OSA - Russia's Most Extensively Built Missile Ship

[@SubBrief]

Thank you to the subscriber who sent me a photo of the Strela Quad-Launcher mount. it is 4 Strela launchers mounted on a cross bar that is attached to a pole mounted on the deck. It appears one sailor and operate the Strela launchers manually.

[@oceanmariner]

I was on a WWII built destroyer in the 1960s. The Styx missile was considered a big threat then. We had ECM (electronic counter measure) equipment that could make the ship appear to the missile bigger or smaller, closer or further away. The tactics when alone was to make the missile to fall short or long and miss the ship. In a fleet with bigger more valuable ships, the tactics were to make an older destroyer appear as the largest target and a carrier look small, so the destroyer took the missile. Destroyer sailors on the older ships didn't think highly of this. Twice in my time in the USN we got a Styx missile warning. Off Cuba and North Vietnam. Nothing was fired. Just harassment. The ECM gear was always on. Air search radar was always on except within 50 miles of the US or friendly countries. The radar interfered with TV reception. In 1967 Egyptians fired 3 Styx missiles at an Israeli destroyer, Eilat - former HMS Zealous British WWII destroyer, 2 hit near amidships and sank the ship. The third missile struck the water where the destroyer was.

[@trolleriffic]

It's a very primitive missile but anything with a 500kg shaped charge warhead is going to spoil your day if it gets through your defences.

[@retiredguyadventures6211]

You had to be a Radarman or ECM guy. I was both on my first ship USS Dahlgren DLG-12 between 70/72. We were in the Med in 1970 just a few years after the Eilat was hit, and we knew about it. I think it was the ULQ-6 that caused incoming anti ship missiles think you were the carrier, and we didn't think much of it either.

[@DrScalpel29]

The Israeli Navy learned from this event and Naval Intelligence worked hard on this topic which led to the mentioned counter-measures. Source: Brigadier Amos Gilboa "Israel's Silent Defenders"

[@stug77]

Quad Launcher: there are now 4 comrades standing on the deck with strelas.

[@guaposneeze]

There are now four comrades on deck, sharing one strela.

[@radiofreemongoliaofficial]

@@guaposneezetwo comrades one strela

[@Rob_F8F]

Osa - still more formidable than the LCS.

[@jonnyb2774]

I suspect 3 drunk men in a dinghy with a spud gun may also meet this criteria.

[@tonywilson4713]

Is it just me or does LCS stand for "Lotsa Cost Ship" or "Low Capability Ship" I'm Australian and not only is Austal an embarrassment but they are still doing a lot of business here. Even worse is that when you look ta the concept of the LCS with the interchangeable modules (Go see Aaron's vids on how well that HASN'T worked) the concept of Australia's new Offshore Patrol Vessels is almost identical and what's more those Arafura-class OPVs are more than 10x the cost of the boats they are replacing.

[@lynnjensen150]

For most bystanders among us LCS has come to stand for " Little Crappy Ship" @@tonywilson4713

[@shaider1982]

​​@@tonywilson4713also Little Cr**y Ship. The Austal take on the LCS does look cool, too bad it's performance isn't acceptable by the USN.

[@mathewkelly9968]

Australia got a 25mm gun and a helicopter landing pad on 1600 tons ....... Amazing graft

[@hirumaryuei]

The Operations Room did a fantastic deep dive on the Battle of Latakia, as well as another video on effective Styx use in the Indo-Pak war of 1971.

[@StromBugSlayer]

Dinky Toys made a die-cast Osa 2 with 4 working missile launchers (circa 1976-1979) As a kid, I myself had a Dinky British Motor Patrol missile boat with 2 working launchers. Loved that thing.

[@tekteam26]

It uses an open pedestal mount, two missiles on either side of the gunner for the SA-N-5

[@gavinhammond1778]

Generous to describe it as a corvette, as another fellow mentioned it seems more of a development of the torpedo boat concept, and about as subject to death or glory tactics. Thanks for the content.

[@aleksaradojicic8114]

It is missile boat considering all features it has.

[@FirstDagger]

Wouldn't Fast Attack Craft like the German Gepard and Albatros ships are classed also fit?

[@aaravtulsyan]

During the 1971 India-Pakistan War, Indian Navy's squadrons of these missile boats set Pakistan's main naval base and financial centre of Karachi ablaze, effectively knocking the Pakistani Navy out of the war

[@Archer89201]

3 days after Operation Trident, Indian Navy used the Osas again in Operation Python , the Styxs sunk a fleet carrier and destroyed the oil storage of Karachi harbor

[@A_Degenerate_with_Glasses]

Fleet tanker, not carrier

[@Archer89201]

@@A_Degenerate_with_Glasses sorry typo, meant to write a fleet tanker and ammo carrier and mixed it up

[@richardpatton2502]

“Beam, feet (metres): 24.9 (7.6)” - Jane’s warship recognition guide So, I guess it must be so. Possibly your source as well All the best to everyone

[@--Dani]

Great content as always 👍

[@retiredguyadventures6211]

I was a radarman on a couple of cold war missile destroyers back between 1969 and 1973. I served on Farragut class (USS Dahlgren DLG-12) and Leahy class USS Richmond K Turner DLG-20. I did a Med cruise and North Atlantic cruise on the Dahlgren, and the US Navy was "super" worried about these boats, and we trained relentlessly against them. They sunk an Israeli ship with one about a year before we went to the Med. We were the first American ship on station during the Jordanian Civil War, and we were pretty much independent steaming in a sea of bad guys until the cavalry got there to back us up. It got pretty hairy at time.. We got a Meritorious Unit Citation for this action. My second ship, years after I got out, was the first American ship to hit an enemy ship with the new at the time Harpoon anti-shipping missile during the Gulf of Sidra incident. The ship they hit was an Osa missile boat.

[@hinglajsankroth]

11:55 from what i read the first ship when hit called on the radio that they were under air attack that created a lot of confusion

[@torquetrain8963]

The radial diesel engines in these ships are truly amazing.

[@Lemurion287]

Really shows how much these boats benefited from being employed by a competent navy.

[@MillerVanDotTV]

I toured the hiddensee recently. I feel that the ships were logically laid out, and had a fairly deterring weapons suite.

[@B1900pilot]

Saw some of these rotting at the pier in Somalia in 1992. The "Osa" was a real force multiplier, and at the time of it's deployment in 1960, Osa's would have been difficult to counter if they made a coordinated attack in large numbers. Pretty much a get in, shoot, get out quick platform.

[@rollyherrera623]

That 30mm ciws is a scary beast!

[@AviationJeremy]

So it’s a rocket-age PT boat.

[@dmacpher]

That PT boat is on steroids sir

[@scrubsrc4084]

I have a picture of the quad sa-n 5 and its just 4 tubes strapped to a plate with the operator stood behind it between the middle two tubes. Its as heath Robinson as you can imagine

[@josh3771]

Reminds me of when they strapped a tracked SA-15 onto the helicopter of one their corvettes back in 22 for air defence

[@yasure1535]

What is up with the two diffrent types of missel silos on the photos of minute 1:00 and 1:50

[@shaider1982]

I watched the video on the Battle of Latakia from the operations room. Those Israeli missile boats were the ones the french built but withheld dued to pressure from the Arab countries. Israel managed, through complicated subterfuge (see intel report's video) to get those boats home.

[@JasonMcKee-ow3xy]

Hey Aaron, Ive signed my contract with the Navy and I ship to basic in 5 days. My rate is CSS so do you have any words of advice or what I should expect in sub school and when I get to my first boat? Thanks alot, been watching you for a couple months now. Youre the one who inspired me to go subs

[@SubBrief]

Yes! Focus on the details in bootcamp so you don't get set back. Graduate boot asap. go to extra study at night even if you don't have too in Sub School. Sub School will help you a lot with qualification on submarines. finally, Qualifying submarines is as much about getting along with people as it is knowledge. Swallow your pride, be humble. Go to your interviews for sub qual signature with knowledge and be confident but also don't be afraid to take look ups and come back to the person. Good luck!

[@Kriss_L]

@@SubBriefI have heard a rumor that donuts, sodas, and smokes/dip also help with signatures.

[@kb9oak749]

If Russia has upgraded the missile package these could be a major PITA for the U.S .Oh wait, they did with another class of ship. The Project 1241 Molniya. The boats replaced the Moskit with eight Kh-35U anti-ship missiles and MANPADS launcher with the Pantsir-M gun/missile system. They also had a modern radar phased antenna array. One boat was expected to operate in the Black Sea and the other in the Caspian Sea.-wiki I suspect there are more than two. Oh wait, lookie here: As of 2022 - c. 21 ships of project 1241.1/1241.7 and project 12411/1242.1 are in service with the Russian Navy (10 Pacific, 6 Baltic, 4 Black Sea, 1 Caspian).-wiki

[@bigsarge2085]

Always interesting.

[@samadams2203]

I loved these little ratboats in Harpoon. Appear out of nowhere, sling your SSMs at stuff much more valuable than you, then, if you're lucky, escape.

[@MrTylerStricker]

Thank you, I will enjoy my Labor Day weekend with an extra hearty helping of my favorite morning treat, Sub Briefy-Os..."know it by the Osa on the front of the box!"

[@MililaniJag]

Reminds me of a jumbo modernized WWII USN PT boat. Cheers!

[@JessWLStuart]

If I could think of a pun involving the word Osa, I would include it here! Great video!

[@seeky907]

The great KZbin channel operations room has a video about that battle off Syrias coast

[@williamgray8499]

Israeli destroyer Eilat sunk by Egyptian Navy in 1967. As I remember, it was sunk by the Styx missile fired by Osa class vessels.

[@freedog632]

If I saw it correctly the SAM quad launcher is in the middle of the ship there is a picture of a model of it. Looks like a quad launcher, to me anyway.

[@SubBrief]

Yes, I've been sent a photo of the quad launcher and it is mounted on the ship and operated manually.

[@noname-wo9yy]

Feel like the crude missiles electronics really let the platform down

[@Aloh-od3ef]

It would be fantastic if you could do a video about electric warfare. But I understand how difficult that may be, due it being a sensitive subject 😂

[@dfgiuy22]

Not going to happen. I'm suprised you can get a thermal scope for $7k that'll weigh 500 grams and see a truck 4-6km away. As a civi! The EM spectrum is something that is just unreal. Until you stalk something that has 0 idea you are there, or even if it does cannot pick it out, is crazy. I hope we don't lose that edge :) Not just talking thermals btw. If missles can't see, they cannot hit. Its cool, but we need to make sure we keep that edge. Thermals are cool though. I can't get over how i have something that has better range, resolution etc than something ships, subs and tanks had 30 years ago.

[@FirstDagger]

Operation's Room has good videos on the battles the Osa good part in.

[@RobertGotschall-y2f]

I was on a frigate in the Eastern Med back in 73. All we had was Sea Sparrow and the 5 in. 54 as defense, but nothing to really shoot back at them with.

[@hotlanta35]

Modern warships need more close in conventional weapons and long range guns in my opinion, what do you think?

[@retiredguyadventures6211]

Yea the Navy didn't have a dedicated over the horizon anti-shipping missile until 1975 when the Harpoon came into service. I was on a little larger ship in the eastern Med back in 1970. It was a Farragut class DLG and we only had our Terrier/Standard missiles that could only shoot to the horizon, and our 5"/54 gun, and twin 3"/50 guns port and starboard

[@adampiech7143]

I know those. There were stationed in Gdynia, Poland at the Bay of Gdansk. I think we had 4 of them. Huge STYX launchers. I think there was briefly an idea to rearm them for something newer, but ultimately they were scrapped.

[@tykjpelk]

Could you cover the Skjold class corvettes? Norway's modern take on the same concept but much faster, better armed and more expensive.

[@thomascrabtree]

Fun fact: Vladivostok shipyard and the surrounding bay (Amursky Zaliv) freezes solid every winter and the nuclear power station in the city is used to melt the ice for incoming and outgoing vessels by pumping it's hot waste reactor water into the nearby ocean.

[@Kriss_L]

That hot water would be from a secondary loop, not the primary.

[@hotlanta35]

Let’s hope so😅

[@mikecimerian6913]

Tarentul next ?

[@B_Snaxx]

Hey Aaron, why did you hide the video you had on the arson case aboard the naval ship and USNI's listing of those held accountable? Was wanting to watch the second half of it when I got the chance...

[@SubBrief]

What video are you talking about?

[@B_Snaxx]

@@SubBrief hey Aaron, not sure if you deleted it or anything but it showed as an upload earlier today - it was covering the list of military/navsea/civilians noted as responsible for the environment that allowed for the arson case to happen. Idk if it's a members only video but i was just curious since I couldn't find it and I was pretty interested - I got about 30 minutes in :/

[@B_Snaxx]

​@@SubBriefhey Aaron, my apologies - I found the video I was talking about, it was posted a year ago. My bad, I thought it was a new post.

[@bradrum1]

Did the Osa ii actually include shirts for the crew members? Or is that planned for the Osa iii (or follow on class) ?

[@WorshipinIdols]

The Israelis lost the INS Israel (destroyer) from the Styx before they made the changes that lead to the victory in the Yom Kippur War.

[@whysosyria1]

Khaibar was a late ww2 destroyer that was commissioned to the Pakistanis back in 1956 so yeah it didn't have any radar to pick up a missile.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

28 seems like a large crew for something this size?

[@alexh3153]

Is this similar to the hidensee at battleship cove?

[@mirajwade588]

Bit late, but I can shed some light on why the Pakistani Navy did not deploy ECM against the Styx. The target of Operation Trident was the port city of Karachi. The Indian Navy had sent the Osa class boats to attack high value targets in port. Problem was, Karachi was far out of the operational range of the Osa Class, so Pakistan felt relatively confident that they wouldn't have to deal with them unless they entered Indian waters. The Indian Navy got around this issue by using the two Petyas as Tugboats and taking a tanker along with the fleet to refuel mid-op before returning. The Osas were towed to within range of Karachi, released to attack and then refuelled at the tanker before heading home. When INS Nirghat fired upon the PNS Khaibar, the Pakistani ship thought it was under air attack and engaged anti air defences, even radioing to Naval HQ that it was under attack by Indian jets. During the battle the INS Nipat found that it could target the land based Kemari oil facility, which it targeted with two Styx missiles, one of them misfiring. The one that fired hit setting fire to the oil refinery. Operation Trident and its follow up Operation Python, both using Osa class missile boats was the most successful operation of the war, accounting for three Pakistani Naval ships sunk, one naval ship damaged beyond repair and two merchant vessels sunk, along with the total destruction of the Kemari Oil Refinery, resulting in a significant drop in Pakistan's oil reserves and great economic loss. "The Man who Bombed Karachi" Admiral S.M Nanda's Autobiography is a great read if you want to see how the operation was wargamed, planned and executed

[@pohfromipoh]

well Osas and styx can be very dangerous in the right hands at its prime. The Eliat was also blown out of the water by a Styx. So the video is not very holistic haha. Reductionist even.

[@Rick-sm5xf]

25 foot wide WWII PT boats were 20ft wide. It sounds like a planning hull, right?.

[@daedalus-N7]

Imagine being the poor SOB standing up on the top deck trying to lose a manpad. while that fucking things rocketing at 42 knots. While most likely dodging and weaving

[@jakubstrumillo]

Komar = Mosquito, Osa = Wasp.

[@christopherhanton6611]

Very good video on this missile craft, also like you said in that one raid also launched another missile at dd badly damaging it being a total loss and they broke that one up. and fire missiles on fuel tanks in the harbor

[@WorshipinIdols]

I think by “sell” he means “given away” by the USSR, just like Russia does today when it issues loans to nations that wish to buy their weapons to make it look like they are selling weapons only to then write-off the loan after the fact as a “gift” knowing full well from the beginning that they would never be paid just to keep their defense industry occupied and employed while also appearing to be a top arms exporter internationally.

[@dragonstormdipro1013]

Don't know about other nations but India legit brought them from Russia

[@seeky907]

Who’s they had radial engines?

[@tomcook5813]

Imagine the fuel range?

[@rodrigogoncalves6165]

Does anyone know if these ships were ever modernized?

[@Animalwon]

I can ' but notice this ships' overall profile looks SO similar to PT boats from WW2, add to that the use of Fast engines and the similarity is uncanny. So aren't they just copies of the PT Boats, but equipped with missiles instead of Torpedos?

[@trolleriffic]

They're not copies although they might borrow heavily from PT boat designs, and there's a conceptual similarity in how they're used.

[@xenon6947]

Indian navy destroyed Karachi Headquarters so bad that Pakistan had to shift HQ to Punjab.

[@5anjuro]

A torpedo boat, but with missiles )) Fast, (potentially) deadly, probably a suicide.

[@Frankon81]

So from Mosquito (Komar) to Wasp (Osa). Those missiles had to sting a lot.

[@seeky907]

I always thought this was a good idea for a warship.

[@jintarokensei3308]

The Wasp replaced the Mosquito...got a few more species to go through before we get deadly.

[@Kriss_L]

Yeah, but I've been driven away (aka, inside) many times by mosquitos.

[@p_filippouz]

Torpedo boat on steroids

[@hiteshadhikari]

*You should actually do a detailed study of Op trident by Indian Navy* *Not only did we use styx for anti ship but also used them for sea to land attack and blew Karachi port fuel depots* *Karachi port burned for 5 days straight*

[@hotlanta35]

That’s pretty smart

[@bremnersghost948]

That thing could do 42kn without bits falling off it? Really?

[@SubBrief]

losing bits makes russian boat faster, comrade. is design.

[@bremnersghost948]

@@SubBrief Ah I understand now Comrade, All going to Plan.

[@TheNecromancer6666]

A friend of mine was an OSA commander in the East German Army. Until he became a dissident. He was tortured and imprisoned in a mental ward. Cause obviously you have to be insane to challenge communism.

[@peterward2875]

PT boat with SSM's instead of torpedoes...

[@knowledgeseeker8546]

You forgot to mention Operation python, that was the follow on attack after operation trident on Pakistan.

[@88njtrigg88]

3:52 Darlek extermination.

[@tomcook5813]

Some of those OSA’s didn’t have too much time on their hands….yuk yuk

[@LafayetteCCurtis]

Annoyingly enough, "Vostochnii Verf" is literally just "Eastern Wharf."

[@andrewmosher-le6ct]

In the 80s these things were Sea Skua meat.

[@makegaminggreatagain3907]

It seems neither Russia or the U.S know how to build or what a corvette is these days. The OSA (Wasp) is not a Corvette, it's a fast attack missile boat, much like the German S77 and S80 Schnellboots, and the Swedish R142 missile boat. LCS1 and LCS2 are NOT corvettes, too big to be a corvette to small to be a Frigate. Patrol boat, Fast attack/missile boat, Corvette, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battlecruiser, Battleship, Carrier. Cmon man You've served and I'm just an arm chair admiral, I would take 10 Wasps with change to spare vs CG47+ or DDG** Flight I-II-III.

[@SubBrief]

It is interesting how different Navies label ships. The US might call this boat a PT boat, you call it a fast attack missile boat. Russia called it a missile boat. Just a regional thing. One thing I learned is that what is the label of something in my area of the globe is not the same as other regions.

[@StromBugSlayer]

Weapons Detective says the soviets called it a "large missile cutter".

[@dougalachi]

No reason to laugh about them having SA-N-5s. Don't US SSNs and SSBNs get equipped with MANPADS systems too?

[@ДмитрийАндреев-л9ч]

Hi, why didn't you mention the Israeli destroyer Eilat? The first ship sunk by a cruise missile.

[@acarrillo8277]

Because the Eilat was sunk by a Komar-class boat a different class of boat then what he is talking about.

[@vl7944]

Cause Eilat was sunk by Komar-Class boats rather than Osas

[@don_5283]

Pretty sure she was sunk by a Komar, not an Osa.

[@richardwillson101]

By a cruise missile, not by an OSA class.

[@Trish.Norman]

❤ for your algorithm

[@jcresap2077]

Isn't the OSA the type of missile boat Israel stole from Egypt for the CIA?

[@sorryforthings72]

Possession is nine tenths of the law.

[@ats89117]

Israel has world class EW capabilities...

[@MillerVanDotTV]

Stolen or subverted tech

[@ats89117]

@@MillerVanDotTV Yes, the Israelis routinely reverse engineer good stuff, but they can't use this approach with EW because they are the leaders in this area...

[@Kriss_L]

The SAAR or OSA would have been better than LCS.

[@foxtrot_delta3042]

Eilat? Did you not do your homework or were you deliberately trying to not mention the loss of that Israeli ship to a Styx missile?

[@SubBrief]

looks like you didn't do your homework and I'm not giving you the answer. You're just wrong. Go look it up.

[@SubBrief]

I'm going to heart my own comment, because it is awesome. Good job, me.

[@willpugh8865]

Just try and imagine the smells from those Indian and Pakistani ships to a western nose

[@sdoo-ou2ni]

Even by 60 sander this is a little antiquated this thing looks like someone tried to turn the old torpedo boat into a missile boat

[@john_in_phoenix]

Scared the hell out of every western navy after the 1967 war.

[@sdoo-ou2ni]

@@john_in_phoenix that's what I like about this thing the way it looks it looks very stereotypical of a certain Nations military industrial complex it's a floating box with missiles

[@Wannes_]

Does it ? Let's say you're on a brand spanking new UK type 42 "destroyer" in the very early 70s and you're facing 5 or 6 of these ... Your measly 4 Exocets might take out 4, provided you don't launch 2 at a single contact The remaining 2 can shoot 8 Styx but your Sea Dart can't reload and train fast enough to take all of them out ... any Exocet miss means 4 more Styx coming your way The 4.5" gun and 20mm CIWS are still a decade away

[@alexduke5402]

Prime example of Russian military might. All those tanks ships and nukes on paper but how many actually run out go boom. If they do will they even be effective at their intended purpose anymore after decades of sitting? I don't think so.

[@Kriss_L]

They all go boom. Some with help, some without.

[@mrouncervideos2905]

Floating Russian garbage cans. Slava Ukraine

[@stingray427man]

Gotta give it to the Russians they build some of the ugliest naval designs but sometimes they build decent subs and airplanes.

[@mikedrop4421]

"it's impossible to match the might of Russian navy!" - Ruskies "Bwaahaaahaahaa" Ukrainian navy in row boats.

[@MsBongkong]

cringe

[@goodlife6277]

Oh soy boy😂😂😂

[@ousofrancis1783]

yeah, desperate urbunnies .... just like what they did to USS Cole...no big deal

[@TankandDimples]

The accuracy. 🇺🇦🇺🇲🇺🇦🇺🇲