Soviet Muna Class trawlers - a strange case

Re: 20,000 Fishing Boats - Anti Submarine Warfare

chuck731 said:

In one of the annual reviews of Soviet military power publications from around mid 1980s I remember a photo of a soviet trawler sitting in dry dock, with one of the torpedo tube outer hatches visibly open.

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Possibly the pic Terran posted?

But that was in the 1980s, I woulld like to know more about this class and see when they were launched and employed.

I'll do a little reserch.

Re: 20,000 Fishing Boats - Anti Submarine Warfare

Between 1960 and 1988 the Soviet Union built 37 modified trawlers for the Soviet Navy. They were dubbed the Muna Class by NATO, and were the Soviet Project 1823 and 1824. They were built for various duties. For example:

20 x were used as seagoing armement transports in the Baltic
4-6 x were used as small signals intelligence vessels.
4 x were used by the KGB as border patrol vessels.
4 x were used as torpedo research vessels, with two torpedo tubes and an active forward-looking sonar
2-4 x were used as survey vessels.
1 x was used as a Seagoing reefer transport.

The four torpedo research vessels had the two different sized tubes, one on each size. A 650 mm tube on the starboad side, and a 533 mm tube on the port side. Problem could be, from the surface, if it were near you, how would you tell the difference between the SIGINT and the Torpedo variety, unless you knew beforehand.

Here were their specs:

Diplacement: 685-1,000 tons depending on type [/u]
Length: 178 ft.
Beam: 27 ft.
Draft: 10 ft.
Speed: 12 knots
Range: 8,600 nm (9 knts) 6,000 nm (11 knts)
Endurance: 16 days
Propuslion: One 600 hp 6LH-30.50-3 Diesel Engine
Armament:
1×2 25 mm 2M-3M – Reya cannons
1×1 650 mm torpedo tube – (torpedo trials ships only)
1×1 533 mm torpedo tube – (torpedo trials ships only)
2×4 launchers MTU-4 SAM

Pictures of one of the torpedo research variants revealed in the late 1980s:


Hmm...now it will make you wonder when you see something like this on the high seas. LOL!


Note: This was a result of a post shared by TerraN_Empire on the 20,000 fishing vessel thread in the Chinese Navy forum. I thought it an interesting case and did some research on it to find out about the specifics of the class.

Re: 20,000 Fishing Boats - Anti Submarine Warfare

TerraN_EmpirE said:

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OK. Thanks.

With a little research I came up with something:

The strange case of the Cold War Era Soviet Muna Class Project 1823 /1824 trawlers

I may move the entire discussion from here to there...when I figure out how. LOL!

The last picture shows PLAN coverts operating on this class of ship.

A surveillance ship perhaps?

I don't think that is directly the case, Jeff is pointing to a very very similar hull type in Chinese industry use. Fishing trawlers have a checkered history in terms of intelligence and smuggling and piracy. Even today sub crews get very wary around trawlers in waters near them. Its not just there nets its the fact that this seemingly harmless fishermen may not be what he seems. Intelligence gathering being the most common worry.

Hopefully these type of trawlers don't ever fall into the hands of non state or rogue agents. It's one thing if Russia or China has them but it would be entirely different case if say Somali pirates or terrorist groups ever get their hands on something like this. It will be a game changer for sure!

FarkTypeSoldier said:

The last picture shows PLAN coverts operating on this class of ship.

A surveillance ship perhaps?

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i believe that's the boat that got into a fishing rights dispute with USS Impeccable.

One of them.

Jeff Head said:

The four torpedo research vessels had the two different sized tubes, one on each size. A 650 mm tube on the starboad side, and a 533 mm tube on the port side. Problem could be, from the surface, if it were near you, how would you tell the difference between the SIGINT and the Torpedo variety, unless you knew beforehand.

​

Hmm...now it will make you wonder when you see something like this on the high seas. LOL!

​

Note: This was a result of a post shared by TerraN_Empire on the 20,000 fishing vessel thread in the Chinese Navy forum. I thought it an interesting case and did some research on ti to find out about the specifics of the class.

Click to expand...

If the sea was rough enough, in theory you'd see what's underneath when this type of trawler got to the crest of those big waves...

There's little risk that a pirate to have one of these because they aim is always simply to board and hijack a vessel, not to sink it to the bottom as they'd then unable to make profit from the loot and ransom from the ship's owner.

For a rogue nation, this is also a tricky weapon to use if they got it, because it'd be hard to conceal the transfer and loading of torpedo, and any sheds / drydocks that has a roof over it are might as well neon signs that says "look here!" to everybody.

Terrorists typically don't like things that require specific care and maintenance, as well as crews of specialized skill sets to operate them.