Jakarta – During the 1950s to 1960s, the Indonesian military grew to become one of the major powers in the Southeast Asian region. In fact, in the 1960s, Indonesia’s military strength became one of the largest in the southern hemisphere at that time. This is inseparable from the purchase of many defense equipment, especially from the eastern bloc which built up Indonesia’s military strength during this period.
On the maritime dimension, Indonesia’s military power is dominated by a variety of weapons from the eastern bloc, especially those produced by the Soviet Union. Maybe for domestic military fans, names like KRI Irian, the Skorry-class destroyer and the Komar-class fast missile boat are some of the defense systems made by the Soviet Union which were quite famous for being used by the TNI-AL or what was formerly called ALRI (Navy of the Republic of Indonesia). ). Even though there was one other type of combatant ship made by the Soviet Union which had also been used by the TNI. The ship is the P-6 class Torpedo Fast Boat (Torpedo-boat).
Fast torpedo boat or torpedo-boat P-6 class is one of the ships made by the Soviet Union which was born after the end of the 2nd world war. Launching from the Warboats website, the ship used to hunt the submarine is known as Project 183 ‘Bolshevik’.
This ship began to be designed and built in 1949 after being inspired by the United States fast torpedo boat project in World War 2 which was donated to the Soviet Union through a lend-lease program.
Ships of this type began to be built at three different shipyards in the Soviet Union, namely in Leningrad, Vladivostok and Sosnovka. This type of ship is also known to have been built by China through a license program and is known as Type 6602, Type 6702, Type 7702 for the standard variant and Type 55A which is a development variant of the standard ship.
The design of the P-6 Class ship is also believed to be used as an initial design in the development of the Komar-class fast missile boat which is also used by the Indonesian Navy.
The track record of the P-6 class fast torpedo boat is indeed not well known within the Indonesian Navy. This is different from its counterpart, the Jaguar-class, which is a ship made in Germany which is quite well known for being used by the Indonesian Navy.
The arrival of the P-6 class ship is also not clear since what year it began to be used by the Indonesian Navy. It is possible that these ships came together with various defense equipment from other eastern blocs in the early 1960s.
Launching from the Wikipedia site, Indonesia is known to use 14 units of P-6 class fast torpedo boats in its defense system.
This ship was probably purchased to prepare for the Trikora operation in West Irian, although it is not clear whether the TNI at that time obtained this ship in new condition or used by another country.
The traces of this ship during the TNI’s tenure are also not very well known. It is possible that these class ships will also be retired in stages along with the Komar-class fast missile boats which also originate from the Soviet Union due to their aging age and the difficulty in obtaining spare parts.
As a ship used to hunt submarines and light surface attacks, the P-6 class fast torpedo boats were armed with several weapon systems that were quite muscular for their time.
The ship is equipped with 2 533 mm torpedo launch tubes and 8 depth bombs for anti-submarine warfare. As for the surface weapon system, the ship is armed with 2 units of twin 2M-3 25 mm automatic cannons.
This ship has a crew of 14 people and is equipped with a Soviet-made radar system. The ship, which is powered by 4 units of diesel engines, is capable of sailing at a maximum speed of 43 knots or 80 km/hour. For its own cruising range of about 1,900 km. Of course the cruising distance is quite far for a ship with a small size. Bembo
