During the Great Patriotic War, every piece of equipment - an aircraft, a ship, and even a simple soldier, contributed to the defense of the Motherland and led it to the approach of Victory Day. It would seem that what can depend on a simple sailor or one ship? How can they bring the country and the whole world to the end of the war? Contemporaries and historical chronicles described the courage, courage and valor not only of individual soldiers and sailors, but also of entire units and naval formations, tanks and aircraft. The inner quality of people seemed to be transferred to the equipment they controlled.
So the destroyer "Thundering", together with the crew, its deeds and deeds, earned its name formidable to enemies. What is this type of ship called a destroyer?
Destroyer - auxiliary warship
A destroyer, also called a destroyer, is a multi-purpose high-speed combat ship that is maximally prepared to fight submarines, aircraft (in its modern version and with missiles) and enemy ships. The task of the destroyers also includes the protection and defense of ship convoys, reconnaissance raids, artillery support duringlanding and so on.
"Thundering" - Guards squadron destroyer before WWII
This destroyer was laid down at the Leningrad plant number 190 under the number S-515. Three years later, the construction was completed and the B altic Red Banner Fleet accepted him into their staff. A few months later, the destroyer Gremyashchiy, commanded by A. I. Gurin at that time, crossed the White Sea-B altic Canal together with the destroyer Smashing and arrived from Kronstadt to Polyarnoye.
During the Finnish war, "Thundering" many times performed the assigned tasks of patrol and reconnaissance, as well as the protection of transport convoys.
In November 1940, the ship went into warranty service and repairs, which lasted until May 1941. So the destroyer was in excellent technical condition before the start of World War II.
Gremyashchiy, a 1937 destroyer, in the early days of the war
At half past one on June 22, 1941, the Northern Fleet was alerted. "Thundering" was ordered to immediately go to the Vaenga Bay from Polyarny. In this place, on June 23, the destroyer repulsed the attack of German aircraft, and the next day she went on her first military campaign, escorting transport ships from Murmansk to Titovka, where she shot down an enemy bomber.
Until mid-August 1941, the destroyer "Gremyashchiy" of the Northern Fleet was in Vaenga, making rare sorties at sea. However, during this time he managed to repel more than 20 air attacks.
By August 18, the destroyer moved toMurmansk, where his anti-aircraft weapons were strengthened: several 37-mm guns were added to the 45-millimeter guns.
On August 22, a German submarine and a flight of enemy bombers attacked the Maria Ulyanova floating base. The destroyer Gremyashchiy was sent to her defense along with the ships Kuibyshev, Uritsky and the patrol ship Groza. In this battle, the crew of the "Thundering" proved to be a persistent, courageous and experienced combat team. One Junkers was shot down, and the second was badly damaged. However, the destroyer itself received minor damage: 8 aerial bombs exploded just 15 meters from its side. But four days after urgent repairs, the next convoy was escorted to the sea by the Thundering.
The destroyer spent all of September laying minefields and only four times went to the open sea to fire at enemy land targets. During this period, he laid more than 190 mines and fired about 300 shells.
Until the end of 1941, "Thundering" cruised between bases in Murmansk, Polyarny and Vaenga, constantly shelling enemy positions. The most significant operation of the destroyer in the first months of the war was the shelling of the port of Varde in Norway on November 24 at night. In 6 minutes, he fired 87 shells and returned safely to his home base without being injured in return fire.
Tests continued in the new year
The destroyer "Gremyashchiy" of the Northern Fleet on February 21, 1942 fired 121 shells at enemy positions in Norway.
By the spring of 1942, the destroyer was escorted by 11 alliedconvoys. All raids of the ship took place in difficult climatic conditions. So, for example, on March 14, the destroyer had to attack a German submarine with three depth charges in the ice of the North Sea. And on March 22, while convoying another caravan, he got into a powerful storm. Transport ships and escort ships scattered in different directions. The “Thundering” also suffered - the destroyer received a number of serious damage from the blows of sea waves. It took him two days to get to his base, so that on March 28, together with the destroyer "Crushing" and the English ship "Oribi", go to sea to meet the next caravan of transport ships coming from the UK.
The next day, the convoy and escort were attacked by enemy ships, which was successfully repulsed. But there was another surprise ahead. On March 30, 1942, an enemy submarine was discovered at the entrance to the Kola Bay. "Thundering" at high speed went to the place of deployment of the enemy and dropped 17 depth charges into the water. The attack was successful: after a short time, debris, an oil slick and a German commander's bag appeared on the surface of the sea. As it turned out later, the German submarine U-585 was destroyed.
Throughout April, the destroyer constantly went to sea to escort convoys. In this case, one unpleasant incident was recorded. At the end of the month, Thundering, along with Crushing, came to guard the British cruiser Edinburgh, which was attacked by a German submarine. On the night of May 1, the destroyers were forced to return to their base for refueling. On the second day, "Thundering" returned tocruiser, but it was too late: "Edinburgh" was sunk by German ships.
From May to the end of June, the Soviet destroyer "Gremyashchiy" underwent repair work on the floating base No. 104. It was not only patched up, but changed and supplemented with weapons. In the process of work, almost every day I had to fight off attacks from enemy aircraft. So, on June 15, during the next air raid on the repair shop, the destroyer's anti-aircraft complex shot down three bombers and inflicted damage on the same number.
Refurbished
After the repair was completed, the destroyer continued to escort transport ships, constantly repelling enemy air raids.
From the end of August - the beginning of September 1942, the "Thundering" was laid up in Murmansk, where it was included in the air defense system. On September 5, the anti-aircraft gunners of the airborne staff, together with the coast guard, opened fire on an enemy group of fighters flying to bomb the city of Murmansk. During the battle, the ship's anti-aircraft battery shot down three aircraft, but the ship itself was not damaged, although more than 12 bombs exploded nearby.
Throughout September, the "Thundering" spent many battles: the destroyer defended the caravans of Soviet and allied ships. But the ship received the greatest damage not from enemy bullets and shells, oddly enough, but from the elements of the sea. He constantly got into storms, after which he had difficulty getting to the nearest base for repairs. For example, on October 21, the destroyer got into a storm, due to which she lost part of her equipment and some ammunition. ATAt the end of October, he again fell into a 7-point storm with a snowy wind, and then the ship was flooded with a continuous wave of water. The ship began to list 52 degrees, the first and third running boilers began to fail. Therefore, the destroyer was forced to slowly return to base, thereby interrupting combat duty.
Guard rank
On March 1, 1943, the destroyer "Gremyashchiy", together with its crew, was awarded the title of Guards for their courage and bravery.
Until the end of April, the 43rd, the ship was under repair, having repulsed more than ten air raids before that. There was one strange case among them, when a plane with Russian identification markers of an unknown type was shot down.
From May to June, the guards destroyer escorted eleven transport caravans, while repulsing the attack of the "wolf pack" of German submarines.
In the fall of 1944, the "Thundering" as part of the fleet carried out fire support for the advancing armies of the Karelian Front.
Whatever you call a ship, so it will float
The destroyer "Gremyashchiy" during the war really deserved its name. He completed more than 90 combat missions assigned to him by the high command, traveled about 60,000 nautical miles. The destroyer repelled 112 attacks by enemy aircraft, shot down 14 and seriously damaged more than 20 aircraft, successfully escorted about 40 allied and 24 our convoys, sank one and damaged two German submarines, shelled enemy ports and positions dozens of times. And thisonly according to official, documented data.
In the summer of 1945, the commander of the ship A. I. Gurin received the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
After victory
In 1956, the weapons were removed from the destroyer, and she became a training ship. And a couple of years later he was expelled from the Navy. The destroyer "Gremyashchiy" of 1941-1945 went on vacation, and it was replaced by a new modern anti-submarine ship of the same name, which continued the glorious fighting tradition of the famous destroyer of the Soviet Northern Fleet.
Technical parameters of the destroyer "Thundering"
The destroyer "Thundering", the photo of which we see above, had a capacity of 48 thousand horsepower and a displacement of 2380 tons, a length of 113 and a width of 10 meters. The maximum speed of the vessel is 32 knots, the cruising range in economy mode is more than 1600 miles. The destroyer was armed with four 130-mm guns, two 76.2-mm and four 37-mm guns, as well as four coaxial machine guns, two bombers and two torpedo tubes. In addition, 56 mines, about 55 depth projectiles of various sizes, were placed on board the ship. The crew of the ship consisted of 245 people.
Review Summary
According to the records of German officers and soldiers of the Second World War, the Soviet fleet always impressed them not so much with the technical characteristics of guns as with the courage of sailors and captains who could fight in any synoptic conditions under a variety of circumstances.
So the "Thundering" earned its formidable name for many years of military service inprotection and defense of our country from enemy invasion. In the modern Russian fleet, the Navy, of course, has more advanced ships than the ships of 1941-1945. However, the spirit of martial tradition remains the same.
