Soviet Destroyer Dzerzhinsky

''Dzerzhinsky'' () was one of eight ''Fidonisy''-class destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy during World War I. She was originally named ''Kaliakria'' (') before she was renamed ''Dzerzhinsky'' in 1926.

Design and description

The ''Fidonisy''-class ships were designed as an improved version of the with an additional gun. ''Kaliakria'' displaced normal and at full load with an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of at full load. She was propelled by two Parsons steam turbines, each driving one propeller, designed to produce a total of using steam from five 3-drum Thorneycroft boilers for an intended maximum speed of . ''Kaliakria'' was designed to carry enough fuel oil to give her a range of at . Her crew numbered 136.Verstyuk & Gordeyev, p. 116Berezhnoy, pp. 324–325

The ''Fidonisy''-class ships mounted a main armament of four single 102 mm Pattern 1911 Obukhov guns, one on the forecastle and three aft; one of these latter guns was superfiring over the other two. Unhappy with the reliability of the anti-aircraft gun originally intended to equip ''Kaliakria'', the navy replaced them with a pair of Hotchkiss guns while the ship was still under construction in March 1917, and four Maxim machine guns. The destroyers mounted four triple torpedo tube mounts amidships with fourteen torpedoes and could carry 80 M1908 naval mines. They were also fitted with a Barr and Stroud rangefinder and two searchlights.

Construction and service

''Dzerzhinsky'' transported a Soviet delegation headed by Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs Lev Karakhan to Istanbul for negotiations with the Turkish government on 11 December 1929. She returned to Sevastopol with the delegation aboard on 24 December after the latter signed a protocol renewing the 1925 Soviet–Turkish Treaty on Friendship and Neutrality.

World War II

''Dzerzhinsky'' was part of the 1st Destroyer Division of the fleet at Batumi along with ''Frunze'' by 22 June 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. Between 22 and 25 June she laid 240 mines off the Batumi Naval Base in four night sorties. With her sisters, she was sent to support the defenders during the Siege of Odessa due to a fleet prohibition on using large ships after the Raid on Constanța that was in effect until August, forcing the elderly ''Novik''s to be employed. ''Dzerzhinsky'' arrived in Odessa on 20 August with a cargo of ammunition, and on the next day bombarded Dofinovka, firing 88 102 mm shells. On the thirteenth volley the elevator of one turret failed and it had to be reloaded by hand. She was attacked without result by three Heinkel He 111 bombers, one of many air attacks on the Soviet ships supporting Odessa. The destroyer escorted three transports out of Odessa on 23 August, and departed Sevastopol on 29 August escorting three transports, together with two minesweepers and three torpedo boats. Arriving at Odessa on the next day, she bombarded Fontanka, expending 200 shells. While engaged in this duty, the destroyer was attacked several times by Axis aircraft without result. After maneuvering in the Gulf of Odessa during the night, ''Dzerzhinsky'' expanded another 118 shells against Fontanka and other Axis positions during the next day, and left Odessa that night with a tugboat that towed two barges. The slow speed of the latter forced the destroyer to travel at , delaying her return to Sevastopol until 2 September.Chernyshev, p. 144

''Dzerzhinsky'' departed Sevastopol for Odessa on 6 September with a 140-man partisan detachment aboard. Arriving the next day, she found the port under Axis artillery fire. In the evening she expended 56 shells against coastal targets and maneuvered at sea during the night. Another 90 shells were fired against coastal targets on the next morning, and she continued maneuvering that day despite the failure of a turbogenerator. Early on 9 September, she entered Odessa to replenish her supplies of fuel and potable water, but fragments from near misses of artillery shells damaged a gun and her torpedo tubes. As there was no fuel in the port, ''Dzerzhinsky'' departed under her own smokescreen and fired a volley at an Axis battery. She spent the rest of the day maneuvering off the Vorontsov Lighthouse and departed that night, escorting a transport evacuating the wounded together with a minesweeper. The destroyer arrived at Sevastopol on 10 September, almost out of fuel and having no potable water remaining.

As the situation worsened in Odessa, People's Commissar of the Navy Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov ordered an amphibious landing at Grigorievka near the port to restore the situation. ''Dzerzhinsky'' and ''Frunze'' were assigned as part of a detachment to support the operation, and on 16 September both destroyers attempted to carry out a rehearsal at the Chersonese Lighthouse, but failed due to heavy seas. On the same day, ''Dzerzhinsky'' was dropped from the detachment and instead sent to support the defenders of the Isthmus of Perekop against the German advance. Departing Sevastopol for Karkinit Bay on 17 September, she expended 206 shells that day against Alekseyevka, Khorly, and Skadovsk before returning to Sevastopol, exceeding the planned 150 shells. The bombardment was conducted despite a burst pipes in one boiler and a broken gyrocompass, but the destroyer wore out her gun barrels and was replaced by the cruiser on the bombardment mission.

Between October and February 1942 ''Dzerzhinsky'' was under refit at Poti, which took four and a half months. Returning to service in March, she escorted the gunboat ''Krasnaya Kuban'' from Poti to Sevastopol between 21 and 24 March during the Siege of Sevastopol. Both returned to the Caucasus coast on 28 March, and on the next day the destroyer expended six depth charges against a suspected submarine. Between 4 and 11 April, she escorted the tanker ''I. Stalin'' from Batumi to Sevastopol via Tuapse. Anchored in Sevastopol between 12 and 13 April, the destroyer bombarded a German troop concentration near Mamashay. She departed on 13 April as an escort for the tanker ''Moskva'' and returned to Batumi two days later. ''Dzerzhinsky'' and the destroyer escorted the battleship on 19 April while the latter tested her main armament and maneuverability following repairs.

Together with the cruiser ' and her sister , ''Dzerzhinsky'' loaded reinforcements for Sevastopol at Novorossiysk on 12 May and departed for another run to the besieged port. They approached the entrance to Sevastopol channel in fog on the night of 13–14 May, and remained there to await improved visibility conditions as they had to pass through a Soviet minefield to enter the port. At 11:32 on 14 May, she was ordered to search for the minesweeper marking the cleared lane by the detachment commander, who believed that the ships were too close to the minefield. ''Dzerzhinsky'' headed north without deploying paravanes, and soon sighted the minesweeper, turning towards it. Before reaching the minesweeper, she struck a mine at 12:20 and sank quickly. Of the 170 crewmembers and 125 passengers, only 27 were rescued, including her captain. The destroyer was struck from the Soviet Navy on 24 June.Chernyshev, p. 173 In 2006, a Ukrainian-American team discovered her wreck.

References

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Further reading

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External links

Photographs of the raising of ''Kaliakria''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzerzhinsky
Fidonisy-class destroyers
Ships built at the Black Sea Shipyard
1916 ships
Maritime incidents in 1918
Maritime incidents in May 1942
Ships sunk by mines
World War II shipwrecks in the Black Sea