Soviet Monitor Khasan

''Khasan'' ''(Хасан)'' was a seagoing monitor and lead ship of her class of the Soviet Union. She was named after the Battle of Lake Khasan, a battle that took place near the town of Khasan near the Korean border in 1938 between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan. ''Khasan'' was active throughout World War II but did not participate in combat. ''Khasan'' was notable for being the largest river-going monitor ever built. All three ships survived the war and would continue to serve in the Soviet Navy until 1960. ''Khasan'' was laid down 15 June 1936, the same date as both her sister ships, and .

Design

''Perekop'' was designed to operate on the Amur River and on the Strait of Tartary between Russian Manchuria, Sakhalin and Japan to protect against the threat the Japanese empire posed against the Russian Far East. Relations between the two countries was poor and a low intensity conflict was waged by the Soviet Union and Japan since 1932. Planning on her design began in 1935, using an old, unused design from 1915 as its basis. ''Khasan'' was armed with three twin 130mm B-28 guns, two twin 39-K anti-aircraft guns at the aft, and three twin 41-K anti-aircraft guns. In addition she carried an array of heavy machine guns and carried naval mines. Plans for a fourth twin 130 mm turret and a seaplane hangar were scrapped due to overloading issues.

''Khasan'' was protected by steel belt armour ranging from 77 mm amidships to 36 mm at both ends of the ship. The citadel was closed by 25 mm bulkheads. ''Khasan'' possessed an armoured deck was 40 mm thickness amidships and 25 mm of protection at the fore and aft. The conning tower and turrets had 50–100 mm protection, and machine gun turrets had 10 mm armour protecting them.

''Khasan'' had a small forecastle allowing for limited high seas capabilities along the Strait of Tartary and the Amur River Basin. The flat bottom hull and bows of the ships were stiffened, giving the monitors icebreaking capabilities.

Construction

''Khasan'' was laid down 15 June 1936 at Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112 shipyard, in Gorky (now called Nizhny Novgorod) along with her two sister ships and named ''Lazo'' (Лазо) initially. Work on ''Khasan'' continued at Gorky until the mid-1939 when sections of the monitor began to be sent east through the Trans-Siberian railway to Khabarovsk Factory No. 368, Khabarovsk to be completed. By the time all of her 260 pieces were laid down in Khabarovsk on 4 November 1939 the Second World War had begun in Europe. ''Khasan'' was launched 30 August 1940 after having been built, taken apart and rebuilt from one end of the Soviet Union to the other and had been renamed ''Khasan'' on 25 September 1940. She was commissioned 1 December 1942, more than six years after being laid down in Gorky.

Service history

''Khasan'' spent the rest of the Second World War as part of the North Pacific Flotilla, of the Pacific Fleet based in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and did not see action during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria of August 1945. After the defeat of the Japan and the End of World War II in Asia, the most serious threat to the Soviet Union in the Pacific had ended. ''Khasan''s intended role of defending against Japanese aggression had become redundant and her poor oceangoing characteristics and low speed meant she had little practicality on the high seas. ''Khasan'' spent the rest of her service life as a training ship on the Amur River until 7 September 1955 when she was decommissioned and placed in reserve. On 23 March 1960 ''Khasan'' was disarmed and stricken. She was sent to Khabarovsk for scrapping.Monakov, Mikhail; Rohwer, Jurgen. ''Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs, 1935–53''. Routledge, 2001, pp. 149, 157–158, 241.

See also

* List of Russian and Soviet monitors

Notes

External links

USSR Fleet

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khasan
Monitor classes
Khasan-class monitors
1940 ships
Ships built by Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112