The SS-N-2 Styx came much, much later (almost 20 years). A lot of other
folks had build glide bombs of different types, as well as rockets.
"Beat to the punch?" Nope, although the SS-N-2 was a pretty good
missile for the time, and somewhat of a surprise.
The SS-N-2 Styx was no surprise at all. The first SS-N-1 Scrubber (P-1
Shchuka) was based on the German Fi-103 (aka V-1) and so were many of
the other P-series missiles... with continued
modifications/improvements.
I find it amazing that it took the Russians a decade to get their
naval missiles on track while Germany in WW2 had fired 30cm Wurfkoper
42 Spreng from a submerged U-boat and also launched both the V-1 and
V-2 from sea. In 1945, huge naval containers (Prufstand XII) were
under construction for towing V-2s for use against the US. Several
were completed at Stettin.
Rob
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