History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back Historical Overview of the Operation of Hydrofoils and Their Place in the Transport System of Russia Mukhina M.L. In the 60–80 years, a high-speed passenger fl eet was created in the USSR, which had no analogues in the world in terms of its size and scale of transportation. The vast majority of it was presented by the hydrofoils of the design of the Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils named after R.E. Alekseev. Regular traffi c to the hydrofoils connected more than fi fty large river and sea ports of the former state. The change in the economic structure that took place in the country in the early 90s became one of the determining reasons for the degradation of the high-speed fl eet. The article presents a comparison of indicators of transport effi ciency of vehicles implementing radically different principles of movement (fl ight, wing travel, rolling, hovering on an air cushion), conducted on the basis of classical concepts of mechanics and thermal engineering to synthesize a criterion that gives an objective assessment of the engineering excellence of transport vehicles. In 2012–2014, the R.E. Alekseev Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils resumed the design and construction of new-generation high-speed vessels for the military and civilian fl eets at the company's own production base in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The author notes with satisfaction that his moderately optimistic forecasts regarding the future of passenger hydrofoils turned out to be in line with the opinions of scientists and specialists in the fi eld of high-speed passenger transportation on water transport. Keywords: Hydrofoils designs by the Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils named after R.E. Alekseev, Hydrofoils design school, R.E. Alekseev and G.F. Shertel – two outstanding designers, comparative analysis of the transport effi ciency of passenger Hydrofoils. DOI: 10.25791/intstg.12.2024.1519 Pp. 43-55.