Project 863 "Zhaba" River Gunboat
This is a riverine warship designed for support of ground forces, amphibious operations and countering enemy brown-water vessels. This is my most complicated and advanced build to date with a whole custom Fire Control System and other equipment. I tried to balance playability and realism. Enjoy!
Project 863 Riverine Gunboat
Project 863 vessels are a class of river monitors / gunboats designed for operations on rivers, small to medium-sized lakes and in littoral enviroments. Their principal characteristics are:
• shallow draught
• high speed
• heavy armament designed for support of ground and amphibious troops
• capability to carry amphibious landing forces.
Although not truly sea-going, they're capable of transiting open coastal waters. However, they're not designed to face sea-going fast assault craft and anti-ship missiles. Pr. 863 is equipped with a sophisticated main gun director system, allowing for direct and indirect fire against land and sea targets. The centralized DCT (Director Control Tower) located at the bridge provides the ship's Gunnery Officer with the ability to control all primary and auxiliary armament from a single Weapons Director Station (WDS).
SPECIFICATIONS
Displacement: 303 metric tons
Length: 41m
Beam: 8m
Draught: 0.75-1m
Max speed: 32 kts
Max range: 400 km @ 30 kts
Propulsion: 2x 6-cyl Diesel engines, 2x variable-pitch propeller
Armament: 2xI 152mm L40 main guns, 2x20mm AA cannons, 4 ATGMs, 24 chaff launchers, smoke generators.
Auxiliary equipment: Depth meter, navigation/surface search radar, radio transciever, emergency beacon receiver.
DESCRIPTION
Hull:
Pr. 863 is a conventional ship with a displacement hull. The hull is flat-bottomed and has wide beam to provide a stable gun platform with shallow draught. The hull is divided laterally into 7 compartments
Compartment 1 and 7 – buffer zones and logic
Compartment 2 – Ratings' quarters, Turret A magazine, DC locker, head
Compartment 3 – Engine room
Compartment 4 – Senior Ratings' quarters, sickbay, DC locker, armory
Compartment 5 – Ratings' mess, galley, Warrant Officers' quarters
Compartment 6 – Wardroom, Officers' cabins, DC locker, officers' head
Propulsion:
The two main engines power the propellers, as well as provide emergency electric power supply. The main generator located in the middle powers the ship's electrical grid. The Emergency Supply Breaker (Orange) on the generator control panel can be used to connect the main engine generators to the grid in case of the main generator failure. The Main Breaker will isolate the electrical grid of the ship.
The main engines are started by default, as is the main generator. Startup and shutdown are automatic processes and can be effected by operating their respective master switches
Forward of the engines are two electric pumps – the red fire pump that supplies water to the fire main and hose stations located throughout the ship, and the green bilge pump used for unwatering flooded compartments. They can be both turned on using their respective switches.
Steering:
The ship can be steered from the helm as well as from the weapons director station. However, the Propeller Pitch Steering (PPS) mode and reverse are only available from the helm. The helmsman can observe their surroundings using three periscopes (forward, port and starboard).
The vessel uses variable pitch propellers for reversing and precision maneuvering. Both engines are independently reversible. The two indicator lights (red for port, green for starboard) on the sides of the rudder deflection indicator illuminate when the respective engine is reversed.
The PPS mode varies the propellers pitch continuously in concert with rudder inputs to affect instaneous pintle turns, eg. for precise maneuvering in port, during amphibious operations etc. In this mode the propellers shift to neutral pitch (0 degrees) and change their pitch following the rudder inputs (eg. When turning left, the left propeller reverses, while the right starts pushing) with the pitch difference from 0 proportional to the rudder input. The ship then turns at a rate proportional to throttle input. This mode can only be used when the throttle is at idle and should not be engaged at high speed. The operation of the Propeller Pitch Steering mode is indicated by the Reverse lights both flashing. WARNING: In neutral pitch the propellers can reach high rpm at relatively low throttle settings. Do not throttle up without putting in rudder first.
Weapons:
The Project 863 Gunboat is equipped with three weapon systems: The main 152mm guns, 20mm AA guns and an ATGM launcher. All three weapons can be operated from the Weapons Director Station located aft of the helm at the bridge. Weapons can be cycled using a button to the left of the director scope. An indicator lights shows which weapons is selected.
The main gun is stabilized in the vertical plane and equipped with a Fire Control System. The FCS can work in three modes:
Mode 1: Automatic ranging using a rangefinder, the guns will elevate to hit a target located at the distance measured by the rangefinder. Used for long range direct fire. Rangefinder must be turned on manually from the Weapons Director station
Mode 2: Manual range input, the guns will elevate to hit a target located at the distance inputted on the keyboard located on the port weapons control panel. Used for indirect fire
Mode 3: Manual elevation. The guns will be elevated manually. Used for emergency short range direct fire as well as for maintenance purposes
It's recommended to return the guns to neutral position manually using Mode 3 after disengaging from combat.
The main guns are equipped with autoloaders and will reload automatically after firing. If the guns are yet to be fired (no lights illuminated) they must be reloaded manually by pressing the Manual Reload buttons on the starboard weapons control panel. Before the first firing the autoloader must be left running for a few seconds before the yellow lights on the gun status panel to the left of the scope illuminate. This indicates there's ammunition available for loading. Red lights indicate the gun breeches are open and the green that the guns are ready to fire and have been elevated back to the demanded elevation after reloading. Before firing wait until the green light illuminates and then 2-3 seconds more to be sure.
To prepare the guns for firing:
1. Turn on the MAIN GUNS AUTOLOADER switch on the stbd panel
2. Wait for yellow lights
3. Press TURRET A/B MANUAL RELOAD and hold for 3 seconds
4. Wait for the red light to go out and the green light to go on.
The 20mm guns are pretty self explanatory. Ammunition counters are to the right of the scope. Spare ammunition is available under a hatch in the aft section of the superstructure, below the ATGM launcher
The ATGMs are laser guided. Hold the laser on the target until the missile hits.
The ship is also equipped with a total of 24 chaff launchers. They are launched in pairs. There are also smoke grenades available in two salvos (one directed forward, one aft) that can be launched using buttons on the starboard panel.
Other equipment:
The ship has two anchors on the bow operated locally. There is an aft vehicle ramp and an open cargo deck with tiedown points for vehicles. Carrying deck cargo in rough seas is not recommended. Hose connector for refueling the ship or transferring fuel to smaller boats, and a shore supply power plug, are provided on the port and starboard sides, respectively
