The Russian Satellite News Agency reported that the information department of the Central Design Bureau of the Russian "Ruby" Marine Machinery recently told the media that the design bureau has developed an improved export version on the basis of the "Guardian" submarine patrol boat, which is characterized by the integration of the advantages of submarines and surface ships. Prior to this, in April last year, Russia's "Ruby" Design Bureau announced a plan to build a small submarine patrol boat.
At that time, it was said that the submarine patrol boat named "Guardian" would have a flat deck design, with a raised building similar to a bridge above it, and the sides of the hull would not only be equipped with a retractable horizontal rudder, but also a watertight cabin on the stern that could accommodate motorboats; the "Guardian" had a displacement of about 1,000 tons, a crew of 42 people, and the main weapons were guns, torpedoes and missiles.
To borrow the words of the representative of the Russian "Ruby" Design Bureau, this time the improved "Guardian" they launched should be last year's enlarged version, which is about 72 meters long and has a displacement of about 1300 tons, which is mainly because this design can provide conditions for the launch of a more powerful upgraded version of the Russian military industry in the later stage.
Not only that, it is said that the improved export version of the "Guardian" submarine patrol boat, on the one hand, it is equipped with a more powerful engine, so that the boat can reach a maximum speed of 21 knots; on the other hand, the performance and weapon configuration of this version of the submarine patrol boat can also be customized according to customer requirements. For example, at a speed of 10 knots, the maximum range of the boat is about 4,000 nautical miles; the weapon is configured with a small-caliber naval gun and two guided missile launchers, and can carry four 324 mm torpedoes.
However, on this basis, the Russian military industry can also improve its range and adjust its weapon configuration according to the needs of customers. In other words, the current Russian military industry has built the "guardian" with a displacement of about 1300 tons into a basic unit that can be continuously modularly upgraded.
In the later stage, its functions and functions can be adjusted at any time according to the needs of customers, such as both civilian search and rescue, but also police patrols, and even as the representative of the Russian "Ruby" Design Bureau said, in the case of the "Guardian" submarine patrol boat is fully armed, even in the face of a larger displacement surface ship, it will be a very dangerous opponent! In summary, it can be seen that the Russian "Ruby" Design Bureau has a good idea of building a small submarine patrol boat, and if the boat can have the advantages of both submarines and surface ships, it should theoretically be regarded as an "epoch-making" advanced equipment.
The problem, though, is that this kind of equipment that functions as both submarines and surface ships has been around since World War II. For example, at that time, the French cruiser "Skuf" was equipped with two 203 mm caliber naval guns, which could not only dive into combat, but also float up and launch a confrontation with surface ships, just like a device that could perform submarine attack and surface combat tasks at the same time.
In addition, there are British T-class, German I, IX and X submarines, basically as long as they are developed in the early stage of World War II, almost all of them are equipped with deck guns, and even some can carry fighters, such as the Japanese I-400 submarine ship. It can be seen from this that from the beginning of the birth of submarine equipment, it is itself a naval equipment with both submarine and surface ship characteristics, and the current Russian "submarine patrol boat" has regained this concept, just like a "return to the ancestor phenomenon".
In other words, whether or not the Russian "Guardian" submarine is practical, its concept is neither novel nor innovative nor epoch-making. Objectively speaking, in the early days of World War II, when anti-submarine technology was relatively backward, and even through visual search for submarines, any naval equipment that could sneak and carry out attacks would definitely cause great trouble to the enemy, which was the main reason why German submarines could dominate the Atlantic Ocean at that time.
Of the nearly 6,000 merchant ships destroyed by German submarines, for example, many of them were masterpieces of their 88 or 105 mm deck guns. That is to say, in the face of no resistance to merchant ships, the German submarine in World War II was basically a surface ship with naval guns; when it encountered an enemy warship, it would immediately dive down and transform into an underwater equipment with great stealth hunting ability.
Of course, with the advancement of Allied anti-submarine technology in the later period, these German submarines equipped with deck guns gradually became relatively "backward" equipment, which was the main reason why the Allies could sink more than 40 German submarines in a month in the late World War II, so that the latter began to develop Type 21 submarines around 1943. The biggest feature of the German Type 21 submarine is that it pays more attention to the anti-submarine (silent and deep dive, etc.) design, so it is also called the world's first real "submarine" boat, but it is interesting that the Type 21 submarine did not eliminate the deck gun in the end.
In addition, it is said that after the end of World War II, because the Soviet side obtained the design drawings of the German Type 21 submarine, the famous Type 613 submarine was developed on the basis of it. The initial model of the Type 613 submarine still follows the deck gun design of the German Type 21 submarine.
This is also the main reason why the Soviet Type 613 submarines retained their turrets on the basis of removing deck guns in order to improve their concealment. In summary, the early submarine itself belongs to a naval equipment that can both surface and underwater combat, and the current Russian "guardian" submarine patrol boat is actually not only following the concept, but also has a kind of "dead wood spring" meaning.
That is, the "guardian" can perform both surface attack missions and sneak underwater to launch attacks, both of which look very advanced and practical, but in fact it is a typical "chicken rib" equipment. The reason is very simple, having the characteristics of both submarines and surface ships does not mean that it can have the combat advantages of submarines and surface ships at the same time, such as the mute, submersible depth, detection, endurance and self-sustaining indicators of an excellent submarine.
There are also indicators of speed, perception, attack and defense that excellent surface ships have. If you look at these indicators, this "Guardian" submarine submarine launched by Russia is basically nowhere to be seen! For example, as a submarine equipment, the performance of the "Guardian" submarine patrol boat can not be compared with the professional submarine; on the contrary, as a surface ship equipment, the "Guardian" submarine patrol boat is actually inferior to the general missile boat in terms of speed, defense and attack power.
Of course, in the face of some ships that do not have anti-submarine capabilities and unarmed ships, the Russian "guardians" can indeed have a certain combat advantage, which is probably the main reason why the Russian side calls them "patrol boats". Because as far as the actual combat use is concerned, I am afraid that we can only carry out some tasks that are "high or not low."