The MT class were a group of coastal
minesweepers
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
built for the
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...
in the 1943-1945. The Soviet designation was Project 253L.
Design
The specifications for the ''Project 253'' were issued in April 1942 by admiral
Lev Galler
Lev Mikhailovich Galler (Born Leo Julius Alexander Philipp von Haller; ; – 12 July 1950) was a Soviet military leader and admiral of Baltic German origin.
Galler was born into a Baltic German family of a military engineer Philipp Michael Hu ...
. Initial design iteration made by TsKB-32 was unsatisfactory and was transferred in 1943 to TsKB-51 for improvements, resulting in ''Project 253L'' (named after chief designer N. G. Loshchinskii). The minesweepers were badly needed in the heavily mined Baltic Sea, therefore pre-production series comprising 32 vessels were ordered 12 April 1943, followed by full-capacity production on two shipyards starting from 12 June 1943. The minesweeper was extremely successful, resulting in 4 shipyards assigned to its production starting from 31 October 1943.
[Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, "Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953", p.155]
Two main versions were produced:
*''MT-1'' (June 1943) - full displacement 126.6 tons
*''MT-2'' (April 1944) - full displacement increased to 141.3 tons, smaller engines rated to .
The ships were routinely fitted with four mine-sweeping gears, comprising two mechanical trails, magnetic and acoustic towed trails.
Ships
A total of 92 ships were built, all to the Baltic fleet operation. Numbers were T-222 to T-249, T-351 to T-391, T-434 to T-441, T-459 to T-479. Only T-387 was lost to enemy action been sunk by
German submarine U-481 28 November 1944.
In 1946, the seven minesweepers (T-225, T-228, T-231, T-241, T-244, T-465, T-467) were transferred to the .
Upon retirement in 1956, the ''MT'' minesweepers were routinely converted into diving support ships.
See also
*
List of ships of the Soviet Navy
This is a list of ships and classes of the Soviet Navy.
Soviet Ship Type Designations
Corvettes / MPK, MRK
In the Soviet Navy these were classified as small anti-submarine ships (MPK) or small missile ships (MRK).
* (Projects 122A, 122bis ...
*
List of ships of Russia by project number
The list of ships of Russia by project number includes all Soviet and Russian ships by known assigned project numbers. Ship descriptions are Russian assigned classifications when known. The Russian term ''проект'' ( tr. ''proyekt'') can be t ...
References
External links
MT type minesweeper - type description and vessels list
* ttp://sewar.ru/tralschiki/ List of Soviet navy minesweepers: Cоветское оружие времен Второй Мировой Войны Тральщикиbr>Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs
{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945
Mine warfare vessel classes
Minesweepers of the Soviet Navy
Ships of the Polish Navy