Soviet Destroyer Sokrushitelny (1937)

''Sokrushitelny'' (russian: Сокрушительный, lit=Destructive) was one of 29 s (officially known as Project 7) built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was initially assigned to the Baltic Fleet before she was transferred to the Northern Fleet in late 1939. After the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the ship laid several minefields in the White and Barents Seas. ''Sokrushitelny'' spent most of her service escorting the Arctic Convoys, run by the British to provide weapons and supplies to the Soviets, or providing naval gunfire support to Soviet troops along the Arctic coast. The ship engaged a German ship just once, while defending Convoy QP 13 in early 1942. While escorting Convoy QP 15 in November, she sank during a severe storm after breaking in half. Most of her crew was rescued by other destroyers sent to her aid, although 35 crewmen were lost.

Design and description

Having decided to build the large and expensive destroyer leaders, the Soviet Navy sought Italian assistance in designing smaller and cheaper destroyers. They licensed the plans for the and, in modifying it for their purposes, overloaded a design that was already somewhat marginally stable.

The ''Gnevny''s had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of at deep load. The ships were significantly overweight, almost heavier than designed, displacing at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 197 officers and sailors in peacetime and 236 in wartime.Yakubov & Worth, p. 101 The ships had a pair of geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, rated to produce a total of using steam from three water-tube boilers which was intended to give them a maximum 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. Others fell considerably short of it, although specific figures for most individual ships have not survived. Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the ''Gnevny''s varied between at .

As built, the ''Gnevny''-class ships mounted four B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 34-K AA guns and a pair of 21-K AA guns as well as two DK or DShK machine guns, all in single mounts. During the war, ''Sokrushitelny''s anti-aircraft suite was reinforced with the addition of a pair of 70-K guns in single mounts in mid-1941 and her 45-mm 21-K guns were removed in early 1942.

The ships carried six torpedo tubes in two rotating triple mounts; each tube was provided with a reload. They were equipped with two K-1 paravanes intended to destroy mines and could lay mines themselves if the depth charges were off-loaded. Their capacity varied with the type of mine, from sixty KB types to sixty-five Model 1926s, or ninety-six Model 1912 mines. For anti-submarine work, the ''Gnevny''s were fitted with two stern racks for ten BB-1 and fifteen BM-1 depth charges. ''Sokrushitelny'' may have been fitted with a pair of BMB-1 depth charge throwers before her loss in 1942. They were also equipped with a set of Mars hydrophones although they were useless at speeds over .

Construction and service

Built in Leningrad's Shipyard No. 189 (Ordzhonikidze) as yard number 292, ''Sokrushitelny'' was laid down on 29 October 1936, launched on 23 August 1937, and was completed on 13 August 1939. Initially assigned to the Baltic Fleet, she was transferred to the Northern Fleet later that year via the White Sea Canal. This was a lengthy process as the ship had to be lightened to pass through the shallow canal. Her guns, torpedo tubes, masts and propellers all had to be removed and her draft further reduced by the use of pontoons. The destroyer began her voyage on 17 September and did not reach Polyarny on the White Sea until 8 November. During the Winter War, she carried out patrol and convoy escort duty, then conducted training. She was refitting at Molotovsk from 18 July 1940 to 4 July 1941 when the Axis Powers invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June.Balakin, pp. 151–153 Now assigned to the 1st Destroyer Division of the fleet, ''Sokrushitelny'', together with her sister ship and the minelayer , helped to lay 275 mines on 23–24 July at the entrance to the White Sea. The ship rendezvoused with the British minelayer on 31 July in the Barents Sea and escorted her to Arkhangelsk. From 10 to 18 August, ''Sokrushitelny'' escorted convoys along the coast of Karelia. Together with ''Grozny'', she escorted ships full of evacuees from the Arctic island of Spitzbergen through the White Sea to Arkhangelsk on 23–24 August; a week later, ''Sokrushitelny'', ''Grozny'' and the destroyers and escorted the first supply convoy from Britain to the same destination. On 10–15 September, ''Sokrushitelny'' and her sisters in the 1st Destroyer Division (''Grozny'', and ) laid a pair of minefields off the Rybachy Peninsula using British mines delivered by ''Adventure''.

''Sokrushitelny'' returned to Polyarny on 1 October and was assigned to the Separate Destroyer Division there. On 24 October, the ship bombarded German positions near the Zapadnaya Litsa River with 114 shells from her 130 mm guns. Five days later, she collided with the minesweeper in Kola Bay and was under repair for five days. ''Sokrushitelny'' bombarded German troops on 6, 9, 16 and 18 November, firing a total of 435 main-gun shells. The ship was assigned to the close escort for Convoy PQ 3 on 23 November. She resumed bombarding German positions between 26 and 30 November, firing 985 shells in four days. Escorted by ''Sokrushitelny'' and ''Grozny'', the heavy cruiser sortied on 17 December in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept the German 8th Destroyer Flotilla that had engaged two British minesweepers attempting to rendezvous with Convoy PQ 6. During an escort operation together with ''Grozny'' between 24 and 26 December, the destroyer weathered a heavy storm during which a leak forced her to move on one boiler. On 31 December and 1 January 1942, ''Sokrushitelny'' fired one hundred 130 mm shells each day at German positions near Motovsky Gulf.

''Sokrushitelny'' and ''Gremyashchy'' escorted Convoy PQ 8 into Kola Bay on 20 January and then formed part of the escort for Convoy QP 6 on 24–28 January. On 1 February ''Sokrushitelny'' and ''Grozny'' sortied to search for German transports in the region surrounding the towns of Vardø and Kirkenes, but the operation was called off due to frost and poor weather conditions. ''Sokrushitelny'' was refitted from 20 February to 25 March. The same pair of destroyers were sent to escort Convoy PQ 13 four days later. Later that day the convoy was attacked by three destroyers of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. ''Sokrushitelny'' briefly engaged , claiming at least one hit, which was later sunk by a British destroyer. ''Sokrushitelny'' fired twenty main gun shells in the engagement. From 10 to 12 April the sisters escorted the homeward-bound Convoy QP 10 and then the incoming Convoy PQ 14 from 17 to 19 April. They formed the local escort for Convoy QP 11 on 28–30 April. After the light cruiser was torpedoed by a German submarine on 30 April, they reversed course to provide assistance. The destroyers were forced to return to port to refuel on 1 May and put to sea again on the morning of the following day, but returned to base when they received word that ''Edinburgh'' had already sunk. On 10 May ''Sokrushitelny'' bombarded German positions near the Zapadnaya Litsa River. While engaged in this task she survived a German air attack and her gunners claimed one bomber downed. She escorted Convoy QP 12 on 21–23 May and then helped to escort Convoy PQ 16 on 28–30 May, together with ''Grozny'' and ''Kuybyshev''. PQ 16 was attacked on 29 May by German torpedo bombers with all fourteen torpedoes launched by the German aircraft missing their targets and ''Sokrushitelny''s gunners claiming one bomber downed. On the next day they claimed a Junkers Ju 88 bomber destroyed and two more damaged, before the convoy reached Kola Bay on the evening of 30 May.

The ship unsuccessfully searched for ships from Convoy PQ 17 after it had scattered on 8 July together with ''Gremyashchy''. On 10 July ''Sokrushitelny''s steering gear and rangefinders were damaged by fragments from near misses by German bombers. After repairs, she rendezvoused with Allied ships on 23 August carrying supplies for a pair of British torpedo bomber squadrons that were intended to operate in Karelia. In total, from the beginning of the war to 1 September, she made 40 sorties, covering 22,385 nautical miles in 1,518 running hours.Balakin, pp. 154–155 On 17–20 September the ship was one of the local escorts for Convoy PQ 18. The following month, ''Sokrushitelny'' escorted a freighter from Iokanga to Arkhangelsk on 4–7 November and escorted Convoy QP 15 on 17–20 November. A severe storm struck on the 20th and broke her back, severing her stern and killing 6 men. ''Valerian Kuybyshev'', ''Uritsky'' and her sister were sent to her aid and were able to rescue 191 men, although 29 sailors died during the rescue operations. Low on fuel, the destroyers were forced to depart on 21 November, leaving the ship, which sank after their departure, with a skeleton crew of 16 men. Most of the officers abandoned ship before the crewmen; the captain was shot for cowardice and the executive officer was sent to a penal battalion.Platonov, p. 187; Rohwer, pp. 188, 196, 207, 213 Two minesweeping trawlers were named in honor of the senior lieutenants who led the skeleton crew.

During the war, ''Sokrushitelny'' fired 1,639 shells from her main guns, of which 84 were directed at aircraft, 855 medium and 2,053 light AA shells, being credited with the destruction of six German aircraft (including two shared with other ships. There were two incidents of accidental torpedo firings, during one of which a sailor was killed. She did not suffer any casualties due to enemy action, while two more sailors drowned in accidents which were the only casualties suffered before her sinking.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokrushitelny (1937)
Gnevny-class destroyers
1937 ships
Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard
World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean
Maritime incidents in November 1942