Ships of the line are armored artillery warships that have a large displacement and good weapons. The battleships of the USSR were widely used in a variety of battles, as they easily cope with the destruction of the enemy in a naval battle by delivering artillery strikes against objects located on the shore.
Features
Battleships are powerful armored artillery ships. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were a lot of them in the arsenal of the country. The battleships of the USSR had high-quality weapons in the form of various guns, which were constantly modernized. Most often, the armament consisted of heavy machine guns, torpedo tubes. These ships provided the defense of Leningrad, Sevastopol and other coastal cities.
Sevastopol class
Battleships of this class had a monitor-shaped hull, in which the freeboard area and icebreaking stem were minimized. With a short hull length, the displacement of the ship was 23,000 tons, but in reality it reached about 26,000 tons. Coal was used as fuel, and if forced mode was requiredwork, then oil. These battleships of the USSR Navy were equipped with a power plant of 42,000 hp. with. at a speed of 23 knots and a cruising range of 4,000 miles.
As a weapon, the battleship was equipped with rifled guns, which were located linearly and differed in the technical rate of fire of 1.8 shots per minute. As anti-mine weapons, 16 120 mm guns were used, the rate of fire of which was 7 rounds per minute, with all the guns located on the middle deck. Such placement of artillery led to low firing efficiency, which, combined with the low seaworthiness of the battleship itself, made their control more difficult.
These battleships of the USSR were modernized even before the Second World War, which affected the improvement of the silhouette of the ships: they got a tank superstructure that tightly adhered to the hull and was covered with a strong deck on top. The changes affected the bow, power plants and improved living conditions for the team.
Paris Commune
This battleship was the latest upgrade. In the course of improvement, its displacement became larger, the engine power became higher and amounted to 61,000 hp, the ship developed a maximum speed of 23.5 knots. During the modernization, much attention was paid to strengthening anti-aircraft weapons: 6 76 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 artillery pieces and 14 machine guns appeared on the bow and stern. These battleships of the USSR of World War II were used in the defense of Sevastopol. For all the timecombat operations during the Great Patriotic War, the battleship participated in 15 military campaigns, performed 10 artillery firing, repelled more than 20 enemy air raids and shot down three enemy aircraft.
During World War II, the ship defended Sevastopol and the Kerch Strait. The first hostilities took place on November 8, 1941, and only during the first period of the fighting a large number of tanks, guns, and military vehicles carrying certain cargoes were destroyed.
Marat
These battleships of the USSR defended the approaches to Leningrad, defending the city for 8 days. During one of the enemy attacks, two bombs hit the ship at once, which destroyed the bow of the ship and led to the detonation of the shell magazines. As a result of this tragic event, 326 crew members died. Six months later, partial buoyancy was returned to the ship, the stern part, which sank, surfaced. The Germans tried for a long time to destroy the damaged battleship, which was used by our military as a fort.
However, after some time, the battleship was repaired and partially restored, but even this allowed her to resist enemy artillery fire: after the ship was restored, enemy aircraft, batteries and personnel were destroyed. In 1943, this battleship of the USSR was renamed "Petropavlovsk", and even after 7 years it was completely removed from service and transferred to a training center.
October Revolution
This battleship was originally based inTallinn, but with the beginning of World War II, it was relocated to Kronstadt, as soon as the Germans began to approach the city. The "October Revolution" became a reliable artillery defense of the city, since all attempts by the German army to sink the battleship were unsuccessful. During the war years, this largest battleship of the USSR proved to be a reliable enemy on the water.
From "Gangut" to "Revolution"
The original name of the battleship was "Gangut". It was under this name that the ship took part in the First World War: under its cover, minefields were set up, on which more than one German cruiser was subsequently blown up. Already after the ship was given a new name, it performed during the Second World War, and all attempts by the Germans to cope with it were a failure. The battleships of the USSR of the Second World War were generally distinguished by their reliability: for example, the October Revolution was subjected to numerous air and artillery attacks, and still survived. During the war years, the battleship itself fired about 1,500 shells, repelled numerous air raids, shot down 13 aircraft and damaged a large number.
The main campaigns of the "Gangut" ("October Revolution")
An interesting fact is that the formidable ships of our army have never met in battle with enemy battleships during the two world wars - the first and second. The only battle was fought by Sevastopol back in the Civil War, when the ship covered the destroyer Azard and repulsed the attack of as many as seven British destroyers.
In general andIn general, the Gangut went on three military campaigns in the B altic, where it provided minelaying, then it received a new name in service with the Red Army and was included in the B altic Sea Naval Forces. The battleship also took part in the Soviet-Finnish war as fire support for the ground forces. The most important task of the battleship was the defense of Leningrad.
In 1941, on September 27, a 500 kg bomb hit the ship, which pierced the decks and tore the turret.
Arkhangelsk
Not all battleships of the USSR during the Second World War were originally in service with our country. So, the battleship "Arkhangelsk" was first part of the British Navy, then was transferred to the Soviet Union. It is noteworthy, but this ship was converted in the United States, equipped with modern radar systems for any type of weapon. That is why Arkhangelsk is also known as HMS Royal Sovereign.
In the interwar years, the battleship was repeatedly modernized, and seriously. And the changes concerned mainly additional equipment with guns. By World War II, this battleship was already obsolete, but despite this, it was nevertheless included in the country's fleet. But his role was not as valiant as that of other battleships: the Arkhangelsk mostly stood off the coast of the Kola Bay, where it provided a fire offensive for the Soviet troops and disrupted the evacuation of the Germans. In January 1949, the ship was delivered to the UK.
USSR battleship projects
Battleships of the USSR, the projects of which were developedby a wide variety of engineers, have always been considered among the most reliable in the world. So, engineer Bubnov proposed a project for a super-dreadnought, which attracted attention with the elaboration of details, the power of artillery, high speed and a sufficient level of armor. Design began in 1914, and the main task of the engineers was to place three four-gun turrets on a small hull, which was not enough for such weapons. It turned out that the ship in this situation was left without reliable anti-torpedo protection. The main weapons on this ship were:
- the main armor belt, which extended to 2/3 of the ship's length;
- horizontal booking on four levels;
- round tower armor;
- 12 guns in turrets and 24 anti-mine guns in casemates.
Specialists said that this battleship is a powerful combat unit, which, compared with foreign counterparts, was capable of reaching a speed of 25 knots. True, the reservation was not enough already at the time of the First World War, and there were no plans to modernize the ships …
Project engineer Kostenko
Perfect battleships of Russia and the USSR more than once rescued the Soviet troops. One of the developments was the ship Kostenko, which is considered the latest. Its distinguishing features included balanced weapon characteristics, excellent speed and high-quality armor. The project was based on the Anglo-German experience of the Battle of Jutland, so the engineerin advance abandoned the limiting artillery equipment of ships. And the emphasis was on balancing armor protection and mobility.
This ship was developed in as many as four versions, and the first version turned out to be the fastest. As in Bubnov's version, the battleship had a main combat belt, which was supplemented by a bulkhead of two plates. Horizontal booking affected several decks, which itself acted as an armor deck. Reservation was carried out in the tower, cutting, around the vessel, in addition, the engineer was attentive to anti-torpedo protection, which used to be a simple longitudinal bulkhead on battleships.
The engineer suggested using 406 mm main caliber guns and 130 mm guns as weapons. The first were located in the towers, which ensured a good firing range. The designs of this vessel, as already mentioned, were different, which also affected the number of guns.
Project engineer Gavrilov
Gavrilov proposed to build the most powerful, the so-called ultimate battleships of the USSR. The photo shows that such models were small in size, but in terms of technical and operational characteristics they were more efficient. According to the general concept, the battleship was the ultimate ship, the technical characteristics of which were on the verge of an achievable level. The project took into account only the most powerful weapon parameters:
- 16 406 mm main guns in four turrets;
- 24 152 mm anti-mine guns in casemates.
Such weapons fully corresponded to the concept of Russian shipbuilding, when there was an amazing combination of the maximum possible artillery saturation with high speed with damage to armor. By the way, it was not the most successful on most Soviet battleships. But the propulsion system of the ship was one of the most powerful, since its action was based on transformer turbines.
Equipment Features
The battleships of the USSR during the Second World War (the photo confirms their power), according to Gavrilov's designs, were equipped with the most advanced systems at that time. Like previous engineers, he paid attention to armor, and the thickness of the armor was somewhat greater. But experts noted that even with powerful artillery, high speed and huge size, this battleship would be quite vulnerable when meeting with the enemy.
Results
As experts note, the Second World War became a certain stage for checking the condition of the battleships of the USSR for readiness. As it turned out, the battle fleet was not ready for the destructive power and power of atomic bombs and high-precision guided weapons. That is why, towards the end of the war, battleships ceased to be considered a powerful combat force, and so much attention was no longer paid to the development of carrier-based aviation. Stalin ordered that battleships be excluded from military shipbuilding plans, as they did not meet the requirements of the time.
As a result, ships such as"October Revolution" and "Paris Commune", some models were put into reserve. Subsequently, Khrushchev left literally a few heavy artillery ships in service with the country, considering them effective in battles. And on October 29, 1955, the flagship of the Black Sea squadron, the last battleship of the USSR Novorossiysk, sank in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol. After this event, our country said goodbye to the idea of having battleships in its fleet.
