Historical Russian Weapons question

SandyCaesar · 11-06-08, 08:02 PM

I've done a bit of research, and I wanted somebody to confirm my results regarding (conventional) ASuW doctrine during the Cold War.

As far as I can tell, the West focused on arming their attack subs with torpedoes (WWII straight-runners, Mk37, Mk48 for US; Mk8, Tigerfish, and Spearfish for UK, and others) and missiles (i.e. Harpoon, TASM). On the other hand, your everyday Russian attack submarine was armed almost exclusively with torpedoes for ASuW (53-65, SET-65, TEST-71, USET-80, and 65-76 for those who can carry it), with ASW cruise missiles that wouldn't be very helpful in a convoy strike. Instead, ASuW missiles were regarded as the sole territory of dedicated SSG/SSGNs (SS-N-7/9/19), or nuclear variants like the SS-N-21; Harpoonski and Sunburn apparently never entered service with submarines.

Am I correct here? And regarding the torpedoes--since the torps were all short-ranged (except the jumbo 65-76), did that mean that SSNs lacked a standoff ASuW weapon? What would be their doctrine, then?

11-06-08, 08:02 PM	#1
SandyCaesar Chief Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: HMS Thanatus Posts: 325 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Historical Russian Weapons question I've done a bit of research, and I wanted somebody to confirm my results regarding (conventional) ASuW doctrine during the Cold War. As far as I can tell, the West focused on arming their attack subs with torpedoes (WWII straight-runners, Mk37, Mk48 for US; Mk8, Tigerfish, and Spearfish for UK, and others) and missiles (i.e. Harpoon, TASM). On the other hand, your everyday Russian attack submarine was armed almost exclusively with torpedoes for ASuW (53-65, SET-65, TEST-71, USET-80, and 65-76 for those who can carry it), with ASW cruise missiles that wouldn't be very helpful in a convoy strike. Instead, ASuW missiles were regarded as the sole territory of dedicated SSG/SSGNs (SS-N-7/9/19), or nuclear variants like the SS-N-21; Harpoonski and Sunburn apparently never entered service with submarines. Am I correct here? And regarding the torpedoes--since the torps were all short-ranged (except the jumbo 65-76), did that mean that SSNs lacked a standoff ASuW weapon? What would be their doctrine, then? __________________ Vanvikan, Feb. 2009: ordinary human, KIA, night 4 HMS Thanatus, May 2009: ??? human, KIA, night 7