P 4-class torpedo boat
{{short description|Motor torpedo boat class of the Soviet Navy}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
| sclass = 2 }} |+P 4 class torpedo boat {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Type 123K Torpedo boat Bangladesh Navy T 8224 (23317190180).jpg | Ship caption = Decommissioned P 4-class torpedo boat of the Bangladesh Navy. Preserved at the Bangladesh Military Museum. }} {{Infobox ship class overview | Name = *Project 123-bis "Komsomolets" torpedo boat
| Builders = *Shipyard No.609, Tyumen
| Operators = *{{navy|Soviet Union}}
| Class before = {{sclass2|D3|motor torpedo boat|4}} | Class after = {{sclass2|P-6|torpedo boat|4}} | Subclasses = | Cost = | Built range = 1944–1955 | In service range = | In commission range = | Total ships building = | Total ships planned = | Total ships completed = ~336 | Total ships cancelled = | Total ships active = | Total ships laid up = | Total ships lost = | Total ships retired = | Total ships preserved = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = | Ship type = Motor torpedo boat | Ship tonnage = | Ship displacement = {{convert|22|t|LT|lk=on}} | Ship length = {{convert|18.70|m|ftin|abbr=on}} (B-123) {{convert|19.26|m|ftin|abbr=on}} (K-123) | Ship beam = {{convert|3.40|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draft = {{convert|1.0|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = 2 × Soviet M-50 diesel engines, {{convert|2400|hp|0|abbr=on}}, 2 shafts | Ship speed = {{convert|46 |
| 55|kn|lk=in}}
| Ship range = {{convert|500|nmi|abbr=on}} | Ship endurance = | Ship complement = 7-12 | Ship sensors = 1 × Soviet I band Zarnitsa (Skin Head) navigational radar (K-123 only) | Ship EW = | Ship armament = *2 × {{convert|450|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} torpedoes
| Ship armour = | Ship notes = }} |
The P 4-class torpedo boat, Soviet designations Project 123-bis and Project 123-K, commonly called the Komsomolets class (Russian: Комсомолец, a male member of the Komsomol), were Soviet aluminum-hulled torpedo boats. They were armed with twin heavy machine guns and two {{convert|450|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} torpedoes. A large number of them were exported to allied states such as North Vietnam and China. They saw service in a variety of armed conflicts including World War II, the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Vietnam War and the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus.
The P 4 torpedo boats consisted of two primary types; the Project 123-bis (B-123) type with {{convert|12.7|mm|in|adj=on}} machine guns, and the Project 123-K (K-123) type with added radar and {{convert|14.5|mm|in|adj=on}} machine guns.
Design and development
The P 4 torpedo boats were developed from the pre-war prototype Komsomolets torpedo boat (Project 123) in 1942 due to the unsatisfactory performance of the {{sclass2|G-5|motor torpedo boat|5}} type motor torpedo boat. The original Project 123 was a single-step, hydroplaning design built from duralumin like the G-5. The prototype was built at the No.194 Marti yard in Leningrad in 1939, and after good test performance it was meant to replace it before the German invasion put a stop to those plans. Compared to the prototype Komsomolets, the new design, called Project 123-bis, had a flush deck hull, and were powered by American-supplied Packard petrol engines instead of the Soviet Mikulin GAM-34.
The armament consisted of two twin {{convert|12.7|mm|in|adj=on}} DShK heavy machine guns, two 450 mm torpedo tubes, and six depth charges.
Post-war, the Project 123-bis was identified as one of the more successful Soviet torpedo boat designs and production continued. As American-supplied engines dried up, new boats were built using Soviet M-50 diesel engines. A new variant, Project 123-K, was developed in 1950, with the addition of a radar and a single twin 14.5 mm KPV machine gun replacing the DShKs.{{cite web |title=Project 123 |url=http://russianships.info/eng/warfareboats/project_123.htm |website=RussianShips.info |access-date=5 February 2023}}
Service history
The first P 4 torpedo boats were delivered to the Soviet Baltic Fleet in 1944. On 11 April 1945, the boats TK-131 and TK-141 attacked and scored a torpedo hit against the German destroyer {{ship|German destroyer|Z34||2}}, though they were unable to sink it.
In 1951, the People's Republic of China purchased 46 P 4 torpedo boats from the Soviet Union, assigning them into four torpedo boat brigades. About 81–90 in total would be purchased from the Soviet Union from 1950–1955.{{cite web| url=http://haijun360.com/news/YLT/2011/1113/111113132319BF9823I6HAK4KI47500A.html | title=P4 torpedo boat |website=haijun360.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411232559/http://haijun360.com/news/YLT/2011/1113/111113132319BF9823I6HAK4KI47500A.html |archive-date=11 April 2017 | access-date=4 February 2023}} The People's Liberation Army Navy would use them extensively in naval battles with the Republic of China Navy, most notably in 1954 when four P 4 torpedo boats sank the {{sclass|Evarts|destroyer escort|0}} frigate Tai Ping off the Dachen Islands. All Chinese P 4 torpedo boats have been decommissioned, and four were transferred to the Bangladesh Navy in 1983.{{cite web| url=http://www.haijun360.com/news/XGBD/2013/628/136281028568HIG4E22BGCE710K2ACA.html | title=P-4/P-6 torpedo boat |website=haijun360.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030022437/http://www.haijun360.com/news/XGBD/2013/628/136281028568HIG4E22BGCE710K2ACA.html |archive-date=30 October 2018 | access-date=4 February 2023}}
Some of the surviving Chinese units were converted into target drones, and thus returned to service, functioning as minor support auxiliaries controlled by converted gunboats.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Twelve P 4 torpedo boats were exported to North Vietnam in 1961. Three of them (T-333, T-336, and T-339) launched an abortive attack on the American {{sclass|Allen M. Sumner|destroyer}} {{USS|Maddox|DD-731|6}} on August 2, 1964, starting the Gulf of Tonkin incident.Edwin E. Moise, Gulf of Tonkin and the Escalation of the Vietnam War (Revised Edition), Naval Institute Press, 2019, pages 52-63
The vessels T-1 and T-3 of the Cyprus Navy were dispatched to engage the first Turkish flotilla at Operation Atilla as it approached Kyrenia. One vessel was destroyed by air attack, and the other by artillery from Turkish destroyers.
Variants
- Project 123-bis: also known as B-123, original P 4 class torpedo boat design with two twin {{convert|12.7|mm|in|abbr=on}} DShK heavy machine guns and Packard petrol engines.
- Project M123-bis: B-123 with Soviet M-50 diesel engines.
- Project 123-K: also known as K-123, P 4 class torpedo boat with {{convert|14.5|mm|in|abbr=on}} KPV heavy machine guns and radar, slightly larger than B-123 with a different bridge design.
- Project K123-K: K-123 boats fitted with a A-10bis forward hydrofoil.
- Project 123-U: K-123 boats converted to target ships with remote control systems.
- 2 B-123 boats were fitted with the A-10 and A-11 forward hydrofoil.
- 6 K-123 boats were converted to gunboats, with their torpedoes removed and a second pair of KPV machine guns added.
=Egyptian variants=
Surviving boats
- 36 in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast{{Cite web|title="Komsomolets" Torpedo boat Baltiysk - Baltiysk - TracesOfWar.com|url=https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/20564/Komsomolets-Torpedo-boat-Baltiysk.htm|access-date=2021-05-04|website=www.tracesofwar.com|language=en}}
- 60 in Komsomolets Torpedo Boat Memorial, St. Petersburg{{cite web | url=https://www.google.com/maps?q=59.9292220,30.2337500&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=swa | title=59°55'45.2"N 30°14'01.5"E }}
- 119 "Hero Speedboat" in Phoenix Mountain Camp, Tianjin. {{cite web |last1=Meng |first1=Ah |title=Tianjin Phoenix Mountain Camp |url=https://www.mafengwo.cn/poi/8606156.html |website=Mafengwo |access-date=5 February 2023}}
- 123 in Kaliningrad Oblast{{Cite web|title=Torpedo boat of the Komsomolets (type 123-bis) as a monument of World War II.|url=https://depositphotos.com/144925029/stock-photo-torpedo-boat-of-the-komsomolets.html|access-date=2021-05-04|website=Depositphotos|language=en}}
- 131 in Victory Museum, Moscow{{Cite web|title=Google Maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/@55.7259519,37.4980346,3a,74.999992y,351.397400h,90.000000t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1skSWAr62_ZoRdK7Vpzfkgog!2e0|access-date=2021-05-04|website=Google Maps|language=en}}
- 158 "Meritorious Torpedo Boat" in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, Beijing.{{cite web |title=The Motor Torpedo Boat of the Navy of the East China Military Command that Sunk the "Taiping" Warship of the KMT Navy |url=http://eng.jb.mil.cn/Collections/Cultural_1/Socialist/202005/t20200513_45199.html |website=The Military Museum of The Chinese People's Revolution |access-date=5 February 2023}}
- 341 in Pamyatnik Geroicheskim Moryakam Chernomortsam, Novorossiysk{{Cite web|title=Torpedo Boat Memorial: a monument to the sailors of the Black Sea fleet. Novorossiysk, Russia - Picture of Torpedo Boat Memorial, Novorossiysk - Tripadvisor|url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g660729-d8549090-i146408450-Torpedo_Boat_Memorial-Novorossiysk_Krasnodar_Krai_Southern_District.html|access-date=2021-05-04|website=www.tripadvisor.com|language=en}}
- K-12 in Ha'apala and Israeli Navy Museum, Haifa{{Cite web|title=Egyptian Torpedo Boat K-123 Walk Around Page 1|url=http://www.primeportal.net/naval/sasha_lev/k-123/|access-date=2021-05-04|website=www.primeportal.net}}
- T-8224 in Bangladesh Military Museum, Dhaka
- Unidentified in Kaliningrad{{Cite web|title=Kaliningrad / Russian Federation - May 08, 2008. The memorila was...|url=https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/torpedo-boat-of-project-123-bis-of-the-komsomolets-in-the-composition-of-the-memorial-gm943387512-257763170|access-date=2021-05-04|website=iStock|date=9 April 2018 |language=en-us}}
- Unidentified in Diorama, Sevastopol{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Torpedo boat project "123K" (TKA "Komsomolets") on Sapun Mountain in Sevastopol. |url=https://depositphotos.com/174043820/stock-photo-torpedo-boat-project-123k-tka.html |access-date=2021-05-04 |website=Depositphotos |language=en}}
- Unidentified in Katernikov Square, Kronstadt{{Cite web|title=Katernikov Square, Kronshtadtskiy Rayon, St.Petersburg|url=https://maps123.net/en/RU/katernikov-square-p490530|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504050743/https://maps123.net/en/RU/katernikov-square-p490530|url-status=usurped|archive-date=May 4, 2021|access-date=2021-05-04|website=maps123.net}}
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{Cite book
|last=Moïse
|first=Edwin E.
|title=Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War
|year=1996
|place=Chapel Hill
|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press
|isbn=0-8078-2300-7
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807823002
}}
- {{cite book |last1=Budzbon |first1=Przemyslaw |last2=Radziemski |first2=Jan |last3=Twardowski |first3=Marek |title=Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945 |date=2022 |publisher=Pen and Sword Ltd |isbn=978-1-5267-5195-9 }}
{{WWII Soviet ships}}
{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945}}
{{Ship classes of the Chinese Navy}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:P 4 Class Torpedo Boat}}