Pr.183 BM-21
| This page is about the premium Soviet motor gun boat Pr.183 BM-21. For the regular version, see Pr.183. |
Contents
Description
The Pr.183 BM-21 is a premium gift rank III Soviet motor gun boat with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update "Apex Predators" as a reward for Battle Pass: Season X, "Royal Guard".
The Pr.183 BM-21 is a non-standard Project 183 PT boat (AKA P-6 in NATO code) exported to Egypt with its rear-turret and torpedoes removed for the installation of a BM-21 MLRS. The major difference between the Pr.183 and the Pr.183 BM-21 is the BM-21 Grad 122 mm MLRS launcher on the aft platform in place of the turret; as well as a new radar replacing the original, dome-like one. The 40 rockets onboard will make sure light vessels will meet a swift end from the bombardment of 122 mm rockets from distance.
General info
Survivability and armour
Being one of the last PT boats built by Soviet Union, the ship itself is rather unprotected where the hull is still made of wood, only the 25 mm autocannon turret and the superstructure are made with 4 mm hardened steel. Any projectile larger than rifle-calibre will have no problem penetrating the mere 4 mm of steel on the turret and command tower, let alone the hull itself with only 10 mm. A near-miss from higher calibre cannons can do serious damage to the ship itself.
Mobility
The ship is propelled by four M50-T diesel engines with 4 shafts, propelling the ship at up to 70 km/h (37.8 kt). This ensures the overall flexibility of the ship to retreat from heated battlefield or navigating through complicated channels of water.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 109 | 44 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 81 | 33 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 100 / 150 / 50 % 2 × 154 / 154 / 154 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
With the aft turret and torpedo tubes removed, the only main weapon onboard is the front 25 mm 2M-3 twin mount autocannon. While the ammo count and the penetration of the cannon is more than enough to tear down small vessels, this is the only primary armament: keep the turret in operation at all cost to maximum its efficiency.
Special armament
The 122 mm BM-21 rockets, commonly known as "Grad" (Hailstone), are installed as a MLRS. The launcher itself could traverse 360° thanks to its clearance to the superstructure. While the original intention of MLRS on an attack boat is purely for coastal bombardments against enemy ground targets, if enemy boats or auxiliary ships i.e minelayers or destroyer escorts are within its range, all the 40 rockets onboard with almost 10 kg TNT equivalent of explosive contents will certainly give them a bad day, either from being detonated on impact or critically damaged by the salvo.
Usage in battles
A common characteristic of PT boats is their rather unprotected hull and superstructure, this is especially true for Pr.183 due to the size and weight limits for PT boats. The ship only has 10 mm of wood for the hull and 4 mm steel for turret and command tower, anything larger than .30 calibre has very high odds to penetrate the ship itself, let alone direct hits from cannons. So staying away from heated battlefield is extremely crucial for its survival. This also being limited by the rather small crew pool at only 16 crews onboard; chances are the ship might still be afloat but the crews will be knocked-out instead.
The Egyptian Navy removed the aft twin 25 mm autocannon turret and torpedo tubes onboard, and installed a BM-21 MLRS instead. The weapon itself, a single 122 mm rocket projectile with 10 kg of TNTe, is certainly a nightmare for light ships as this will likely mean a knock-out for them, larger ships up to destroyers could even fall victim of it as it has a 40-shot salvo and this could trigger extensive damage to either exposed components or overpressurizing turrets, disabling the ship or even sinking them straight. Although having one less autocannon turret from its base model, the remaining 2M-3 twin mount 25 mm autocannon has rather high penetration for its calibre and 120 shots per magazine can also make sure it can cause havoc to unnoticed ships that showed their sides or ships with rear-mounted weaponry. To make sure the maximum efficiency of the ship, it is suggested to play it as a "guerrilla-on-water" where players can utilize its sufficient mobility to manoeuvre around inland channels where it can take cover behind terrain, then strike out for a sudden attack for enemy ships; alternatively taking cover and use the rockets for taking down unnoticed enemies. Making it a small yet formidable enemy to be dealt with.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Extremely lethal twin 25 mm turret with high ammo count and devastating firepower
- Small and nimble for navigating through inland channels
- 40 rocket salvos with high explosive content, extremely lethal to smaller vessels
Cons:
- Equipped with only one turret and its rocket launchers
- Extremely fragile to gunfire
- The size of the rocket launcher could trigger a detonation and lead to complete loss
- Relative small crew pool for replacement
History
As one of the last PT boat classes built by Soviet Union, the Project 183 Bolshevik Class PT Boat has been one of the major export vessel of the Union to allied countries including PLAN (which they later built domestically as the Type 6602 under the June 4th Agreement), KPAN and notably, Egyptian Navy.
During the Nasser presidency, the country had a good relationship with the Soviet Union with the latter providing a large amount of aid and military equipment ranging from assault rifles up to jet fighters. The abundant Project 183 was also among one of the sales to Egypt with around 46 of them delivered to their navy. Although being already obsolete in the late 1960s which led to some losses against Israel (2 by Eilat, on July 1967), the Egypt Navy got revenge by sinking Eilat on 21st, October 1967 and claiming the very first AShM kill in war history using the heavily-modified Project 183R with P-15 missiles.[1]
While the Egyptian Navy maintained a fairly large fleet of Project 183s, 12 boats were then modified to carry BM-21 Grad MLRS at the cost of some onboard armaments; these ships would have likely been decommissioned by late 20th Century and very few images are left as proof of their existence.
Media
- Videos
See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
References
| USSR boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | D-3 · G-5 · G-5 (ShVAK) · Pr.123-bis · Pr.123K (A-10bis) · Pr.123K · Pr.183 |
| Motor gun boats | TKA-412 · MO-4 · OD-200 · Pr.253L · Pr.183 BM-21 · Ya-5M |
| Motor torpedo gun boats | Pr. 206 · Pr.206-M · MPK Pr.12412 · MPK Pr.12412P · MPK Pr.11451 |
| Gunboats | Groza |
| Armoured gun boats | BMO · MBK-161 early · MBK-161 late · MBK pr.186 · MBK pr.186 (MK 85) · Pr.1124 early · Pr.1124 late · Pr.1124 MLRS |
| Pr.191 · Pr.191M · Pr.1204 · Pr.1204 late | |
| USSR premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | G-5 (ShVAK) · Pr.123K (A-10bis) |
| Motor gun boats | TKA-412 · Pr.183 BM-21 · Ya-5M |
| Motor torpedo gun boats | MPK Pr.12412P |
| Armoured gun boats | MBK-161 early · MBK pr.186 (MK 85) · Pr.1124 MLRS · Pr.1204 |
| Sub-chasers | MPK Pr.122bis |
| Frigates | Rosomacha |
| Destroyers | Kerch · Ryany · Leningrad · Stroyny · Smelyi · Neustrashimy · Blagorodnyy |
| Light cruisers | Murmansk · Kerch · Zheleznyakov |
| Battleships | Marat |
