Soviet Naval Antiship Missiles of the Cold War: 1957-1991

An SS-N-22 Sunburn supersonic antiship missile

The antiship missile was pioneered by the United States and Germany. Both nations tested experimental weapons during World War I and then deployed operational weapons during World War II. However, all of these were air launched missiles. While the United States Navy made major advances in ship and submarine launched weapons in the post war period, it did not field any antiship weapons on these platforms - probably because of both a lack of suitable targets and satisfaction with its existing antiship weapons. 

In contrast, when World War II ended the Soviet Navy was in desperate need of powerful antiship weapons. Its small force of torpedo boats, destroyers, and light cruisers now faced an overwhelmingly powerful American Navy whose carriers and cruisers were armed with nuclear weapons for use against targets far inland. While the Soviet Union developed and deployed large numbers of air launched antiship missiles, it also pioneered the use of surface and submarine launched weapons.

Note: I will be referring to all Soviet missiles and ships by their NATO codenames (e.g. SS-N-2 Styx instead of P-15 Termit). This is because I do not speak Russian and many English-language sources either date from the Cold War or rely on sources that do. Even today, the capabilities of many of these missiles are poorly understood and the following information is by no means exact.

SS-N-1 Scrubber

The first Soviet surface launched antiship missile was the SS-N-1 Scrubber. This was a primitive first generation weapon of limited effectiveness. Like the American Regulus missile, Scrubber was stored in hangers and fired off rails  (the launchers had an estimated rate of fire of four missiles an hour). The exact specifications of this missile are difficult to pin down. It was a subsonic air-breathing weapon weighing around 3.5 tons with a range of around 100 miles. It had inertia guidance that was supplemented by some form of radar homing or command guidance. The warhead may have been convention weighing somewhere between 1000-2000# or possibly nuclear with an unknown yield.

Scrubber was first tested at sea in 1957 and the missile was operational by 1958. It was deployed aboard the 4 Kildin class (1 launcher with 6 missiles) and 8 Krupny class (2 launchers with a total of 12 missiles) destroyers. Like many first generation missiles, Scrubber was short-lived. By 1965 better weapons had entered service and Scrubber was retired.

CIA diagram of the SS-N-1 Scrubber

SS-N-2 Styx

The next, and far more successful, weapon was the SS-N-2 Styx. While visually similar to Scrubber, Styx was a significantly different weapon. It weighted slightly over 2 tons with a 1000# conventional warhead and was powered by a high subsonic liquid fueled rocket with a range of 25 miles. Importantly, it was capable of zero-length launch which massively reduced the weapon's footprint and allowed it to be mounted on small attack craft. Guidance consisted of terminal active radar homing although infrared homing was present on some later variants.

Styx suffered from numerous drawbacks including corrosive fuel, long reaction times, limited maneuverability, and low accuracy. However, despite those limitations it was the first successful surface launched antiship missile. The Soviet Navy deployed Styx on hundreds of Osa-class (4 missiles), Komar-class (2 missiles), Matka-class (2 missiles), and Tarantul-class (4 missiles) missile boats as well as retrofitted it to the 4 Kildin-class (4 missiles) and 6 of the Kashin-class (4 missiles) destroyers. Countless Styx missiles were given to allied nations and saw use in the Arab-Israeli, Indo-Pakistani, Iran-Iraq, and Gulf Wars where they sunk numerous vessels. Styx first went to sea aboard the Komar-class in 1956 and remains in service with nations around the world to this day.

SS-N-2 Styx launched from a Komar-class missile boat

SS-N-3 Shaddock / Sepal

However, Styx was considered too limited for larger vessels and the SS-N-3A Shaddock / SS-N-3B Sepal was introduced. The Sepal was designed for surface ships while the Shaddock was used on submarines. However, as with the United State Navy's submarine-launched Regulus missile, Shaddock could not be fired while submerged. The anti-ship Shaddock / Sepal was derived from a submarine launched land attack cruise missile which was in turn based on an Army ground based cruise missile. Because of limited information, NATO confusingly designated all of these weapons Shaddock.

SS-N-3 was a large weapon weighing 5 tons with a range of 250 miles for Shaddock and 150 miles for Sepal. It had a turbojet engine with two solid rocket boosters and was capable of low supersonic speeds. The weapon could be armed with either a 350kt nuclear or 2000# conventional warhead. Guidance consisted of the typical autopilot with terminal active radar homing. However, SS-N-3 introduced a datalink that allowed it to receive updated target information after launch - a revolutionary feature that is still not present in any NATO antiship weapon today. 

Shaddock was carried by 16 Juliet-class diesel submarines (4 missiles) and 29 Echo II-class nuclear submarines (8 missiles). The lead ships of both classes joined the fleet in 1963. The surface launched Sepal was far less widely used, deployment being limited to the 4 Kynda-class (16 missiles) and 4 Kresta I-class (4 missiles) cruisers. The first Kynda was commissioned in 1962 while the first Kresta was completed in 1967. All of these vessels served until the end of the Cold War.

SS-N-3C Shaddock launched from a Juliet-class submarine - note that the submarine is surfaced

SS-N-7 Starbright

While Shaddock represented a powerful capability for the submarine force, the requirement to surface within 250 miles of an American carrier battlegroup before firing and remain there to provide target updates was a massive drawback. The solution to this problem was the SS-N-7 Starbright - the first submarine launched antiship missile that could be fired while submerged.

Despite allowing underwater launch, Starbright was in many ways a less capable weapon than Shaddock. Although it weighed nearly 4 tons, Starbright was a subsonic solid fuel rocket with a maximum range of just 35 miles. Guidance was simple active radar homing without a datalink (although one was hardly needed at such short range) and it was armed with either a 200kt nuclear or 1000# conventional warhead. Starbright was deployed on the 11 Charlie I-class (8 missiles) as well as the lone 45 knot Papa-class (10 missiles) nuclear submarines. The first Charlie I commissioned in 1967 while the Papa commissioned in 1969. While the Charlie I submarines served to the end of the Cold War, the Papa was regarded as a failure and decommissioned in 1984.

SS-N-7 Starbright - note the booster rockets attached at the rear

SS-N-9 Siren

Starbright was always considered an interim solution until the more capable SS-N-9 Siren could enter service. Despite being a lighter weapon that weighted just over 3 tons, Siren's improved solid fuel rocket engine allowed it to carry the same 200kt nuclear or 1000# conventional warhead of Starbright out to a range 70 miles. On top of the standard radar guidance, at least some versions of Siren had a supplemental infrared seeker.

Even with this improved performance, Siren did not see widespread service in the submarine fleet and was only carried by the 6 Charlie II-class nuclear submarines (8 missiles). The lead ship of this class entered service in 1973. However, Siren did find favor with the surface forces and equipped the 35 Nanuchka I & Nanuchka III-class corvettes (both with 6 missiles - the Nanuchka II was an export model armed with 4 Styx missiles) as well as the single experimental Sarancha-class hydrofoil (2 missiles). The first Nanuchka was commissioned in 1970.

SS-N-9 Siren launched from a Nanuchka-class corvette

SS-N-12 Sandbox

By the 1970's it was time to replace the 20 year old technology of Shaddock / Sepal. Its successor was the SS-N-12 Sandbox which closely resembled the SS-N-3 and generally shared its dimensions. However, SS-N-12 was far more survivable, being capable of speeds well over Mach 2. In addition to being able to receive midcourse updates like Shaddock, Sandbox boasted the ability for the missiles of a salvo to communicate with each other, sharing sensor data and dividing targets between them.

SS-N-12 was deployed aboard the 3 Kiev-class aviation cruisers (8 missiles) and the 3 Slava-class cruisers (16 missiles). Kiev commissioned in 1975 while Slava was completed in 1982. Sandbox was also retrofitted to the Juliet-class and Echo II-class submarines, replacing their Shaddock missiles one for one. Sandbox also substantially improved the survivability of the submarine force, although the boats still needed to surface to fire, they could now salvo their weapons more quickly and provide midcourse updates while submerged.

SS-N-12 Sandbox

SS-N-19 Shipwreck

Sandbox was merely the low risk option in a pair of new missiles. The high risk option was the SS-N-19 Shipwreck - the largest and most powerful antiship missile ever deployed. It was a 7.5 ton ramjet with a range of over 300 miles and a speed approaching Mach 3. Shipwreck was armed with either a 1500# conventional or 350kt nuclear warhead. It also possessed a sophisticated guidance system that incorporated active radar, infrared, and home on jam capabilities as well as the inter-missile network introduced with Sandbox.

The extreme size of Shipwreck meant that it could only be carried by the largest of vessels and it was only deployed on three classes: the 3 Kirov-class cruisers (20 missiles), the 8 Oscar-class submarines (24 missiles), and the lone Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier (12 missiles). The first Kirov and the first Oscar both joined the fleet in 1980 while Kuznetsov did not commission until 1990. All of these classes were cut short by the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, although a 4th Kirov and 5 more Oscars were completed by the Russian Federation.

SS-N-19 Shipwreck - the black nose is a protective cover that is jettisoned on launch to reveal a typical ramjet intake 

SS-N-21 Sunburn

The final antiship missile of the Soviet fleet was the SS-N-21 Sunburn. While significantly smaller than Shipwreck at only 5 tons, Sunburn was in many ways even more ambitious. It's propulsion consisted of no fewer than 4 ramjets for a range of only 120 miles but a top speed of Mach 3. Alternately, Sunburn could fly a sea skimming trajectory for 75 miles at a speed of Mach 2. In both attack profiles, the final run in was done at an altitude of less than 10 meters. SS-N-21 could be armed with either a 700# conventional or 200kt nuclear warhead. Guidance consisted of active radar with home on jam and midcourse datalink updates.

Sunburn was deployed on the 15 Sovremenny-class destroyers (8 missiles), the 24 Tarantul III-class corvettes (4 missiles), and the lone Lun-class ground effect vehicle (6 missiles). The first Sovremenny commissioned in 1980. As with Shipwreck, many of the vessels designed to carry Sunburn were cancelled following the collapse of the USSR.

SS-N-22 Sunburn being loaded aboard a Tarantul III-class corvette - note the folded fins

During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy had deployed no fewer than 51 ships, 71 submarines, and nearly 500 missile boats armed with a total of almost 3000 antiship missiles. However, when the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the massive Soviet Navy fell into disrepair having never seen action. In fact, even including the Soviet client states, only Styx, the least powerful of these missiles, was ever used in battle (although there are unconfirmed reports that a Siren may have been successfully used during the 2008 Georgian War).

How these weapons would have fared in battle is a question that will remain unanswered. But their development and deployment is worth studying, both as an example of asymmetric strategy and as reminder that the the weapons and tactics that we are familiar with are not necessarily the only ones possible.