"SPP-1 Underwater Pistol" Topic

I know that this has probably been posted before. But I love the article . Robert

SPP-1 Underwater Pistol

"Anti-gun activists take note: Most objects can be used as a weapon; and weapons can be disguised, camouflaged to resemble most any common, innocuous object used in every day life.

Take the Lipstick Pistol employed by the Soviet Special Police, the dread KGB, during the Cold War. This seemingly harmless cosmetic applicator of womens' lip paint was in fact a deadly, single-shot, .177 caliber gun-nicknamed the Kiss of Death. What vile tools lie hidden in a ladies' handbag?

During World War II and throughout the fiercely contested Cold War, gun designers and their handlers in the West and their counterparts behind the Iron Curtain waged a tireless contest over which side could come up with the most bizarre small arms. Take the U.S.-made, World War II-vintage FP-45 Liberator or Vietnam's Deer Gun, both air-dropped to guerrillas. These single-shot insurgency weapons were dreamed up by whiz kid working at the CIA. Not to be outdone, the Soviets developed a host of weird and wacky weapons to include an underwater assault rifle-the APS-and an underwater pistol.

Comrade Boris and his henchmen in the Kremlin were so paranoid, they concocted a unique sidearm for outer space-no doubt in the event that one of our astronauts invaded one of their orbiting capsules and attempted to steal their cosmonauts' oxygen. The TP-82 is a space-age handgun with a triple-threat: two barrels chambered for smoothbore, .50 caliber and a single .20 caliber, rifled barrel.

The TP-82 was part of the Russian's Soyuz Portable Survival Kit in the event Comrade Cosmonaut found himself fighting for his life in Siberia, contending with giant brown bears and such.

Wink, wink…nod, nod. Yeah, sure.

The TP-82 was a frequent flier aboard Soviet space missions from 1986 to 2006.

But what if Comrade Cosmonaut crashed in the drink, and not on dry land? Hmm.

Soviet gun designers locked themselves in a padded room with an endless supply of vodka and nude shots of Soviet honeys and dreamt up a handgun for water and underwater warfare-the SPP-1.

Whereas their APS Underwater Assault Rifle was capable of hurling 600 rounds of 5.6x39 mm flechettes per minute, the SPP-1 fired similar, .177 steel projectiles-some 5 � inches long and weighing about half an ounce-at enemy frogmen and other waterborne combatants.

The Soviet underwater pistol weighs just 2 pounds; underwater, this gun is feather-light. Designed in the late 1960s, the SPP-1 has four barrels, each barrel holding a single cartridge. It measures 9 1/2 inches long and has a whopping underwater range, at 5-meters depth, of 50 feet!

What will they think of next-those boys at the Pentagon and the Kremlin? God knows, perhaps a grenade launcher with a depth charge? Forget about it…Boris already has it-the DP-64!"
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Yikes! I wouldn't want to be standing downrange of that.

If you like this kind of thing, and you're ever in Washington, DC, you really should check out the International Spy Museum. Lots of cool Cold War-era "toys" to look at, including the Lipstick Pistol and Bond's Aston-Martin.

On a wargaming note, when is someone going to do 28mm *swimming* frogmen so we can reenact the underwater fights in Thunderball?

You forgot to mention that the Soviets armed one of their orbiting space stations with a 50mm auto-cannon. It was a manned spy satellite of course. They even fired the thing once… as a test, while no one was on board. Worked like a charm.

50 feet underwater is a pretty decent range, especially since in many environments, you're lucky if you can see one third of that distance.

I'd settle for 15mm armed frogmen, like Goblintooth used to produce. They made all manner of frogmen and women, in swimming poses, and apparently, even the various diver propulsion vehicles too.

Wonder who has their molds?

Not surprisingly, they also produced a rules set called Thunderball, if I recall correctly.

Of course, I'd be on board with 25mm or 28mm figs as well, especially if they are armed with spearguns, underwater assault rifles, etc.

Eclectic -- I think you're thinking of Almaz/Salyut-3, which was armed with a Rikhter R-23 23mm cannon akin to those mounted on the Tu-22.

Them sneaking Russkies !