Torpedo boat. Torpedo boats from the Great Patriotic War Torpedo boats g 5 construction numbers

Finished model length: 38 cm
Number of sheets: 10
Sheet format: A3

Description, history

Torpedo boats of the "G-5" type- a project of Soviet planing torpedo boats created in the 1930s.

Design history

On June 29, 1928, TsAGI was given the task to build a planing torpedo boat with two domestic engines and two torpedo tubes. On June 13, 1929, construction began on a prototype GANT-5, the lines of which were exactly the same as those of the Sh-4. The industry was unable to provide the project with the necessary power plant, in connection with which it was necessary to purchase Isotta-Fraschini engines with a power of 1000 hp. With.

History of construction

The boat was sent to Sevastopol for testing only on February 15, 1933. During testing, the boat without weapons reached a speed of 65.3 knots, and with a full combat load - 58 knots. However, domestic engines began to be installed on production boats (2 x 850 hp instead of 2 x 1000 hp on the prototype). Testing of the first production boats was completed in January 1934. Was engaged in construction plant named after Andre Marty(plant No. 194) in Leningrad. In total, over 300 units of all series were built.

Design

Case material - duralumin. Box-shaped keel beam, 10 frames - closed profiles. The casing was fastened with rivets.
The hull is divided into 5 compartments by 4 transverse waterproof bulkheads: I - forepeak; II - motor; III - control compartment; IV - fuel; V - trench torpedo tubes (TA). The crew consisted of 6 people (almost sometimes it reached 11 people).
Two semi-balanced steering wheels. The front viewing glass is armored.

Power point

Two AM-32 aircraft engines designed by Mikulin, produced at plant No. 24. For operation in marine conditions, the engines were modernized (superchargers were removed, water cooling was used) and received the designation GAM-34. Rotation speed 2000 rpm. Three-bladed propellers with a diameter of 680 mm. For silent running, the exhaust could be switched to underwater.
Could support maximum speed for 15 minutes, full - 1 hour, economic - 7 hours.
Fuel - B-74 gasoline or a mixture of 70% B-70 and 30% alcohol.
Electrical installation - two DC dynamos with a power of 250 W each.

On September 1, 1934, the G-6 (enlarged G-5) was laid down in the TsAGI workshops - which was to become the lead boat. But he didn’t go into production.

Combat use

On May 1, 1937, four G-5s arrived on the deck of the Spanish cargo ship Santo Tome in Cartagena, where they were met by N.G. Kuznetsov (then the Soviet naval attaché in Spain). Even then, their low professional suitability became obvious, 2 of them were lost.
Only one G-5 (No. 16) served in the Northern Fleet, which, due to its short range, was transferred from a combat unit to a watercraft.
In other theaters of war, the situation was such that only once during the entire Great Patriotic War did torpedo boats of this type launch an attack on a large formation of German Kriegsmarine ships. The German formation, consisting of the cruisers Leipzig and Emden and the destroyers T-7, T-8, T-11, with the participation of minesweepers from the 17th flotilla, fired at Soviet troops on the Syrve Peninsula. 4 torpedo boats came out to intercept them. Descriptions of the development of further events vary depending on who is describing them. A confirmed fact is that the German ships left and did not take part in shelling Soviet troops on Saarema.
In the vast majority of other cases combat use torpedo boats were used for purposes other than their intended purpose: for landing troops, laying minefields, delivering cargo, shelling the coast, confronting boats and minesweepers enemy.

5 G-5 boats also fell into enemy hands during the war - 2 TKAs ((No. 111, No. 163) were captured by German troops in the Black Sea and the Baltic, 3 (No. 54, No. 64, No. 141) were captured by the Finns. The latter became part of the Finnish Navy (V-3, V-1 and V-2, respectively), but were returned to the USSR after Finland left the war in 1944. The most effective of them, as part of the Finnish Navy, was V-2, which sank together with two other Finnish TKAs, the gunboat of the Baltic Fleet "Red Banner".

The last operator of G-5 torpedo boats was the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which received 5 boats of this type from the USSR in the late 40s. On July 2, 1950, a North Korean detachment of 4 G-5 boats tried to attack the allied cruisers Juneau (USA) and Jamaica (Great Britain), which were blocking the coastal waters in the Chumunzhin area, but were discovered in time by the enemy and almost all destroyed by artillery fire (only 1 boat managed to escape) without firing torpedoes.

Few people know that Soviet torpedo boats of World War II were giant floats from seaplanes.

On August 18, 1919, at 3:45 a.m., unidentified planes appeared over Kronstadt. The ships sounded the air raid alarm. Actually, there was nothing new for our sailors - British and Finnish planes were based 20-40 km from Kronstadt on the Karelian Isthmus and almost the entire summer of 1919 carried out raids on ships and the city, although without much success.

But at 4:20 a.m., two fast boats were spotted from the destroyer Gabriel, and almost immediately there was an explosion near the harbor wall. It was a torpedo from a British boat that passed by the Gabriel and exploded, hitting the pier.

In response, the sailors from the destroyer smashed the nearest boat to smithereens with the first shot from a 100-mm gun. Meanwhile, two more boats, having entered the Middle Harbor, headed: one to the training ship “Memory of Azov”, the other to the Ust-Kanal Slingshot (entrance to the dock of Peter I). The first boat blew up the Memory of Azov with torpedoes fired, and the second blew up the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny. At the same time, the boats fired machine guns at ships near the harbor wall. When leaving the harbor, both boats were sunk at 4:25 a.m. by fire from the destroyer Gabriel. Thus ended the raid of British torpedo boats, which became known as the Kronstadt Reveille during the Civil War.

Floating torpedo tube

Note that this was not the first use of British torpedo boats in the Gulf of Finland. On June 17, 1919, the cruiser "Oleg" was anchored at the Tolbukhin lighthouse, guarded by two destroyers and two patrol vessels. The boat approached the cruiser almost point-blank and fired a torpedo. The cruiser sank. It is easy to understand how the service of the Red naval marines was carried out if no one noticed a suitable boat either on the cruiser or on the ships guarding it during the day and with excellent visibility. After the explosion, indiscriminate fire was opened on the “English submarine” that the naval forces had imagined.

Where did the British get boats that moved at an incredible speed of 37 knots (68.5 km/h) at that time? English engineers managed to combine two inventions in the boat: a special ledge in the bottom - redan and a powerful gasoline engine of 250 hp. Thanks to the redan, the area of ​​contact between the bottom and the water was reduced, and hence the resistance to the ship's progress. The red boat was no longer floating - it seemed to be climbing out of the water and gliding along it at great speed, resting on the water surface only with a small ledge and a flat stern end.

Thus, in 1915, the British designed a small, high-speed torpedo boat, which was sometimes called a “floating torpedo tube.”

Shooting backwards

From the very beginning, the British command considered torpedo boats exclusively as sabotage. British admirals intended to use light cruisers as carriers of torpedo boats. The torpedo boats themselves were supposed to be used to attack enemy ships in their bases. Accordingly, the boats were very small: 12.2 m long and with a displacement of 4.25 tons.

It was unrealistic to install a normal (tubular) torpedo tube on such a boat. Therefore, the planing boats fired torpedoes... backwards. Moreover, the torpedo was thrown out of the stern chute not with its nose, but with its tail. At the moment of release, the torpedo’s engine turned on, and it began to overtake the boat. The boat, which at the time of the salvo was supposed to travel at a speed of about 20 knots (37 km/h), but not less than 17 knots (31.5 km/h), sharply turned to the side, and the torpedo maintained its original direction, while simultaneously taking on a given depth and increasing the stroke to full. Needless to say, the accuracy of firing a torpedo from such a device is significantly lower than from a tubular one.

Revolutionary boats

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 high-speed boats 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 mechanisms of a special type that have not yet been manufactured in Russia, the construction of a series of similar boats is currently certainly not feasible.” 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 Marine 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: operating 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, played it safe and in 1924 ordered a planing torpedo boat from the French company Picker. However, for a number of reasons, the construction of torpedo boats abroad never took place.

Planing float

But Tupolev zealously got down to business. The small radius of the new torpedo boat and its poor seaworthiness did not bother anyone at that time. It was assumed that the new gliders would be placed on cruisers. At Profintern and at Chervona Ukraina it was planned to make additional fall-off davits for this purpose.

The ANT-3 planing boat was based on a seaplane float. The top of this float, which actively influences the strength of the structure, was transferred to Tupolev boats. Instead of an upper deck, they had a sharply curved convex surface, on which it is difficult for a person to stay on, even when the boat is stationary. When the boat was underway, leaving its conning tower was mortally dangerous - the wet, slippery surface threw off absolutely everything that fell on it (unfortunately, with the exception of ice, in winter conditions the boats froze on the surface). When during the war it was necessary to transport troops on torpedo boats of the G-5 type, the people were put in single file into the chutes of the torpedo tubes; they had nowhere else to be. Possessing relatively large reserves of buoyancy, these boats could transport practically nothing, since they had no space to accommodate cargo.

The design of the torpedo tube, borrowed from English torpedo boats, also turned out to be unsuccessful. The minimum speed of the boat at which it could fire its torpedoes was 17 knots. At a slower speed and at a stop, the boat could not fire a torpedo salvo, since this would mean suicide for it - an inevitable torpedo hit.

On March 6, 1927, the ANT-3 boat, later named “Pervenets”, was sent to railway 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) during testing. Serial production of torpedo boats based on the ANT-4 type began, called Sh-4. They were built in Leningrad at the plant named after. Marti (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 boat's armament consisted of two groove-type torpedo tubes for 450-mm torpedoes of the 1912 model, one 7.62-mm machine gun and smoke-generating equipment. In total at the plant. Marty in Leningrad, 84 Sh-4 boats were built.

The fastest in the world

Meanwhile, on June 13, 1929, Tupolev at TsAGI began building 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. 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 from other countries could not even dream of such speeds.

Plant named after Marty, starting with the V series (the first four series were Sh-4 boats), switched to the production of G-5 (the so-called ANT-5 serial boats). Later, G-5 began to be built at plant No. 532 in Kerch, and with the beginning of the 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 G-5 boats of nine series were built (from VI to XII, including XI-bis).

The torpedo armament of all series was the same: two 533-mm torpedoes in grooved tubes. But machine gun armament was constantly changing. Thus, boats of the VI–IX series each had two 7.62-mm DA aircraft machine guns. The following series each had two 7.62-mm ShKAS aircraft machine guns, which were distinguished by a higher rate of fire. Since 1941, boats began to be equipped with one or two 12.7 mm DShK machine guns.

Torpedo leader

Tupolev and Nekrasov (immediate leader of the hydroplane development team) were not satisfied with the G-5 and in 1933 proposed a project for the “leader of the G-6 torpedo boats.” According to the project, the displacement of the boat was supposed to be 70 tons. Eight GAM-34 engines of 830 hp each. were supposed to provide speeds of up to 42 knots (77.7 km/h). The boat could fire a salvo of six 533-mm torpedoes, three of which were launched from the stern groove-type torpedo tubes, and three more from a rotating three-tube torpedo tube located on the deck of the boat. The artillery armament consisted of a 45 mm semi-automatic 21K cannon, a 20 mm “aviation-type” cannon and several 7.62 mm machine guns. It should be noted that by the start of construction of the boat (1934), both rotary torpedo tubes and 20-mm “aviation-type” guns existed only in the imagination of the designers.

Suicide bombers

Tupolev boats could operate torpedoes in seas up to 2 points, and stay in the sea up to 3 points. Poor seaworthiness manifested itself primarily in the flooding of the boat's bridge even in the slightest waves and, in particular, heavy splashing of the very low wheelhouse open from above, making it difficult for the boat's crew to work. The autonomy of Tupolev boats was also a derivative of seaworthiness - their design range could never be guaranteed, since it depended not so much on the fuel supply as on the weather. Stormy conditions at sea are relatively rare, but a fresh wind, accompanied by waves of 3-4 points, is, one might say, a normal phenomenon. Therefore, every exit of the Tupolev torpedo boats into the sea bordered on a mortal risk, regardless of any connection with the combat activity of the boats.

Rhetorical question: why then were hundreds of planing 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 act in the 1920s and 1930s in the same way as in Sevastopol in 1854 or in Alexandria in 1882. That is, British battleships will approach Kronstadt or Sevastopol in calm and clear weather, 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 type will fly into the enemy armada. Moreover, 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 held 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 radio-controlled boat division received high praise from the command.

We'll go our own way

Meanwhile, the USSR was the only leading naval power to build torpedo boats of this type. England, Germany, the USA and other countries began building seaworthy keel torpedo boats. Such boats were inferior in speed to the standard ones in calm weather, but significantly exceeded them in seas of 3–4 points. Keelboats carried more powerful artillery and torpedo weapons.

The superiority of keelboats over redundant ones became obvious during the war of 1921–1933 off the east coast of the United States, which was waged by the Yankee government with ... Mr. Bacchus. Bacchus, naturally, won, and the government was forced to shamefully abolish Prohibition. Elko's high-speed boats, which delivered whiskey from Cuba and the Bahamas, played a significant role in the outcome of the war. Another question is that the same company built boats for the coast guard.

The capabilities of keelboats can be judged by the fact that a Scott-Paine boat, 70 feet (21.3 m) long, armed with four 53 cm torpedo tubes and four 12.7 mm machine guns, sailed from England in the USA under its own power and on September 5, 1939 it was solemnly welcomed in New York. In his image, the Elko company began mass construction of torpedo boats.

By the way, 60 Elko-type boats were delivered under Lend-Lease to the USSR, where they received the index A-3. On the basis of the A-3 in the 1950s, we created the most common torpedo boat of the Soviet Navy - Project 183.

Germans with a keel

It is worth noting that in Germany, literally tied hand and foot by the Treaty of Versailles and gripped by an economic crisis, in the 1920s they were able to test reded and keelboats. Based on the test results, an unequivocal conclusion was made - to make only keelboats. The Lursen company became a monopolist in the production of torpedo boats.

During the war, German boats operated freely in fresh weather throughout the North Sea. Based in Sevastopol and in Dvuyakornaya Bay (near Feodosia), German torpedo boats operated throughout the Black Sea. At first, our admirals did not even believe the reports that German torpedo boats were operating in the Poti area. Meetings between our and German torpedo boats invariably ended in favor of the latter. During the fighting Black Sea Fleet in the years 1942–1944, not a single German torpedo boat was sunk at sea.

Flying over the water

Let's dot the i's. Tupolev is a talented aircraft designer, but why did he have to take on something other than his own?! In some ways it can be understood - huge amounts of money were allocated for torpedo boats, and in the 1930s there was fierce competition among aircraft designers. Let us pay attention to one more fact. Our boat construction was not classified. Gliders flying over the water were used with might and main by Soviet propaganda. The population constantly saw Tupolev torpedo boats in illustrated magazines, on numerous posters, and in newsreels. The pioneers were voluntarily and compulsorily taught to make models of customized torpedo boats.

As a result, our admirals became victims of their own propaganda. It was officially believed that Soviet boats were the best in the world and there was no point in paying attention to Foreign experience. Meanwhile, agents of the German company Lursen, starting in the 1920s, “sticking out their tongues” were looking for clients. Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Spain and even China became customers for their keelboats.

In the 1920–1930s, the Germans easily shared secrets in the field of tank building, aviation, artillery, toxic substances, etc. with their Soviet colleagues. But we didn’t even lift a finger to buy at least one “Lursen”.

Greetings, colleagues! So I decided to take a little break, so to speak, for relaxation, from my main construction project (within the framework of GB Fleet 3) and assemble this wonderful boat from NorthStarModels!

G-5 is the most popular Soviet-built torpedo boat during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War. Designed at TsAGI under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev (TsAGI index GANT-5). Produced until 1944 in various modifications. A total of 329 units were built.

Small and nimble torpedo boats of the G-5 type dealt inevitable blows to the enemy in the northern fiords and on the foggy Baltic and off the Crimean coast. When necessary, they landed and covered landing forces, fearlessly entered enemy-occupied harbors, launched attacks on fascist ships and port facilities, and quickly left behind a smoke screen. The boat had a length of 20 m, a width of 3.5 m, its draft was only 0.6 m, and its displacement was 17 tons. Two engines with a total power of 1700 hp. With. allowed to reach a speed of about 48 knots. (Performance characteristics vary greatly). The boat carried two 533-mm torpedoes (or depth charges to combat submarines), had two heavy machine guns. The torpedo boat's crew consisted of 6 people.

There is a lot of information on G-5 class boats on the Internet. There are even a couple of good films. For example, the film "Farewell" from 1966, and the film "Weapons of Victory. Episode 25. Torpedo boats." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCdfMqygtXg).

Kit

The model is produced by NorthStarModels. The kit allows you to assemble a choice of one of three modifications of the G-5:

series AKA (with "Katyusha"), series 10 and series 11 BIS. Before this model gets to your slipway, it lives in this little box the size of a little more than a pack of cigarettes!

The contents of the box include: the boat hull itself, two superstructure options, a handful of spare parts, an etching board, and of course assembly instructions.

The casting quality is very good! The etching set is quite comprehensive (although getting ahead of myself, I’ll say that it wasn’t completely without modifications), detailed and useful, and at first glance does not cause any complaints about the quality of casting. The dimensions of the boat parts themselves and the etching at first caused a slight concern - would I be able to assemble such a small thing! The boat, although in the 350th scale that is familiar to me, is essentially in no way inferior to the 700th scale models.

Assembly

Initially, I decided on the modification of the boat that I would assemble! I chose modification 11 BIS. Although initially, when purchasing, I wanted to assemble the G-5 with Katyusha. Although there are photos on the Internet that show that the boat, similar to the modification 11 BIS, was also additionally equipped with a Katyusha!

Having started the assembly process, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this model was to assemble! I should note that this is my first experience with a resin model! I liked the material, it’s very flexible to work and process!

The assembly process itself proceeded quite smoothly (there were, of course, a couple of mismatches/inaccuracies in the assembly instructions itself, but not critical), so I won’t dwell on it too much. Perhaps I’ll just note that I’ve never spent so much time on the floor in the “river tick-legged” pose with a magnifying glass and a flashlight in my hands looking for a fallen part, and the spare parts tend to fly away in an unknown direction.

Basically, the set and etching is very detailed. Considering the scale, or rather the size of the model, the guys from NordStar did, I think, almost the maximum possible. But still, I decided to modify the model a little! Not so much out of harm, but out of necessity! So the first thing I replaced were the torpedoes. In principle, you can make candy from what is in the set, but I have completely etched Tamiya torpedoes lying around! So I decided to listen to my laziness and replace the resin torpedoes from the kit, which needed some attention, with etched ones. We also had to shorten the torpedoes a little, since they did not fully fit into the launch tube.

I also didn’t really like the etched DShKs from the set! They are too thin and inexpressive. Therefore, it was decided to replace them with homemade ones! The barrels were taken from the MasterModel kit, everything else was cut out of plastic and a few small etched elements were added (handles, sights). It may not have turned out perfect, but I liked the result better.

Well, on a small note, a small shelf was added to the rear gunner’s stand, which saved the circle, and both “masts” were replaced, the reason for the replacement is the same as with the DShK, they are very thin and literally bend with a light blow! Also, in all the photos that I saw, on the G-5 the mast, which was located on the wheelhouse, had only one horizontal “yard”, and not two, as it was in the kit! I made the masts from stocks/remnants of rails from AMBER.
There were also thoughts to add some zest, to hang mooring tires, but then I abandoned this idea.

Coloring

Oh, it’s been a while since I picked up an airbrush! Anyway! There are quite a lot of paint schemes for G-5 boats! It all depends on what period and location you are targeting!

Having reached the painting process, I think everyone who will assemble this model will have a question: - how to paint the part of the hull below the waterline? I’m already silent about drawing the waterline itself! This question tormented me for a long time; I couldn’t believe that it would be possible to put masks on this boat. There were already thoughts of painting the side below the waterline with a brush. But in the end, I decided to try applying the masks and, surprisingly, it worked out, maybe not perfectly evenly, but definitely better than if I painted with a brush.

After painting, applied glossy

Finished model length: 38 cm
Number of sheets: 10
Sheet format: A3

Description, history

Torpedo boats of the "G-5" type- a project of Soviet planing torpedo boats created in the 1930s.

Design history

On June 29, 1928, TsAGI was given the task to build a planing torpedo boat with two domestic engines and two torpedo tubes. On June 13, 1929, construction began on a prototype GANT-5, the lines of which were exactly the same as those of the Sh-4. The industry was unable to provide the project with the necessary power plant, and therefore it was necessary to purchase Isotta-Fraschini engines with a power of 1000 hp. With.

History of construction

The boat was sent to Sevastopol for testing only on February 15, 1933. During testing, the boat without weapons reached a speed of 65.3 knots, and with a full combat load - 58 knots. However, domestic engines began to be installed on production boats (2 x 850 hp instead of 2 x 1000 hp on the prototype). Testing of the first production boats was completed in January 1934. Was engaged in construction plant named after Andre Marty(plant No. 194) in Leningrad. In total, over 300 units of all series were built.

Design

Case material - duralumin. Box-shaped keel beam, 10 frames - closed profiles. The casing was fastened with rivets.
The hull is divided into 5 compartments by 4 transverse waterproof bulkheads: I - forepeak; II - motor; III - control compartment; IV - fuel; V - trench torpedo tubes (TA). The crew consisted of 6 people (almost sometimes it reached 11 people).
Two semi-balanced steering wheels. The front viewing glass is armored.

Power point

Two AM-32 aircraft engines designed by Mikulin, produced at plant No. 24. For operation in marine conditions, the engines were modernized (superchargers were removed, water cooling was used) and received the designation GAM-34. Rotation speed 2000 rpm. Three-bladed propellers with a diameter of 680 mm. For silent running, the exhaust could be switched to underwater.
They could maintain maximum speed for 15 minutes, full speed for 1 hour, and economic speed for 7 hours.
Fuel - B-74 gasoline or a mixture of 70% B-70 and 30% alcohol.
Electrical installation - two DC dynamos with a power of 250 W each.

On September 1, 1934, the G-6 (enlarged G-5) was laid down in the TsAGI workshops - which was to become the lead boat. But he didn’t go into production.

Combat use

On May 1, 1937, four G-5s arrived on the deck of the Spanish cargo ship Santo Tome in Cartagena, where they were met by N.G. Kuznetsov (then the Soviet naval attaché in Spain). Even then, their low professional suitability became obvious, 2 of them were lost.
Only one G-5 (No. 16) served in the Northern Fleet, which, due to its short range, was transferred from a combat unit to a watercraft.
In other theaters of war, the situation was such that only once during the entire Great Patriotic War did torpedo boats of this type launch an attack on a large formation of German Kriegsmarine ships. The German formation, consisting of the cruisers Leipzig and Emden and the destroyers T-7, T-8, T-11, with the participation of minesweepers from the 17th flotilla, fired at Soviet troops on the Syrve Peninsula. 4 torpedo boats came out to intercept them. Descriptions of the development of further events vary depending on who is describing them. A confirmed fact is that the German ships left and did not take part in shelling Soviet troops on Saarema.
In the vast majority of other cases of combat use, torpedo boats were not used for their intended purpose: for landing troops, laying minefields, delivering cargo, shelling the coast, confronting enemy boats and minesweepers.

5 G-5 boats also fell into enemy hands during the war - 2 TKAs ((No. 111, No. 163) were captured by German troops in the Black Sea and the Baltic, 3 (No. 54, No. 64, No. 141) were captured by the Finns. The latter became part of the Finnish Navy (V-3, V-1 and V-2, respectively), but were returned to the USSR after Finland left the war in 1944. The most effective of them, as part of the Finnish Navy, was V-2, which sank together with two other Finnish TKAs, the gunboat of the Baltic Fleet "Red Banner".

The last operator of G-5 torpedo boats was the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which received 5 boats of this type from the USSR in the late 40s. On July 2, 1950, a North Korean detachment of 4 G-5 boats tried to attack the allied cruisers Juneau (USA) and Jamaica (Great Britain), which were blocking the coastal waters in the Chumunzhin area, but were discovered in time by the enemy and almost all destroyed by artillery fire (only 1 boat managed to escape) without firing torpedoes.

The famous Soviet aircraft designer A.N. At the end of the 20s, Tupolev received an order to develop a powerful military boat equipped with several torpedo launchers. It was planned to be created with powerful weapons and a minimum range, since in theory the ship should have been permanently located off the coast of the USSR. It was from such torpedo boats that the Soviet development of the navy began.

History of creation

Within just six months, the boat was designed and immediately a specially created TsAGI department began its construction. Since the organization did not have such experience and was unable to provide the project with the necessary components, a decision was made to purchase it from a third party. It was from Italy that the first engines called Isotta-Fraschini arrived. In the mid-1930s, the first boat was sent to the Black Sea for testing. When fully operational, the boat reached a speed of about 37 knots, weighing less than 10 tons. The result of the tests was the identification of a disadvantage in the form of low speed and, accordingly, poor maneuverability. TsAGI was also tasked with correcting the following shortcomings:

• The quality of painting, in contact with sea water, metal corrosion began to form;
• The control room was open and was flooded with water;
• The appearance of cavities on the propeller ridge, which does not allow the development of the maximum maximum speed.

TsAGI carried out work to change and eliminate all the shortcomings and again launched a new torpedo boat. The result was not long in coming, and the management was already enjoying the race between the newly created Soviet torpedo boat of the G-5 type and the English one, which was based on the creation. The Soviet torpedo boat showed the most best results, reached a speed of 56 knots, and even overtook the opponent, which could not but please the TsAGI management.

In 1934, the Leningrad Andre Marty plant received an order for the production of over 300 units of torpedo boats. The sailors were pleased with the speed characteristics of the boat, but military weapons in the form of several machine guns with a caliber of 450 mm were considered obsolete even at that time. It was decided to equip the boat with 533 mm torpedoes, numbered ANT-5. Production of the next series was delayed for a long time due to the slow supply of equipment. After making minor changes and passing tests, it was decided to change the number to G-5, which meant “Planing boat of the 5th model.”

Torpedo boat design

The case material is made of an aluminum-based alloy with the addition of magnesium, manganese and copper. The hull consisted of five compartments - a control compartment, a fuel compartment, an extreme bow compartment, an engine compartment and, of course, an installation of torpedo tubes. The boat could accommodate a maximum of 11 people on board, although the staff recommended a total of 6. The sight glass was made of armor and the control panel housed two semi-balanced rudders, as well as a pair of compasses, tachometers, a thermometer, an emergency contact, a table with maps, and an instrument gas control, as well as a light machine gun for firing. The installed kit, in addition to all the listed variety, included machines with direct current, producing a power of 250 watts, a lamp spotlight, two batteries, and a transceiver radio station operating at a range of up to 20 miles. The installed two torpedoes were considered the main weapon on the boat. In their place it was possible to place any weapons; for example, instead of a torpedo, it was possible to place four mines.

Model of a torpedo boat with a rocket launcher

A G-5 type torpedo boat could maintain a speed of up to 51 knots for 15 minutes. Gasoline was used to refuel the boat.

A total of 9 series of boats of this type were produced. The main differences between them lay in the thickness of the skin, fuel capacity, engine and weapons.

In 1937, the transfer of torpedo boats of the G-5 type took place. This was done due to the short cruising range, which was not enough for the significant water borders of the USSR.

Later, these torpedo boats managed to take part not only in the Great Patriotic War, but also in the Korean War, which later turned out to be their last. Subsequently, it was decided to destroy all existing boats. In Crimea, Latvia, Baltiysk and Ochakov, monuments were erected in honor of the memory of the designers of the G-5 series torpedo boats.

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