Hello!
This movie clip featuring actor Jackie Chan shows how a hovercraft can operate in an urban
setting.
And although this plot is implausible, such ships actually exist.
And today our story is about more powerful machines.
We are talking about military amphibious hovercraft.
For hundreds of years, a state's naval power has been the determining factor in military
superiority.
Historical experience shows that many local wars unleashed by the imperialists after World
War II began with amphibious landings on the coasts of independent states.
In local wars, operational, tactical, and reconnaissance and sabotage assault forces
were landed, depending on the goals and composition of the participating forces.
In this regard, the urgent task arose of how to quickly, safely and efficiently deliver
personnel and equipment from ship to shore.
This issue became so important that some countries began experimenting with floating tanks, landing
craft and other versatile vehicles that could quickly get out of the sea, land troops and
return back.
Since landing from ship to shore is vital, many countries began to use the so-called
landing ships.
They are not amphibious, they are just boats capable of transporting a large amount of
equipment and cargo directly to the landing zone.
And although the size of these boats have changed, their design has remained virtually
unchanged since the Second World War.
They consist of a flat deck, a forward-facing ramp and a shallow keel that allows the vessel
to move directly onto the shore.
Decades later, technology has finally allowed the military to develop a vehicle that can
act as an amphibious vehicle and serve as a landing craft.
So, in the mid-1980s, Bell Aerospace developed a landing craft hovercraft - in English Landing
Craft Air Cushion, abbreviated (LCAC).
In the Soviet Union, a Project 12322 Zubr landing hovercraft was created.
It was built in 1986 and, after lengthy testing, entered the Navy in 1988.
It is considered the largest hovercraft in the world.
The ship is capable of carrying: 3 tanks with a total weight of up to 150 tons or 10 armored
personnel carriers with a total weight of up to 131 tons and 140 troops.
The total number of personnel that the Zubr can deliver to the shore reaches 500 people.
Its displacement is 555 tons, length - 57.3 m, width - 25.6 m.
One such vessel rolled right onto the beach in the city of Baltiysk, crowding out the
vacationers.
The Marines got out of the ship and drove the onlookers away.
The Ministry of Defense said that the ship was performing a tactical mission on a wild
beach, which belongs to the Ministry.
The infantrymen were put up so that the ship would not catch any of the vacationers.
Today, such ships are used for military purposes such as landing, mining, delivery of goods
and military equipment.
The small landing hovercraft "Zubr" is designed to receive amphibious assault units with military
equipment from an equipped or unequipped shore, transport by sea, land on the enemy's coast
and fire support for landing troops.
The characteristics of the American LCAC are much more modest: length - 26 meters, width
- 14 meters, can carry equipment and troops weighing about 60 tons.
The advantage of hovercraft is their minimal or no draft, which allows ships to move not
only in shallow water, but also on soil or ice, overcoming small areas of land.
The shallow draft provides the ship with a high speed.
They can carry out landings in limited areas day and night, regardless of the tides and,
in general, the level of the water.
They are not afraid of underwater obstacles.
All this increases the efficiency of actions of sea expeditionary strike groups.
In addition, these ships are critical in difficult situations, such as delivering equipment to
disaster areas to provide relief.
The crew of the ship "Zubr" consists of 27 people.
Simply put, a hovercraft is an inverted plate under which air is forced.
As a result, the ship rises, and propellers placed at the back allow it to move.
The design of the ship includes three main elements: an air cushion, a pontoon, it is
also a hull and a superstructure.
Separately, a power plant is also distinguished, which provides air injection and vessel movement.
A characteristic feature of these types of ships are the stern propellers, towering above
the main part of the ship.
The air cushion design allows ships to easily transition from water to land.
Ships of this class make it possible to land troops on 70 percent of the coasts of the
entire world's oceans.
The ship is controlled from the command post of the central control post or remote control
panels centrally, remotely, as well as using automation systems.
At the heart of the hovercraft is a rectangular pontoon, which ensures the strength and unsinkability
of the ship.
To do this, it has an all-welded body based on a high-strength aluminum-magnesium alloy
with increased resistance to corrosion.
An air cushion is located under the body, and a flexible fence is used to hold it.
It also provides the necessary lifting of the vessel above the supporting surface.
The fencing is two-tiered with a flexible receiver and canopies, due to which the air
cushion is crosswise divided into sections with transverse and longitudinal keels.
According to the functional purpose, the cargo space is the central space, on the sides of
which there are power units, places for personnel and transported units, as well as protective
systems that ensure vital activity.
The premises for personnel and troops are equipped with air conditioning, ventilation,
heating, heat and sound insulation.
There are provisions for eating.
Managing power drives on a ship is not an easy task.
It is not at all easy to keep a hovercraft at a given height above the surface.
This requires a lot of energy.
The Zubr uses 5 gas turbine engines with a total capacity of 50,000 horsepower as a power
plant.
The main switchboards are controlled remotely from the main command post.
The air cushion is injected using four injection units with an axial impeller with a diameter
of 2.5 meters.
Creation of thrust for the movement of the vessel is carried out by three 4-bladed reversible
propellers with forced pitch control.
The speed of the Zubr hovercraft is 60 knots or one hundred and eleven kilometers an hour,
the cruising range is 300 miles or 483 km at a speed of fifty-five knots, and the endurance
is five days.
A hovercraft is at rest or moving as long as the pressure balances its weight.
It rises if it is necessary to overcome the unevenness of the terrain and sinks to the
ground when it is time to carry out the landing and unloading of military equipment.
At the same time, it does not matter to him what the nature of the surface is: water or
land.
The ship "Zubr" is not only a means of delivering personnel and equipment to inhospitable enemy
shores, it can also deliver missile and artillery strikes in order to suppress possible resistance
of a dug-in enemy, it can provide fire support and defend against possible attacks by enemy
aircraft.
American hovercraft, which are relatively smaller, are used differently.
A landing ship dock is used to deliver American LCACs.
This is an amphibious combat ship that has docks on board for the transport and launch
of landing craft and amphibious vehicles.
Docks are simply sea level cargo bays built into large landing craft.
They allow the rapid deployment and evacuation of a wide range of vehicles designed to transport
troops and equipment in combat.
The concept of an expeditionary transfer dock was developed in the early 2000s by General
Dynamics.
In fact, a new type of amphibious warship was created to support amphibious operations.
The lead ship of the expeditionary dock class was USNS Montford Point, built in 2013, with
a displacement of 34,500 tons and a length of 233 meters.
The second ship of this class was the USNS John Glenn.
The design of these ships is unique, as they are based on the design of a commercial tanker.
In these, the middle cargo section, in which oil is normally transported, has been replaced
with an extended flexible platform to maximize the versatility of the ship.
Montford Point has about a decade of offshore experience.
This massive ship is only a few hundred meters shorter than an aircraft carrier, but it is
much more versatile due to its unique design.
Its flat deck is ideal for moving cargo and vehicles from one ship to another.
The two LCAC ships were fully loaded with Humvee cargo vans and other trucks.
Dozens of Marines then join them, their number determined based on the payload during the
landing process.
Within a few minutes, an amphibious hovercraft loaded with trucks is sent out to sea through
the ship's ramp.
A powerful gas turbine engine pumps air under the so-called "skirt".
As a result, it inflates, creating an air cushion.
It allows the landing craft to move on any surface.
An LCAC amphibious assault ship can make multiple trips to and from the lead ship during the
disembarkation process.
Thus, with each flight, he delivers more and more batches of vehicles.
If earlier the main problem of landing was speed, then hovercraft solve this problem.
The generated air is
created at a pressure much higher than atmospheric pressure, so a lift force is generated that
virtually eliminates friction.
Even in difficult rough sea conditions, the LCAC landing craft has
the advantage of being able to move over the waves rather than through them.
The same applies to land travel, where the hovercraft can easily cross areas of sand,
mud, and concrete.
There is even a theory that the LCAC ship can move through minefields without detonating
mines.
The participation of LCAC ships in many air assault operations has shown their high efficiency.
They can operate within a radius of 200-300 nautical miles, which allows them to cross
large areas of sea space using just one refueling.
In total, about 100 landing ships were built.
It is believed that all their combat capabilities have yet to be realized.
To date, they remain one of the best options for moving equipment and troops from ship
to shore and back again.
The main disadvantage of hovercraft is their relatively high price and operating costs.
This is due to a rather complex design and the requirement to comply with the weight
culture as in aviation.
In addition to fuel costs, there is also the issue of maintaining a flexible air cushion
guard (the so-called “skirt”), which eventually wears out or breaks against hummocks and other
obstacles.
Also, when moving against the wind, the speed of the
ship
is reduced by the amount
of wind speed.
In conclusion, it should be said that, of course, a hovercraft does not
reach the cruiser, but it should be borne in mind that
in the conditions of modern warfare it should
not act alone.
Naval, as well as air and, if necessary, tactical missile support will be provided to him.
That's all.
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