It is useful to read old "books" to put present fears in perspective.
Discontinuation [of Soviet T-15 Giant Nuclear Tipped Torpedo Project]
The T-15 was intended to destroy naval bases and coastal towns by an underwater explosion that resulted in massive tsunami waves. The front compartment of the T-15 submarines held the massive torpedo, which occupied 22% of the length of the submarine. A submarine could only hold one T-15 at a time, but it was also equipped with two 533-millimeter torpedo tubes intended for self-defense.
In 1953, the T-15 project presented its conclusions to the Central Council of the Communist Party, where it was determined that the project would be managed by the Navy. In 1954, a committee of naval experts disagreed with continuing the T-15 nuclear torpedoes. Their criticisms centered on a lack of need when considered along with existing weapons in the submarine fleet, as well as skepticism that submarines would be able to approach launch points close enough to the coastline to hit targets within 40 km.[5] Project 627 was modified to provide reactors for a new vessel that would be capable of deploying 533mm caliber torpedoes in the T-5 project.
However, the termination of the T-15 program in 1954 was not the last time a large torpedo would be considered as means of deployment. In 1961, Andrei Sakharov revisited the idea after the successful testing of his new 52Mt bomb, which was too large for aircraft. When he introduced the concept to the navy they did not welcome the idea, being turned off by the wide area effect which would kill so many innocent people. Technological advances led to the weapon selection process favoring more tactical approaches that were amenable to quicker execution.[6] After years of decline and reduction of stockpiles the Russian Federation in recent years seems to tend to lean toward an increase of its stockpile in terms of quantity and yield of nuclear weapons .[7]
Soviet T-5 [533mm nuclear tipped torpedo]
In October 1962, shortly before the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet submarine B-59 was pursued in the Atlantic Ocean by the U.S. Navy. When the Soviet vessel failed to surface, American destroyers began dropping training depth charges. The B-59 was armed with a T-5. The Soviet captain, believing that World War III was underway might have wanted to launch the nuclear weapon. However, his flotilla commander, Vasili Arkhipov, who by happenstance was using the boat as his command vessel, refused to endorse the command. [Thus Arkhipov possibly saved the world.] After an argument, it was agreed that the submarine would surface and await orders from Moscow. It was not until after the fall of the Soviet Union that it was made known that the submarine was armed with a T-5.[11] A fictional Soviet nuclear torpedo was deployed in the 1965 Cold War film The Bedford Incident.[12][13]
Soviet ASB-30 [nuclear warhead for 533mm torpedo]
Russian VA-111 Shkval [can have nuclear warhead]
Russian Status-6 [giant nuclear tipped torpedo]
Two potential carrier submarines, the Project 09852 Oscar-class submarine Belgorod, and the Project 09851 Yasen-class submarine Khabarovsk, are new boats laid down in 2012 and 2014 respectively.[19][20][23][24] Status 6 appears to be a deterrent weapon of last resort.[22][23][24] It appears to be a torpedo-shaped robotic mini-submarine, that can travel at speeds of 100 knots (185 km/h).[22][23][7] More recent information suggests a [standard torpedo] top speed of 56 knots (100 km/h), with a range of 6,200 miles (10,000 km) and a depth maximum of 3,280 feet (1000 m).[25] This underwater drone is cloaked by stealth technology to elude acoustic tracking devices.[17][23]
However many commentators doubt that this is a real project, and see it as more likely to be a staged leak to intimidate the US. Amongst other comments on it, Edward Moore Geist wrote a paper in which he says that "Russian decision makers would have little confidence that these areas would be in the intended locations" [26] and Russian military experts are cited as saying that "Robotic torpedo shown could have other purposes, such as delivering deep-sea equipment or installing surveillance devices".[27]
[Soviet Nuclear Tipped Torpedoes]
“The Soviet Union's development of nuclear weapons began in the late 1940s. The Navy had put itself forward as the most suitable branch of the Soviet armed forces to deliver a nuclear strike, believing its submarine technology and tactics to be superior to the rest of the world. In theory, long-range submarines that can surface just prior to launching a nuclear weapon offer a large tactical advantage in comparison to deploying weapons by long range bomber planes that can be shot down.
“The Soviet Union's development of nuclear weapons began in the late 1940s. The Navy had put itself forward as the most suitable branch of the Soviet armed forces to deliver a nuclear strike, believing its submarine technology and tactics to be superior to the rest of the world. In theory, long-range submarines that can surface just prior to launching a nuclear weapon offer a large tactical advantage in comparison to deploying weapons by long range bomber planes that can be shot down.
In the early 1950s, the Soviet Ministry of Medium Machine Building secretly initiated plans for incorporating nuclear warheads into submarine warfare. One concept, the T-15 [giant nuclear tipped torpedo] project, aimed to provide a nuclear warhead compatible with the traditional 1550 millimeter (a bit over 61 inches, or 5 feet) caliber torpedo already used in Soviet diesel-powered submarines. The T-15 project began in strict secrecy in 1951.
Research and testing was contemporaneous with the other concept, the much smaller and lighter 533 millimeter torpedo referred to as the T-5. Stalin and the armed forces saw benefits to both calibers of torpedo: the T-5 was a superior tactical option, but the T-15 had a larger blast. Meetings at the Kremlin were so highly classified that the Navy was not informed.
The plans for the T-15 torpedo and for an appropriately redesigned submarine, named project 627, were authorized on September 12, 1952 but were not officially approved until 1953, surprising the Navy, which had been unaware of the central government activity.[4]:239–240 The T-15 project developed a torpedo that could travel 16 miles with a thermonuclear warhead. The 1550 millimeter T-15 design was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 40 tons. The large size of the weapon limited the capacity of a modified submarine to a single torpedo that could only travel at a speed of 30 knots. The torpedo speed was hindered by the usage of an electric propelled motor to launch the warhead.[3]
Research and testing was contemporaneous with the other concept, the much smaller and lighter 533 millimeter torpedo referred to as the T-5. Stalin and the armed forces saw benefits to both calibers of torpedo: the T-5 was a superior tactical option, but the T-15 had a larger blast. Meetings at the Kremlin were so highly classified that the Navy was not informed.
The plans for the T-15 torpedo and for an appropriately redesigned submarine, named project 627, were authorized on September 12, 1952 but were not officially approved until 1953, surprising the Navy, which had been unaware of the central government activity.[4]:239–240 The T-15 project developed a torpedo that could travel 16 miles with a thermonuclear warhead. The 1550 millimeter T-15 design was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 40 tons. The large size of the weapon limited the capacity of a modified submarine to a single torpedo that could only travel at a speed of 30 knots. The torpedo speed was hindered by the usage of an electric propelled motor to launch the warhead.[3]
Discontinuation [of Soviet T-15 Giant Nuclear Tipped Torpedo Project]
The T-15 was intended to destroy naval bases and coastal towns by an underwater explosion that resulted in massive tsunami waves. The front compartment of the T-15 submarines held the massive torpedo, which occupied 22% of the length of the submarine. A submarine could only hold one T-15 at a time, but it was also equipped with two 533-millimeter torpedo tubes intended for self-defense.
In 1953, the T-15 project presented its conclusions to the Central Council of the Communist Party, where it was determined that the project would be managed by the Navy. In 1954, a committee of naval experts disagreed with continuing the T-15 nuclear torpedoes. Their criticisms centered on a lack of need when considered along with existing weapons in the submarine fleet, as well as skepticism that submarines would be able to approach launch points close enough to the coastline to hit targets within 40 km.[5] Project 627 was modified to provide reactors for a new vessel that would be capable of deploying 533mm caliber torpedoes in the T-5 project.
However, the termination of the T-15 program in 1954 was not the last time a large torpedo would be considered as means of deployment. In 1961, Andrei Sakharov revisited the idea after the successful testing of his new 52Mt bomb, which was too large for aircraft. When he introduced the concept to the navy they did not welcome the idea, being turned off by the wide area effect which would kill so many innocent people. Technological advances led to the weapon selection process favoring more tactical approaches that were amenable to quicker execution.[6] After years of decline and reduction of stockpiles the Russian Federation in recent years seems to tend to lean toward an increase of its stockpile in terms of quantity and yield of nuclear weapons .[7]
Soviet T-5 [533mm nuclear tipped torpedo]
From the early 1950s, when the Soviets successfully engineered their own form of a nuclear bomb, an effective means of delivery was sought.[8] The T-5 torpedo was tipped by a RDS-9 nuclear warhead which had a 5 kiloton payload. The first T-5 test in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, on 10 October 1954 was unsuccessful.[9] A year later, after further development, a test at Novaya Zemlya on the 21st of September 1955 succeeded.[3] On 10 October 1957, in another test at Novaya Zemlya, S-144, a Whiskey class submarine, launched a T-5. The test weapon, code named Korall, detonated with a force of 4.8 kilotonnes twenty meters under the surface of the bay sending a huge plume of highly radioactive water high into the air.[10] Three decommissioned submarines were used as targets at a distance of 6.5 miles.[3] Both S-20 and S-34 sank completely, and S-19 was critically damaged.
In 1958, the T-5 became fully operational as the Type 53-58 torpedo.[3]:28 The weapon, which could be deployed on most Soviet submarines,[3] had an interchangeable warhead for either nuclear or high explosive. This permitted quick tactical decisions on deployment. The T-5, like the US Mark 45 torpedo [which carried a W34 nuclear warhead], was not designed to make direct hits but to maximize a blast kill zone in the water. The detonation would create shock waves powerful enough to crack the hull of a submerged submarine. However, like the U.S. Mark 45 torpedo, the T-5 was not optimized for deep diving and had limited guidance capability. As its thermal operational range was between +5C to +25C, this decreased its effectiveness in the waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic.[5]
In October 1962, shortly before the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet submarine B-59 was pursued in the Atlantic Ocean by the U.S. Navy. When the Soviet vessel failed to surface, American destroyers began dropping training depth charges. The B-59 was armed with a T-5. The Soviet captain, believing that World War III was underway might have wanted to launch the nuclear weapon. However, his flotilla commander, Vasili Arkhipov, who by happenstance was using the boat as his command vessel, refused to endorse the command. [Thus Arkhipov possibly saved the world.] After an argument, it was agreed that the submarine would surface and await orders from Moscow. It was not until after the fall of the Soviet Union that it was made known that the submarine was armed with a T-5.[11] A fictional Soviet nuclear torpedo was deployed in the 1965 Cold War film The Bedford Incident.[12][13]
Soviet ASB-30 [nuclear warhead for 533mm torpedo]
The ASB-30 was a nuclear warhead, deployed by the Soviet Navy in 1962, which could replace high-explosive warheads on 21-inch torpedoes while the submarine was at sea.[3]:28
Russian VA-111 Shkval [can have nuclear warhead]
Supercavitating torpedo VA-111 Shkval is able to carry nuclear warheads.[14]
Russian Status-6 [giant nuclear tipped torpedo]
In 2015, informations emerged that Russia may be developing a new up to 100 MT[15] thermonuclear torpedo, the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System,[16][17][18] codenamed "Kanyon" by Pentagon officials.[19][20] This weapon [of estimated 1.6 to 2 metres in diameter, and 24 metres long] is designed to create a tsunami wave up to 500 m tall that will radioactively contaminate a wide area on an enemy coasts with cobalt-60, and to be immune to anti-missile defense systems such as anti-ballistic missiles, laser weapons and railguns that might disable an ICBM or a SLBM.[17][18][20][21][22]
Two potential carrier submarines, the Project 09852 Oscar-class submarine Belgorod, and the Project 09851 Yasen-class submarine Khabarovsk, are new boats laid down in 2012 and 2014 respectively.[19][20][23][24] Status 6 appears to be a deterrent weapon of last resort.[22][23][24] It appears to be a torpedo-shaped robotic mini-submarine, that can travel at speeds of 100 knots (185 km/h).[22][23][7] More recent information suggests a [standard torpedo] top speed of 56 knots (100 km/h), with a range of 6,200 miles (10,000 km) and a depth maximum of 3,280 feet (1000 m).[25] This underwater drone is cloaked by stealth technology to elude acoustic tracking devices.[17][23]
However many commentators doubt that this is a real project, and see it as more likely to be a staged leak to intimidate the US. Amongst other comments on it, Edward Moore Geist wrote a paper in which he says that "Russian decision makers would have little confidence that these areas would be in the intended locations" [26] and Russian military experts are cited as saying that "Robotic torpedo shown could have other purposes, such as delivering deep-sea equipment or installing surveillance devices".[27]
