P 6-class Torpedo Boat
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The P 6-class torpedo boat, Soviet designation Project 183 ''Bolshevik'', were
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
wood-hulled motor torpedo boats produced shortly after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. They were armed with two twin 25 mm autocannons and two torpedoes.


Design and development

A large torpedo boat developed shortly after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Project 183 "Bolshevik" torpedo boats were influenced by the American-built Vosper, Elco, and Higgins motor torpedo boats delivered to the Soviet Union via
Lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...
. The development was carried out by the No.5 shipyard in
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, and had a hull designed to be semi-planing with sharp lines, compared to the earlier full
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Soviet designs like the or Project 123-bis. The boat was made out of wood and powered by four M-50 diesel engines, and able to reach a maximum speed of . The ships were armed with two twin 25 mm autocannons with 2,000 rounds of ammunition, two 533 mm
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, and eight depth charges. Additionally
sea mines A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...
could be taken to replace the torpedo tubes. The Project 183 was used as the basis for multiple derivative designs, such as the Project 183-R missile boat, the first mass-produced missile boat which also scored the first combat kill with an anti-ship missile, the Project 199, a sub hunter derivative fitted with a sonar for the border guard, and the Chinese Type 55A, a gunboat fitted with larger calibre guns.


Service history

The first P 6 torpedo boat was delivered in 1949, and construction was carried out by three shipyards, building a total of around 420 boats. The ships were well-liked by their crews, and a large amount of them were exported to allied nations. Most of the ships were retired by the 1980s. Some were converted to passenger or transport ships. In 1953, the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
bought 39 P 6 torpedo boats from the Soviet Union and the plans to build their own. The Soviets provided assistance to start local production, where it is known as the Type 02 torpedo boat, and a total of 63–80 boats were built. Some of the ships were built with steel hulls instead of wooden ones as there was difficulty finding suitable wood. The ships participated in actions against the
Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN, Chinese, 中華民國海軍) , colloquially known as the Taiwanese Navy ( Chinese, 台湾海军) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Navy ( Chinese, 國軍海軍) ...
, and were all retired by the 1990s.
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
acquired about 46 units from 1956-1970. They saw action against
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
in the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
, including an action where the Israeli destroyer ''Eliat'' and accompanying torpedo boats sank two P 6 boats.


Variants

*Project 183: NATO reporting name: P 6 class. *Project 183-A: Experimental torpedo boat with arctilite (a type of wood composite) hull. *Project 183-T: NATO reporting name: P 8 class, experimental P 6 torpedo boat with an additional
gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...
engine, able to reach 49.7 knots. *Project 183-TK: NATO reporting name: P 10 class, mass-produced version of the P 8, able to reach 48.5 knots. *Project 183-U: Experimental torpedo boat with four torpedo tubes and more powerful diesel engines, able to reach 47 knots. *Project 183-Ts: Remote radio-controlled target boat, fitted with Quartz-49 remote control system. *Project 183-KUTs: Target control boat. *Project 183-E: Experimental missile boat with two P-15 missiles, precursor to the Komar-class. * Project 183-R: NATO reporting name: Komar class, first mass-produced missile boat type. *Project 199: Submarine hunter built for the KGB Border Troops, equipped with sonar.


Chinese variants

* Type 6602/Type 02: Chinese designation for Project 183. *Type 6702: Type 6602 boats converted to a steel hull. *Type 7102II: Type 6602 boats built with a steel hull. * Type 55A: NATO reporting name: Shantou class, steel-hulled gunboat variant armed with two twin 37 mm guns and two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns.


Egyptian variants

*Project 183 with BM-21: 12 Egyptian P 6s were modified with a Grad MLRS replacing the aft gun and torpedo tubes and a different radar.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:P 6 Class Torpedo Boat Ship classes of the Volksmarine Torpedo boat classes Torpedo boats of the Cold War Torpedo boats of the Soviet Navy Torpedo boats of the People's Liberation Army Navy