Type 53 torpedo


Type 53 is the common name for a family of 53 cm torpedoes manufactured in Russia, starting with the 53-27 torpedo and continuing to the modern UGST, which is being replaced by the Futlyar.
With the exception of the UGST which uses Mark 48 style monopropellants, Soviet 53 cm torpedoes generally use electric power, or kerosene mixed with various oxidizers for propulsion. Russian torpedoes are often named descriptively for their characteristics – examples include "acoustic homing" or "electric torpedo", all in Russian acronyms.

History

Early history

Model 53-27 with 265 kg of TNT was developed domestically in the so-called, and it had a poor 3.7 km range at 45 knots. In 1932 USSR bought in Italy several types of torpedoes, and the 21-inch model of Whitehead plant in Rijeka was considered superior. After adapting several features from the latter in unsuccessful 53-36 the decision was made to copy 53F. Resulting 53-38 was later upgraded to 53-38U and then redesigned in 53-39, considered to be one of the fastest in the world at the time.

World War 2

The 53-38/53-38U, which had entered service in 1938–1939, were the main Soviet torpedoes in World War 2; they proved to be fairly reliable and effective. The two deadliest sinkings in history were performed by two soviet submarines using 53-38's on 30 January and 16 April 1945; both ships were hit on first attempt and sank within minutes in despite of difficult visibility conditions and the presence of escorts. Notably, all three torpedoes launched against the Gustloff hit and exploded with catastrophic results, not a common feat in those times and conditions.
Another notable sinking with 53-38/53-38U's was the 14,660-ton General von Steuben. During the Black Sea campaigns, Soviet submarines sank at least 29,000 tons of enemy shipping, mostly using mines, shellfire and 53-58 torpedoes.
The new 53-39 was very fast and effective but only available in limited numbers, while the ET-80 was the first Soviet electric torpedo and crews didn't trust it because of its teething and rushed induction problems.

Cold War

The first Soviet torpedo with passive-homing capability was the SAET-50, which was an anti-ship weapon used on submarines. The 53-61 was the first Soviet homing torpedo to exceed 40 knots.
The 53-65 torpedo family are Russian made, wake-homing torpedoes designed to destroy surface ships. The 53-65 became operational in 1965, while the 53-65K and 53-65M both became operational in 1969. The 53-65KE is an exported version. China received an unknown number of 53-65KE torpedoes from Russia after purchasing 4 Kilo class submarines in the 1990s.
The Type 53 torpedo is carried by almost all Russian submarines, including the Kilo class and the.
The Type 53-65 torpedo is considered especially threatening by the United States Navy because they do not respond to usual torpedo countermeasures. Normal countermeasures are decoys that use noise to divert homing torpedoes, but the Type 53-65 uses sensors that detect the churn made by ships moving, then follows the chopped water in an S-pattern between the wakes until impact from up to away. Wake homing torpedoes have caused the U.S. Navy to develop the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense system that employs a maneuvering Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo that seeks and intercepts an incoming torpedo.

UGST

The last entry in the class is the UGST heavy deepwater torpedo with a range of up to 60 km. It differs from most previous Soviet and Russian torpedoes in that unlike the previously dominant electric or peroxide propulsion, it uses the Otto fuel axial engine, which allows it to have much extended range while keeping the speeds of up to 65 knots. It also features an updated homing system, which, in addition to the traditional passive wake homing, features a phased array active sonar and an improved wire guidance system: previous Soviet torpedoes had the guidance wire spool in the torpedo body, with the wire released through the hollow propeller shaft, which had the disadvantage of the wire being prone to breakage, while the UGST has the wire release port on the side. Together with the towed extender spool, kept in the calmer portion of the wake, this makes the wire much more durable than before. It was supposed to enter service in the 1990s, but the teething problems and the lack of funding during that period made the deployment sluggish, and it entered the widespread service only in the 2015 by the Fizik name, being quickly replaced by the new-generation Futlyar. Sources refer to them as heat-seeking torpedoes.

Variants