to develop a speed of at least 18 knots - otherwise they did not have time to turn away from the fired torpedo.

The torpedoes were fired from the bridge of the boat by igniting a galvanic ignition cartridge. The volley was duplicated by a torpedo operator using two igniters installed in the torpedo tube. "D-3" were armed with two 533-mm torpedoes of the 1939 model; the mass of each was 1800 kg (TNT charge - 320 kg), cruising range at a speed of 51 knots - 21 cables (about 4 thousand m). Small arms "D-3" consisted of two machine guns DShK caliber 12.7 mm. True, during the war years, boats were equipped with a 20-mm Oerlikon automatic cannon, a coaxial 12.7-mm Colt Browning machine gun, and some other types of machine guns. The hull of the boat had a thickness of 40 mm. At the same time, the bottom was three-layer, and the board and deck were two-layer. On the outer layer was larch, and on the inner - pine. The sheathing was fastened with copper nails at the rate of five pieces per square decimeter.

Hull "D-3" was divided into five watertight compartments by four bulkheads. In the first compartment 10-3 sp. there was a forepeak, in the second (3-7 sp.) - a four-seat cockpit. The galley and the baffle for the boiler are between the 7th and 9th frames, the radio cabin is between the 9th and 11th. On boats of the "D-3" type, improved navigation equipment was installed compared to what was on the "G-5". The deck "D-3" made it possible to take on board the landing group, besides, it was possible to move along it during the campaign, which was impossible on the "G-5". The habitability conditions of the crew, consisting of 8-10 people, made it possible for the boat to operate for a long time away from the main base. Heating of the vital compartments of the "D-3" was also provided.

Torpedo boat "Komsomolets"

"D-3" and "SM-3" were not the only torpedo boats developed in our country on the eve of the war. In the same years, a group of designers designed a small torpedo boat of the "Komsomolets" type, which, almost no different from the "G-5" in terms of displacement, had more advanced tube torpedo tubes and carried more powerful anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons. These boats were built on voluntary contributions from the Soviet people, and therefore some of them, in addition to numbers, received the names: "Tyumen Worker", "Tyumen Komsomolets", "Tyumen Pioneer".

A torpedo boat of the "Komsomolets" type, manufactured in 1944, had a duralumin hull. The hull is divided by watertight bulkheads into five compartments (spacing 20-25 cm). A hollow keel beam is laid along the entire length of the hull, performing the function of a keel. To reduce pitching, side keels are installed on the underwater part of the hull. Two aircraft engines are installed in the hull one after the other, while the length of the left propeller shaft was 12.2 m, and the right one was 10 m. Torpedo tubes, unlike boats of previous types, are tubular, not trough. The maximum seaworthiness of the torpedo bomber was 4 points. The total displacement is 23 tons, the total power of two gasoline engines is 2400 liters. s., speed 48 knots. Maximum length 18.7 m, width 3.4 m, average recess 1 m. Reservation: 7 mm bulletproof armor on the wheelhouse. Armament: two tube torpedo tubes, four 12.7 mm machine guns, six large depth charges, smoke equipment. Unlike other boats of domestic construction, the Komsomolets had an armored cabin (from a sheet 7 mm thick). The crew consisted of 7 people.

These torpedo bombers showed their high fighting qualities to the greatest extent in the spring of 1945, when the Red Army units were already completing the defeat of the Nazi troops, advancing towards Berlin with heavy fighting. From the sea, Soviet ground forces covered the ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, and the entire burden of combat operations in the waters of the southern Baltic fell on the shoulders of the crews of submarines, naval aviation and torpedo boats. Trying to somehow delay their inevitable end and keep ports for the evacuation of retreating troops for as long as possible, the Nazis made feverish attempts to sharply increase the number of search-strike and patrol groups of boats. These urgent measures to some extent aggravated the situation in the Baltic, and then four Komsomol members, which became part of the 3rd division of torpedo boats, were deployed to help the active forces of the KBF.

These were the last days of the Great Patriotic War, the last victorious attacks of torpedo boats. The war will end, and as a symbol of courage - for posterity as an example, for edification to enemies - the "Komsomol members" fanned with military glory will forever freeze on pedestals.

G-5 - the first Soviet torpedo boat

1On March 4, 1930, the first Soviet torpedo boat ANT-3 "Pervenets" was launched.

Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev known to us as a great aircraft designer, and few people know that not only the first Soviet heavy bomber came out from under his drawing board , but also the first Soviet torpedo boat.

Order for the design of the first glider in our country for river fleets Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev received back in 1920, and the following summer, tests of the GANT-1 began on the Moscow River - a single-row planing boat with a displacement of 1 ton with an engine of 160 hp. with., developing a speed of up to 75 km / h. Following the first model, the second one followed - with a propeller, and when, at the beginning of 1923, the People's Commissariat for Maritime Affairs of the RSFSR raised the issue of creating domestic gliding torpedo boats. The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute did not have to start from scratch. The backlog turned out to be such that scientists and designers TsAGI almost immediately we were able to provide a draft design and an estimate for the construction GANT-3- that was the name of the new boat at the institute. For a number of reasons, the further development of the boat. stopped. And only on February 2, 1925, the People's Commissariat for Maritime Affairs issued an updated task for a torpedo boat armed with one machine gun and one torpedo, with a speed of at least 50 knots, a water screw and seaworthiness up to 3 points. The ship's hull had to have watertight bulkheads and provisions for boarding a cruiser. Armor protection from above from small fragments and bullets is also desirable.
Tupolev submitted two draft design- a large seaworthy twin-engine boat with one 533-mm torpedo and a small single-engine boat with one 450-mm torpedo, designed to be lifted onto ships. The choice fell on the first one, but without bulkheads weighing down the structure and with a temporary device for mounting a 450-mm torpedo. July 30, 1925 TsAGI started manufacturing GANT-3 called "The Firstborn" (100). Delivered by railway to Sevastopol, he was launched on March 17, 1927.
During the trials of the boat, which lasted 4 months, a number of design flaws were found. So, in the aft part of the bottom, a plane was originally installed on hinges, the angle of attack of which was changed by vertical screws with flywheels. During the tests, this plane quickly broke off due to impacts on stones and the bottom, and Tupolev never again put such a device on his boats. It also turned out that with waves and winds of 3-4 points, the open cabin was heavily flooded with water, and the hull experienced sharp shaking, hitting the bottom of the water. The boat was also poorly controlled in reverse, and it was almost impossible to shoot accurately from a machine gun at speeds above 30 knots. But in general, "Pervenets" lived up to the expectations of the designers: the motors worked flawlessly, as well as the control devices, as well as electrical and radio equipment. It could be considered quite satisfactory handling at forward speed, reverse, torpedo firing and seaworthiness in seas up to 3 points. Comparing the "Pervenets" with one of the captured SMVs, we found out that the English boat was inferior to ours both in speed and in maneuverability.
On July 16, 1927, an experienced boat was enlisted in the naval forces on the Black Sea.
In accordance with this program, already on December 12, 1926, the Technical Directorate of the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs proposed TsAGI to create a new boat, more perfect than the Firstborn. When designing GANT-4(later called " Tupolev") the designers took into account the shortcomings identified during the tests GANT-3. So, on the new boat, the stabilizer was abolished to adjust the angle of attack, the bow camber was increased, the hull was strengthened, measures were taken against corrosion of the aluminum mail plating, and the commander's cabin was made closed. Armament consisted of two 450 mm torpedoes and one machine gun.
GANT-4 built in Moscow, in workshops TsAGI, and launched in Sevastopol on September 3, 1928. And while the prototype was being tested in the Black Sea, intensive preparations were underway for the mass production of new boats in the Baltic. The first of them, a Sh-4 (101) type boat, was launched on October 1, 1928, and on November 21 it was included in the lists of the fleet. Quite a bit of time passed - and the fleet began to quickly replenish with modern torpedo boats. In four years, 56 units were produced, and this made it possible to form formations of torpedo boats in the Baltic in 1928, in the Black Sea in 1929 and in the Pacific Ocean in 1939.

While the industry was mastering the production of serial Sh-4s, the Tupolev team at TsAGI began designing a new, more advanced boat with two domestic engines and two torpedo tubes, called G-5(planing No. 5). The assignment for such a ship was issued by TsAGI on June 29, 1928, and a year later, on June 13, 1929, they began to build a prototype GANT-5. Since the contours of the new boat were almost the same as those of the GANT-4, the hull was made relatively quickly, but then things stalled: the engine builders summed it up. I had to urgently purchase thousand-horsepower Isotta-Fraschini aircraft engines, and then adapt them to work in marine conditions. Therefore, the boats were sent to Sevastopol only on February 15, 1933, and the tests dragged on until the last days of December. But the results were outstanding...

The maximum speed without load was 65.3 knots. The maximum speed in full combat load is 58 knots. Seaworthiness was higher than that of Tupolev-class boats. The hull behaves well, there is no vibration, it is stable on the course both without load and with torpedoes and in various sea conditions (tested up to four points) ... The Commission believes that this torpedo boat is the best we have both in terms of armament, and in terms of technical properties, and recommends it for serial construction ... "
Speed ​​characteristics of boats. that went in the series were more modest, since instead of two motors of 1000 v. With. there were domestic GAM-34 designs by Mikulin with a capacity of 850 hp each. With. Serial testing G-5 completed in January 1934, after which deliveries to the fleet of light torpedo boats began. During the years of the second five-year plan (1933-1937), our industry produced 137 of them, and by the beginning of World War II, out of 269 torpedo boats that were in service, the lion's share fell precisely on G-5 which were built until 1944.
During operation, these boats were continuously modernized, seaworthiness, strength, survivability and reliability increased. The methods of their combat use were also improved. If in the pre-war years torpedo boats were considered an integral part of the strike force of the fleet, designed to destroy surface warships and enemy transport ships in coastal waters, then the war posed many new tasks for boat boats. The crews of the torpedo boats carried out patrol duty, escorted transport vessels, laid active minefields in enemy waters, landed troops, fought against submarines and trawled fairways, bombarding German bottom non-contact mines with depth charges. Particularly difficult and sometimes unusual tasks were performed by the Black Sea boatmen during the Great Patriotic War. They had to escort... trains running along the Caucasian coast. They fired torpedoes at ... the coastal fortifications of Novorossiysk. And finally, German and Romanian ships and even airfields were fired with missiles.

When developing the landing operation in Novorossiysk, the brigade's torpedo boats were tasked with destroying batteries and pillboxes on the Novorossiysk pier. And on the night of September 10, 1943, 1 minute 15 seconds after the first artillery salvo of our ships, Soviet boats fired torpedoes ... "The almost simultaneous strike of seven torpedoes on the pier shook it so much," Protsenko recalled, "that small-caliber automatic flew off the tripods and the crazed Nazis fell off their feet. And the explosions of torpedoes fired under the base of the most powerful pillbox at the end of the pier destroyed it so that a heavy armor plate crushed the entire crew. The surviving Nazis did not have time to recover when our sailors fell on them - machine gunners.
No less interesting and unusual was combat use the first in the history of missile boats, which began to enter the brigade in the summer of 1943. These ships did not have torpedoes; instead, a launcher with 132-mm rockets suspended from it was installed on an elongated wheelhouse.
On the night of June 11, 1943, three missile and two torpedo boats went to Novorossiysk to suppress the enemy's four-gun and battery, which plagued our troops and ships on South Ozereyka. Covertly taking up a starting position. the boatmen waited for the pilots to drop lighting bombs, after which two torpedo boats rushed to the shore at full speed to call upon themselves the fire of enemy guns. As soon as the first shots rang out at 2:18 am, the missile boats fired a sighting salvo, I lay down at the edge of the coast, and then dozens of orange-red tails from rocket projectiles traced the sky. Columns of fire shot up to the sky on the shore, flames flared up. A few days later, a Romanian officer who surrendered said that the Katyusha shells fell with great accuracy. From their explosions, stacks of ammunition prepared for firing flew into the air. As a result, three of the four guns were put out of action and almost all the servants were killed.
On the night of August 28, four missile boats carried out a fire raid on the Anapa airfield, and three days later, the same missile carriers, while on patrol, managed to disperse nine enemy boats with the fire of their installations.

G-5 continued to serve after the war. Due to the non-magnetic case, they were used in the clearance of fields of mines with magnetic contact action.

The last operator of torpedo boats G-5 became the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which received five boats of this type from the USSR at the end of the 40s.

See also:

Previous days in Russian history:

Greetings friends on the ModelistRC website and today we will get acquainted with the novelty of the model world, the G-5 torpedo boat from merit, but first a little history:

"On September 17, 1919, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Baltic Fleet, on the basis of an inspection report of an English torpedo boat raised from the bottom in Kronstadt, turned to the Revolutionary Military Council with a request to order the urgent construction of English-type speedboats at our factories.

The issue was considered very quickly, and already on September 25, 1919, the GUK reported to the Revolutionary Military Council that "due to the lack of special-type mechanisms that have not yet been manufactured in Russia, the construction of a series of such boats is certainly not feasible at present." That was the end of the matter.

But in 1922 Bekauri's Ostekhbyuro also became interested in planing boats. At his insistence, on February 7, 1923, the Main Naval Technical and Economic Directorate of the People's Commissariat for Maritime Affairs sent a letter to TsAGI "in connection with the emerging need for the fleet in gliders, the tactical tasks of which are: coverage area 150 km, speed 100 km / h, armament one machine gun and two 45 cm Whitehead mines, length 5553 mm, weight 802 kg.

By the way, V.I. Bekauri, not really relying on TsAGI and Tupolev, secured himself and in 1924 ordered a planing torpedo boat from the French company Pikker. However, for a number of reasons, the construction of torpedo boats abroad did not take place. But Tupolev zealously set to work.

On March 6, 1927, the ANT-3 boat, later called the First-born, was sent by rail from Moscow to Sevastopol, where it was safely launched. From April 30 to July 16 of the same year, ANT-3 was tested.

On the basis of the ANT-3, the ANT-4 boat was created, which developed a speed of 47.3 knots (87.6 km / h) in tests. According to the ANT-4 type, serial production of torpedo boats, called Sh-4, was launched. They were built in Leningrad at the plant. Marty (former Admiralty Shipyard). The cost of the boat was 200 thousand rubles. The Sh-4 boats were equipped with two Wright-Typhoon gasoline engines supplied from the USA. The armament of the boat consisted of two groove-type torpedo tubes for 450-mm torpedoes of the 1912 model, one 7.62-mm machine gun and smoke-producing equipment. Total at the plant. Marty in Leningrad, 84 Sh-4 boats were built.

On June 13, 1929, Tupolev at TsAGI began the construction of a new planing duralumin boat ANT-5, armed with two 533-mm torpedoes. From April to November 1933, the boat passed factory tests in Sevastopol, and from November 22 to December - state tests. The tests of the ANT-5 literally delighted the authorities - the boat with torpedoes developed a speed of 58 knots (107.3 km / h), and without torpedoes - 65.3 knots (120.3 km / h). Boats of other countries could not even dream of such speeds.

Plant them. Marty, starting from the V series (the first four series are the Sh-4 boats), switched to the production of the G-5 (that was the name of the ANT-5 serial boats). Later, G-5 began to be built at plant No. 532 in Kerch, and with the outbreak of war, plant No. 532 was evacuated to Tyumen, and there, at plant No. 639, they also began building boats of the G-5 type. A total of 321 serial boats G-5 of nine series were built (from VI to XII, including XI-bis).

Torpedo armament for all series was the same: two 533-mm torpedoes in groove tubes. But the machine gun armament was constantly changing. So, the boats of the VI-IX series had two 7.62-mm DA machine guns each. The next series had two 7.62-mm ShKAS aircraft machine guns, which were distinguished by a higher rate of fire. Since 1941, boats have been equipped with one or two 12.7 mm DShK machine guns.

The main advantage of the G-5 boats is the speed, which is not achievable for other boats. Looking at this boat, thoughts come to mind that this is not military equipment, but a racing boat that was built to win competitions.

Let's talk about the inconveniences of using the boat for its intended purpose: poor seaworthiness (used in waves no more than 3 points), a sloping deck made it difficult for the crew to find and move outside the cockpit, dropping a torpedo at a speed of at least 17-20 knots.
But despite this, the G-5 torpedo boat deserves respect and pride in the fatherland!

A rhetorical question: why then were hundreds of gliding torpedo boats built in the USSR? It's all about the Soviet admirals, for whom the British Grand Fleet was a constant headache. They seriously thought that the British Admiralty would operate in the 1920s and 1930s in the same way as in Sevastopol in 1854 or in Alexandria in 1882. That is, British battleships in calm and clear weather will approach Kronstadt or Sevastopol, and Japanese battleships will approach Vladivostok, anchor and start a battle according to the “Gost regulations”.

And then dozens of the world's fastest torpedo boats of the Sh-4 and G-5 types will fly into the enemy armada. At the same time, some of them will be radio-controlled. The equipment for such boats was created at Ostekhbyuro under the leadership of Bekauri.

In October 1937, a large exercise was conducted using radio-controlled boats. When a formation representing an enemy squadron appeared in the western part of the Gulf of Finland, more than 50 radio-controlled boats, breaking through smoke screens, rushed from three sides to enemy ships and attacked them with torpedoes. After the exercise, the division of radio-controlled boats was highly appreciated by the command."

Let's get back to reality and start getting acquainted with the model. What can I say about the packaging? The photo is not spectacular, the size of the box is average. When opening the lid, there is excitement that hurries you to quickly see how and what is inside, because the Merit company is little known and does not have a large assortment of models. The country of manufacture is, of course, China, and here, there is a hope to see superbly made parts of the model, despite the fact that it is drawn on the box that photo-etching is present in the kit. But at the same time, the other half of you says: "What if hopes are in vain?" And only after removing the lid from the box and seeing, even for a fraction of a second, you understand this model to my liking.

Before looking at the details, I want to talk about the size of the model. The scale of the boat is 35, this gives good options for the flight of creativity. You can make a diorama where we use both the boat and military equipment. The range of armored vehicles on this scale is wide and limited almost only by your imagination) The length of the boat is 545mm. The hull of the boat consists of a bottom and a deck. Looking at the bottom of the model, you are impressed by the work done on the model. Bodywork is top notch. Let's see all the details that are included in the set:

Of course, there are not many details in the set, but their quality will please. In general, the boat is detailed quite well and does not require anything additional, only if there are cables and antennas. But the manufacture of these trifles will not complicate the modeler. Yes, I forgot to say that the set includes a stand for the assembled boat. There is NO point in comparing the dimensions of the parts with the drawings, the number of rivets on the jointing sheet. The model is very good, period. The instruction is, of course, very simple and in some places think it over yourself, but these are trifles, because. overcoming this you will receive a model of the legendary boat.
And so friends stop sitting at the computer and looking at the pictures, you need to assemble the model!

And finally, the video of unpacking the model: