Modern underwater mines. Naval ammunition. Modern sea mines

Domestic marine developments mine weapons entered the history of world wars. The arsenal of our troops included mines that had no analogues in the world before. We have collected facts about the most formidable specimens from different times.

"Sugar" threat

One of the most formidable pre-war mines created in our country is the M-26, which has a charge of 250 kilograms. An anchor mine with a mechanical impact fuse was developed in 1920. Its 1912 prototype had an explosive mass two and a half times less. Due to the increase in charge, the shape of the mine body was changed - from spherical to spherocylindrical.

The big advantage of the new development was that the mine was located horizontally on the trolley anchor: this made it easier to place. True, the short length of the minerep (the cable for attaching the mine to the anchor and holding it at a certain distance from the surface of the water) limited the use of this weapon in the Black and Sea of ​​Japan.

The 1926 model mine became the most massive of all those used by the Soviet Navy during the Great Patriotic War. By the beginning of hostilities, our country had almost 27 thousand such devices.

Another breakthrough pre-war development of domestic gunsmiths was the large ship-borne galvanic impact mine KB, which was used, among other things, as an anti-submarine weapon. For the first time in the world, safety cast-iron caps were used on it, which were automatically released in the water. They covered the galvanic impact elements (mine horns). It is curious that the caps were fixed to the body using a pin and a steel strap with a sugar fuse. Before installing the mine, the pin was removed, and then, once in place, the line also unraveled - thanks to the melting of the sugar. The weapon became military.

In 1941, the design bureau mines were equipped with a flooding valve, which allowed the device to self-flood in the event of separation from the anchor. This ensured the safety of domestic ships that were in close proximity to the defensive barriers. At the beginning of the war, it was the most advanced contact ship mine for its time. The naval arsenals had almost eight thousand such samples.

In total, more than 700 thousand different mines were placed on sea lanes during the war. They destroyed 20 percent of all ships and vessels of the warring countries.

Revolutionary breakthrough

IN post-war years domestic developers continued to fight for championship. In 1957, they created the world's first self-propelled underwater missile - the KRM pop-up rocket mine, which became the basis for the creation of a fundamentally new class of weapons - RM-1, RM-2 and PRM.

A passive-active acoustic system was used as a separator in the KRM mine: it detected and classified the target, gave the command to separate the warhead and start the jet engine. The weight of the explosive was 300 kilograms. The device could be installed at a depth of up to one hundred meters; it was not trawled by acoustic contact trawls, including bottom trawls. The launch was carried out from surface ships - destroyers and cruisers.

In 1957, the development of a new rocket-propelled mine began for deployment from both ships and aircraft, and therefore the country’s leadership decided not to produce a large number of min KRM. Its creators were nominated for the USSR State Prize. This device made a real revolution: the design of the KRM mine radically influenced further development domestic naval mine weapons and the development of ballistic and cruise missiles with underwater launch and trajectory.

No analogues

In the 60s, the Union began the creation of fundamentally new mine systems - attacking mine-missiles and mine-torpedoes. About ten years later, the PMR-1 and PMR-2 anti-submarine mine-missiles, which had no foreign analogues, were adopted into service by the navy.

Another breakthrough was the PMT-1 anti-submarine torpedo mine. It had a two-channel target detection and classification system, launched in a horizontal position from a sealed container of the warhead (anti-submarine electric torpedo), and was used at a depth of up to 600 meters. The development and testing of the new weapon took nine years: the new torpedo mine was adopted by the Navy in 1972. The development team was awarded the USSR State Prize. The creators literally became pioneers: for the first time in domestic mine engineering, they applied the modular design principle and used the electrical connection of components and equipment elements. This solved the problem of protecting explosive circuits from high frequency currents.

The groundwork obtained during the development and testing of the PMT-1 mine served as an impetus for the creation of new, more advanced models. Thus, in 1981, gunsmiths completed work on the first domestic universal anti-submarine torpedo mine. She was only slightly inferior in some tactical and technical characteristics similar to the American device "Captor", surpassing it in the depth of production. Thus, according to domestic experts, at least until the mid-70s, in service naval forces The leading world powers did not have such mines.

Universal bottom mine UDM-2, which entered service in 1978, was designed to destroy ships and submarines of all classes. The versatility of this weapon was evident in everything: it was deployed both from ships and from aircraft (military and transport), and, in the latter case, without a parachute system. If a mine landed in shallow water or land, it self-destructed. The weight of the UDM-2 charge was 1350 kilograms.

On land, mines never left the category of auxiliary, secondary weapons of tactical importance, even during their peak period, which occurred during the Second World War. At sea the situation is completely different. As soon as they appeared in the fleet, mines supplanted artillery and soon became weapons of strategic importance, often relegating other types of naval weapons to secondary roles.

Why did mines at sea become so important? It's a matter of cost and importance of each vessel. The number of warships in any fleet is limited, and the loss of even one can dramatically change the operational environment in the enemy's favor. The warship has a large firepower, a significant crew and can perform very serious tasks. For example, the sinking of just one tanker by the British in the Mediterranean deprived Rommel's tanks of the ability to move, which played a big role in the outcome of the battle for North Africa. Therefore, the explosion of one mine under a ship plays a much greater role during the war than the explosions of hundreds of mines under tanks on the ground.

"Horned Death" and others

In many people's minds, a sea mine is a large, horned, black ball attached to an anchor line underwater or floating on the waves. If a passing ship hits one of the “horns,” an explosion will occur and the next victim will go to visit Neptune. These are the most common mines - anchored galvanic impact mines. They can be installed at great depths, and they can last for decades. True, they also have a significant drawback: they are quite easy to find and destroy - trawling. A small boat (minesweeper) with a shallow draft drags behind it a trawl, which, encountering a mine cable, interrupts it, and the mine floats up, after which it is shot from a cannon.

The enormous importance of these naval guns prompted designers to develop a number of mines of other designs - which are difficult to detect and even more difficult to neutralize or destroy. One of the most interesting species such weapons are sea-bottom non-contact mines.

Such a mine lies on the bottom, so it cannot be detected or hooked with a regular trawl. For the mine to work, you don’t need to touch it at all - it reacts to the change magnetic field The ground of a ship passing over a mine, the noise of propellers, the hum of working machines, the difference in water pressure. The only way combating such mines is the use of devices (trawls) that imitate a real ship and provoke an explosion. But this is very difficult to do, especially since the fuses of such mines are designed in such a way that they are often able to distinguish ships from trawls.

In the 1920s-1930s and during World War II, such mines were most developed in Germany, which lost its entire fleet in Treaty of Versailles. Creating a new fleet is a task that requires many decades and enormous expenses, and Hitler was going to conquer the whole world with lightning speed. Therefore, the lack of ships was compensated for by mines. In this way, it was possible to sharply limit the mobility of the enemy fleet: mines dropped from aircraft locked ships in harbors, did not allow foreign ships to approach their ports, and disrupted navigation in certain areas and in certain directions. According to the Germans, by depriving England of sea supplies, it was possible to create hunger and devastation in this country and thereby make Churchill more accommodating.

Delayed Strike

One of the most interesting bottom non-contact mines was the LMB mine - Luftwaffe Mine B, developed in Germany and actively used during the Second World War by German aviation (mines installed from ships are identical to aircraft, but do not have devices that ensure delivery by air and discharge from high altitudes and on high speeds). The LMB mine was the most widespread of all German sea-bottom proximity mines installed from aircraft. It turned out to be so successful that the German navy adopted it and installed it on ships. The naval version of the mine was designated LMB/S.

German specialists began developing the LMB in 1928, and by 1934 it was ready for use, although the German Air Force did not adopt it until 1938. Outwardly resembling an aerial bomb without a tail, it was suspended from the aircraft, after being dropped, a parachute opened above it, which provided the mine with a descent speed of 5-7 m/s to prevent a strong impact on the water: the body of the mine was made of thin aluminum (later series were made of pressed waterproof cardboard), and the explosive mechanism was a complex battery-powered electrical circuit.

As soon as the mine was separated from the aircraft, the clock mechanism of the auxiliary fuse LH-ZUS Z (34) began to work, which after seven seconds brought this fuse into the firing position. 19 seconds after touching the surface of the water or ground, if by this time the mine was not at a depth of more than 4.57 m, the fuse initiated an explosion. In this way the mine was protected from overly curious enemy deminers. But if the mine reached the specified depth, a special hydrostatic mechanism stopped the clock and blocked the operation of the fuse.

At a depth of 5.18 m, another hydrostat started a clock (UES, Uhrwerkseinschalter), which began counting down the time until the mine was brought into firing position. These clocks could be set in advance (when preparing the mine) for a time from 30 minutes to 6 hours (with an accuracy of 15 minutes) or from 12 hours to 6 days (with an accuracy of 6 hours). Thus, the main explosive device was not brought into firing position immediately, but after a predetermined time, before which the mine was completely safe. Additionally, a hydrostatic non-retrievable mechanism (LiS, Lihtsicherung) could be built into the mechanism of this watch, which would explode the mine when trying to remove it from the water. After the clock had run set time, they closed the contacts, and the process of bringing the mine into firing position began.

The picture shows an LMB mine equipped with an AT-1 explosive device. The parachute compartment cover has been pulled back to reveal the tail section of the mine. The shiny plates in the tail of the mine are not the tail, but the resonator tube of the low-frequency acoustic circuit. Between them there is an eye for a parachute. On the top of the body there is a T-shaped yoke for attaching the mine to the aircraft.

Magnetic death

The most interesting thing about LMB mines is a non-contact explosive device that is triggered when an enemy ship appears in the sensitivity zone. The very first was a device from Hartmann und Braun SVK, designated M1 (aka E-Bik, SE-Bik). It responded to the distortion of the Earth’s magnetic field at a distance of up to 35 m from the mine.

The M1 response principle itself is quite simple. An ordinary compass is used as a circuit closure. One wire is connected to the magnetic needle, the second is attached, say, to the “East” mark. As soon as you bring a steel object to the compass, the arrow will deviate from the “North” position and close the circuit.

Of course, a magnetic explosive device is technically more complicated. First of all, after power is applied, it begins to tune in to the Earth’s magnetic field that is present in a given place at that time. In this case, all magnetic objects (for example, a nearby ship) that are nearby are taken into account. This process takes up to 20 minutes.

When an enemy ship appears near the mine, the explosive device will react to the distortion of the magnetic field, and... the mine will not explode. She will let the ship pass peacefully. This is a multiplicity device (ZK, Zahl Kontakt). It will simply turn the deadly contact one step. And such steps in the multiplicity device of the M1 explosive device can be from 1 to 12 - the mine will miss a given number of ships, and will explode under the next one. This is done in order to complicate the work of enemy minesweepers. After all, making a magnetic trawl is not at all difficult: a simple electromagnet on a raft towed behind a wooden boat is enough. But it is unknown how many times the trawl will have to be pulled along the suspicious fairway. And time goes by! Warships are deprived of the ability to operate in this water area. The mine has not yet exploded, but it is already fulfilling its main task of disrupting the actions of enemy ships.

Sometimes, instead of a multiplicity device, a Pausenuhr (PU) clock device was built into the mine, which periodically turned the explosive device on and off for 15 days according to a given program - for example, 3 hours on, 21 hours off or 6 hours on, 18 hours off, etc. etc. So the minesweepers only had to wait for the maximum operating time of the UES (6 days) and PU (15 days) and only then begin trawling. For a month, enemy ships could not sail where they needed to.

Beat the sound

And yet, the M1 magnetic explosive device ceased to satisfy the Germans already in 1940. The British, in a desperate struggle to free the entrances to their ports, used all new magnetic minesweepers - from the simplest to those installed on low-flying aircraft. They managed to find and defuse several LMB mines, figured out the device and learned to deceive this fuse. In response to this, in May 1940, German miners put into use a new fuse from Dr. Hell SVK - A1, reacting to the noise of the ship's propellers. And not just for noise - the device triggered if this noise had a frequency of about 200 Hz and doubled within 3.5 s. This is the kind of noise that a high-speed warship of sufficiently large displacement creates. The fuse did not react to small vessels. In addition to the devices listed above (UES, ZK, PU), the new fuse was equipped with a self-destruction device to protect against tampering (Geheimhaltereinrichtung, GE).

But the British found a witty answer. They began to install propellers on light pontoons, which rotated from the incoming flow of water and imitated the noise of a warship. The pontoon was being towed by a fast boat, the propellers of which did not respond to the mine. Soon, English engineers came up with an even better way: they began installing such propellers in the bows of the ships themselves. Of course, this reduced the speed of the ship, but the mines did not explode under the ship, but in front of it.

Kirov-class cruiser Displacement: 8,600 t // Length: 1.91 m // Width: 18 m // Speed: 35 knots // Armament: 9 180 mm guns | 8 100 mm guns | 10 37 mm guns | 12 heavy machine guns | 2 three-tube torpedo tubes | 170 min.

Then the Germans combined the M1 magnetic fuse and the A1 acoustic fuse, obtaining new model MA1. For its operation, this fuse required, in addition to distortion of the magnetic field, also noise from the propellers. The designers were also prompted to take this step by the fact that the A1 consumed too much electricity, so the batteries only lasted from 2 to 14 days. In MA1, the acoustic circuit was disconnected from the power supply in the standby position. The enemy ship was first reacted to by a magnetic circuit, which turned on the acoustic sensor. The latter closed the explosive circuit. The combat operation time of a mine equipped with MA1 has become significantly longer than that of one equipped with A1.

But the German designers did not stop there. In 1942, Elac SVK and Eumig developed the AT1 explosive device. This fuse had two acoustic circuits. The first did not differ from circuit A1, but the second responded only to low-frequency sounds (25 Hz) coming strictly from above. That is, the noise of the propellers alone was not enough to trigger the mine; the fuse resonators had to pick up the characteristic hum of the ship’s engines. These fuses began to be installed in LMB mines in 1943.

In their desire to deceive Allied minesweepers, the Germans modernized the magnetic-acoustic fuse in 1942. New sample received the name MA2. In addition to the noise of the ship’s propellers, the new product also took into account the noise of the minesweeper’s propellers or simulators. If she detected the noise of the propellers coming from two points simultaneously, then the explosive chain was blocked.

water column

At the same time, in 1942, Hasag SVK developed a very interesting fuse, designated DM1. In addition to the usual magnetic circuit, this fuse was equipped with a sensor that responded to a decrease in water pressure (only 15-25 mm of water column was enough). The fact is that when moving in shallow water (down to depths of 30−35 m), the propellers big ship“suck” water from below and throw it back. The pressure in the gap between the bottom of the ship and the seabed decreases slightly, and this is precisely what the hydrodynamic sensor responds to. Thus, the mine did not react to passing small boats, but exploded under a destroyer or larger ship.

But by this time, the Allies were no longer faced with the issue of breaking the mine blockade of the British Isles. The Germans needed many mines to protect their waters from Allied ships. On long voyages, light minesweepers of the Allies could not accompany warships. Therefore, engineers dramatically simplified the design of the AT1, creating the AT2 model. The AT2 was no longer equipped with any additional devices such as multiplicity devices (ZK), anti-extraction devices (LiS), tamper-evident devices (GE) and others.

At the very end of the war, German companies proposed AMT1 fuses for LMB mines, which had three circuits (magnetic, acoustic and low-frequency). But the war was inevitably coming to an end, the factories were subjected to powerful Allied air raids and organized industrial production AMT1 has already failed.

Naval ammunition included the following weapons: torpedoes, sea mines and depth charges. A distinctive feature of these ammunition is the environment in which they are used, i.e. hitting targets on or under water. Like most other ammunition, naval ammunition is divided into main (for hitting targets), special (for illumination, smoke, etc.) and auxiliary (training, blank, for special tests).

Torpedo- self-propelled underwater weapon, consisting of a cylindrical streamlined body with tail and propellers. The warhead of a torpedo contains an explosive charge, a detonator, fuel, an engine and control devices. The most common caliber of torpedoes (hull diameter at its widest part) is 533 mm; samples from 254 to 660 mm are known. Average length- about 7 m, weight - about 2 tons, explosive charge - 200-400 kg. They are in service with surface (torpedo boats, patrol boats, destroyers, etc.) and submarines and torpedo bomber aircraft.

Torpedoes were classified as follows:

- by type of engine: combined-cycle (liquid fuel burns in compressed air (oxygen) with the addition of water, and the resulting mixture rotates a turbine or drives a piston engine); powder (gases from slowly burning gunpowder rotate the engine shaft or turbine); electric.

— by guidance method: unguided; erect (with a magnetic compass or gyroscopic semi-compass); maneuvering according to a given program (circulating); homing passive (based on noise or changes in the properties of water in the wake).

— by purpose: anti-ship; universal; anti-submarine.

The first samples of torpedoes (Whitehead torpedoes) were used by the British in 1877. And already during the First World War, steam-gas torpedoes were used by the warring parties not only in the sea, but also on rivers. The caliber and dimensions of torpedoes tended to steadily increase as they developed. During the First World War, torpedoes of 450 mm and 533 mm caliber were standard. Already in 1924, the 550-mm steam-gas torpedo “1924V” was created in France, which became the first-born of a new generation of this type of weapon. The British and Japanese went even further, designing 609-mm oxygen torpedoes for large ships. Of these, the most famous Japanese type"93". Several models of this torpedo were developed, and on the “93” modification, model 2, the charge mass was increased to 780 kg to the detriment of range and speed.

The main “combat” characteristic of a torpedo—the explosive charge—usually not only increased quantitatively, but also improved qualitatively. Already in 1908, instead of pyroxylin, the more powerful TNT (trinitrotoluene, TNT) began to spread. In 1943, in the United States, a new explosive, “torpex,” was created specifically for torpedoes, twice as strong as TNT. Similar works were also carried out in the USSR. In general, only during the years of the Second World War the power torpedo weapons the TNT coefficient has doubled.

One of the disadvantages steam-gas torpedoes was the presence of a trace (exhaust gas bubbles) on the surface of the water, unmasking the torpedo and creating the opportunity for the attacked ship to evade it and determine the location of the attackers. To eliminate this, it was planned to equip the torpedo with an electric motor. However, before the outbreak of World War II, only Germany succeeded. In 1939, the Kriegsmarine adopted the G7e electric torpedo. In 1942, it was copied by Great Britain, but was able to establish production only after the end of the war. In 1943, the ET-80 electric torpedo was adopted for service in the USSR. However, only 16 torpedoes were used until the end of the war.

To ensure a torpedo explosion under the bottom of the ship, which caused 2-3 times more damage than an explosion at its side, Germany, the USSR and the USA developed magnetic fuses instead of contact fuses. The German TZ-2 fuses, which were put into service in the second half of the war, achieved the greatest efficiency.

During the war, Germany developed maneuvering and torpedo guidance devices. Thus, torpedoes equipped with the “FaT” system during the search for a target could move “snake” across the ship’s course, which significantly increased the chances of hitting the target. They were most often used towards a pursuing escort ship. Torpedoes with the LuT device, produced since the spring of 1944, made it possible to attack an enemy ship from any position. Such torpedoes could not only move like a snake, but also turn around to continue searching for a target. During the war, German submariners fired about 70 torpedoes equipped with LuT.

In 1943, the T-IV torpedo with acoustic homing (ASH) was created in Germany. The torpedo's homing head, consisting of two spaced hydrophones, captured the target in the 30° sector. The capture range depended on the noise level of the target ship; usually it was 300-450 m. The torpedo was created mainly for submarines, but during the war it also entered service with torpedo boats. In 1944, the modification “T-V” was released, and then “T-Va” for “schnellboats” with a range of 8000 m at a speed of 23 knots. However, the effectiveness of acoustic torpedoes turned out to be low. The overly complex guidance system (it included 11 lamps, 26 relays, 1760 contacts) was extremely unreliable - out of 640 torpedoes fired during the war, only 58 hit the target. The percentage of hits with conventional torpedoes in the German fleet was three times higher.

However, the most powerful, fastest and longest range Japanese oxygen torpedoes were propelled. Neither allies nor opponents were able to achieve even close results.

Since there were no torpedoes equipped with the maneuvering and guidance devices described above in other countries, and Germany had only 50 submarines capable of launching them, a combination of special ship or aircraft maneuvers was used to launch torpedoes to hit the target. Their totality was defined by the concept of torpedo attack.

A torpedo attack can be carried out: from a submarine against enemy submarines, surface ships and ships; surface ships against surface and underwater targets, as well as coastal torpedo launchers. The elements of a torpedo attack are: assessing the position relative to the detected enemy, identifying the main target and its protection, determining the possibility and method of a torpedo attack, approaching the target and determining the elements of its movement, choosing and occupying a firing position, firing torpedoes. The end of a torpedo attack is torpedo firing. It consists of the following: the firing data is calculated, then they are entered into the torpedo; The ship performing torpedo firing takes a calculated position and fires a salvo.

Torpedo firing can be combat or practical (training). According to the method of execution, they are divided into salvo, aimed, single torpedo, area, successive shots.

Salvo firing consists of the simultaneous release of two or more torpedoes from torpedo tubes to ensure an increased probability of hitting the target.

Targeted shooting is carried out in the presence of accurate knowledge of the elements of the target’s movement and the distance to it. It can be carried out with single torpedo shots or salvo fire.

When firing torpedoes over an area, torpedoes cover the probable area of ​​the target. This type of shooting is used to cover errors in determining the elements of target movement and distance. A distinction is made between sector firing and parallel torpedo firing. Torpedo firing over an area is carried out in one salvo or at time intervals.

Torpedo firing by sequential shots means firing in which torpedoes are fired sequentially one after another at specified time intervals to cover errors in determining the elements of the target’s movement and the distance to it.

When shooting at stationary target the torpedo is fired in the direction of the target, when firing at a moving target - at an angle to the direction of the target in the direction of its movement (with anticipation). The lead angle is determined taking into account the target's heading angle, the speed of movement and the path of the ship and torpedo before they meet at the lead point. The firing distance is limited by the maximum range of the torpedo.

In World War II, about 40 thousand torpedoes were used by submarines, aircraft and surface ships. In the USSR, out of 17.9 thousand torpedoes, 4.9 thousand were used, which sank or damaged 1004 ships. Of the 70 thousand torpedoes fired in Germany, submarines expended about 10 thousand torpedoes. US submarines used 14.7 thousand torpedoes, and torpedo-carrying aircraft 4.9 thousand. About 33% of the fired torpedoes hit the target. Of all ships and vessels sunk during the Second World War, 67% were torpedoes.

Sea mines- ammunition secretly installed in the water and designed to destroy enemy submarines, ships and vessels, as well as to impede their navigation. Basic properties of a sea mine: constant and long-lasting combat readiness, surprise of combat impact, difficulty in clearing mines. Mines could be installed in enemy waters and off their own coast. A sea mine is an explosive charge enclosed in a waterproof casing, which also contains instruments and devices that cause the mine to explode and ensure safe handling.

The first successful use of a sea mine took place in 1855 in the Baltic during Crimean War. The ships of the Anglo-French squadron were blown up by galvanic shock mines laid by Russian miners in the Gulf of Finland. These mines were installed under the surface of the water on a cable with an anchor. Later, shock mines with mechanical fuses began to be used. Sea mines were widely used during Russian-Japanese war s. During the First World War, 310 thousand sea mines were installed, from which about 400 ships sank, including 9 battleships. In World War II, proximity mines (mainly magnetic, acoustic and magnetic-acoustic) appeared. Urgency and multiplicity devices and new anti-mine devices were introduced into the design of non-contact mines.

Sea mines were installed both by surface ships (minelayers) and from submarines (via torpedo tubes, from special internal compartments/containers, from external trailer containers), or dropped by aircraft (usually into the waters of the enemy). Anti-landing mines could be installed from the shore at shallow depths.

Sea mines were divided according to the type of installation, according to the principle of operation of the fuse, according to the frequency of operation, according to controllability, and according to selectivity; by media type,

By type of installation there are:

- anchored - a hull with positive buoyancy is held at a given depth under water at an anchor using a minerep;

- bottom - installed on the bottom of the sea;

- floating - drifting with the flow, staying under water at a given depth;

- pop-up - installed on an anchor, and when triggered, it releases it and floats up vertically: freely or with the help of a motor;

- homing - electric torpedoes held underwater by an anchor or lying on the bottom.

According to the principle of operation of the fuse, they are distinguished:

— contact — exploding upon direct contact with the ship’s hull;

- galvanic impact - triggered when a ship hits a cap protruding from the mine body, which contains a glass ampoule with the electrolyte of a galvanic cell;

- antenna - triggered when the ship's hull comes into contact with a metal cable antenna (used, as a rule, to destroy submarines);

- non-contact - triggered when a ship passes at a certain distance from the influence of its magnetic field, or acoustic influence, etc. Non-contact ones are divided into: magnetic (react to the target’s magnetic fields), acoustic (react to acoustic fields), hydrodynamic (react to dynamic change in hydraulic pressure from the movement of the target), induction (react to changes in the strength of the ship’s magnetic field (the fuse is triggered only under a ship that is moving), combined (combining fuses of different types). To make it difficult to combat proximity mines, emergency devices were included in the fuze circuit, delaying the bringing of a mine into a firing position for any required period, multiplicity devices that ensure the explosion of a mine only after a specified number of impacts on the fuse, and decoy devices that cause a mine to explode when an attempt is made to disarm it.

According to the multiplicity of mines, there are: non-multiple (triggered when the target is first detected), multiple (triggered after a specified number of detections).

According to controllability, they are distinguished: uncontrollable and controlled from the shore by wire or from a passing ship (usually acoustically).

Based on selectivity, mines were divided into: conventional (hit any detected target) and selective (capable of recognizing and hitting targets of given characteristics).

Depending on their carriers, mines are divided into ship mines (dropped from the deck of ships), boat mines (fired from torpedo tubes of a submarine) and aviation mines (dropped from an airplane).

When laying sea mines, there were special ways to install them. So under mine jar meant an element of a minefield consisting of several mines placed in a cluster. Determined by the coordinates (point) of the production. 2, 3 and 4 min cans are typical. Banks bigger size rarely used. Typical for deployment by submarines or surface ships. Mine line- an element of a minefield consisting of several mines laid linearly. Determined by the coordinates (point) of the beginning and direction. Typical for deployment by submarines or surface ships. Mine strip- an element of a minefield consisting of several mines placed randomly from a moving carrier. Unlike mine cans and lines, it is characterized not by coordinates, but by width and direction. Typical for deployment by aircraft, where it is impossible to predict the point at which the mine will land. The combination of mine banks, mine lines, mine strips and individual mines creates a minefield in the area.

Naval mines were one of the most effective weapons during World War II. The cost of producing and installing a mine ranged from 0.5 to 10 percent of the cost of neutralizing or removing it. Mines could be used both as an offensive weapon (mining enemy fairways) and as a defensive weapon (mining one’s own fairways and installing anti-landing mines). How were they used? psychological weapon– the very fact of the presence of mines in the shipping area has already caused damage to the enemy, forcing them to bypass the area or carry out long-term, expensive mine clearance.

During World War II, more than 600 thousand mines were installed. Of these, Great Britain dropped 48 thousand by air into enemy waters, and 20 thousand were dropped from ships and submarines. Britain laid 170 thousand mines to protect its waters. Japanese aircraft dropped 25 thousand mines in foreign waters. Of the 49 thousand mines installed, the United States dropped 12 thousand off the coast of Japan alone aircraft mines. Germany deposited 28.1 thousand mines in the Baltic Sea, the USSR and Finland – 11.8 thousand mines each, Sweden – 4.5 thousand. During the war, Italy produced 54.5 thousand mines.

The Gulf of Finland was the most heavily mined during the war, in which the warring parties laid more than 60 thousand mines. It took almost 4 years to neutralize them.

Depth charge- one of the types of weapons of the Navy, designed to combat submerged submarines. It was a projectile with a strong explosive, enclosed in a metal case of cylindrical, spherocylindrical, drop-shaped or other shape. A depth charge explosion destroys the hull of a submarine and leads to its destruction or damage. The explosion is caused by a fuse, which can be triggered: when a bomb hits the hull of a submarine; at a given depth; when a bomb passes at a distance from a submarine not exceeding the radius of action of a proximity fuse. A stable position of a spherocylindrical and drop-shaped depth charge when moving along a trajectory is given by the tail unit - the stabilizer. Depth charges were divided into aircraft and shipborne ones; the latter are used by launching jet depth charges with launchers, firing from single-barrel or multi-barrel bomb launchers and dropping from stern bomb releasers.

The first sample of a depth charge was created in 1914 and, after testing, entered service with the British navy. Depth charges found widespread use in the First World War and remained the most important type of anti-submarine weapon in the Second.

The operating principle of a depth charge is based on the practical incompressibility of water. A bomb explosion destroys or damages the hull of a submarine at depth. In this case, the energy of the explosion, instantly increasing to a maximum in the center, is transferred to the target by the surrounding water masses, through them destructively affecting the attacked military object. Due to the high density of the medium, the blast wave along its path does not significantly lose its initial power, but with increasing distance to the target, the energy is distributed over a larger area, and accordingly, the damage radius is limited. Depth charges are distinguished by their low accuracy - sometimes about a hundred bombs were required to destroy a submarine.

The enemy, as well as to impede their navigation.

Description

Sea mines are actively used as offensive or defensive weapons in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, this is facilitated by their constant and long-term combat readiness, the surprise of combat impact, and the difficulty of clearing mines. Mines can be laid in enemy waters and minefields off one's own coast. Offensive mines are placed in enemy waters, primarily through important shipping routes, with the goal of destroying both merchant and warships. Defensive minefields protecting key areas of the coast from enemy ships and submarines, forcing them into more easily defended areas, or keeping them away from sensitive... M. m. is an explosive charge enclosed in a waterproof casing, which also houses instruments and devices, causing a mine to explode and ensuring safe handling.

Story

The forerunner of sea mines was first described by a Chinese artillery officer. initial period Ming Empire Jiao Yu in a military treatise of the 14th century called Huolongjing. Chinese chronicles also talk about the use of explosives in the 16th century to fight against Japanese pirates (wokou). Sea mines were placed in wooden box, sealed with putty. General Qi Juguang made several of these delayed-detonation drift mines to harass Japanese pirate ships. Sut Yingxing's treatise Tiangong Kaiu (Use of Natural Phenomena) of 1637 describes sea mines with a long cord stretched to a hidden ambush located on the shore. By pulling the cord, the ambush man activated a steel wheel lock with flint to produce a spark and ignite the sea mine fuse. "Infernal Machine" on the Potomac River in 1861 during Civil War in the USA, sketch by Alfred Waud English mine cart

The first project for the use of sea mines in the West was made by Ralph Rabbards; he presented his developments to Queen Elizabeth of England in 1574. The Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel, who worked in artillery department English King Charles I, was engaged in the development of weapons, including “floating firecrackers”, which showed their unsuitability. The British apparently tried to use this type of weapon during the siege of La Rochelle in 1627.

American David Bushnell invented the first practical sea mine for use against Great Britain during American war for independence. It was a sealed barrel of gunpowder that floated towards the enemy, and its impact lock exploded upon collision with the ship.

In 1812, Russian engineer Pavel Schilling developed an electric underwater mine fuse. In 1854, during an unsuccessful attempt by the Anglo-French fleet to capture the Kronstadt fortress, several British steamships were damaged by the underwater explosion of Russian naval mines. More than 1500 sea mines or " hellish machines", developed by Jacobi, were installed by Russian naval specialists in the Gulf of Finland during the Crimean War. Jacobi created a sea anchor mine, which had its own buoyancy (due to the air chamber in its body), a galvanic shock mine, introduced training special units galvanizers for the fleet and sapper battalions.

According to official data from the Russian Navy, the first successful use of a sea mine took place in June 1855 in the Baltic during the Crimean War. The ships of the Anglo-French squadron were blown up by mines laid by Russian miners in the Gulf of Finland. Western sources cite earlier cases - 1803 and even 1776. Their success, however, has not been confirmed.

Sea mines were widely used during the Crimean and Russian-Japanese wars. During the First World War, 310 thousand sea mines were installed, from which about 400 ships sank, including 9 battleships. Carriers of sea mines

Sea mines can be installed both by surface ships (vessels) (mine layers), and from submarines (through torpedo tubes, from special internal compartments/containers, from external trailed containers), or dropped by aircraft. Anti-landing mines can also be installed from the shore at shallow depths. Destruction of sea mines Main articles: Minesweeper, Combat minesweeping

To combat sea mines, all available means, both special and improvised, are used.

The classic means are minesweepers. They can use contact and non-contact trawls, mine search devices or other means. A contact-type trawl cuts the mine, and the mines that float to the surface are shot with firearms. To protect minefields from being swept by contact trawls, a mine protector is used. Non-contact trawls create physical fields that trigger fuses.

In addition to specially built minesweepers, converted ships and vessels are used.

Since the 40s, aviation can be used as minesweepers, including helicopters since the 70s.

Demolition charges destroy the mine where it is placed. They can be installed by search engines, combat swimmers, improvised means, and less often by aviation.

Minebreakers - a kind of kamikaze ships - trigger mines with their own presence. Classification Small anchor ship galvanic impact mine, model 1943. KPM mine (ship, contact, anti-landing). Bottom mine in the KDVO Museum (Khabarovsk)

Kinds

Sea mines are divided into:

By installation type:

• Anchor- the hull, which has positive buoyancy, is held at a given depth under water at an anchor using a minerep;
• Bottom- installed on the seabed;
• Floating- drifting with the current, staying underwater at a given depth
• Pop-up- installed on an anchor, and when triggered, release it and float up vertically: freely or with the help of a motor
• Homing- electric torpedoes held underwater by an anchor or lying on the bottom.

According to the principle of operation of the fuse:

• Contact mines- exploding upon direct contact with the ship’s hull;
• Galvanic shock- triggered when a ship hits a cap protruding from the mine body, which contains a glass ampoule with the electrolyte of a galvanic cell
• Antenna- triggered when the ship’s hull comes into contact with a metal cable antenna (usually used to destroy submarines)
• Non-contact- triggered when a ship passes at a certain distance from the influence of its magnetic field, or acoustic influence, etc.; including non-contact ones are divided into:
• Magnetic- react to target magnetic fields
• Acoustic- respond to acoustic fields
• Hydrodynamic- react to dynamic changes in hydraulic pressure from the target’s movement
• Induction- react to changes in the strength of the ship’s magnetic field (the fuse is triggered only under a ship underway)
• Combined- combining fuses of different types

By multiplicity:

• Multiple- triggered when a target is first detected
• Multiples- triggered after a specified number of detections

In terms of controllability:

• Uncontrollable
• Managed from shore by wire; or from a passing ship (usually acoustically)

By selectivity:

• Regular- hit any detected targets
• Electoral- capable of recognizing and hitting targets of specified characteristics

By charge type:

• Regular- TNT or similar explosives
• Special- nuclear charge

Sea mines are being improved in the areas of increasing the power of charges, creating new types of proximity fuses and increasing resistance to minesweeping.

A sea mine is one of the most dangerous, insidious types of naval ammunition, which is designed to destroy enemy watercraft. They are hidden in the water. A sea mine is a powerful explosive charge placed in a waterproof casing.

Classification

Mines installed in the waters were divided according to the method of installation, according to the operation of the fuse, according to the frequency of occurrence, according to the method of control, and according to selectivity.

According to the installation method, there are anchor, bottom, floating-drifting at a certain depth, homing torpedo type, pop-up.

According to the method of triggering the fuse, ammunition is divided into contact, electrolyte-impact, antenna-contact, non-contact acoustic, non-contact magnetic, non-contact hydrodynamic, non-contact induction and combined.

Depending on the frequency, mines can be multiple or multiple, that is, the detonator is triggered after a single impact on it or a set number of times.

Based on controllability, ammunition is divided into guided or unguided.

The main installers of sea minefields are boats and surface ships. But mine traps are often set by submarines. In urgent and exceptional cases, minefields are also made by aviation.

First confirmed information about anti-ship mines

At different times in coastal countries leading certain fighting, the first simple means of anti-ship warfare were invented. The first chronicle mentions of sea mines are found in the archives of China in the fourteenth century. It was a simple tarred wooden box containing an explosive and a slow burning fuse. Mines were launched along the water flow towards Japanese ships.

It is believed that the first sea mine, which effectively destroys the hull of a warship, was designed in 1777 by the American Bushnell. These were barrels filled with gunpowder with impact fuses. One such mine struck a British ship off Philadelphia and completely destroyed it.

First Russian developments

Engineers and nationals took direct part in improving existing models of sea mines Russian Empire, P. L. Schilling and B. S. Jacobi. The first invented electric fuses for them, and the second developed the actual mines of a new design and special anchors for them.

The first Russian ground mine based on gunpowder was tested in the Kronstadt area in 1807. It was developed by the cadet school teacher I. I. Fitzum. Well, in 1812, P. Schilling was the first in the world to test mines with a non-contact electric fuse. The mines were powered by electricity supplied to the detonator by an insulated cable that was laid along the bottom of the reservoir.

During the war of 1854-1855, when Russia repelled the aggression of England, France and Turkey, more than a thousand mines of Boris Semenovich Jacobi were used to block the Gulf of Finland from the English fleet. After several warships were blown up on them, the British stopped their attempt to storm Kronstadt.

At the turn of the century

TO end of the 19th century century, the sea mine has already become a reliable device for destroying the armored hulls of warships. And many states began to produce them in industrial scale. The first mass installation of minefields was carried out in China in 1900 on the Haife River, during the Yihetuan Uprising, better known as the Boxer Uprising.

The first mine war between states also took place on the seas of the Far Eastern region in 1904-1905. Then Russia and Japan massively laid minefields on strategically important sea lanes.

Anchor mine

The most widespread in the Far Eastern theater of operations was the sea mine with an anchor lock. It was kept submerged by a mine rope attached to an anchor. The immersion depth was initially adjusted manually.

In the same year, Lieutenant of the Russian Navy Nikolai Azarov, on the instructions of Admiral S. O. Makarov, developed a design for automatically immersing a sea mine to a given depth. I attached a winch with a stopper to the ammunition. When the heavy anchor reached the bottom, the tension of the cable (minrep) weakened and the stopper on the winch was activated.

The Far Eastern experience of mine warfare was adopted European states and was widely used during the First World War. Germany has achieved the greatest success in this matter. German sea mines closed the Russian imperial fleet in the Gulf of Finland. Breaking this blockade cost Baltic Fleet big losses. But the sailors of the Entente, especially Great Britain, constantly set mine ambushes, closing the exits of German ships from the North Sea.

World War II naval mines

Minefields during the Second World War turned out to be very effective and therefore very popular means of destruction. marine technology enemy. More than a million mines were laid across the sea. During the war years, more than eight thousand ships and transport vessels were blown up and sank there. Thousands of ships received various damages.

Sea mines were laid in different ways: a single mine, mine banks, mine lines, and a mine strip. The first three methods of mining were carried out by surface ships and submarines. And planes were used only to create a mine strip. The combination of individual mines, cans, lines and mine stripes creates a minefield area.

Nazi Germany thoroughly prepared to wage war on the seas. Mines of various modifications and models were stored in the arsenals of naval bases. And German engineers took the lead in the design and production of revolutionary types of sea mine detonators. They developed a fuse that was triggered not by contact with the ship, but by fluctuations in the Earth's magnitude near the steel hull of the ship. The Germans dotted all the approaches to the shores of England with them.

Back to top great war in the sea, the Soviet Union was armed with mines that were not as technologically diverse as Germany, but no less effective. Only two types of mine anchors were stored in the arsenals. This is the "KB-1", adopted into service in 1931, and the antenna deep sea mine"AG", mainly used against submarines. The entire arsenal was intended for mass mining.

Technical means of combating mines

As the sea mine improved, methods were developed to neutralize this threat. Trawling sea areas is considered the most classic. During the Great Patriotic War, the USSR widely used minesweepers to break the mine blockade in the Baltic. This is the cheapest, least labor-intensive, but also the most dangerous method of clearing mines from shipping areas. Minesweeper it is a kind of sea mine catcher. At a certain depth, he drags behind him a trawl with a device for cutting cables. When the cable holding a sea mine at a certain depth is cut, the mine floats. Then it is destroyed by all available means.