Is it really dangerous?

Unmanned boats have been around since World War II and are gaining popularity again because they are not only effective in suicide attacks but also in reconnaissance missions.

At 5:30 a.m. on March 25, 1941, two huge explosions were heard in the Mediterranean Sea, and two ships sank. The first, the British heavy cruiser York, was riddled with holes in the water and slowly sank. World War II was over for the ship. The next explosion left a large hole in the side of the Norwegian tanker Pericles as it attempted to tow a stranded ship. The tanker broke in two and sank rapidly. Italian MTM (Motoscafo Turismo Modificato) unmanned explosive boats successfully finished off the enemy ships.

Explosive boat from World War II. (Source: topwar.ru)

Italian pioneer

Experience with destroyers and torpedo boats showed that close-in attacks were most effective, when the commander of the ship courageously ordered a target to be attacked by firing torpedoes at the enemy at the shortest distance. With such attacks, the American destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts torpedoed the Japanese heavy cruiser Chokai, and the British destroyer Acast, breaking through the enemy's shell barrage, pierced the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst with a torpedo.

However, approaching enemy warships was too dangerous for the attacking ship and its crew. So the idea of ​​attacking with suicide boats, hitting ships on the surface, was born. The Italians were the first to use unmanned explosive boats to attack the enemy, although German engineers had invented them even before World War I.

Initially, these were boats equipped with 95-horsepower engines with a full displacement of 1 ton. The driver put the boat into combat mode, shaped the steering wheel and jumped off the side of the ship, trying to climb onto a wooden life raft as quickly as possible so as not to suffer hydraulic shock from the explosion. The boat crashed into the side of the target ship at a speed of 33 knots, after which the gunpowder charge cut it in two. In the bow, at the required depth, the hydrostatic fuse of the 300 kg warhead was activated. Such a complex plan created a large hole in the target ship below the water surface.

Italian explosive boats successfully attacked the British fleet in Suda Bay, but the subsequent attack on the port of La Valeta was a failure. The British learned the lesson from the first attack and increased their guard. When six МТМ explosive boats headed into the harbor, they were spotted by searchlights, and a storm of machine gun and anti-aircraft fire followed. The result of the operation was 15 dead, 18 wounded, and the attackers were captured.

On the other hand, the Italians, despite their ideas of attacking the enemy, were unable to protect their own fleet. The Italian fleet, despite its vast resources, suffered crushing defeats against the British in the Battles of Calabria and Cape Spada during World War II, three battleships were lost in a British air raid on Taranto, and three beautiful heavy cruisers were sunk in the Battle of Cape Matapan.

Strengths and weaknesses of suicide boats

A well-planned and unexpected attack by unmanned explosive boats would be extremely dangerous. In 1948, an MTM explosive boat purchased by Israel from Italy sank the Egyptian corvette Emir al Farouk and damaged an Egyptian minesweeper.

Its weaknesses are serious. The chances of a suicide boat surviving detection are zero. An unmanned boat, even a small one, if detected can be easily destroyed even with light weapons. It is a destructive weapon of the weak against the strong and of the poor against the rich.

Compare the booby trap to a torpedo. The torpedo has every advantage! It is faster, it cannot be detected by radar, it cannot be shot down with small arms, and it has a homing head. A torpedo creates a huge underwater hole in the target, while the booby trap requires a rather complex design. In fact, the only disadvantage of the torpedo compared to the suicide boat is that it requires a submarine to use it. Therefore, countries that previously used suicide boats began to buy submarines and stopped developing unmanned booby traps.

Small suicide boat with camera. (Source: topwar.ru)

The Revival

The rebirth of the unmanned explosive boats began with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since the Ukrainian Navy was quickly eliminated by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the burden of fighting the Russian fleet fell on the Ukrainian Intelligence Service. This structure included sabotage units equipped with unmanned Magura V5 boats.

According to the Ukrainians, the unmanned boats are a Ukrainian development, but some experts believe that their components are produced in the US and the UK, and that only the Ukrainians assemble them. It is difficult to verify, because the Americans obviously do not need suicide boats because they have always had a strong fleet, and the British have no information about the development of such weapons in the UK.

So the suicide boat could be developed in Türkiye. The developer is Meteksan Savunma and the manufacturer is ARES Shipyard. On the company's website, Meteksan Savunma President Selcuk Kerem Alparslan points out that the boat is being supplied to the Turkish Navy and its partners to change the game at sea.

Suicide boat developed by Türkiye. (Source: topwar.ru)

So it can be said that unmanned suicide boats like the Magura V5 are not of American or British origin, but of Turkish origin. In any case, unmanned explosive boats, which are much less technically sophisticated than warships, are a much harder target to destroy and have plagued many Russian warships in the Black Sea during the current conflict.

In the Middle East, since October 2023, Houthi forces in Yemen have been regularly attacking ships from unfriendly countries passing through the Red Sea, including using unmanned suicide boats. The last known incident occurred on June 12, when Houthi forces attacked the Greek cargo ship Tutor, sailing under the Liberian flag, using suicide boats. One boat hit the stern of the ship, rendering it immobile. Then another boat hit the center of the hull, causing the cargo ship to flood.

Boats used by Houthi forces in the June 12, 2024 attack on the Red Sea. (Source: The Warzone)

However, recent information shows that the combat effectiveness of suicide boats has decreased. After all, even with the great advances in science, modern unmanned boats still have all the shortcomings of the Italian explosive boats of World War II. They are quite easy to detect and, when detected, are destroyed. In fact, the fight against suicide boats does not require new weapons and technical means, but only the usual organization of operations on warships and in naval bases. Unmanned boats are not torpedoes, so they will be detected with regular patrols at sea.

Does Russia need unmanned boats?

Ending the story of unmanned boats, the question arises: does the Russian Navy need such weapons?

The answer: yes and no. According to a Russian military expert, since Ukraine has exhausted its naval forces in the Black Sea, there are simply no targets left for Russian suicide boats.

However, in the long-term war not only with Ukraine but also possibly with NATO rivals, the developers of Russian unmanned explosive boats still have a lot of work to do. When attacking, not only torpedoes and unmanned boats can be separated, but they can also be combined for greater efficiency. When approaching the enemy at a certain distance, the suicide boat and the torpedo can separate and rush towards the target along different trajectories, preferably winding. After releasing the 1.5-2 ton torpedo, the speed of the unmanned boat will increase sharply. Modern electronics can guide the suicide boat and the torpedo automatically and accurately. Thus, the enemy will have to fight two completely different means of attack at the same time.

Additionally, unmanned boats can be used not only in attack but also in reconnaissance variants. And this is where they can come in handy for the Black Sea Fleet.

Detecting suicide boats with radar is more difficult than detecting them with reconnaissance aircraft (or reconnaissance UAVs). To detect suicide boats from the air, you need an air force, which Ukraine has almost no left. Therefore, unmanned reconnaissance boats still have a place in the Russian navy.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/xuong-tu-sat-co-thuc-su-nguy-hiem-279268.html