Ship anchors. Anchor Matrosov: design features

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

It would seem that you can tell about the anchor? The simplest, at first glance, design. But he plays a huge role in the life of the ship. The main task of the anchor is to securely tie the ship to the ground, wherever it may be: on the high seas or near the coast. A motorboat or a yacht, a cruise liner or a multi-ton tanker - safe movement on the sea for any vessel depends on the reliability of the anchors.

Anchor structures have evolved over hundreds of years. Reliability, ease of use, weight - each parameter was tested in practice by the sea itself, counting nautical miles. Most anchors have common names: admir alty, ice, plow, cats. But there are anchors named after their creators. Among the inventors of reliable structures, the following names sound: Hall and Matrosov, Danforth, Bruce, Byers, Boldt.

“The chains of anchors ring in the port…”, or the ship's role of the anchor

Anchor should ensure the safe anchorage of a vessel, ship, boat or yacht in the roadstead and on the high seas. In addition, the anchor plays a huge role in solving other problems:

• Restricts the vessel's mobility while mooring to another vessel or berth in adverse weather conditions, strong currents,carrying out loading operations.
• Allows you to make a safe U-turn in tight spaces (such as a narrow harbor).
• Can quickly dissipate momentum and stop the ship when a collision threatens.
• Helps to refloat the vessel by the crew.

Parts of the anchor structure (chains, fairleads) are sometimes used when towing.

Situations when an anchor is used can be roughly divided into two groups.

The first group is for emergency use: in situations where the anchor must hold the ship at the maximum value of the wind force and sea waves.

Second group - for everyday use: for a short stop in good weather

The structure of the anchor

The bow of the ship is the place where the anchor device is located. An additional anchor structure is installed at the stern of large-capacity vessels, icebreakers and tugboats. This design includes the anchor itself, the anchor chain or rope, the chain box, the device with which anchor chains are attached to the ship's hull, the hawse, the stopper, as well as the capstan and windlass, with which the anchor is released and raised.

And what does the anchor itself consist of, in the steel paws of which is the safety of the vessel, crew and passengers on board?

Anchor is a special structure (welded, cast or forged) that sinks to the bottom and holds the ship with the help of an anchor chain or rope. It consists of several elements:

Spindle (longitudinal rod) withanchor bracket at the top - with this bracket, the anchor is attached to the chain;

Paws and horns that are fixed or hinged to the spindle.

At anchors with a stem, a transverse rod is installed in the upper part of the spindle, which enhances the holding force.

Anchor constructions: purpose, type

By purpose, ship anchors are:

• Auxiliary: anchors, verps, drecks, crampons, ice. The role of auxiliary anchors is to help anchormen in certain situations: when boarding and disembarking passengers, loading and unloading, to refloat the ship, to keep the ship at the edge of the ice field.
• Standings: there should be 3 of them on each ship (2 in hawse, 1 on deck).

According to the method of sampling, the soil is divided into two groups.

One group includes anchors that take the soil (i.e., dig into it) with one paw. First of all, the Admir alty anchor is included here.

Anchors that take soil with two paws are combined into another group: anchors of Hall, Byers, Boldt, Gruzon-Hein, Matrosov.

Stand anchors must meet the following criteria:

• strength;
• quick return;
• good soil fence;
• easy separation from the ground when lifting;
• convenient fastening in the "stowed" position.

One of the most important criteria is a large holding force, that is, the maximum force, measured in kilograms, under which the anchor will not come out of the ground and will be able to keep the ship "on a leash".

Anchor-"Admiral"

Admir alty anchor can rightfully be considered a veteran among ship anchors. This is perhaps the only representative of designs that have a stock. Despite the fact that it has been replaced by more modern and reliable models, it still fulfills its ship role in the fleet. This is due to the versatility of the design.

The structure of the Admir alty anchor, proven for centuries, is concise: the fixed legs and horns are cast or forged together with the spindle and form a single whole with it, without additional mechanical elements. The stem is wooden or metal. Its task is to help the quick intake of soil and the correct orientation of the anchor clinging to the bottom.

The design itself folds compactly: the stem is laid along the spindle, and in modern models paws can also be folded. This simplifies the storage and transportation of the anchor during a voyage.

The advantages also include a large holding force (its coefficient is 10-12), which is higher than that of many "brothers" with the same weight.

"Admiral" is able to cope with any soil: he is not afraid of any large stones, among which his "colleagues" often get stuck, nor the insidious compliance of silt, nor the thickness of underwater algae.

The disadvantages of the naval old-timer include bulkiness and volume, laboriousness in handling - this leads to the fact that it is troublesome to mount it in the stowed position and cannot be quickly given away. The anchor is forged from iron with strict quality requirements.material and workmanship - this leads to its high cost.

The rod often fails: the iron one bends, and the wooden one is damaged by mollusks, it is fragile and short-lived.

When diving into the ground, one leg sticks out, posing a threat to ships in shallow water, and the anchor chain can catch and tangle on the horn protruding above the ground.

Hall Anchor

In 1988, the Englishman Hall patented an anchor named after him. This anchor is also considered a naval veteran, only stockless. The construction consists of a spindle and two legs molded together with the box.

The paws in this design are unusual: they have a flat shape, swing and can turn on the axis.

The box and paws are weighted with tides with thickenings in the form of shoulder blades. Their task is to turn the paws, forcing them to go into the ground to a depth that can be 4 times the length of the paws themselves. This is especially important if the ground is weak and you need to dig deep to reach a solid foundation.

The indisputable advantages of the Hall anchor are considered to be a sufficiently large holding force, fast recoil (it can be released on the move, moreover, this method of recoil even helps to deepen the paws as much as possible) and convenient cleaning in the hawse.

In shallow water, it is not dangerous for other vessels, since the paws lie flat on the ground, tangling the anchor chain or rope around the paws is excluded.

The disadvantages of the design include the unreliability of fastening the anchor on soil of a heterogeneous composition in the event of a torque or while parked in an open roadsteadwhen the wind direction changes or there is a strong current, when the anchor begins to creep in jerks. In this case, with a strong jerk, the anchor jumps out of the ground, and then deepens again thanks to the shovels, which have time to heat the mound from the ground. This is due to the too large distance between the paws. In addition, the hinged box may jam when sand or small pebbles are collected in it.

When retracting into the hawse when cleaning the anchor, the paws cannot always take the necessary position on their own due to the not very good location of the center of gravity.

Matrosov's Anchor

This anchor is one of the most modern designs with increased holding power. Created by the Soviet engineer I. R. Matrosov in 1946, it absorbed the advantages and eliminated the disadvantages inherent in the paws of two types of anchors: with fixed paws (such as the Admir alty) and with swivel paws (Hall's anchor).

The design of the anchor is as follows: spindle, paws, side rods, anchor bracket.

In Matrosov's system, wide swivel paws are almost close to the spindle and are so close to each other that during burrowing into the ground they begin to work like one big paw. The area of each of them is larger than in other anchor structures. Together with the paws, a stem with lateral tides is cast. The rod is displaced upwards with respect to the axis of rotation of the spindle. Its task is to protect the anchor from capsizing and increase the holding force, plunging into the ground along with the paws.

The strength of the design is the stability when drawingon the ground, high holding force even on soft sandy-silty soils and in stones, relatively low weight and ease of retraction into the hawse during harvesting. When turning the vessel 3600 keeps confidently.

The design has its drawbacks. On dense ground at the initial stage of deepening, the anchor is unstable. If the paws are twisted out of the ground, they do not enter the ground again, and the anchor continues to crawl. The space between the paws at the spindle is so narrow that it is often clogged with soil - this does not allow the paws to deviate freely.

Production

Matrosov's anchor is available in two versions:

• welded (welded leg)
• cast solid (cast paw)

Technical standard for Matrosov's anchor - GOST 8497-78. It is used for anchors used on surface vessels, ships and inland watercraft.

Specifications and parameters are determined by the mass (weight of the anchor)

Welded anchor

Matrosov's welded anchor is made from 5 to 35 kg of stainless steel or anodized or painted steel.

Painted anchors require additional maintenance (derusting and painting), as the paint is quickly peeled off by the primer. The anodic coating is more resistant, but is also subject to physical impact when in contact with the ground. The most durable of welded structures are stainless steel welded anchors.

Cast anchor

Matrosov's cast anchorsare made in weight from 25 to 1500 kg.

They are usually cast iron and anodized or painted.

Matrosov's cast anchor in a prototype version was successfully tested on sea fishing vessels in operational conditions. Its advantages over Hall's anchor were indisputable.

Which is better?

Given the wide variety of ship anchors, it is impossible to answer the question of which design is better.

However, numerous tests to determine the magnitude of the holding force on various types of soil have shown that the Matrosov anchor is 4 times greater than the Admir alty and Hall anchors with equal mass.

The anchor is effective for use on inland navigation vessels, river vessels, boats and yachts. On the ships of the navy, it is practiced to use it as an auxiliary.