Soobrazitelnyy-class Destroyer

The ''Storozhevoy'' class were a group of 18 destroyers built for the Soviet Navy in the late 1930s that were officially known as Project 7U ( (Improved)). The design was finalised in 1936 after initial disappointments with the . The main changes were unit machinery (four boilers instead of three), a strengthened hull and reduced fuel capacity. The anti-aircraft guns were repositioned to improve firing arcs. The ships fought in World War II.

Background and description

Naval historians Yakubov and Worth state that the change to unit machinery was due to an incident when the British destroyer was stopped due to machinery damage by a mine during neutrality patrols in the Spanish Civil War. The incident was reported at a meeting where Joseph Stalin was present and he ordered that the ships be redesigned with unit machinery so that a ship could still move if one of the two boiler or engine rooms were incapacitated. This change in design saved following mine damage in 1941, but led to a considerable delay in the Soviet destroyer program and the cancellation of six Type 7 ships. Fitting the additional machinery in the same hull presented significant challenges, leading to an increase in weight, cramped accommodation and a reduction in fuel capacity. These changes led Soviet sailors to nickname the Type 7U, 7 Ukhudshennyi (ухудшенный, made worse).

The ''Storozhevoy''s had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of at deep load. The ships were slightly overweight, displacing at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 207 officers and sailors in peacetime and 271 in wartime.

The ships were powered by two geared steam turbine sets, each driving a single three-bladed propeller using steam provided by four water-tube boilers that operated at a pressure of and a temperature of . The turbines, rated at , were intended to give the ships a speed of . The designers had been conservative in rating the turbines and many, but not all, of the ships handily exceeded their designed speed during their sea trials. reached during her trials in 1941, but only managed . Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the ''Storozhevoy''s varied between at .

Armament and fire control

As built, the ''Storozhevoy''-class ships mounted four 50-caliber B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. Each gun was provided with 150 rounds. The development of the gun was troubled by excessive barrel erosion problems and three variants were built in a not entirely successful effort to resolve the problem which complicated logistical and operational support as each performed slightly differently. The manually operated mounts had an elevation range between -5° and +45° and had a rate of fire of 6–10 rounds per minute. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of , which gave them a range of .

Anti-aircraft defense was provided by two 55-caliber 34-K AA guns and three 46-caliber 21-K AA guns, all in single mounts as well as four DK or DShK machine guns. The 34-K guns could elevate between -5° and +85°, had a rate of fire of 15–20 rounds per minute, and the ships carried 300 rounds per gun for them. Their muzzle velocity of gave their high-explosive shells a maximum horizontal range of and an effective ceiling of . The 21-K was a converted anti-tank gun with a rate of fire of 25–30 rounds per minute with an elevation range between -10° and +85°. The gun fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . This gave them a range of . The Project 7Us stowed 500 rounds for each gun. The DShK had an effective rate of fire of 125 rounds per minute and an effective range against aircraft of .

The ships were equipped with six torpedo tubes in two rotating triple mounts amidships; each tube was provided with a reload. The Project 7U-class ships primarily used the 53-38 or the 53-38U torpedo, which differed only in the size of their warhead; the latter had a warhead heavier than the warhead of the 53-38. The torpedoes had three range/speed settings: at ; at and at . The ships could also carry a maximum of either 60 or 96 mines and 25 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Mars hydrophones for anti-submarine work, although it was useless at speeds over .

Fire control for the main battery of the ''Storozhevoy''s was provided by a Mina-7 fire-control system that was derived from an Italian Galileo system. It included a TsAS-2 mechanical analog computer that received information from a KDP2-4 gunnery director on the roof of the bridge which mounted a pair of DM-4 stereoscopic rangefinders. Anti-aircraft fire control was strictly manual with only a DM-3 rangefinder to provide data to the guns. Some ships received the ''Soyuz'' high-angle fire-control system for the 34-K guns. It consisted of a mechanical analog computer, a ''Gazon'' vertical gyroscope and an SVP-29 stabilized viewfinder. The system could handle targets like bombers flying level, but was useless against aircraft attacking in a dive.

Modifications

Later in the war electronic equipment such as radar and sonar were supplied by the Allies for these ships.

Ships

All of the ships of the class were originally begun as Type 7 destroyers and their partially completed hulls were broken up and relaid down as Type 7Us. Those ships shown with two shipyards were begun at the first and were then towed to the second one for completion.

Service history

Black Sea Fleet

The first two Project 7U destroyers completed by the Black Sea shipyards, ''Smyshlyony'' and ''Soobrazitelny'', joined the 3rd Destroyer Division, led by destroyer leaders and ', of the fleet Light Forces Detachment upon their entry into service at Sevastopol in late 1940 and early 1941. After the 22 June 1941 start of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, ''Smyshlyony'' and ''Soobrazitelny'' were tasked to support ''Kharkov'' and ''Moskva'' in the 26 June Raid on Constanța together with the cruiser '. A grounded paravane on ''Smyshlyony'' prevented her from rendezvousing on schedule, while ''Soobrazitelny'' became separated from the cruiser in the dark. Both destroyers helped escort the damaged ''Kharkov'' back to base. ''Sposobny'' and ''Svobodny'' joined the 3rd Division when they entered service during the war.Balakin, p. 82 All three destroyers in service were on escort duty in July and from late August they escorted transports and provided fire support to the defenders of besieged Odessa.Balakin, pp. 108–109, 112, 122 ''Sovershenny'' never joined the fleet as she was heavily damaged by a Soviet mine during trials. ''Soobrazitelny'' was the only one of the five Project 7Us completed for the Black Sea Fleet to survive the war.

Citations

References

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Further reading

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External links

{{WWII Soviet ships

Storozhevoy-class destroyers,
Destroyer classes
World War II destroyers of the Soviet Union
Destroyers of the Soviet Navy