The Soviet Navy began its commitment to heavily armed and armored river boats back in the military build-up of the 1930s. These vessels were then put through their paces during World War 2 (1939-1945), charged with operations centering on lakes and rivers where their modest short-to-medium ranged weaponry could best be brought to bear. In the massive military draw-down of the post-war period, there seemed little interest in evolving the line amidst a rise of more advanced and potent technologies centered on jets and missiles. It was not until the mid-1960s that thought was given to developing an all-new entry into the river artillery boat category for the Soviet Navy and this became the Shmel-class (Project 1204).
Project 1204 SHMEL Border Patrol Boat, was designed and developed by JSC NPO Almaz( ГСКБ Концерна ПВО “Алмаз-Антей”, see Wikipedia “NPO Almaz”). On March 15, 1965, the USSR Navy and the USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry jointly approved the tactical and technical specifications (TTZ) for the design of a river artillery boat of Project 1204. At the same time, all armored boats (BKA) in service began to be classified as artillery boats (AKA). The design of the new artillery boat was entrusted to the Almaz , and Yuliy Yulievich Benoit was appointed designer. The technical design of the artillery boat “SHMEL” was approved at the end of 1965, and in 1966, after the death of Yu. Yu. Benoit, further work on the Project 1204 was continued by designer Leonid Vasilyevich Ozimov.
The boats were slim in their base design though specifically given shallow draughts, allowing for operations in shallow waters as well as in Close-to-Shore actions (littoral). Each carried a crew of about fourteen and featured a bow-to-stern length of 90 feet(27.4 meters) with a beam of 14 feet and a draught of just 2.7 feet. Installed power allowed for a maximum speed of 24 knots to be reached and the boats ranged out to 322 nautical miles.
Beyond its armor protection, the war boats were well-regarded for their mix of armament. This was led by a PT76B turret fitting a tank-killing 76mm main gun. The turret was installed at the important “lead” position over the forecastle, just ahead of the pilot house (bridge). Over the stern was a 25mm twin-gunned turret capable of countering low-flying enemy aircraft as well as assisting against shoreline actions. Near midships was installed a 140mm seventeen-shot BM-14-17 rocket launcher atop a trainable mounting for ranged target area suppression. Up to 4 x 30mm BP-30 Plamya automatic grenade launchers were carried as was 1 x 7.62mm SGMT machine gun. The boat could also lay down naval mines to deny access to strategic waterways in the event of war.
All this made the 73.4 ton Shmel-class potent surface vessels. While they could be taken out to open water, they were not necessarily designed for choppy seas and served better in a tactical role, denying passages, protecting vital harbor points, transporting goods or troops to and fro. Additionally, the potency of its armament fit allowed the boats to assail shoreline targets in support of ground troop movements. While the 76mm was well-known as a tankkiller in its time, it served a potent HE (High-Explosive) shell as well. The twin-gunned 25mm fit could also bring about devastating results to shoreline troop positions and soft-skinned vehicles unfortunate enough to come through its crosshairs.
In 1967, at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch , after the construction of the lead boat, large-scale production of AKA Project 1204 was launched. Also, the production of boats was established in Nikolaev (61 communards shipyard) and in Leningrad (Almaz production association) ). Total from 1967 to 1972, 118 artillery boats of Project 1204 were built at three factories. Of these, 56 boats were received by the USSR Navy(Baltic Fleet – 10, Pacific Fleet – 30 and Black Sea Fleet – 16), and 62 boats were received by the naval units of the border troops of the KGB.
Upgrade to 1204M
During operation, changes were made to the armament of the AKA Project 1204: the 14.5-mm 2M-6 anti-aircraft machine gun mount was replaced with a 25-mm 2M-3M coaxial artillery mount , and in the mid-1970s. on some boats, a casemate with loopholes for four 30-mm BP-30 grenade launchers was installed in the middle of the hull behind the wheelhouse; The boat’s anti-aircraft armament was supplemented with two launchers of the Strela-2M man-portable anti-aircraft missile system (ammunition load of 8 missiles), while the total displacement of the modernized boats reached 77.4 tons. On some Project1204, mounts were installed to accommodate the Ogonyok multi-barrel rocket launcher.
Edit by Ryo
Reference:
ru.wikipedia.org, “Артиллерийские катера проекта 1204”
https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.php?ship_id=shmel-class-artillery-gunboat-soviet-union#images
