Surely everyone has seen ships with mysterious huge balls on the deck. At the same time, few people know why these balls are needed and why they are placed. Take, for example, the Soviet ship "Ural", which was launched in 1983. It is quite obvious that nothing is put on a military vessel for nothing or for beauty, even flags and those have some meaning under them. So why do we need a mysterious design?
Those who happened to live in the Soviet Union at a conscious age may sarcastically remark that relations between the USSR and the United States in the 1970s-1980s were an order of magnitude worse than the current ones. Then the fingers really kept on the panic buttons, and they did not just believe in a future war, at some moments they were really waiting for it. The situation was nervous. Largely due to the rapid development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The development of new delivery vehicles required new means of protection, and most importantly, means of warning.
The main problem in the field of missile security for the USSR was that, unlike NATO, it did not have so many external bases outside its territory to track missile launches. For this reason, it was decided to create a special reconnaissance vessel. In 1983, the SSV-33 "Ural", project 1941 "Titan", a one-of-a-kind ship, was launched. The nuclear powered ship was designed to track US missile launches.
To put it simply, the Ural was a large floating radar. Actually, the radar installation is hidden under the mysterious ball. If you look closely, there are several smaller balls on the ship. There are also radar installations under them. Why do we need balls? The fact is that a radar station is a rather delicate piece of equipment, and the open sea itself is an environment of increased aggressiveness. Therefore, the radar must be protected from wind, salt, moisture and water. Actually, for this, and radars and put on protective balls.
By the way, on the territory of the Kimrsky district of the Tver region, not far from the village of Ignatovo, in Dubna, one of these "mysterious" balls lies on the ground. At one time, this fiberglass product was intended for some kind of radar, however (most likely) it fell off the ropes of the helicopter during transportation.
Continuing the topic, read about why from the side of the ship periodically water beats with a fountain.