Soviet Destroyer Shaumyan

''Shaumyan'' () was one of eight ''Fidonisy''-class destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy during World War I. She was originally named ''Levkas'' () before she was renamed ''Shaumyan'' in 1925. Left unfinished during the Russian Revolution in 1917 and later captured by Ukrainian and White forces, the destroyer was completed by the Soviets in 1925 following their victory in the Russian Civil War.

Serving with the Black Sea Fleet, she made several international port visits and was refitted twice during the interwar period. The destroyer served in the Black Sea during the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941 and covered the evacuation of the Danube Flotilla to Odessa the following month. Later she helped to evacuate Odessa, supply besieged Soviet forces in Sevastopol, and supported the Kerch–Feodosiya Amphibious Operation. She was wrecked when she ran aground near Gelendzhik in April 1942. The ship was later disarmed, with her guns used for a coastal artillery battery. The remains of her hull were salvaged for scrap postwar.

Design and description

The ''Fidonisy''-class ships were designed as improved version of the with an additional gun. ''Levkas'' displaced 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 . During her sea trials, the ship reached a speed of from . Her crew numbered 136 or 137. ''Levkas'' carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of at .Verstyuk & Gordeyev, p. 116

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. Anti-aircraft defense for ''Levkas'' and her sisters that were completed after the war was provided by a single Lender gun on the stern, a Maxim cannon, and four M-1 machine guns. The destroyers mounted four triple torpedo tube mounts amidships with a pair of reload torpedoes and could carry 80 M1908 naval mines. They were also fitted with a Barr and Stroud rangefinder and two searchlights.

Modifications

A second 76.2 mm gun on the stern was added during her 1928–1930 refit, as was a Maxim cannon, and she was equipped to carry 60 M1926 mines. During her 1935 refit, the destroyer received four DShK machine guns on the forward and aft bridges, replacing the 7.62 mm machine guns, in addition to an AM-3 rangefinder.Verstyuk & Gordeyev, pp. 114–116 During the 1930s she was also fitted with 42 depth charges and two K-1 paravanes. A pair of depth-charge throwers were added later.

Construction and service

The eight ''Fidonisy''-class destroyers were ordered on 17 March 1915 at a cost of 2.2 million rubles each. All of the ships received names in honor of the victories of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. Among these was ''Levkas'', an alternate name for Lefkada, commemorating Ushakov's victory there during his 1798–1799 campaign in the Ionian Islands. After being added to the Black Sea Fleet ship list on 2 July 1915, ''Levkas'' was laid down in the Russud Shipyard in Nikolayev on 23 May 1916 and launched on 10 October 1917. Construction halted after the Russian Revolution and on 17 March 1918 the shipyard was captured by German troops, followed by the Ukrainian People's Army and the White Armed Forces of South Russia. When a White commission examined her, they found that the hull was completed, the propeller shafts and screws were installed, and that the boilers and some machinery were ready for installation. In early 1920 the shipyard was captured by the Red Army. The Council of Labor and Defense ordered the completion of ''Levkas'' and her sister ship '' Korfu'' on 2 September 1924 without modification. By early 1925 the installation of machinery and armament was completed. Renamed ''Shaumyan'' on 5 February 1925 in honor of the martyred Armenian Bolshevik Stepan Shaumian, the contract for her completion was signed on 13 August. Ready for trials by 19 October 1925, she entered service with the Black Sea Naval Forces on 10 December of that year when the navy officially accepted her.Verstyuk & Gordeyev, pp. 101–102

Interwar period

Along with the rest of the other ships of the Black Sea Naval Forces, ''Shaumyan'' participated in maneuvers with Red Army forces at Odessa involving a practice landing between 21 and 22 September 1927; she was visited by People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Kliment Voroshilov and Chief of the Red Army Naval Forces Directorate Romuald Muklevich after the exercise. The destroyer visited Istanbul, Turkey, between 27 May and 7 June 1928 alongside cruiser and destroyers and as part of the Black Sea Naval Forces' Separate Destroyer Division. During the voyage they conducted combat training, including exercises with the Batumi Coastal Defense Region.

''Shaumyan'' began a refit at Sevmorzavod on 5 October. After the completion of the refit on 16 July 1930, she cruised to Istanbul (3 to 5 October), Messina, Italy, (7 to 10 October), and Piraeus, Greece, (11 to 14 October) with ''Chervona Ukraina'' and her sister , practicing maneuvering in minefields and repelling attacks from submarines, destroyers, and torpedo boats.Chernyshev, p. 129 With cruiser and ''Petrovsky'', the destroyer made another Mediterranean cruise in late 1933, departing Sevastopol on 17 October. The ships arrived in Istanbul on the next day, at Piraeus on 23 October, and made an official visit to Naples, Italy, between 30 October and 2 November, returning to Sevastopol on the night of 7 November. ''Shaumyan'' was again refitted at Sevmorzavod in 1935, becoming part of the revived Soviet Black Sea Fleet on 11 January of that year.Berezhnoy, p. 327 She tested the new 76 mm anti-aircraft gun (34-K) in May and June of that year. The gun was installed on the new ''Gnevny''-class destroyers but not on ''Shaumyan'' due to its weight and the priorities of the Soviet Navy.

World War II

She was part of the 1st Destroyer Division of the fleet at Sevastopol by 22 June 1941, when the Germans invaded of the Soviet Union. The destroyer was assigned to cover the evacuation of the Danube Flotilla to Odessa on 17 July and the 14th Rifle Corps from the Chilia branch of the Danube River to Odessa on 18–19 July. ''Shaumyan'' and the minesweeper ''Tshch-27'' laid a minefield off the mouth of the Chilia branch on 23 July, with the destroyer laying 50 M1926 mines.Platonov, p. 166 She was assigned to a force tasked to support Soviet troops on 9 August and provided gunfire support for a counterattack by the 1st Naval Rifle Regiment four days later. On 14–17 August, ''Shaumyan'' helped to escort the incomplete ships being evacuated from the shipyards at Nikolayev. Together with the light cruisers ''Chervona Ukraina'' and , and the destroyers and , ''Shaumyan'' and her sister ''Nezamozhnik'' bombarded Axis positions west of Odessa on 1–2 September. In return, ''Shaumyan'' was struck in the navigation bridge by a shell on 1 September, wounding nine crewmen. The following day she arrived at Sevastopol for repairs that were completed by the 27th when the ship returned to Odessa and towed the crippled ''Besposhchadny'' to Sevastopol.

On 3–6 October, the ship was one of the escorts for the convoys evacuating the 157th Rifle Division from a bridgehead outside Odessa to Sevastopol. She covered evacuation convoys from Odessa on 8–10 October as well as the final convoy on the night of 15–16 October, towing the damaged transport ''Gruziya''. After the evacuation of Odessa, ''Shaumyan'' supported the defense of Sevastopol from 29 October when she and ''Nezamozhnik'' were assigned to another naval bombardment group, this time with the light cruisers and ''Chervona Ukraina'' and the destroyer . This was not her only task as the ship helped to evacuate cut-off Soviet troops from pockets along the Black Sea coast to Sevastopol from 1 to 9 November. After ''Besposhchadny'' was badly damaged during an airstrike, ''Shaumyan'' towed her to Poti, Georgia, to be repaired on 17 November.

The destroyer supported the Kerch-Feodosia amphibious operation on 29 December where her mainmast was struck by a shell that killed two men and wounded seven others. ''Shaumyan'' briefly ran aground in Novorossiysk harbor on 13 January 1942, but was pulled off with damage later that day. During the first amphibious landing at Sudak on 15–16 January, the ship off-loaded troops and delivered more on 24–25 January. In February and March she escorted convoys and transported troops and supplies to Sevastopol. As opportunity presented, ''Shaumyan'' bombarded Axis positions; firing 37 main-gun shells at an airfield near Saky on 19 February and 78 shells at Yalta harbor on 28 February. The ship participated in a diversionary landing near Alushta on the evening of 1 March, where she fired 55 shells from her main guns.Platonov, p. 167 On 3 April she ran aground and punctured her hull in the area of Gelendzhik while steaming from Novorossiysk to Poti after being attacked by German aircraft. The destroyer was officially struck from the Navy List on 3 June after she was disarmed as she could not fire from her position; her 102 mm guns formed a coastal defense battery defending the Novorossiysk Naval Base. The half-submerged ship was subsequently destroyed by German aircraft and storms. Postwar, the wreck was almost completely salvaged for scrap.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaumyan
Fidonisy-class destroyers
Ships built at Shipyard named after 61 Communards
1917 ships
Maritime incidents in April 1942