Soviet destroyer Sposobny (1940)
 An unidentified Storozhevoy-class destroyer in the Black Sea
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | Sposobny (Способный (Capable)) |
| Ordered | 2nd Five-Year Plan |
| Builder | Shipyard No. 200 (named after 61 Communards), Nikolayev |
| Yard number | 1076 |
| Laid down | 7 March 1939 |
| Launched | 30 September 1939 |
| Commissioned | 24 June 1941 |
| Fate | Sunk by aircraft, 6 October 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Template:Sclass- |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 112.5 m (369 ft 1 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 10.2 m (33 ft 6 in) |
| Draft | 3.98 m (13 ft 1 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 steam turbine sets |
| Speed | 36.8 knots (68.2 km/h; 42.3 mph) |
| Endurance | 1,380 nmi (2,560 km; 1,590 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 207 (271 wartime) |
| Sensors and processing systems | Mars hydrophones |
| Armament |
|
Sposobny (Russian: Способный, lit. 'Capable') was one of 18 Template:Sclass-s (officially known as Project 7U destroyers) built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Although she began construction as a Project 7 Template:Sclass-, Sposobny was completed in 1941 to the modified Project 7U design and assigned to the Black Sea Fleet.
During the Sieges of Odessa and Sevastopol in 1941–1942, the ship escorted convoys to and from those cities and provided naval gunfire support to the defenders. Sposobny struck a mine in early 1942 and had to be towed back to port for repairs. She was further damaged by bombs while still under repair in April 1942 and these were not completed until mid-1943. After a failed attempt to intercept German convoys off the Crimea, the ship and two other destroyers were attacked by German aircraft. After repeated attacks, the other two were sunk first and Sposobny was sunk while trying to rescue their survivors.
Design and description
Originally built as a Gnevny-class ship, Sposobny and her sister ships were completed to the modified Project 7U design after Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ordered that the latter be built with their boilers arranged en echelon, instead of linked as in the Gnevnys, so that a ship could still move with one or two boilers disabled.[1]
Like the Gnevnys, the Project 7U destroyers had an overall length of 112.5 meters (369 ft 1 in) and a beam of 10.2 meters (33 ft 6 in), but they had a reduced draft of 3.98 meters (13 ft 1 in) at deep load. The ships were slightly overweight, displacing 1,727 metric tons (1,700 long tons) at standard load and 2,279 metric tons (2,243 long tons) at deep load. The crew complement of the Storozhevoy class numbered 207 in peacetime, but this increased to 271 in wartime, as more personnel were needed to operate additional equipment.[2] Each ship had a pair of geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, rated to produce 54,000 shaft horsepower (40,000 kW) using steam from four water-tube boilers, which the designers expected would exceed the 37-knot (69 km/h; 43 mph) speed of the Project 7s because there was additional steam available. Sposobny herself only reached 36.8 knots (68.2 km/h; 42.3 mph) during her sea trials in 1943. Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the Project 7Us varied from 1,380 to 2,700 nautical miles (2,560 to 5,000 km; 1,590 to 3,110 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph); Sposobny reached 1,380 nmi (2,560 km; 1,590 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[3]
The Project 7U-class ships mounted four 130-millimeter (5.1 in) 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 76.2-millimeter (3 in) 34-K AA guns in single mounts and three 45-millimeter (1.8 in) 21-K AA guns,[4] as well as four 12.7-millimeter (0.5 in) DK or DShK machine guns. They carried six 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes in two rotating triple mounts amidships. The ships could also carry a maximum of 58 to 96 mines and 30 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Mars hydrophones for anti-submarine work, although these were useless at speeds over 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph).[5]
Construction and career
Sposobny was laid down in Shipyard No. 200 (named after 61 Communards) in Nikolayev as yard number 1076 on 7 July 1936 as a Gnevny-class destroyer with the name Podvizhny. She was relaid down as a Project 7U destroyer on 7 March 1939, and launched on 30 September of that year. The ship was renamed Sposobny on 25 September 1940 and was commissioned into the Black Sea Fleet on 24 June 1941, two days after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa).[6][7]
On 21 August, the ship was one of those ships assigned to provide support for the defenders of Odessa. On 7 September, Sposobny and the destroyer Boyky escorted the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Filipp Oktyabrsky, aboard the destroyer leader Kharkov, to Odessa. While they were present, all three ships bombarded Romanian troops; Sposobny firing 28 shells from her main guns. Four days later, the ship fired 49 shells at Romanian targets. On 16–21 September the destroyer helped to escort transports ferrying the 157th Rifle Division to Odessa. At the beginning of November, Sposobny started escorting supply and troop convoys to and from encircled Sevastopol and supporting Soviet troops with her guns. Between 4 and 24 December, she fired 560 shells. On 28–30 December, she covered the amphibious landings at Kerch and Feodosia.[8]
Sposobny ferried supplies from Novorossiysk to Sevastopol on 1 January 1942 and bombarded Axis troops near Feodosia two days later. On 4 January, the destroyer escorted the light cruiser Krasny Kavkaz to Tuapse after she had been badly damaged by German dive bombers.[9] Sposobny helped to land the reinforced 226th Mountain Rifle Regiment at Sudak on 6 January and fired ninety-five 130 mm shells in support of the landing. While transporting troops to Feodosia on the 8th, she struck a mine that blew off her bow, killing 104 men, including 20 crewmen. The ship was able to proceed under her own steam stern-first towards Novorossiysk, but was taken under tow by the destroyer Zheleznyakov the next day. While under repair in Novorossiysk on 10 April, Sposobny was badly damaged by bomb splinters that ignited some 130 mm rounds and started several fires, killing 41 men and wounding 45. The ship was towed to Tuapse on 23 April by the destroyer Nezamozhnik to prevent her capture by advancing German troops.[10]
Repairs to Sposobny were completed in mid-May 1943. Together with Boyky and the destroyer Besposhchadny, the ship made an unsuccessful attempt on 30 September to intercept German transports evacuating troops and equipment from the Kuban Bridgehead. During the night of 5/6 October, Kharkov and the destroyers Besposhchadny and Sposobny attempted to intercept German evacuation convoys off the Crimean coast, but were again unsuccessful. Kharkov bombarded Yalta and Alushta while the two smaller destroyers steamed to do the same to Feodosia. The latter pair were attacked by five S-boats of the 1st S-Boat Flotilla en route. The Germans failed to damage either destroyer and Sposobny claimed one hit by one of her 45 mm guns on S-45. On their way home the three ships were spotted by German reconnaissance aircraft and were attacked by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of III./StG 3. Kharkov was damaged by their first attack and had to be towed by Sposobny. The second attack damaged all three ships and Sposobny alternated towing Besposhchadny and Kharkov. The next attack sank both Kharkov and Besposhchadny. Sposobny was sunk by the fourth wave while trying to rescue survivors. This incident prompted Stalin to issue an order forbidding the use of ships destroyer-sized and larger without his express permission.[11]
Citations
- ^ Rohwer & Monakov, p. 52; Balakin, p. 8
- ^ Balakin, pp. 30, 44; Yakubov & Worth, p. 101
- ^ Yakubov & Worth, pp. 101, 106–107
- ^ Hill, p. 42
- ^ Yakubov & Worth, pp. 101, 105–106
- ^ Rohwer & Monakov, pp. 234–235
- ^ Berezhnoy, pp. 355–356
- ^ Platonov, p. 221; Rohwer, pp. 94, 98, 100, 112
- ^ Rohwer, p. 131
- ^ Platonov, p. 221; Rohwer, p. 133; Yakubov & Worth, p. 113
- ^ Platonov, pp. 221–222; Rohwer, pp. 274, 280
Sources
- Balakin, Sergey (2007). Легендарные "семёрки" Эсминцы "сталинской" серии [Legendary Sevens: Stalin's Destroyer Series] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza/Eksmo. ISBN 978-5-699-23784-5.
- Berezhnoy, Sergey (2002). Крейсера и миноносцы. Справочник [Guide to Cruisers and Destroyers] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5-203-01780-8.
- Hill, Alexander (2018). Soviet Destroyers of World War II. New Vanguard. Vol. 256. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2256-7.
- Platonov, Andrey V. (2002). Энциклопедия советских надводных кораблей 1941—1945 [Encyclopedia of Soviet Surface Ships 1941–1945] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Poligon. ISBN 5-89173-178-9.
- Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Rohwer, Jürgen; Monakov, Mikhail S. (2001). Stalin's Ocean-Going Fleet. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-4895-7.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - Yakubov, Vladimir; Worth, Richard (2008). "The Soviet Project 7/7U Destroyers". In Jordan, John; Dent, Stephen (eds.). Warship 2008. London: Conway. pp. 99–114. ISBN 978-1-84486-062-3.
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Further reading
- Budzbon, Przemysaw (1980). "Soviet Union". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 318–346. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.