Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Whoops!!


Shell shock for Russian village





A Russian warship has mistakenly shelled a village near the northern city of St Petersburg, officials say.

They say the small anti-submarine vessel fired up to 15 artillery rounds at Pesochnoye during target practice late on Thursday.

No injuries were reported in the village. It was not immediately clear how much property damage there was.

Some terrified villagers said they thought a war had started, Russia's Ria Novosti news agency reports.

Russia's navy has been plagued by a series of accidents since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, including the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000 that left more than 100 sailors dead.

it's fortunate no one was hurt.

Back around 1980 there was an incident where a Harpoon missile was accidentally launched from one of their frigates, destroying four summer homes in a little coastal village. The missile was undergoing a test using an outboard test box plugged into the missile through the electrical connections on the launcher. It fired unexpectedly ( you can picture the tech, who was a LtCdr, standing there getting blasted by the missile as it left the tube ) and hit this village. The LtCdr was court martialed. I recall another incident where a Sidewinder missile hit a school in New Jersey. No injuries or deaths.

Back around 1980 there was an incident where a Harpoon missile was accidentally launched from one of their frigates, destroying four summer homes in a little coastal village.

Click to expand...

Their who? The USN? If so here's a bit of history from the USS Coontz DDG-40.

On 14 July 1981, Coontz accidentally fired a live Harpoon missile about 60 nautical miles (110 km) off St. Croix. The island was in range of the missile and it was fired toward the island, but a search by Coontz and aircraft from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) found no debris. The US Navy concluded that the Harpoon harmlessly impacted the sea since no trace of it was ever found. A Danish frigate had a similar incident in September 1982 with no casualties, but significant property damage.

Click to expand...

bd popeye said:

Their who? The USN? If so here's a bit of history from the USS Coontz DDG-40.

Click to expand...

Ooops, sorry, it was the Danes who had the Harpoon mishap.

Ambivalent said:

Ooops, sorry, it was the Danes who had the Harpoon mishap.

Click to expand...

HDMS Peder Skram had that particular incident... they were extremely lucky as that missile passed a number of merchant ships along the way, including a car ferry without the missile hitting them. And the poor person court marshaled was a Commander, who happened to be the Danish Navy's foremost expert on the Harpoon missile system...

Ah yes, you are right, the Peder Skram. What always bugged me about that incident is the rank of the person performing the test. That is the sort of work done by a mid grade petty officer in the US Navy. It is an ordinance man's job. Someone with the rank of Commander would be the ship's commanding officer, or would have a similarly responsible command ashore. Something in that incident is being left unsaid.

Wikipedia article on the HDMS Peder Skram incident.



"On September 6, 1982 a frigate, the HDMS Peder Skram, accidentally fired a Harpoon missile during maneuvers in the Kattegat. The missile traveled 34 kilometers at low level, severing several power lines before striking some trees after which it exploded. The fireball and subsequent shock wave destroyed four unoccupied summer cottages, while damaging a further 130 buildings in the immediate vicinity. No human injury was reported.

Cause

A navy investigation into the matter initially concluded that a technical malfunction was the cause of the launch as it happened without the launch key being activated. The missile system had undergone maintenance and was in the process of being checked by an expert from the navy material command. He was charged for negligence and was eventually convicted. Later most charges was dropped by a second investigation. The manufacturer of the missile later paid the Danish government a compensation, which covered all the damages made by the missile.

===========

If the launch key hadn't been activated then the obvious conclusion is that there was some fault in the fire control system and the officer in question could not have known that, hence the fact that he was subsequently cleared. Nonetheless a very alarming incident!

Saw a 2K12 Kub battery sitting on the side of a California highway on the back of a big lowboy flatbed trailer. Three Fingers of Death we called it. There was a T-72 tank and a BMP-3 along with it on their own trailers. Now if I can just figure out why my laptop won't upload photos to anything........arrgghhh.

Ambivalent said:

Saw a 2K12 Kub battery sitting on the side of a California highway on the back of a big lowboy flatbed trailer. Three Fingers of Death we called it. There was a T-72 tank and a BMP-3 along with it on their own trailers. Now if I can just figure out why my laptop won't upload photos to anything........arrgghhh.

Click to expand...

How interesting. Was this out by Ft. Irwin where they have a training unit that operates modified Ruskie vehicles for a "more realistic threat environment?" I know they also have Russian radars out a China Lake.