The Cold War era was the most rapid period in human history in which military equipment developed. Because both major military groups strive to overpower each other in terms of equipment level, the weapons and equipment of this period are not only updated quickly, but also the technical indicators are also rising, resulting in the emergence of many huge pieces of equipment that are still breathtaking. However, the huge size does not mean that the life is long, in this era of continuous fast technology, there are many "giants" who have not been able to survive to the end, and even some have only served for a few years and have been "delisted" early. Although almost none of these devices have shined in actual combat, they still occupy a place in the history of weapons development, and their names should not be completely forgotten.
Type 941 strategic nuclear submarine
The name "Type 941 Strategic Nuclear Submarine" is a little unfamiliar to many people, but when it comes to its other name, "Typhoon" class nuclear submarine, it must be like thunder. As the world's largest nuclear submarine so far, the Type 941 has an underwater displacement of 48,000 tons and has 20 submarine-launched ballistic missile launch tubes, which can be said to be not only huge in size but also very capable in combat.
The first Type 941 vessel, the Dmitry Donskoy, entered service in December 1981 and served a total of six ships by December 1989. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union prevented this underwater behemoth from continuing its glory, and by 2013 all but the other boats had been decommissioned, and the shortest-serving TK-202 had even been dismantled after only 16 years of service, which was an absolute "short life" among strategic nuclear submarines, and failed to complete the target of the Type 941 to replace the previous 667BDR ("Delta" III) strategic nuclear submarine, "Dmitry Donskoy" The single seedling also stopped the strategic duty task early and turned to the test launch of the "Bulava" submarine-launched strategic missile and some technical research tasks, which is equivalent to making the veteran "retreat to the second line.".
At present, the Russian Navy plans to put the Dmitry Donskoy into service until 2023, which shows that the world's largest submarine is not far away from disappearing completely.
SC.5 "Belfast" transport aircraft
When it comes to large turboprop transport aircraft, many people's first reaction is of course the An-22, which has a take-off weight comparable to that of the C-17, and some people will think of the once strong A400M. However, turboprop transport aircraft with a takeoff weight of more than 100 tons have actually appeared as early as the 1950s - as early as 1956, the United States Douglas Company delivered the first mass-produced C-133 to the US Air Force, and the maximum take-off weight of this transport aircraft reached 124 tons.
At the same time, at the other end of the Atlantic, the British Short Aircraft Company also began to design the SC.5 "Belfast" transport aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 102 tons, which was very close to the A400M in terms of main performance indicators that were exactly forty years later than it, and there was no lack of remarkable points in the design - the aircraft was the first to use a fully automatic instrument landing system in the transport aircraft, so its level of automation was among the highest among the transport aircraft of the same period. From the design point of view, the "Belfast" did not have any problems, but because the aircraft entered service at the time of the Labor government, which was trying to "save money" on military expenditures, the result was that the aircraft was not only produced for 10 and forced to stop production, but also retired in service only in 1976, which was even three years earlier than the full retirement of the C-133, which began to be equipped eight years before the "Belfast" service.
M103 heavy tank
At the Berlin military parade on May 9, 1945, the Soviet Union displayed the IS-3 heavy tanks that made the West look like a man. This new type of fighting vehicle, which was completely a generation ahead of the heavy tanks in service in western countries at that time, although it did not show its great strength in World War II, its thick armor and 122 mm main gun showed its great strength. Not only that, but in 1948 the Soviet Union was equipped with the more superior PERFORMANCE IS-4 heavy tank, which undoubtedly greatly stimulated the nerves of the West. In response, the U.S. Army was equipped with the M103 heavy tank developed by Chrysler. Although the M103 is 3 tons lighter than the IS-4 in weight, it is even more than that - the IS-4 main gun is about 9.8 meters long and 2.48 meters high, and the M103 main gun is about 11.4 meters long and 2.93 meters high, even today such a huge tank is very rare. However, "big" is not necessarily "good", although the car was placed high hopes by the U.S. Army and deployed to West Germany at the forefront of the Cold War after being installed in 1956, but because of its design problems, it had to return to the factory for upgrades, and after the upgrade, the U.S. Army simply dumped these faulty M103s to the U.S. Marine Corps. However, the U.S. Marine Corps also did not want to see the M103, and by 1973 it was all retired. The short 17-year service time is too short compared to other armored vehicles developed by the United States during the Cold War.
Mia-4 heavy bomber
When it comes to heavy bombers in the 1950s, many people's first reaction must be the "living fossils" of the B-52 and Tu-95, which have been in service to this day, but the heavy bombers of the same period are not only these two. At the same time that the Tupolev Design Bureau designed the Tu-95, the Miassisshev Design Bureau, another large Aircraft design agency in the Soviet Union, was also designing heavy bombers, and it used the mainstream turbojet engine power of the time, and the result of the design was the Mia-4 "Bison". The maximum take-off weight of the Mia-4 is 140 tons, the maximum ammunition load is 20 tons, and although the maximum take-off weight is lighter than that of the Tu-95, the bomb load is superior. However, in terms of range indicators that are crucial for heavy bombers, the Mia-4 did not reach a range of 10,000 kilometers even when it was not on load, which made it difficult for the aircraft to complete intercontinental strike missions. Although the Miassishev Design Bureau later introduced an improved Miya-4B with a range of 13,000 km, the Tu-95 was already in mass production by this time, and the Soviet Union had little demand for a bomber with little essential difference in combat capability. By the time the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty in the 1980s, the Mia-4 had been decommissioned because of its strategic nuclear weapons carrier status, and although its service life of more than thirty years was not short, it was only worth mentioning compared with the B-52 and Tu-95.
R-7 intercontinental missile
Many people are impressed by the Soviet V-3 missile in the "Red Alert" series, and this missile does have a prototype in reality, and it is not small, it is the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 (NATO SS-6). The R-7 is a veritable "Titan" class in ballistic missiles, with a total length of 32.5 meters and a launch weight of 280 tons, compared with the current R-36, the main projectile of the Russian Strategic Rocket Force, although similar in length to the R-7, but the launch weight is only 211 tons.
In August 1957, the R-7 was successfully tested, and the last test was conducted in June 1960. As the world's first intercontinental missile, the performance of the R-7 is not outstanding, its maximum range is only 9500 kilometers, the warhead weight is 1.8 tons, the hit accuracy can only reach 2 kilometers of circular probability error, and the launch preparation time is long, which can be said to be "large but not refined" by the current standards. Only four R-7s were produced, and the actual service was its improved R-7A, but even the R-7A was completely obsolete by 1967. In other words, the R-7 series of ICBMs has only been in the past decade since the first successful test launch to the complete retirement, which is of course the reason why the performance and reliability of the R-7 as the first generation of INTERCONTINENTAL missiles are not satisfactory, but it is not difficult to see the speed of renewal of strategic weapons in the Era of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
"Alaska" class heavy cruiser
Strictly speaking, the "Alaska" class, designed before World War II, served at the end of World War II, and decommissioned at the beginning of the Cold War, cannot be regarded as a Cold War era weaponry in the strict sense, but the ship was even sealed during the Cold War for much longer than the pre-Cold War service time, so it is an "alternative" cold battleship ship.
The Alaska class was designed to protect the carrier from German battlecruisers and Japanese heavy cruisers, so both firepower and protection design metrics surpassed those of the same period of heavy cruisers. With a full load displacement of more than 33,000 tons and three triple 305 mm guns, the Alaska class is not so much a heavy cruiser as a "scaled-down battleship." In June 1944, the heavy cruiser Alaska entered service, and three months later its sister ship GUAM, which performed air defense and ground fire support missions brilliantly during the brief period of World War II.
However, since the U.S. Navy did not need such a huge cruiser after the war, the two Alaska-class ships were decommissioned in February 1947, just two and a half years after the two ships entered service. However, although the "Alaska" class was decommissioned very early, its length of storage was among the highest among the retired ships of the U.S. Navy, and the two "Alaska" classes were not removed from the U.S. Navy's sealed ships until 1960, which shows that even in the Cold War era, the U.S. Navy still hoped that someone would keep the "cannon giant ship" fire.
Mir orbital space station
The Soviet Union was very keen on the development of the orbital space station during the Cold War era, and the first third-generation orbital space station , Mir , was the culmination of its technology. As early as 1976, the "Mir" was officially planned for construction, and the core module was successfully launched on March 20, 1986. However, while Mir now appears to have been built very early, and even somewhat "ancient", few have noticed it.
It was not until 23 April 1996 that the last module of Mir was launched, in other words, it was not until April 1996 that Mir was fully constructed, less than five years after Mir ceased to be used and destroyed — on 23 March 2001, Mir fell into the atmosphere and disintegrated in combustion, leaving the remains in the South Pacific. Even with the main module launched into orbit in 1986, Mir has only been in service for 15 years, compared with the International Space Station (ISS) that it wants to enter at its level for 23 years. It has to be said that if the "Peace" can continue to serve for several years, it will certainly play a greater role in human space science research.