Was it worthwhile for Pope to hunt for the drawings of the torpedo Shkval?

As a cause of the death of the nuclear missile "Kursk", sources who consider themselves aware, or at least try to create the impression of those, call the explosion of the torpedo "Squall" in the nose torpedo compartment. Sometimes this hypothesis is supplemented by assumptions about the attack from the American submarine "Memphis", because of which detonation occurred.

In addition, the Chinese delegation, present at large-scale maneuvers in the Barents Sea, is credited with the intention to acquire either the underwater super-high-speed shell itself, or even the documentation for its production. The Americans allegedly foiled these plans by their decisive actions, and the representatives of the PRC left Russia, saying something in the spirit of "once this thing explodes, then it does not need us."

In favor of this version, journalists cite the fact of the detention of US citizen Pope, who was interested in certain secret design developments of Russian scientists. Through the media, certain parameters of the military-technical device that caused such risky activity of American intelligence were announced.

The press flashed the name of the torpedo Shkval. The statement that this miracle weapon has no analogues aroused great enthusiasm among the patriots who remembered the "powder in the flasks", while the "democratic public" began talking about the militarization of the country and a new round of the arms race demonstrating the anti-American attitude of the Russian leadership.

To understand how this miracle weapon can be effective in the event of a hypothetical conflict in the naval theater of operations, one should objectively evaluate it using available sources. Is it really so dangerous torpedo Shkval? The characteristics published in the press are not very impressive for professional military personnel.

The most important thing is how much the object of espionage interest differs from other underwater shells, this is speed. It is really considerable, over two hundred knots, almost 400 km / h. On this, in fact, the list of unique parameters of the torpedo "Shkval" ends. The battle radius ranges from 7 to 13 km, and the mass of the combat charge of 210 kg is clearly not enough to guarantee a serious sea target to the bottom.

To carry out the combat launch of the torpedo "Shkval", its carrier must quietly get close to its victim at a distance of a hundred cables, which is problematic with the current level of anti-submarine defense. Next - a shot. After the simplest arithmetic calculation, you can get time after which, in case of hitting an explosion, it's two to three minutes. The question arises as to how to avoid retaliatory defeat, because warships rarely go alone, and a submarine that sinks one of them will immediately begin hunting. The torpedo-rocket "Shkval" is noisy, the cavitation phenomena in the layers of water contacting the shell of the projectile, further reduce the concealment. The submarine, which was at such a small distance from the enemy squadron, and found by sonars, will certainly be the victim of a retaliatory strike.

Another issue relates to the controllability of the torpedo Shkval. It is practically zero, it is impossible to maneuver such a high-speed object under water.

It turns out that you can shoot only once, with a low probability of hit and a degree of risk, close to guaranteed suicide.

It is difficult to believe that it was the "Squall" that caused the death of the Kursk because the operation of the "thick torpedoes" 65-76 "Kit" was suspended after the accident, which indirectly confirms the official version of the tragic events.

The question arises as to whether it cost the American intelligence officer to hunt for the secrets of such a "miracle"? It is possible that the reason was, some of the applied solutions can be used in the corresponding developments, although the overall value of the product is highly doubtful.