New Torpedo

“This is regarding the Soviet super-velocity rocket/torpedo designated VA-111 ‘Shkval’ (Squall). Shkval is actually a liquid fueled (by highly volatile hydrogen peroxide) rocket propelled underwater missile with a confirmed speed of 200 miles per hour. Shkval is alleged to be 26 inches (660 mm) in diameter, 27 feet long & weighs 5,900 pounds. It appears the launch of this weapon requires a special torpedo launch tube larger than the standard 21 inch (533 mm) tube fitted on most Russian fleet subs.

Shkval is not a cruise missile type weapon that leaves the water after launch, but remains submerged throughout its attack profile. Such a high speed underwater attack is virtually immune from existing conventional naval countermeasures. It is alleged that this torpedo reduced hydrodynamic resistance (drag) by emitting gasses (efflux) from the rocket motor through its nose and body, thereby ‘lubricating’ it as it speeds through the water in an umbrella of air. Apparently, the successful launch of Shkval requires that the missile/torpedo leaves the torpedo tube at a speed of more than 50 mph, resulting in tremendous force exerted upon the weapon during launch.

It is alleged that Shkval was developed during the cold war for intended last ditch attacks against US aircraft carrier task force groups. Originally designed to carry a nuclear warhead, they could also be fitted with a conventional warhead. In 1998 Kazakhstan sold 40 domestically produced Shkval torpedoes with conventional warheads, to China. Information on Shkval’s guidance technology is not readily available. According to Leonid Kharitonov of the Central Naval Museum in St. Petersburg, sources within the Russian submarine fleet have confirmed that at the time of the loss of the OSCAR II Class nuclear submarine KURSK (K-14) on 12 August 2000 in the Barents Sea (69º 40’ N x 37º 35’E) she had been in the process of launching a Shkval. It is believed that a failure of the rocket motor of a Shkval within one of the forward torpedo tubes resulted in a cook-off of the torpedo’s warhead; and other torpedoes in the forward torpedo room, resulting in the loss of the KURSK.”

On another subject, PAUL writes: “Regarding my research on the U-boat hoaxes Michaud and Brooks, I would be honored to have their respective stories published in the KTB Magazine, to expose these clowns. I stand by my research and supporting documents, as I have been following these idiots for a number of years now.”

EDITOR’s NOTE - those stories will begin in KTB #152 next month. As you know, we have had articles in the past regarding these two guys who could find a sunken U-boat on the planet Mars if you had enough money to fund their research…..