The R-13 () was a

submarine-launched ballistic missile A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from Ballistic missile submarine, submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which ...

(SLBM) developed by the

Soviet Union 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 ...

starting around 1955. It was assigned the

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

SS-N-4 Sark and carried the

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

index 4K50.

History

Development of the R-13 was authorised by the Soviet Supreme Council on 25 July 1955 for use on the Project 629 and Project 658 submarines. The design work was started by

OKB-1 S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" () is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components. Its name is derived from the Russian word for energy and is also named for Sergei Korolev, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, th ...

under

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

before being transferred to CB Miasskoe engineering /

Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau The JSC Makeyev Design Bureau (; also known as Makeyev OKB) is a Russian missile design company located in Miass, Russia. Established in December 1947 as SKB-385 in Zlatoust (see Zlatoust Machine-Building Plant), the company was the main designe ...

(chief designer -

Viktor Makeyev Viktor Petrovich Makeyev (also Makeev; ; 25 October 1924 – 25 October 1985) was a Soviet engineer in the Soviet space program who was also a central and founding figure in development of Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) for the S ...

). Final technical specifications was approved by 11 January 1956. Serial production was undertaken at Zlatoust Machine-Building Plant in 1959. The R-13 was a single-stage

liquid-fuel rocket A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combustio ...

and entered service in 1961. This missile was somewhat similar in design to the

R-11FM The R-11 Zemlya (), GRAU index 8A61 was a Soviet Union, Soviet tactical ballistic missile. It is also known by its NATO reporting name SS-1b Scud-A. It was the first of several similar Soviet missiles to be given the reporting name Scud. Variant R ...

missile, which caused some confusion in Western

intelligence service An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of info ...

s during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The missiles were phased out from 1965 to 1975. This missile was the first^R-7? Soviet design to use a small set of

rocket engine A rocket engine is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed Jet (fluid), jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stor ...

s (

vernier thruster A vernier thruster is a rocket engine used on a spacecraft or launch vehicle for fine adjustments to the attitude or velocity. Depending on the design of a craft's maneuvering and stability systems, it may simply be a smaller thruster complement ...

s) to perform course and trajectory alterations instead of

aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

control surfaces, although a set of four

stabilizer Stabilizer, stabiliser, stabilisation or stabilization may refer to: Chemistry and food processing * Stabilizer (chemistry), a substance added to prevent unwanted change in state of another substance ** Polymer stabilizers are stabilizers used ...

s were used to keep the missile on-course during initial flight. During initial testing before the missiles were deployed, 26 of 32 missiles (81%) were successfully launched. While the systems were deployed from 1961 to 1975, 225 of 311 launches (72%) were successful.

Operators

; *

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

Specifications

*Length: *Diameter: *Diameter (to stabilizers): *Launch weight: 13.7 t *Warhead: single thermonuclear: 1.2 to 2.0 Mt (perhaps as low as 1.0 Mt) *Propulsion: liquid-fuel rocket, single stage **Engine: Isaev S2.713 liquid rocket engine, 252 kN of thrust **Oxidizer: AK-27I **Fuel: TG-02 *Range: about *Launching technique: surfaced * CEP:

References

FAS.org: R-13 / SS-N-4 SarkРакетный комплекс Д-2 С БРПЛ Р-13(35-М-4)
In Russian - inc diagrams {{Russian and Soviet missiles, SSM R-013 Cold War missiles of the Soviet Union Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau Military equipment introduced in the 1960s

History

Operators

Specifications

See also

References