The events of recent years have clearly shown that the state without fail requires a powerful fleet that can perform various tasks. Unfortunately, the collapse of the USSR and subsequent events seriously undermined the defense capabilities of the Russian Navy. However, recently the government pays a lot of attention to this problem, new ships are constantly being put into operation. These also include the Ivan Gren, a large landing ship.
Today, the Zubr and Murena projects are widely known, which to this day continue to be built for foreign customers. Today, domestic industry has a larger task - to saturate its fleet with amphibious assault ships, which significantly exceed the size of the projects mentioned above. However, the Navy of the USSR had such. The task is to modernize them and bring them to the requirements of modern warfare at sea.
The situation
Today, the fleet includes vessels related to projects 1171 and 775. They were designed with the aim of possible transfer of up to one battalion of marines with heavy armored vehicles, artillery and other weapons attached to it. The first ships of this class were designed in Leningrad, the general designer was I.I. Kuzmin. Some of them were built at the Yantar Kaliningrad plant, while others were built at Polish shipyards. This happened in the period from 1974 to 1990. Subsequently, the leading design bureaus of the Central Design Bureau were reassigned, but the ships themselves remained practically unchanged from this.
General characteristics of projects
The ships of the project 1171 were characterized by a total displacement of 4,000 tons; with their help, landing could be carried out for up to 313 people, fully armed. It was assumed that vessels at the same time can carry up to seven medium or more than twenty light tanks. In 1966-1975, the Navy of the USSR received 14 such vessels, with the Voronezh Komsomolets leading. Ships during this time were upgraded up to four times (during construction and design). Project 775 assumed almost the same characteristics in terms of capacity and carrying capacity, but these ships were noticeably better armed. A total of 24 were built.
To date, the Navy has about 20 ships of projects 1171 and 775, the latter more. Fortunately, even with the collapse of the Union, the fleet was able to save almost all of them. Of course, their youth is not increasing, the resource is gradually running out, and therefore the country needs to build new ships of this class. It is reported that it is Ivan Gren who will gradually replace his predecessors.
The situation in NATO countries
It is important to note that in NATO the situation with landing craft is somewhat different. Both the USA and the EU countries strive to have as many multifunctional ships as possible in their fleets, which can fulfill not only the tasks of landing manpower and military equipment. Despite the high cost of such projects, they succeed. The Americans have succeeded especially in this: even if we build the BDK at an accelerated pace, we will not be able to reach their level in the next two decades.
They have new military equipment going into the fleet in a stormy stream. In principle, such a passion for landing craft is understandable, since the transfer of large quantities of manpower is much cheaper if carried out by sea. Given the aggressiveness of American foreign policy, it could not be otherwise.
The first domestic landing ship in the new century
The new ship, which should begin to restore the landing capabilities of the Russian fleet, received the name "Ivan Gren." This name was chosen for a reason, because the ship is named after a talented gunner and scientist. Until 1941, Gren led the Marine Research Institute. He began his service before the Revolution, in the Imperial Navy. He participated in tests and field studies of almost all systems that were developed at that time. With the beginning of World War II, he began to manage the artillery of the entire Baltic Fleet. He proved himself to be a great strategist and master of counter-battery shooting.
Information about the development of "Grenov"
The very first "Ivan Gren" is supposed to be the lead ship of the entire project 11711. As for its development, it is carried out all the same in St. Petersburg. The general designer is A. Viglin, V.N.Suvorov was appointed the chief designer of the vessels of this series.
Unlike previous ships of Project 1171, all the requirements and real experience of all recent years were taken into account here. Therefore, the Ivan Gren BDK can be used with equal success not only for the military, but also for peace operations. So, it is supposed that this class of vessels can be used for transportation of large volumes of cargo, including those entering river channels. BDK "Ivan Gren" is capable of transporting all modern military equipment of the Russian Federation, since during its development and construction not only the requirements of the Marine Corps, but also of the conventional ground forces were taken into account.
Improving the living and working conditions of the crew
Particular attention was paid to creating the most comfortable conditions for the life and work of the crew. There is even a large training complex designed to maintain sailors and officers in good physical shape. In addition, it is in the ships of this series that a special method of landing will be provided. Recall that in standard BDKs manufactured by the USSR, a nose ramp is provided that allows "release" from the womb of the ship up to three light amphibious tanks simultaneously directly into the sea, provided the excitement is not more than three points.
The same ramp was used for shore unloading. The slope of the coast is extremely important. If the terrain was disturbed, the old Navy ships could "land" equipment only by swimming. But this applies only to light, amphibious tanks. All the heavier cars remain on the ship. The non-contact method used in this case involves the guidance of a light pontoon ferry: such a technology is traditionally used only by ground forces.
Several pontoons that extend instead of the ramp allow you to quickly create a reliable bridge over which even relatively heavy armored vehicles will pass. This method has been used for quite some time in foreign armies, since it can significantly expand the combat capabilities of landing ships.
Important design changes and additions
Another important innovation is the constructive ability to transport standard sea containers (up to 20 tons). Even better, by virtue of its non-contact method of landing, a ship can deliver these cargoes even to a coast completely unsuitable for this. Ordinary transport ships did not even dream of this. The total mass of the transported cargo is up to 1500 tons. To simplify the loading / unloading procedure, a crane with a lifting capacity of up to 16 tons is installed on the ship.
Today they talk about the possibility of creating a "complete" amphibious boat, which will be stored in the internal hangar of Project 11711E ships. He can not only accompany the ship, but also perform independent tasks. Surely such an opportunity will especially attract rescuers, engineers, geologists.
Need for ships
How much will the Ivan Gren project be in demand? The need is already such that the manufacturer is loaded with orders for many years to come. When the laying of the first ship of the project was made, almost all the first persons of the state, as well as the leadership of all those enterprises that will ensure production, were present at this event.
According to the manufacturers themselves, the vessels of Project 11711 Ivan Gren, while maintaining the current geopolitical situation, are urgently needed by the country. Since the order for the construction of ships was received by the famous Yantar enterprise, there is no doubt about the quality of the work.
Disappointing facts
Everything would be fine, only the same thing was written by journalists in ... 2004! Literally a few days ago, really fantastic news arrived: the project 1111 lead landing ship finally began to pass trials in the Baltic! It took as long as 11 years from the moment of laying to launching. I am glad that the shipbuilders vowed not to delay the deadlines so monstrously in the construction of the second instance (it is already in full swing). At the end of this year, the lead ship is promised to finally be handed over to the fleet.
Four years were planned for the construction of the lead ship; another ship is planned to be transferred to the fleet within two years. It is known that initially the fleet ordered five ships of this series at once, but the sailors had already abandoned three of them. However, after the story of the ill-fated Mistrals, there is hope that the number of these ships will nevertheless be increased, since they are extremely important for ensuring state interests far beyond the borders of the country. Finally, today information has already been received that the military is still interested in building the entire series (up to seven ships), but the final decision will be made only after passing all the tests by the flagship.
To be or not to be?
Finally, information slipped that next year it was decided to begin the construction of larger landing ships, so that, perhaps, the fleet would still be limited to only two ships. In any case, there are already projects of large new-generation landing ships, so we can expect that this is not empty talk. In any case, Gren is an interesting project, and the need for it is really very great.
The military’s decision to reduce the number of these vessels is generally stymied by specialists: after all, they counted on the possibility of transporting marine infantry along inland rivers, which is an extremely important feature in local operations. Two ships for this will be clearly not enough!
What was the deadline for?
It’s not worth blaming the Yantar alone. First, shipbuilders were plagued by a lack of funding. Secondly, for the first time the specification for the project was provided by the customer back in 2003, but since then changes have been constantly made to the appearance and design of the ship, which could not but affect the speed of work. So, in 2005, updated specifications were presented, which suggested changes in almost all nodes. And this has happened more than once.
Import as a source of problems
The main problem of the entire project is a large number of imported components. In the light of recent events, they urgently need to be abandoned and replaced with domestic ones. Therefore, engineers today continue to refine the long-suffering project. In principle, all the required components have already been delivered earlier, so that difficulties are expected only with the second ship. But these difficulties are considerable.
The ship needs to be replaced by a large number of imported components, which were originally envisaged by the specifications. So, considerable difficulties have already arisen with the choice of purification and desalination systems. However, manufacturers say that domestic companies have experience in the production of such components, so the question again fits into the budget. It adds hope that the second ship will already be built according to a proven scheme, and not from scratch. Already laid several sections of the body.
In general, the “root of evil” of this project is that after the collapse of the Union it suddenly turned out that almost all the enterprises that produced components for shipbuilding ended up abroad. In particular, on the Ukrainian territory.
The main technical characteristics of the project
- Estimated displacement - up to five thousand tons.
- The length is 120 meters.
- The maximum width is 16.5 meters.
- Estimated draft - 3.6 m.
- Type of power plant - diesel.
- The maximum speed of full speed is 18 knots.
- Estimated number of crew - about a hundred people.
What weapons will the Ivan Gren landing ship be able to boast? Here is his proposed list (far from everything is known):
- Two A-215 Grad-M units.
- Artillery. One 76-mm automatic installation AK-176M and two AK-630M (caliber 30 mm, automatic).
- One anti-submarine Ka-29 helicopter can be based on the ship.
- The capacity of the airborne compartments is up to 36 armored personnel carriers or 13 MBT (weighing up to 60 tons). On board can also carry up to 300 fully equipped and armed paratroopers.
At the moment, the flagship is in full swing undergoing final checks, being at the final stage of construction. Because of this, most of the weapons on its board have not yet been mounted, so it is too early to judge the final appearance of the ship and its armament. We hope that by the end of this year we will still see Grena in full combat readiness.