Project 205 missile boats

The project was developed in the Central Design Bureau "Almaz" on the tactical and technical specifications (TTZ) of the USSR Armed Forces in 1956. Chief Designer E. I. Yukhnin . From the previous boats of Project 183P, the new boats were distinguished by a steel hull (unified with torpedo boats of Project 206 ), reinforced weapons and increased seaworthiness.

An interesting feature of the design of the boat are the rounded shapes of the superstructures and the specific shape of the deck, providing improved flushing in the event of radioactive contamination. The unique 42-cylinder, 6-row star - shaped M503 diesels were also used Leningrad Engineering Plant named after Voroshilov .

It is a logical continuation of the 183P Komar project series.

The lead missile boat of project 205 became part of the USSR Navy in 1960. These ships were built in a large series until 1970.

In 1961, the design of the boat 205U was developed in SKB-5 . Armed with an improved missile P-15U, the wing of which began to automatically open upon departure from the container. The armament also included two AK-230 twin 30-mm automatic artillery mounts and their control systems.

Also in the mid-1960s, on the basis of the hull of boats of the project 205 TsKB Almaz, a patrol boat of project 205P was developed.

In mid-1971, the Indian Navy received 8 Project 205 missile boats: Vinash, Vidyat, Widget, Veer, Nirghat, Nirghit, Nashak and Nipat. The boats were part of the 25th squadron of the Indian Navy at the naval base in Bombay.

On December 2, near a naval base in Okha, a Pakistani B-57 bomber tried unsuccessfully to attack the Indian Wasp ^[1] .

On the night of December 4-5, the Indian Navy, with the participation of Project 205 boats, carried out Operation Trident . To attack the main naval base of Pakistan, Karachi was assigned missile boats Nipat, Nirghat and Veer, under the guise of two frigates and one tanker.

The first to launch the Nirghat attack was with 2 P-15 missiles with an interval of 5 minutes, hitting the Pakistani destroyer Khaibar (displacement of 2,315 tons). The second missile detonated the destroyer's ammunition and after 45 minutes the ship sank, 222 out of 268 Pakistani sailors died.

The Nipat missile boat hit 1 P-15 missile with the Liberian transport ship MV Venus Challenger , transporting American ammunition from Saigon to Pakistan. The hit led to the detonation of shells, a powerful explosion shocked Karachi, the ship fell apart in 2 parts and after 8 minutes completely disappeared under water. All Chinese, American, and Pakistani ^[2] sailors on board died ^[3] . The second missile, an Indian boat, destroyed the Pakistani destroyer Shah Jahan (DD-962) (displacement of 1710 tons). The entire commander of the destroyer died, the ship completely burned down, did not sink and was scrapped ^[4] .

The Veer missile boat with a P-15 missile sank a Pakistani minesweeper Muhafiz (displacement of 360 tons), 33 of 53 Pakistani sailors were killed. The Indian boat launched 2 more missiles at oil storage facilities on the shore, 1 missile hit the target causing huge fires in the port.

All Indian missile boats returned without loss to their port. It is worth noting that the Pakistanis initially perceived the strike on Karachi as an air attack and during the operation the Pakistani anti-aircraft guns fired all night on the “Indian planes”. The following day, a Pakistani frigate Zulfiqar was dispatched to rescue survivors from the Khaibar destroyer. Pakistani F-86 Saber aircraft took the frigate for an Indian missile boat and fired 900 cannon shells at it. The frigate received significant damage, many Pakistani sailors were killed and wounded.

On the night of December 8–9, the Indian Navy carried out Operation Python, during which two frigates and only one Vinash missile boat hit Karachi.

With an approximation of 22 kilometers, Vinash fired all 4 P-15 missiles, the first missile hit a refinery on the shore. Fire from burning oil storage facilities lit Karachi. The Pakistanis took the attack as an air raid. After 6 minutes, Pakistani anti-aircraft guns opened barrage over Karachi. The shells of the Pakistani large-caliber guns of the Himalaya stronghold in the dark looked like flying missiles and the Pakistani anti-aircraft guns of other guns began to try to shoot them down. The port began a real chaos. The second missile of the Indian boat hit the Panamanian tanker Gulf Star (deadweight 10,607 tons), the hit caused a detonation of fuel and the ship sank almost immediately. The third missile hit the British transport ship SS Harmattan (9236 gbt ^[5] ), 7 British sailors were killed and 6 wounded, the ship burned down ^[6] . Pakistani minesweeper Munsif was bombarded with debris from an exploding ship. The fourth missile hit the tanker of the Pakistan Navy Dacca (displacement of 5532 tons). The ship burned down and was later scrapped. In addition, two transport ships standing near these ships received significant damage from close missile explosions. The coastal and air defense of the port tried to resist the Indians, as a result of the fire of Pakistani guns, the Greek merchant ship Zoe was accidentally burned, carrying goods to Pakistan. A Pakistani patrol boat firing towards an Indian boat accidentally shot aboard a British merchant ship Eucadia . The Indians returned without loss. ^[7]

As a result of two operations, the Indian wasp missile boats Osa inflicted very significant damage on Pakistani naval base in Karachi. 7 large ships were destroyed, 2 more of their ships were struck by the Pakistanis, 12 of 34 large oil storages were destroyed. The port burned for about 7 days. The economic losses of the refinery alone amounted to about 3 billion dollars ^{[8] [9] [10]} . The total death toll is unknown, more than 500 Pakistani sailors ^[11] and an unknown number of Chinese and Americans died on the night of December 4-5. An unknown number of Pakistanis died at the Zulfikar on December 6th. Many Pakistanis, as well as foreigners, died on the night of December 8–9. The Indians in these attacks, as mentioned above, had no casualties.

Participated in the fighting in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war . Before the war, Egypt had 19 missile boats: 8 pr.205 and 11 pr.283r. Syria had 9 missile boats: 3 pr.205 and 6 pr.183r. Israel had 13 Saar missile boats ^[12] .

On October 6, on the first day of the war, during a naval battle near Latakia, one project 205 Syrian boat was sunk by two hits of the Gabriel anti-ship missile launched by the Saar missile boats.

On the same day, seven Wasp Egyptian missile boats attacked Israeli defensive positions in northern Sinai near Runa. Egyptian boats successfully fired at Israeli defenses and the Budapest stronghold from MLRS and P-15 missiles. Three Israeli Saar missile boats patrolling the coast tried to attack the Egyptians. Only two out of three boats were able to launch rockets, and none of the 11 Gabriel anti-ship missiles that hit the target. Having completed the task, Egyptian boats began to return, but were attacked by Israeli planes and helicopters along the way. An Israeli F-4 phantom bomber Phantom sunk one boat; in turn, Egyptian MiG-17 fighters called for help shot down an Israeli Bell-205 helicopter. The six remaining boats returned to their port.

On the night of October 8–9, during a naval battle at Damietta, six Israeli missile boats were attacked by four Egyptian Wasp missile boats. Egyptian boats launched 16 P-15 anti-ship missiles, the Israelis used electronic warfare systems, and as a result, all the missiles didn’t hit the target, but one Israeli boat was damaged by a close gap, several Israeli sailors were killed and wounded. The Israelis responded by firing 12 Gabriel anti-ship missiles. Egyptian boats that did not have EW facilities began active maneuvering. They managed to dodge six missiles, but the remaining six, two in three boats hit the target. Moreover, in all cases the Israeli anti-ship missiles were not enough for drowning, all boats were hit by artillery fire. The fourth Egyptian boat dodged all the missiles and went to the port. The Egyptians called for help fighter-bombers, who drove off the Israeli fleet.

On the same day, returning Israeli boats near the port were attacked by an Egyptian missile boat. The Egyptian boat launched anti-ship missiles and, according to Egyptian data, sank one boat, after which it returned to its port.

The small Syrian fleet did not carry out active attacks, and the Israelis decided to finally block it in Latakia. On the night of October 10-11, seven Israeli Saar missile boats approached Latakia. Three Syrian missile boats "Wasp" having found the enemy from a maximum distance fired 12 P-15 missiles, the Israelis used electronic warfare and all missiles did not hit the target. Syrian boats departed for the port. The Israeli sailors, knowing that the port was full of foreign civilian ships, opened fire on the retreating Syrian boats. Eight Gabriel anti-ship missiles were launched, two hit two civilian ships, three missed, two hit one Wasp, which sank, and one into another Wasp, which also sank.

According to the American researcher John Schlut during the war, Israeli Saar boats sank 5 Syrian missile boats Osa in three battles. Despite the fact that the Syrians had only 3 of these boats (according to some reports, even 2).

During the war, Egyptian Osa missile boats participated in three naval battles and, according to Egyptian data, sank 3 Israeli missile boats and 1 torpedo boat, losing 4 boats destroyed and 1 damaged out of 19 participating ^[13] . According to Israeli data, only one Israeli missile boat was damaged, while 5 Egyptian boats were destroyed ^[14] .

The first 4 missile boats Osa-1 and 3 Osa-2 Iraq received in 1974. In 1975-1976, another 5 Osa-2 boats ^{[15] [16]} were received. Boats were used by the Iraqi Navy during the war with Iran.

On November 29, 1980, two Kaman-class Iranian missile corvettes blocked and attacked the Iraqi ports of Al-Fao and Umm Qasr. To release Iraq, a group of five Wasp missile boats was sent. Paykan, the Iranian corvette, was the first to attack, launching two RGM-84 Harpoon missiles and sinking two boats. The Iraqis returned Paykan itself with two P-15 rockets in return fire (displacement of 234 tons). To the aid of the Iranians, several F-4 Phantom fighter bombers flew, which hit the three remaining Iraqi boats with AGM-65 Maverick missiles , two of which received hits on one missile, were damaged and out of order, the third got hit by three missiles and sank. After this defeat, the Iraqis began to use missile boats much more accurately and with air support ^[17] .

On September 3, 1982, two Osa-2 Iraqi missile boats left the Umm Qasr naval base to intercept a sea convoy of 25 tankers covered by 2 PF-103 class frigates. Iraqi boats sank one tanker and successfully returned to base ^[18] .

On the night of September 9-10, 1982, two Iraqi Osa-2 boats went as a decoy to the Iranian naval base in Bushehr. Near the boats at sea level flew two Iraqi Super-Frelon helicopters, armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles . When approaching the base towards Iraqi boats, two Iranian frigates of the PF-103 class (displacement of 900 tons) left. Iraqi helicopters rose above the water and sank one Iranian frigate, the second turned around and managed to retreat ^[18] .

In 1982, the Wasp Iraqi missile boats were used to fire P-15 rockets at Iran’s oil storage facilities on the island of Hark. The damage from them was very significant. The Iranians intentionally relocated an additional HAWK air defense system to the island. During the following shelling, Iranian air defense systems shot down several fired P-15 missiles ^[19] .

By the end of the war, Iraq had 7 Wasp missile boats.

Used by the Iraqi Navy. Before the war with Kuwait, Iraq had 5 Osa-2 missile boats and 2 Osa-1 missile boats.

Participated in the battle for at Cape El Kulaya ( رأس القليعة , garrison of 500 people). During it, the Iraqi Osa missile boat (75 marines) alone captured half of the Kuwaiti fleet (6 missile boats, 3 vehicles and 8 landing boats). One Iraqi boat was shot down during the war ^[20] .

Among the captured were 5 missile boats of the TNC-45 class (displacement of 228 tons) Merija, Mashuwah, Istiqlal, Al Ahmadi and Al Mubareek and 1 missile boat of the TPB-57 type (displacement of 350 tons) Sabhan ^[21] .

During Operation Desert Storm, coalition aviation damaged 5 Wasp Iraqi missile boats, and 1 managed to escape into Iranian territorial waters. After the war ended, this boat remained one of this type in the Iraqi Navy.

• Apalkov Yu. V. Ships of the Navy of the USSR. Directory. - SPb. : Galeia Print, 2004. - T. 2. Attack ships. Part 2. Small missile ships and boats. - S. 11. - 500 copies. - ISBN 5-8172-0087-2 .
• Asanin, Vladimir. Missiles of the domestic fleet. Part 3. Missile boats enter the fray // Technology and weapons yesterday, today, tomorrow: magazine. - 2007. - No. 9 . - S. 2-52 .
• Kuzin V.P., Nikolsky V.I. Navy of the USSR 1945-1991. - SPb. : Historical Maritime Society, 1996. - 653 p.

• Large missile boats. Project 205, code “Tsunami” (neopr.) . russianships.info . RussianShips.info. Date of treatment January 4, 2018.