Hydrofoils
Motor ship "Rocket" was intended for high-speed river passenger transportation on suburban and local lines, up to 500 km long, with entry into reservoirs Length - 27 m. Width - 5 m. Draft afloat - 1.8 m. m. The power of the power plant is 850 hp. Speed - 60 km / h. Passenger capacity - 64 people.
On August 25, 1957, the first domestic hydrofoil ship, the Rocket, sets off on its maiden voyage.
The first attempts to create a hydrofoil were made at the end of the 19th century. In 1897, the Russian citizen Charles de Lambert, who lived in France, built and tested a small hydrofoil. However, the power of the steam engine used on this ship as an engine was not enough to develop the speed necessary for the ship's hull to rise above the water.
More successful were the experiments of the Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini.
Enrico Forlanini (center)
He has been experimenting with hydrofoil models since 1898. In 1906, the full-size experimental vessel he created reached a speed of 42.5 miles per hour (68 km / h) during tests on Lake Lago Majore. This boat had multi-tiered wings like a bookcase.
boat Forlanini
In the 30s, the German engineer Hans von Schertel, with a large group of scientists and practitioners, worked very seriously on the idea of a high-speed hydrofoil vessel. By that time, suitable materials for the construction of the hull and quite suitable powerful engines had appeared. Only one thing did not exist - the optimal form of a hydrofoil.
Shertel tested models of the most unthinkable shapes, but nothing worked. The ship did not move. In some cases, he lacked stability when moving on the water, in others, the wing lift was insufficient and the ship did not rise above the water. The golden mean was never found, although the hydrofoil system created by Shertel found application. And yet, the full practical implementation of the hydrofoil idea was not given to foreign researchers.
Hans von Schertel
Around the same years, a student of the shipbuilding department of the Gorky Polytechnic Institute, Rostislav Alekseev, was interested in an article in the collection of scientific works of TsAGI. The article considered the behavior of an aircraft wing in some dense flow, for example, in water. The author argued: the stronger the flow, the faster the hydrodynamic forces arise, providing the lifting force of the wing.
The young man was captured by the idea - to force those hydrodynamic forces to serve, which just did not allow ships to increase speed, made water transport slow. In a word, he decided to turn the enemy into a friend.
And turned!
In the autumn of the forty-first year, Rostislav Alekseev, a graduate of the institute, defended his thesis “Glisser on hydrofoils". The State Examination Commission heard about a vessel that the world history of shipbuilding had not yet known. The diploma work was recognized as corresponding to the level of the PhD thesis.
In Alekseev's project, the effect of a low-submerged hydrofoil (Alekseev's effect) was used. Hydrofoil Alekseev consists of two main horizontal bearing planes - one in front and one behind. The dihedral angle at the convergence is either small or absent, the weight distribution is approximately equal between the front and rear planes. A submerged hydrofoil, rising to the surface, gradually loses its lift, and at a depth approximately equal to the length of the wing chord, the lift approaches zero. It is due to this effect that the submerged wing is not able to fully come to the surface. At the same time, a relatively small hydroplaning (sliding on the surface of the water) fender liner is used to help with the “winging out”, and also does not allow the vessel to return to the displacement mode. These fender liners are located in close proximity to the front pillars and are installed so that they touch the surface of the water while underway, while the wings are submerged to a depth approximately equal to the length of their chord. The whole system was first tested on a small boat, which was driven by a 77-horsepower car engine.
After defending his diploma, R. E. Alekseev received a referral to the Gorky plant "Krasnoye Sormovo", to the department of technical control: the young shipbuilder became the controller of the Quality Control Department for receiving tanks - the main product of the plant. It was military time.
On his first boat, R. E. Alekseev went to Moscow in 1946. It was accepted by interested organizations, specialists got acquainted with the vessel. Have an idea hydrofoils the first supporters appeared not only in Gorky, but also in Moscow. The tiny staff of the laboratory set about the technical design of the world's first hydrofoils under a code name "Rocket".
The first passenger hydrofoil under the same name entered service in 1957. The first ship in the series "Rocket-1" was built at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant. Rocket-1 made its first flight on August 25, 1957. During this flight, the distance of 420 kilometers from Gorky to Kazan was covered in seven hours. There were thirty passengers on board.
serial production "Rocket" was established at the Feodosia shipyard "More". 389 were built from 1959 to 1976 "Rocket", including 32 for export. High-speed diesel engines were supplied by the Leningrad plant Zvezda.
"Rockets" were very popular, their name became a household name and often all ships of this type are called that. Ride on "Rocket" to some picturesque bay was one of the favorite, albeit not cheap (ticket prices for such vessels were noticeably higher than the prices for commuter trains for the same distance), types of family recreation on the river.
In Nizhniy Novgorod "Rockets" used in daily commuter traffic, as well as excursion boats.
passenger compartment "Rockets"
In Moscow, the first "Rocket"(namely "Rocket-1") appeared on the days of the VI International Festival of Youth and Students in the summer of 1957. "Rocket" brought to the capital the chief designer of the ship Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev and personally demonstrated it to Khrushchev.
Based on the developments of Alekseev in Russia, a large number of commercial hydrofoils: "Rocket", "Arrow", "Satellite", "Meteor" , "Comet" , "Cyclone", "Petrel" , "Sunrise" . Military ships were also built, including the largest ship of this class in the world, the Butterfly, preceded by the Bee, Turya and Locust.
ship on the PC project “Butterfly”
missile boat on PC MRK-5
MRK-5 at the pier of the naval base
MRK-5
TTD:
Displacement: 432 tons
Dimensions: length - 56.6 m, width - 10.2 m (21.1 m with lowered wings), draft - 2.35 m (8.0 m with lowered wings).
Maximum travel speed: 60 knots.
Cruising range: 700 miles at 45 knots.
Power plant: 2 M-10 gas turbines, 18,000 hp each. on 4 screws in lowered columns, 2 DRA-211 diesel engines of 1100 hp each. for low speed
Armament: 2x2 Malachite anti-ship missile launchers (4 P-120 missiles), 1x6 AK-630 30mm gun mount, 1x2 Osa-M anti-aircraft launchers (20 missiles).
Crew: 40 people.
Mass exploitation of "Rockets" in Moscow was carried out from the beginning of the 1960s until 2006. There were also routes in the Moscow region: from MSRV to Chiverevo, Aksakovo, Tishkovo, Chernaya River.
There was also a fire modification " Rocket-P» with two fire nozzles and systems of water and air-foam protection. Range of "shooting" - 90 m. Water supply - 800 cubic meters. m/hour.
In a short time hydrofoils have become one of the most popular modes of transport. Speed, seaworthiness, comfort, high efficiency allowed winged ships to successfully compete with other modes of transport. The Soviet Union had the largest fleet of cruise ships in the world. In addition to the "Rocket", other types of civilian hydrofoil motor ships were built in the USSR. By 1985, more than 1,000 Volga boats, hundreds of motor ships were used on the country's waterways. "Rocket", dozens of ships "Kometa", "Meteor" and "Belarus". In our country hydrofoils annually transported on regular lines more than 20 million passengers. Soviet cruise ships were successfully exported to many countries, including the USA, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain.
Since 2007, the gradual restoration of the Rockets began in Moscow. So, for example, in 2009, four "Rockets" were operated: 102 (VIP-salon, not used in regular flights), 185, 191 (former number 244) and 246.
The ship "Belarus" was distinguished by the fact that it had a very small draft: afloat - 0.91, with the course on the wings - 0.3 meters. For comparison: the same parameters for the ship "Rocket"- 1.8 and 1.1 meters.
"Belarus" served suburban and local river lines up to 320 kilometers long. The vessel took on board 40 passengers and, with an operating power of 600 horsepower, develops a speed of 65 kilometers per hour.
The boat "Volga" was intended for walks, water tourism and business and traveling purposes.
It can be used on coastal sea lines, as well as on rivers, lakes and reservoirs up to 180 km long. Length - 8.5 m. Width - 2.1 m. Draft afloat - 0.85 m. Draft during the course on wings - 0.55 m. Speed - 60 km / h. Power - 70 hp Passengers - 6 people.
The motor ship "Meteor" was intended for high-speed river passenger transportation on suburban and local lines with a length of up to 600 km. Length - 34.6 m. Width - 9.5 m. Draft afloat - 2.3 m. Draft during the course on wings - 1.2 m. Speed - 65 km / h. Power plant - 2x850 hp. Passengers - 124 people.
"Meteors" were produced from 1961 to 1991 at the Zelenodolsk Gorky Shipyard. In total, more than 400 ships of this series were built. In the Nizhny Novgorod design bureau for hydrofoils named after Rostislav Alekseev, a Meteor-2000 modification was developed with imported engines and air conditioners, which was also supplied to China. By 2007, the Meteor production line at the plant was dismantled.
The motor ship "Kometa" was designed for high-speed passenger transportation on coastal sea lines up to 230 miles long. Length - 35.1 m. Width - 9.6 m. Draft afloat - 3.2 m. Draft during the course on the wings - 1.45 m. Speed - 32 - 34 knots. Power plant - 2x850 hp. Passengers - 118 people.
Motor ship "Voskhod" was created to replace older hydrofoils - "Rockets" and "Meteors". Length - 27.6 m. Width - 6.4 m. Draft afloat - 2.1 m. Draft during the course on wings - 1.1 m. Speed - 65 km / h. Power plant - 2x500 hp. Passengers - 71 people.
The Voskhods were built at the More shipyard in Feodosia. High-speed diesel engines for the ship were supplied by the Leningrad plant "Zvezda" and the plant "Barnaultransmash". In total, by the beginning of the nineties, more than 150 Voskhods had been built. In the nineties, the production of Voskhod practically stopped due to the difficult situation of the manufacturing plant.
Gas turbine "Petrel" designed for high-speed passenger transportation on transit and local lines of rivers and reservoirs up to 500 km long. Length - 43.2 m. Width - 7.4 m. Draft afloat - 2.0 m. Draft when sailing on wings - 0.6 m. Speed - 90 km / h. Power - 2x2700 hp. Passengers - 150 people.
"Petrel" was the flagship among the river SPK. It had a power plant based on two gas turbine engines (GTE) AI-20 designed by A. G. Ivchenko, borrowed from the Il-18 aircraft. "Petrel" existed in a single copy. It was operated from 1964 until the end of the 70s on the Volga on the route Kuibyshev - Ulyanovsk - Kazan - Gorky.
August 18th, 2013 04:29 am
The hydrofoil ship "Rocket" has become a symbol of the Soviet era in photographs, postcards, documentaries, etc. The photographic chronicle of Moscow of the Soviet period was no exception. In very many photographs there is an obligatory "Rocket" in the next bend of the Moscow River or the straightening of the Moscow Canal. Definitely, the winged creation of Rostislav Alekseev was a technical breakthrough of its time, and the first ship launched in 1957 became the ancestor of a very rather big series. In this post, we will recall "Rockets" with a Moscow residence permit from photographs of various authors.
According to my conservative estimates, 20 motor ships "Rocket" worked in Moscow at different times. But that was a long time ago, today there are many fewer of them, but in reality there are only three motor ships in operation. So, in Moscow, these telohods worked:
Rocket-2;
Rocket-18;
Rocket-64;
Rocket-78
Rocket-102;
Rocket-109;
Rocket-170;
Rocket-172;
Rocket-182;
Rocket-185;
Rocket-190;
Rocket-191;
Rocket-194;
Rocket-197;
Rocket-211;
Rocket-230;
Rocket-235;
Rocket-244;
Rocket-246;
Rocket-253.
Now about each of them a little more.
Motor ship "Rocket-2" was built in 1957 at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Gorky. Rocket-2 made its first passenger flight along the route "Northern River Station - Khvoyny Bor". It was the first high-speed hydrofoil to operate on the Moscow Canal. "Rocket-2" worked as part of the Moscow River Shipping and operated flights not only from Moscow. She worked several navigations on the Oka on passenger lines from Ryazan. In the early 1980s, "Rocket-2" was transferred to the Volga in Rybinsk. At the end of the 80s, Rocket-2 was decommissioned. It was planned to install it on a pedestal as a monument, but so far the essence and the matter of "Rocket-2" have been pretty spoiled - the windows were broken, and towards the end it also caught fire. Instead of "Rocket-2", "Rocket-32" was hoisted on the pedestal, and "2nd" was quietly sawn into metal. Several photos of "Rockets-2":
Motor ship "Rocket-2"
(Photo from the archive of the magazine "Life")
Motor ship "Rocket-2" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Photo from the archive of JSC "Moscow Tourist Fleet". Collection of G.A. Pavlov)
Motor ship "Rocket-18" was built in 1960 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. There seemed to be nothing particularly remarkable in the history of the second Moscow "Rocket". The ship completed 23 navigations, after which it was decommissioned in 1983. By this time, there were already many newer ships in Moscow. After decommissioning, it was cut into metal.
(Photo provided by Andryukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-18" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Archive of OJSC "Moscow Tourist Fleet", collection of G.A. Pavlov)
Motor ship "Rocket-18", Northern River Station.
(Photo from Riverfleet.ru)
Motor ship "Rocket-64" was built in 1962 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. This ship worked in Moscow sporadically - maybe one, maybe several navigations. He was part of the Moscow River Shipping Company, but he worked out almost his entire biography from Rybinsk. Perhaps his arrival in Moscow was timed to coincide with something, most likely, the ship just worked here at first, and then was transferred to Rybinsk. The fact of the presence of the "64th" in the Capital has several photographic confirmations, as well as its subsequent operation in Rybinsk. Since the beginning of the 90s, the Rocket-64 has not been used, and in 1996 it was decommissioned and sawn into metal in Rybinsk. Photos of the capital stay "Rockets-64":
Motor ship "Rocket-64" on the Khimki reservoir.
(Photo from the collection of Stanislav Kruglov)
Motor ship "Rocket-64" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Photo from the collection of Stanislav Kruglov)
Motor ship "Rocket-78" was built in 1962 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. "78th" also managed to make a mark not only in Moscow, but also in Gorky, having worked first in the Moscow and then in the Volga Shipping Company. After 1973, she definitely ran from Gorky along the Oka to Dzerzhinsk and Kasimov, probably before that she had just worked in Moscow. The ship was decommissioned after 1984, since the fleet was then constantly updated. We are also interested in photographs of the Moscow period of the work of "Rocket-78":
(Photo from Riverfleet.ru)
Motor ship "Rocket-78" on the Moscow Canal.
(Photo courtesy of tsushima.su, user looking forward)
Motor ship "Rocket-78" on the Moscow Canal.
(Photo from the Forum of River Travelers, A.Sergey I.)
Motor ship "Rocket-102" was built in 1964 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. The ship operated as part of the Moscow Shipping Company and was based at the fleet base in Khlebnikovo. Initially, "102-I" was the usual flight version of the "Rocket" and worked on passenger routes in Moscow. In the early 2000s, it was converted into a banquet version with a passenger capacity of 35 people (from the original capacity of 64 passengers). In Russia, all adventures traditionally start drunk, and the same happened with Rocket-102. On August 31, 2007, in the evening, a drunk minder took the ship out of Khlebnikovo and drove it towards Moscow. Having gained speed, he lost control, and at 57 km of the Moscow Canal (near Dolgoprudny) "Rocket-102" took off at full speed on the slope of the channel. The ship received damage to the wing system and propeller shaft. On the same day, the injured "Rocket" managed to be removed from the shallows and towed to the base. The ship completed its navigation in 2008, but for three years now it has been standing on the slipway without work, gradually giving its spare parts to the still working "Rockets". The future of "Rocket-102" is very vague.
(Photo from fleetphoto.ru, user - I.Panfilova)
Motor ship "Rocket-102" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Photo from River Travel Forum, masha2411)
Motor ship "Rocket-102" at the Northern River Station.
(Photo from fleetphoto.ru, user - TOXA)
Motor ship "Rocket-102" on the slipway in Nagatino.
(Photo from the collection of Stanislav Kruglov)
Motor ship "Rocket-109" was built in 1965 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. The motor ship was distributed to the Moscow Shipping Company and until 1983 it was accurately operated in Moscow. "Rocket-109" in the 70s was a frequent guest on flights in the center of Moscow. After 1983, the ship was transferred to Rybinsk to replace the Rocket-2. In the early 1990s, the ship was decommissioned. In 1998-1999 sawn into metal. Photos of "Rockets-109" in Moscow:
Motor ship "Rocket-109" on the Moscow River. 1977
(Photo: Vladimir Rozovsky)
Motor ship "Rocket-109" at the Khimki reservoir.
(author unknown)
Motor ship "Rocket-109" on the Moscow River*.
* According to a number of signs, the Forum members identified the Rocket-109 in the ship
Motor ship "Rocket-170" was built in 1968 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. "170th" worked in the Moscow Shipping Company on suburban flights from the Northern River Station. This ship was visually distinguished from others by the blue "mustache" on the cheekbones. "Rocket-170" was noted in 1978 in a transport accident when it collided with "Rocket-190" on the Moscow Canal. But, in those years, it was not customary to cut the ships into metal immediately, and both "Rockets" were restored and continued their work. The last navigation at the "170th" was in 1994, after which the ship was decommissioned and sold. "Rocket-170" was installed on a pedestal as a coastal cafe in the boarding house "Solnechny Gorodok" in the Moscow region.
Motor ship "Rocket-170" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Author: Edward)
Motor ship "Rocket-170" on the Khimki reservoir.
(author unknown)
Damage to the ship "Rocket-170" after the accident on July 26, 1978.
(Photo from the Forum of river travelers, user - Andryukha)
(Author: Maria Romanova)
Motor ship "Rocket-170" in the boarding house "Solnechny Gorodok".
(Author: Maria Romanova)
Motor ship "Rocket-172" was built in 1968 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. The ship entered the Moscow Shipping Company. Like its peer, Rocket-170, Rocket-172, thanks to the efforts of its crew, also received an identification mark - a large star on its nose. "172nd" also worked on suburban lines from the Northern River Station. She worked quite well for herself and did not stand out among her sisters in anything special. In 1991, in the fall, when the captain was ferrying the "Rocket" into the backwater, the ship collided with a barge. The "Rocket-172" had severe damage to the wing device, but the captain managed to bring his ship to the backwater, where later the "172nd" was raised to the slipway. After serious damage, they did not begin to restore the "Rocket". She stood on the slipway for two years, after which in 1994 she was sawn into metal.
Motor ship "Rocket-172" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Author: Andryukha)
(from the movie "Vertical Racing")
Motor ship "Rocket-172" on the Khimki reservoir.
(from the movie "Vertical Racing")
Motor ship "Rocket-172" (near) on the slipway in Khlebnikovo.
(Photo by Andrey Rogozhin)
Motor ship "Rocket-182" was built in 1969 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. In the same year he entered the Moscow River Shipping Company, was assigned to Moscow. "182-I" worked on suburban flights from Moscow. After navigation in 1992, "Rocket-182" was decommissioned, and already in 1993 it was sawn into metal.
(from the movie "Vertical Racing")
Motor ship "Rocket-182" (near) and "Rocket-235" at the berth of the Northern River Station.
(from the movie "Vertical Racing")
Motor ship "Rocket-182" on the Khimki reservoir.
(author unknown)
Motor ship "Rocket-182".
(Scan from booklet)
Motor ship "Rocket-185" was built in 1969 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. "185th" also entered the Moscow Shipping Company. "Rocket-185" mainly worked on routes in the center of Moscow. In the early 2000s, when the number of "Rockets" was already small, and the routes in the center began to be loaded worse, the "185th" was transferred to flights from the Northern River Station. She worked out navigation in 2006 and stayed on the slipway in the backwater in Nagatino. Then it seemed that one of the oldest linear missiles in Moscow would no longer be launched. But, in 2009, having undergone repairs, "Rocket-185" returned to work. And today the ship is in operation.
Motor ship "Rocket-185" on the Moscow River.
(Scan from a postcard, Andryukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-185" on the Moscow River, 1980s.
(Photo from the Forum of River Travelers, Sergey Mamonov)
Motor ship "Rocket-185" at the pier "Aksakovo".
(Photo by Andriukha)
(Photo by: Mikhail Vinogradov)
Motor ship "Rocket-185" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Photo by yakhindmitriy)
Motor ship "Rocket-190" was built in 1969 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. Most likely, "190th" really did not like to be photographed, I did not find any photographs of her at all. But I remember this ship very well. "Rocket-190" together with its sister "Rocket-170" back in 1978 "marked" in a traffic accident. Alas, this is the only documentary reminder of the ship that I have. "Rocket-190" worked until the navigation of 1994, and in 1995 it was decommissioned and sawn into metal.
Description of the transport incident on 07/26/1978:
Motor ship "Rocket-191"was built in 1969 at the More shipyard in Feodosia. The 191st worked on suburban lines from the Northern River Station. She successfully survived the 90s, when half of her sisters ceased to exist. Her career ended in August 25, 2002, when at the Khimki reservoir "Rocket-191" collided with the motor ship "Akakdemik Yakutin". "Rocket" received serious damage to the hull and forever remained standing on the slipway in Nagatino. Instead, the number "191" was given to "Rocket-244" , which by that time had been on the cold sludge for several years.The real "Rocket-191" became a donor of spare parts.After the accident in 2010, "Rocket-246" at the "191st" was dismantled the nose and installed on the "Rocket- 246". More about the accident "Rocket-191". Here are photos of the real "Rocket-191".
Motor ship "Rocket-191" on the Moscow Canal, 1980s.
(Author: Andrey Rogozhin)
Motor ship "Rocket-191" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Author: Nik Stepanov)
Motor ship "Rocket-191" in lock No. 7 of the Moscow channel, 1998.
(Author: Pavel Gromov)
Motor ship "Rocket-191" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Author: yakhindmitriy)
Motor ship "Rocket-191" on the slipway in the backwater in Nagatino.
(Author: Stanislav Kruglov)
Motor ship "Rocket-194" was built in 1969 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. "194th" worked on suburban flights from Moscow. In his biography, "Rocket-194" managed to take part in the filming of the film "The Adventures of Grass". Actually, thanks to this, you can find footage with this ship. By 1995, "Rocket-194" was decommissioned and sawn into metal. Here are the few photos of the "194th" that are:
Motor ship "Rocket-194" on the Moscow Canal, 1976.
(Author: Vladimir Rozovsky)
Motor ship "Rocket-194".
(film "The Adventures of Grass")
Motor ship "Rocket-194" (near).
(film "The Adventures of Grass")
Motor ship "Rocket-197" was built in 1965 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. The "197th" has a more interesting biography and geography. Built in 1965, this "Rocket" was sent to Germany, where it worked on intercity lines. In the early 70s, the "Rocket" was returned to the USSR and received its own number. After that, "197th" was transferred to the Moscow Shipping Company and began its work in the Capital. "Rocket-197" worked on lines in the center of Moscow and only then moved to the Northern River Station. She moved for a short time - having worked out the navigation of 2005, the "Rocket-197" was put on a slipway in Nagatino and never again went down to the water. The motor ship is on a cold sludge, its prospects are not clear, although there is an opinion that the "Rocket-197" is completely complete and can easily be put into operation.
Motor ship "Rocket-197" on the Moscow River.
(Scan from a postcard)
Motor ship "Rocket-197" on the Moscow Canal, 2005.
(Author: Andryukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-197" at the pier "Vodniki".
(Author: Stanislav Kruglov)
Motor ship "Rocket-197" (near) and "Rocket-235" on the slipway in Nagatino.
(Author: TOHA)
Motor ship "Rocket-211" was built in 1972 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. In the same year he entered the Moscow River Shipping Company, was assigned to Moscow. "Rocket-211" worked on suburban flights from Moscow. There was nothing particularly remarkable in her biography. It is not known exactly what kind of navigation the 211 had last. Then for several years she stood on the slipway and in 2003 was sawn into metal.
Motor ship "Rocket-211" on the Moscow Canal near the Khlebnikovsky plant, 1986.
(Author: Valery Berezin)
Motor ship "Rocket-230" was built in 1972 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. In the same year he entered the Moscow River Shipping Company, was assigned to Moscow. "230th" also did not differ in love for photographing, and I managed to find only one frame from her wintering. "Rocket-230" was decommissioned in 1991, and in 1995 sawn into metal.
Motor ship "Rocket-230" on the slipway in Khlebnikovo.
(Author: Andrey Rogozhin)
Motor ship "Rocket-235" was built in 1972 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. In Moscow, "235-I" worked on suburban flights from the Northern River Station. She was lucky to work in the 90s. Her fate was decided in 2004, when the "Rocket-235" was decommissioned. Since then, for nine years now, she has been on the slipway, gradually giving away her spare parts to her happier colleagues. Will the "235th" be able to fly again? Hardly.
(Photo from the Forum of River Travelers, Andryukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-235" on the Moscow Canal near the Khlebnikov Plant.
(Photo from River Travelers Forum, Rechnik77)
Motor ship "Rocket-235" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Photo from the Forum of River Travelers, Andryukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-235" at the Northern River Station.
(Photo from the Forum of River Travelers, Andryukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-235" on the slipway in Nagatino.
(Author: TOHA)
Motor ship "Rocket-244" was built in 1973 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. Entered the Moscow Shipping Company, worked on suburban lines. Worked just like everyone else, nothing stood out. Just like almost everyone in the mid-late 90s was left without a job and was put on a cold sludge. The misfortune of one of the "Rockets" turned into a great success for the other. At the end of August 2002, "Rocket-191" was damaged after a collision, the operation of the ship became impossible. Instead of the "191st" it was necessary to withdraw another ship. Here came the finest hour for "244th" - her condition was quite tolerable. The only caveat: for many years, the "Rocket-244" itself was somehow managed to be saved, but the documents for it disappeared as they were. A fateful decision was made and "Rocket-244" became "Rocket-191". "New numbers" were hung on it, and for greater persuasiveness they even killed the numbers. And "244th" in a new form became the second "Rocket-191".
Motor ship "Rocket-244" on the Khimki reservoir (hidden behind the backs of vacationers).
Motor ship "Rocket-244" and its captain A.V. Kozlov.
(Photo from River Travel Forum, Andres)
Motor ship "Rocket-244" on the slipway in Nagatino.
(Author: Stanislav Kruglov)
(Photo by yakhindmitriy)
Motor ship "Rocket-244/191" on the Moscow Canal.
(Photo by yakhindmitriy)
Motor ship "Rocket-244/191" at the Northern River Station.
(Photo by yakhindmitriy)
Motor ship "Rocket-246" was built in 1973 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. "246th" successfully survived the 90s, then "zero" from year to year, steadily going into navigation. She managed to repaint many times, work on a variety of flights, but continued to work. In 2010, the "Rocket-246" took part in a small incident - the ship crashed into the pier and damaged the bow. In order to restore the "246th", a bow from the "Rocket-191" was installed on it. Sad news came this year - for navigation in 2013, "Rocket-246" was decommissioned. So far, there is talk that only this year. Let's hope that it will be so. For most of the "winged" phrase about the decommissioning does not bode well.
Motor ship "Rocket-246" on the channel named after Moscow.
(Photo by yakhindmitriy)
Motor ship "Rocket-246" on the channel named after Moscow, 2006.
(Photo by Andriukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-246" on the Moscow River, 2007.
(Photo by Andriukha)
Motor ship "Rocket-246" on the Moscow River, 2008.
(Photo from www.fleetphoto.ru, author: A.F.)
Motor ship "Rocket-246" at the Klyazma reservoir, 2011.
(Photo credit: Ponch)
Motor ship "Rocket-253" was built in 1974 at the shipyard "More" in Feodosia. "253rd" was the newest "winged Muscovite". The shipping company was equipped with high-speed ships, and after this "Rocket" they no longer arrived in Moscow. "The youngest metropolitan" Rocket "and did not last very long. In 1997, the ship was seriously damaged in a collision with the Solnechnaya Polyana pier (the wing rack was torn off). In the same 1997," Rocket-253 "was sawn into metal. I must say that this "Rocket" didn't really like to be photographed either.On the net I found only this photo.
==================
PS. During the years of carefree childhood, I was often sent in the summer to my grandparents. They lived on Svoboda Street with a furious view from the balcony of the Northern River Station. And all day long in the summer I sat on the balcony with a telescope, probably from there my passion for the fleet appeared. There were more motor ships then, but it was especially interesting to watch the flock of "Rockets". They then went like buses, every 10 minutes another ship set off for a flight, and people were always waiting on the piers. And every weekend we went by ferry from Zakharkovo to the River Station, where we always loaded onto the flight to the Chernaya River, because it was the farthest and longest, and rode the Rocket back and forth. And it was a thrill, let me tell you. I then, of course, was not up to photographing, but in vain. Now there are only three "Rockets" left (count two) and their photographs cannot be found. The winged symbol of the era of the once powerful shipbuilding is fading into the past, and it would be very cool to keep what little that remains despite the complexity and economic feasibility. I would very much like to show my son these very, very beautiful ships.
Original taken from dinolippi in Wingless "Rocket"
By and large, this is not a technical monument. But the respected owner of the community gave the go-ahead for the publication of this material here.
Near Kazan, in the village of Kirelskoe (width 55.131826, longitude 49.14235), next to the shipyard, there is a half-abandoned children's camp. An ordinary camp, nothing special, but during last year's bike tour of abandoned churches, it was mapped as a very desirable object to visit: a Rocket-type winged vessel was used as a cinema.
Having casually mentioned it in the report, I was not going to return to this place in my notes. There were few photographs, they did not represent any artistic value ... But now, eight months after that campaign, I suddenly read in the news feeds: the last "Rockets" are being cut in Moscow. Two, decommissioned ten years ago, were called junk and put under the knife in mid-February; two more await the same fate on the shore. A couple more are still on the move, but for how long? And then memories came flooding back, somehow it hurt inside, and a friend writes on Skype about this ... And now I’m sorting out photos with a swift silhouette absurdly sticking out between forest trees, looking at youtube videos, rummaging in the fleetphoto.ru database ...
They cut the last "Rockets" ... It saddens me. With age, you become more and more sentimental, you are more and more reverent about the receding childhood, and the “Rocket” for me is one of the symbols of that carefree time: I spent the summer in a village on the other side of the Volga, and the easiest and fastest way to get there was motor ships: slow displacement "OM" or "Moskovsky" and high-speed "Rockets" and "Meteors" on hydrofoils. In addition to summer residents like us, residents of the surrounding villages traveled to the city - for example, to trade in the market with gifts from their garden, so the passenger flow was constant and rather dense. It was problematic to get to the other side by bus (even after the bridge across the Volga appeared in 1989, it was necessary to make a hefty detour on dry land, and before that it was necessary to melt down on the ferry), not everyone had a personal car, and water transport was in demand. About a dozen "Rockets" and about the same number of "Meteors" were assigned to the Kazan river port, and two or three large "Comets" came from neighboring cities. I knew perfectly well all the local passenger ships and drew them in countless quantities in my albums. With summer friends, we played river port: I was a dispatcher, announced the landing and departure of flights to different marinas, and the boys drove bicycles to some house, and the farther from Kazan the declared marina was, the farther the “captain” traveled.
I still remember tickets made of dark thick paper with a red pattern and stamps: the number of the ship and the time of departure. Most often we went on the "ten o'clock" "Rocket". The Meteors almost did not go to our pier, which was not very far from the city - they only replaced the Rockets in case of severe weather and sometimes stopped by on the way to the city to pick up someone if there was room on board. I liked Meteor much more as a child: bigger, more powerful, noisier, faster, looks more modern. And there was much more interest in the Voskhod that appeared in our country towards the end of the 80s. Now, years later, when a pair of "Meteors" with "Sunrise" are still running here, all the local "Rockets" have been cut into scrap metal for twenty years, and in all of Russia (rather, in the whole world) running "Rockets" are left five pieces, I miss precisely their graceful smooth lines.
In a word, hydrofoils are a cult thing for me. But the figure of their legendary designer, Rostislav Alekseev, is no less iconic for me. This is a figure, in my opinion, on a scale no less than, say, Sergei Korolev: Alekseev made two revolutionary technological breakthroughs - first in the ship industry, creating several projects of hydrofoils from scratch, and soon in aviation, inventing an amazing machine - an ekranoplan . The fate of the designer causes at the same time a sense of pride in the country in which technical breakthroughs of this magnitude were once made, and at the same time - contempt for those in power: Alekseev, in the end, was ruined by the nomenklatura bastard. One can immediately recall the brilliant designer of helicopters Sikorsky, who was forced to flee from the revolutionary proletariat ... What is the result? The USSR mastered the technology of helicopter construction according to American models only in the 1960s, the palm in the production of "winged ships" was lost, the potential of ekranoplane construction has not yet been discovered - and this is probably a loss for all of humanity as a whole.
But I digress ... Alekseev went for almost twenty years to his first large hydrofoil ship, the Rocket, which marked a breakthrough in shipbuilding and revolutionized the transportation of passengers along rivers. He caught fire with the idea of a winged ship back in the 30s, as a student at the Gorky Industrial Institute, when he got acquainted with the research on the operation of a wing in a liquid medium, and in 1941 he defended his thesis on the topic “Hydrofoil glider”. Soon, working at the Sormovo plant as a tank test master, he developed a hydrofoil torpedo boat on the basis of a graduation project, but neither the command of the Navy nor the people's commissar of the shipbuilding industry found the idea of support. However, the stubborn designer continued to work, and his research interested the leadership of Krasny Sormovo: after a year and a half, he was given the opportunity to work on his project, time was allocated, and a special hydro laboratory was created. In 1943, Alekseev created his first A-4 winged boat and ... he himself recognized it as unpromising - the design of the wings required a change in their angle of attack depending on speed, which complicated both the design of the ship and its control. However, the authorities see the positive results of the experiment, allocate a new room for the designer, and allow him to increase the staff. Two years later, in 1945, tests were carried out on the A-5 boat, which has a fundamentally new, more advanced wing scheme with self-regulating lifting force, low-immersion wings. On this boat, Alekseev reached Moscow under his own power, which attracted the attention of military officials, and received the task of equipping the 123K torpedo boat with hydrofoils, which he successfully completed (having worked out another modernization of his know-how on the A-7 boat and, along the way, familiarized himself with the design of the captured German SPK TS-6) and received the Stalin Prize for it in 1951.
In parallel, the brilliant designer developed a project for the first river passenger ship - the prototype of the Rocket. But with the implementation of the project, everything turned out to be not so simple: the engineer had to beat the thresholds of ministries for years, fight bureaucratic inertia, conservatism, skepticism, beat out funding ... Real work on the "Rocket" began only in the winter of 1956. The experimental workshop of the design bureau worked in three shifts, and by May of the following year, the experimental SPK was launched. The conditions in which the first cruise ship had to be assembled can be judged from the following message found on one forum: “My uncle worked for Alekseev (ship assembler) on the first Rocket, and together at night they went to the factory Alley of Honor and removed plexiglass, to glaze the interior. Alekseev at that time was forbidden to engage in civil projects, their funding was closed. "Rocket-1" went to Moscow to be shown to Khrushchev without glazing of the wheelhouse (did not have time to bend the windshield).
On July 26, 1957, early in the morning, the Rocket left Gorky for Moscow, where the World Festival of Youth and Students was opening. The journey took fifteen hours, while an ordinary ship covered it in three days. It was a triumph: an unusual, fast-moving ship flying over the waves aroused rapturous surprise among the audience, gave rise to envy to foreign guests and festival participants, who were rolled along the Moscow River and the Canal. Moscow, and most importantly, he received the highest party approval: Khrushchev, who had a ride on the new product, really liked the Rocket, and Nikita Sergeevich, saying, “Enough for us to swim along the rivers on oxen! To the modern world - modern speed! ”, He gave Alekseev carte blanche for mass production.
Having worked at the World Festival for three weeks, the experimental "Rocket" entered trial operation on the Gorky-Kazan line. She covered a distance of 420 kilometers in seven hours. It took an ordinary displacement ship thirty hours; the train journey took twenty-eight hours. At the end of navigation in 1958, in September, the experience was recognized as successful - and with minor changes compared to the lead ship, the Raketa goes into series.
They built "Rockets" in Gorky, at the Krasnoe Sormovo plant, where the first series of ten ships was produced, and since 1960 production began in the Crimea, at the Feodosia shipbuilding plant "More". The last ships of the series were launched in 1976, and almost four hundred of them were built in total. There were three main projects (modifications) of the "Rocket" - the standard 340, 340ME for shallow water, with reduced draft, and 340E (I believe that it was intended for export, but not a fact). The cabin of the 27-meter SPK was designed for 65 passengers, the operating speed was 64 km/h.
One of the first captains of the "Rocket" was Mikhail Devyatayev - the hero of the Great Patriotic War, who managed, being in captivity, to steal from the secret German airfield "Heinkel-111" and return to his homeland. It is likely that he once stood at the helm of this "Rocket" with tail number 25. It was the first winged vessel assigned to the Kazan river port. Released and entered into the balance of the Volga United River Shipping Company in 1961, it was listed on it until 1992, and then it was driven a hundred kilometers down the Volga and turned into a cinema in a children's camp near the shipyard.
The ship was deprived of wings, leaving only short stump-racks, on the one hand, mutilating the "Rocket", on the other - something like this it looked like on the go. If they hadn’t completely torn off the second pillar in the bow ... Well, painted over windows also don’t add charm, of course.
This is how the wings of the Rocket look in the original:
In the stern, an entrance for a young viewer was cut out here, in the original the transom was deaf:
A nice feature of the "Rocket" was the presence of an open area and a promenade deck in the stern of the vessel - later SPK did not have this. For example, the Meteor has a promenade deck - one name: a very small covered area between the aft and bow saloons with a rather limited view, there are six people, there is nowhere to sit .... But on the "Rocket" on a hot day, passengers tried to be the first to take aft seats.
On this ladder, passengers, having stepped from the pier to the upper deck immediately behind the captain's cabin, went down to the stern, turned around, and walked along the promenade deck in the direction of the bow, getting into the passenger compartment.
Promenade deck, bow view...
And aft
The nose of the Rocket. An anchor protruded from a vertical slot across the state.
Nose, top view: a forecastle with an anchor windlass, or rather, without it. Sometimes passengers were allowed to walk here and clear their heads :) I really don’t remember this on the Kazan “Rockets” ...
Tightly welded and painted superstructure - captain's cabin:
And here it is in its original form (a rare shot - a snow-covered SPK):
AT group "Hydrofoils" in Vkontakte there were photos of the interior of the captain's bridge:
And this is how the passenger compartment of the Rocket looks like: if you look at the nose ...
And in the stern:
Closer to the exit to the promenade deck is a buffet. They say he even worked in some shipping companies ...
"Rocket", the first-born of the high-speed fleet of the USSR, was very popular throughout the country. Probably, on almost all navigable rivers of the Union one could hear the characteristic "rocket" rumble, and the name of the vessel became a household name: all high-speed vessels were often called “rockets”. For example, on this pack of Soviet cigarettes of the Raketa brand, the SPK Meteor, the next brainchild of Rostislav Alekseev, is actually depicted. However, usually such blunders could be avoided:
For several decades, "Rockets" have been the main transport on many of the country's high-speed waterways, linking cities and remote villages, and now operating ships of this type can be counted on the fingers of one hand - and how many navigations they still have left is unknown. It will be sad if no one saves a single legendary ship - if not as an active exhibit that would take tourists at least several times a season, then at least as a museum preserved for history in its original form, especially since so far not a single "Rocket" was honored with such a fate. After decommissioning, several motor ships, having changed with varying degrees of ugliness, were used as a cafe (the only pleasant exception is the Rocket-170 in a sanatorium near Moscow, which was preserved in almost original form), a full-fledged monument ship, alas, does not exist.
And the "Rocket" certainly deserves to be immortalized - both as a tribute to the design genius of Alekseev, and as a technical monument of value to all mankind: at the time of its appearance, the "Rocket" was the best SEC in the world - the design and design had no analogues , and for rivers, lakes and reservoirs, where the draft was of no small importance, the best high-speed ship could not be found. No wonder the “Rockets” were exported not only to the countries of the socialist bloc, but also to Germany, Great Britain and even the USA!
For Britain, several "Rockets" were built according to a separate project 340T. Based on the meager information that can be found on the Internet, we can conclude that this project was distinguished by draft (in this parameter it was something in between the basic project 340 and the shallow-draft 340M) and a slightly different input-output configuration. In particular, some English "Rockets" have an additional entrance ahead on the starboard side. Apparently, this was due to the specifics of English marinas and moorings. The ships were called "Raketa Greenwich", "Raketa Westminster", "Raketa Thames" and served suburban lines in London for two or three years, starting in 1974.
A pair of "Rockets" worked in West Germany. Since 1965, "Raketa-367" was operated in Hamburg, but in 1969 she returned to her homeland and was assigned to the Moscow River Shipping Company. The career of her sister ship of the Cologne registry, built in 1972 by order of the German company Köln-Düsseldorfer Rheinschiffahrt AG and connecting Cologne with Dusseldorf and Mainz, was longer. The Rhine rivermen suffered with the unreliable M-400 diesel engine, replacing it, according to the German wikipedia, 13 times in the 25 years that the “Rheinpfeil” (“Rhein Arrow” was the name of the local “Rocket”) served them, that is, once every two of the year. The Germans, apparently, had more patience than the British, and they parted with the Rocket only in 1997, selling it to a private owner in Holland.
And another "Raketa" worked in New York itself! It was built by order of Sudoimport specifically for the EXPO-67 exhibition in Montreal, where it was sold to the States. There she conducted navigation in 1968-69, after which she ended up on Hamilton Island (Bermuda) - one of the most amazing places where Soviet hydrofoils got.
But the most exotic place where the Rockets managed to work was, perhaps, Nicaragua. Several "Rockets" purchased in Belarus have worked on the local lines of this country for a couple of navigations since 1995. Toward the end of the century, regular flights for some reason ceased, the flotilla quickly fell into disrepair, changed owners and was cut into scrap metal.
I will mention one more of the many locations where the passengers of the Rocket were taken: the city of Pripyat. Since the mid-60s, "Rockets" from Kyiv and Gomel began to go here, later, when the city grew and the flow of passengers increased - closer to the Chernobyl disaster - a more capacious "Meteor" was also launched. According to the recollections of the inhabitants of the atomograd, high-speed motor ships were a coveted alternative to motor transport, despite the higher price of a ticket: flying on wings along the river is much more pleasant than shaking along the road in a stuffy bus. They say that on weekends you can get a ticket for the Rocket (by the way, Ukrainian and Belarusian SPKs, as a rule, had their own names: Horizon, Typhoon, Zirka, Stepan Shutov, Matvey Bortovsky, Yuri Gagarin") was almost impossible.
While I was digging in the net, organizing, in general, mostly information already known to me, I did make an amazing discovery for myself about the Rocket. It turns out that there was a fire version of it - project 340P, with two fire nozzles and water and air-foam protection systems. She had a small salon and two engine rooms with standard M-400 "rocket" diesel engines - one was running, the second was pumping. The firing range of fire nozzles reached 90 m. training base of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in St. Petersburg as a museum exhibit. True, outsiders are not allowed there, unfortunately.
For the creation of the "Rocket" in 1958, the Krasnoye Sormovo plant received the Grand Gold Medal of the international jury of the World Industrial Exhibition in Brussels. But Rostislav Alekseev, of course, did not stop there. Incredibly hard-working, very demanding both to himself and to his associates, he continued to work, giving out one new winged vessel a year: in 1958, the six-seater crew boat Volga was launched, in 1959 - the lake Meteor , already twice as large as the "Rocket", in 1960 - the sea ship "Kometa" and "Sputnik", carrying up to 300 (!) Passengers, in 1961 - the sea "Whirlwind" for 260 passengers, in 1962 - the water-jet SPK "Chaika", in 1963 - "Belarus" for small rivers, in 1964 - gas turbine "Petrel". In parallel, work was underway to create ekranoplans and dynamic hovercraft - also the first in the world, like the Rocket once ... But this, as they say, is a completely different story ...
Russia resumed production of hydrofoils June 17th, 2017
Recently I was in Kazan and several times passed by the river technical school, in the yard of which there was a full-fledged "Rocket". I thought back then, there were times...
And here I read that the shipbuilding plant "Vympel" (Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region) plans to launch a marine passenger hydrofoil vessel "Kometa 120M" of project 23160 in 2017.
That is, we can say that Russia has resumed the production of high-speed passenger hydrofoil ships of the Kometa type. Greece is already showing interest in the project, and they are ready to accept such vessels on the Black Sea coast of Russia.
The talk about the new "Comets" was at a meeting of the co-chairs of the Russian-Greek mixed commission for economic, industrial and scientific-technical cooperation in Crete. The head of the Russian Ministry of Transport was asked whether the sales of Komets to Greece, which bought them thirty years ago, resumed. To this, Sokolov replied: "There is no sale yet, but the production of Komets has resumed."
However, now the ship has received a different name, said Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov.
Photo 2. 
"We even called her the beautiful name "Chaika", because she was laid in Rybinsk in the Yaroslavl region, where Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova works as a deputy. You remember that her call sign during the flight into space was "Chaika". Therefore, this "Comet" received the name "Seagull". Now it is almost ready. Therefore, if Greek companies want to acquire it, then the contract, in my opinion, is still open," Sokolov said. As for the purchases of "Comets" by Greece, then, according to the minister, he is ready to assist them.
"We will be happy. And although shipbuilding is the competence of the Ministry of Industry, I, as the Minister of Transport and as the co-chair of the joint commission, are ready to support any proposals from Greece," the head of the Ministry of Transport said.
Photo 3. 
As it became known to RIA Novosti, the Vympel Shipyard in Rybinsk is cooperating with the Greek company Argonavtiki Ploes on the construction and transfer of the Kometa 120M. Negotiations are underway with a potential Greek customer to sign an agreement of mutual understanding, in which the main terms of the contract for the construction of four such vessels are reflected, the cost of each vessel exceeding six million euros.
Photo 4. 
Interest in the new "Comets" is shown not only in Greece, but also in Russia itself. At the end of April, President Vladimir Putin visited the Vympel plant in Rybinsk. During the meeting, the general director of the enterprise, in particular, told the head of state about the project to launch a hydrofoil ship between Yalta and Sochi.
Putin noted that this proposal is not the only one, several other shipbuilding companies in different regions offer similar projects.
"The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry have the opportunity to conduct quasi-competitive or competitive procedures and choose the best proposal. But I really like the proposal itself," the president said, noting that the plan can be implemented with some support from the state in the form of benefits for leasing.
Photo 5. 
At the same time, Putin added that the Sochi-Yalta route is difficult in terms of weather conditions, since it is dangerous to use hydrofoils in strong winds. But such ships can be launched on other routes on the Caucasian coast or in the Crimea, this type of transport needs to be developed, it will be in demand, the president concluded.
Anapa is ready to receive "Comets"
A few days ago Andrey Tarasenko, Director General of Rosmorport, said that preparations were already underway for the resumption of Komet flights along the Black Sea coast. According to him, an enterprise has already been created in Anapa, which will be fully responsible for passenger transportation.
“It used to be unprofitable, but now applications have been received, in particular from the Black Sea High-Speed Lines company, which is interesting for many to come from Anapa to Sochi, many want to come to Yalta. Therefore, we are resolving the issue. I won’t say exactly when it will be. Now the company receive licenses, there is a large set of documents for obtaining equipment," Tarasenko said.
Whether this direction will be popular and regular will be shown by passenger traffic, he added.
Photo 6. 
The production of Komets at the Rybinsk plant was interrupted for almost two decades, but in 2013 the company again began building hydrofoils.
Then Maxim Sokolov, speaking at the laying ceremony of the first of the updated Komets, noted that the ships would be built using completely new technologies. According to him, the implementation of such developments will provide new opportunities for the transportation of passengers not only along the largest rivers of Russia, but also in the Black Sea basin and in the Baltic Sea basin.
Photo 7. 
The high-speed hydrofoil vessel "Kometa 120M" is intended for the transportation of passengers in the sea coastal zone. The vessel with a length of about 35 meters and a displacement of 73 tons will be able to reach speeds of up to 35 knots and carry up to 120 passengers: 22 in the business class cabin, 98 in the economy class cabin.
Photo 8. 
Sea passenger hydrofoil vessel "Kometa 120M" project 23160 - reference
The area of operation is seas with a maritime tropical climate. Distance from the port - shelter in the open seas up to 50 miles.
RS class: KM Hydrofoil craft Passenger – A
Overall length, m - 35.2
Overall width, m - 10.3
Displacement, t - 73.0
Draft overall afloat, m - 3.5
Speed, knots - 35
Crew, people - 5
Passenger capacity, people: 120
business class lounge 22
economy class cabin 98
Engine power, kW - 2 x 820
Hourly fuel consumption, kg / hour - 320
Range in full displacement, miles - 200
Autonomy of navigation, hours - 8
Photo 9. 
Marine passenger hydrofoil vessel "Kometa 120M" is a single-deck vessel equipped with a twin-shaft diesel-reduced power plant. The vessel is designed for high-speed transportation of passengers during daylight hours in new aircraft-type seats. It is reported that this project of a sea vessel was designed on the basis of the SEC, which were created in the USSR under the projects "Comet", "Colchis" and "Katran". The main purpose of this ship is the transportation of passengers in the coastal sea zone. It is reported that the ship will be able to reach a speed of 35 knots. Its main difference from the SECs previously built in our country will be to provide a high level of comfort for passengers. To this end, an automatic system for moderating pitching and overloading will have to appear on the ship. The design of the ship will use modern vibration-absorbing materials, which should also have a positive impact on passenger comfort.
Photo 10. 
The spacious business and economy class cabins on the new Comet will receive comfortable aviation-type passenger seats, the maximum number of passengers is 120, and an air conditioning system is planned to be installed in the cabins. The features of the ship include the accommodation of passengers in the bow and middle salons. There will be a bar in the aft saloon. Double glazing is also provided in the wheelhouse and bar rooms. The ship will receive modern means of communication and navigation. It is planned to reduce fuel consumption by installing modern 16V2000 M72 engines with electronic fuel injection, manufactured by the German company MTU, and propellers with increased efficiency.
Photo 11. 
Also, Sergey Italiantsev, who holds the post of head of the Directorate of the River-Sea Vessels program in the department of civil shipbuilding of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, told reporters that the USC is considering the option of completing the construction of two hulls of marine passenger hydrofoil ships of the Olympia project located at the Khabarovsk Shipbuilding Plant . In the future, these completed ships could be used to ensure the transportation of passengers at the Kerch ferry in the Crimea. Also, in the case of completion, these vessels could be used in the Far East. It is in the Black Sea and the Far East that today there are big problems with servicing passenger traffic.
The ships of the Olympia project are able to take on board up to 232 passengers. They are designed for high-speed transportation of passengers on the seas with a tropical and temperate climate with a distance of up to 50 miles from "ports of refuge". In total, two such vessels were built, both were sold for export. The degree of completion of the two unfinished ships is approximately 80%. If a decision is made and an agreement is concluded for their completion, the ships can be completed within 6-8 months, according to the website of the R.E. Alekseev Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils.
Photo 12. 
Photo 13. 
Photo 14. 
sources
Rising above the surface of the water, these ships rush past at the speed of a courier train; at the same time, they provide their passengers with the same comfort as on a jet airliner.
Only in the Soviet Union alone - the leading country in terms of ships of this class - hydrofoil ships of various types annually transported more than 20 million passengers on regular lines.
In 1957, the first "Rocket" of project 340 left the Feodosia shipyard in Ukraine. The ship was able to reach a speed of 60 km / h, unheard of at that time, and take 64 people on board. 
Following the "Rockets" in the 1960s, larger and more comfortable twin-screw "Meteors" manufactured by the Zelenodolsk shipbuilding plant appeared. The passenger capacity of these ships was 123 people. The motor ship had three saloons and a bar-buffet. 
In 1962, the "Comets" of the 342m project appeared, in fact the same "Meteors", only modernized for operation at sea. They could walk with a higher wave, had radar equipment (radar) 
In 1961, simultaneously with the launch of the Meteors and Comets series, the Nizhny Novgorod shipbuilding plant Krasnoye Sormovo launched the ship of project 329 Sputnik, the largest SPK. It carries 300 passengers at a speed of 65 km/h. Also, as with the Meteor, they built a marine version of the Sputnik, called the Whirlwind. But over the course of four years of operation, a lot of shortcomings were revealed, including the great voracity of four engines and the discomfort of passengers due to strong vibration. 
For comparison, "Sputnik" and "Rocket" 
Sputnik now...
In Togliatti, they made it either a museum or a tavern. There was a fire in 2005. Now it looks like this. 
The Burevestnik is one of the most beautiful ships in the entire series! This is a gas turbine developed by the Central Design Bureau of the SPK R. Alekseev, Gorky. "Petrel" was the flagship among the river SPK. It had a power plant based on two gas turbine engines borrowed from civil aviation (from the Il-18). Operated from 1964 until the end of the 70s on the Volga on the route Kuibyshev - Ulyanovsk - Kazan - Gorky. The Burevestnik had a capacity of 150 passengers and had an operating speed of 97 km/h. However, it did not go into mass production - two aircraft engines made a lot of noise and required a lot of fuel. 
Has not been used since 1977. In 1993, cut into scrap. 
In 1966, the Gomel Shipyard produced a ship for shallow rivers, a little over 1 meter deep "Belarus", with a passenger capacity of 40 people and a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. And since 1983, it will begin to produce a modernized version of Polesie, which already takes 53 people on board at the same speed. 
Rockets and Meteors were getting old. R. Alekseev's Central Design Bureau created new projects. In 1973, the Feodosia Shipbuilding Plant launched the second-generation Voskhod SPK.
Voskhod is a direct receiver of the Rocket. This ship is more economical and spacious (71 people). 
In 1980, at the Shipyard named after Ordzhonikidze (Georgia, Poti) opens the production of SPK "Kolkhida". Vessel speed 65 km/h, passenger capacity 120 people. In total, about forty ships were built. Currently, only two are operated in Russia: one vessel on the St. Petersburg - Valaam line, called "Triada", the other in Novorossiysk - "Vladimir Komarov". 
In 1986, a new flagship of the marine passenger SPK, the two-deck Cyclone, was launched in Feodosia, which had a speed of 70 km / h and took 250 passengers on board. It was operated in the Crimea, then it was sold to Greece. In 2004, he returned to Feodosia for repairs, but is still standing there in a semi-dismantled state. 
