Russian ship grog alert - fire on patrol craft

[gunnergoz]

Here's some interesting photos via the English Russia site of the aftermath of a fire on a Russian patrol craft. I thought the photo of the remains of the on-deck small arms locker was especially interesting.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=5095#more-5095

[Other Means]

What are the circular things on the deck?

[Dogface]

yer googlefu is weak

It is an anti-submarine rocket launcher apparently,

RBU-6000 Smerch-2

[Michael Emrys]

Did the superstructure collapse or am I misreading the photo?

Michael

[Michael Emrys]

Never mind, I just answered my own question.

That boat is in one hell of a mess.

Michael

[gunnergoz]

I think this is what happens when your sailors miss one too many paydays...

[Elmar Bijlsma]

yer googlefu is weak

It is an anti-submarine rocket launcher apparently,

RBU-6000 Smerch-2

Still a very curious weapons system. For hedgehog ASW attacks they seem to be rather few tubes and very large projectiles. By the look of it there's a fair bit of a rocket behind it. Why on earth would you need all that much push?

If using the guided version OTOH, it seems too much tubes. They must either expect a lot of submarines or a very poor performance of their weapons.

It's just such a prominent space to give to what seems a marginal weapon.

[gunnergoz]

While the RBU-6000 may have few tubes, it apparently uses an auto loader with several dozen (up to 96) rounds in the ready magazine. That's consistent with an unguided system. By all accounts, it is an effective ASW weapon on paper. How well maintained it is, and how reliably the rounds are made, are two other questions entirely. But it is consistent with Russian naval practice of having a variety of weapons on board to cover all contingencies - and this is a pretty old-fashioned, inexpensive system, appropriate for a low-end coastal patrol craft.