The ship "Sevastopol" is the battleship of the Russian fleet, which was designed at the Baltic Shipyard by a number of specialists under the guidance of Professor I. G. Bubnov. The experience gained in the process of its development was taken as the basis for the creation of military ships for the Black Sea Fleet of the Empress Maria type.
Ship construction
On June 3, 1909, celebrations were held simultaneously at the Admiralty Shipyard and the Baltic Shipyard of St. Petersburg for laying several ships at once. These ships were intended for the military needs of the Russian Imperial Navy. Among them was the battleship Sevastopol. He was launched on June 16, 1911. It was the lead ship of a series of ships.
Soon after his descent, work on the battleship almost completely ceased. The reason for the delay: the lack of equipment, weapons and mechanisms intended for installation, which was supposed to go to the shipyard. They continued to finish building the ship only six months later. Throughout 1912, only hull operations were carried out at the Baltic Plant of St. Petersburg, including the installation of the main armored side belts, as well as the boring and foundation formation for tower installations. In addition, it was urgent to equip the artillery cellars according to the revised drawings, since in 1911 new samples of 305-mm shells were adopted.
The 1913th was the bulk of all outfitting work on the battleship Sevastopol. During this period, installation of the hull and armor was completely completed on the ship, the upper deck was covered with wooden flooring, masts, bridges, chimneys and battlehouses were installed. Also, equipment for power plants was loaded onto the ship. The next six months, the factory engaged in the installation of missing systems and devices. These works included the assembly of 305 mm tower installations. At the same time, the preparation of the ship for sea trials was carried out.
The latest testing and equipment
In parallel with the battleship Sevastopol, other ships were also being built. As they were ready, they were relocated to Kronstadt for sea trials. The first at Sevastopol was the operation of a power plant. On September 27, 1914, the ship’s engine crew was able to hold the power of 32,950 liters for three hours, abandoning the forced mode of operation. from. The turbine speed reached 260 rpm, which is 950 liters. from. more design. The speed of the battleship then was 19 knots, the draft was 9, 14 meters, and the displacement was 25,300 tons.
When the battleships went into operation, their standard equipment was identical - 31 officers, 28 conductors, 1,066 lower ranks. The first commander of Sevastopol was Anatoly Ivanovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin. He led the crew of the ship from 1911 to 1915.
Battleship Armament: Main Caliber
The composition of this artillery, developed by the designers of the Obukhov plant, included twelve 305-mm rifled guns. They were located in four tower installations, which were arranged in such a way as to be able to fire in the beam ± 65 °. Piston locks for guns are designed by the British company Vickers.
The artillery ammunition was 100 rounds per barrel. It was located in several turret cellars, each of which was divided into two parts. The refrigerated airliners of the Westinghouse-Leblanc system maintained a constant temperature in them, fluctuating between 15-25 ⁰C. The range of gun ammunition was quite diverse: armor-piercing, high-explosive and semi-armor-piercing shells, as well as shrapnel. In addition, on board the vessel there were also cast iron cores, which were used for practical training firing.
Mine torpedo weapons
The battleship’s mine artillery was sixteen 120-mm rifled cannons with piston bolts of the same British company “Vickers”. The rate of fire of the guns is seven rounds per minute. They were placed on special pedestal installations, which allowed them to be vertically guided in the range from -10 to 20⁰.
The ammunition’s standard artillery ammunition included shrapnel rounds with shrapnel, lighting, high-explosive, and so-called “diving” shells. They were intended to destroy enemy submarines. Initially, the ammunition consisted of 250 rounds per barrel, and a little later it was increased to 300.
The torpedo armament of Sevastopol consisted of four 450 mm submarine airborne vehicles. These fixed installations were equipped with ammunition: three torpedoes per one vehicle. Shells of model 45-12 had a weight of 100 kg and a firing range of 2 km at a speed of 43 knots, or could hit a target at a distance of up to 6 km, but with lesser speed - 28 knots. In general, torpedo tubes were rarely used. It was intended only for the self-defense of the ship in those rare cases when artillery failed.
During the First World War
In the spring and summer of 1915 the ships Sevastopol, Poltava, Petropavlovsk and the battleship Gangut go to sea with the aim of thoroughly mastering the ships by their crews. Then, maneuvers with artillery fire were carried out on the territory of the Central position. In July - August of the same year, the enemy command decided to conduct a trial raid operation. The German squadron, which included two dreadnought battleships, creating a combat situation, was able to successfully force the Irben mine-artillery position of the Russian fleet and stay for three days in the Gulf of Riga.
When enemy ships left these waters, the Baltic Fleet had to re-establish minefields. On August 14, the crews of Gangut and Sevastopol took part in these works. In addition, nine more destroyers were involved. The cover was then provided by battleships and two cruisers - Bogatyr and Oleg. It should be noted that the operation was carried out during a severe storm, but, despite all the difficulties, 310 minutes were successfully set.
Ship damage
The next morning, the ships of the Russian fleet, breaking into groups, set off on a strategic fairway to Helsingfors. The width of the passage was 108 meters. At this time, the vessels experienced a small roll and keel pitching, because a strong wind was blowing (about 5 points). Somewhere at 10 hours 45 minutes, the battleship Sevastopol under the command of Bestuzhev-Ryumin unexpectedly hit the ground three times. The last push was very strong, after which the ship stopped. However, in less than a few minutes, the ship, backing up, managed to get aground, without resorting to outside help.
Following him, the Gangut battleship hit the ground. The reason for this was windy weather, as a result of which part of the milestones was demolished. Of these two ships, Sevastopol suffered the most, as the lower section of the stem was crumpled and the bottom damage extended to the second tower, capturing three outer skin belts on the sides.
During the inspection of the battleship, in addition to numerous cracks and dents, two holes were discovered. As a result of this, the vessel received at least 350 tons of water, which flooded most of the double bottoms located in the area of the bow boiler rooms. Such serious damage had to be fixed for about a month and a half. All repairs were carried out at the dock in Kronstadt.
During the First World War, Sevastopol was damaged two more times. This time, the keel beam and the bottom set with casing were repaired. Such accidents, according to the naval leadership, were the result of difficulties arising from the control of the ship in conditions of excessive tightness of the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. The dimensions of the vessels in this series were impressive, so they needed more space. In addition, on October 17 of the same year, a half-charge of a 305 mm gun fell on the deck of a battleship while loading ammunition and ignited. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the victims were not without. Then four people were injured, and one died, having received severe burns.
Civil War
In 1918, they signed a separate Brest Peace, after which World War I ended for Russia. However, hostilities ceased only against Germany, as a fierce fratricidal Civil War soon broke out. According to the agreements, the Baltic Fleet was obliged to leave its bases located in Finland, as well as to demobilize a significant part of its personnel.
In mid-March of the same year, the first ships left Helsingfors. Among them was Sevastopol. The pilotage was carried out by two icebreakers - Volynets and Yermak. It is worth noting that the transition was carried out in the most difficult conditions, since the ship's path ran through vast ice fields. In addition, manning amounted to only 20-40% of their nominal strength. Despite all the difficulties, five days later cruisers and battleships arrived in Kronstadt without serious damage.
In October 1919, from the battleship Sevastopol, which was located in the vicinity of Petrograd, or rather, near Gutuevsky Island, six cannon fire salvoes were fired on the Krasnoselskaya Upland. Then the adjustment of the shooting was carried out from the roof of the famous St. Isaac's Cathedral. The next day, according to the demand of the land command, the cannons were fired again, after which the Red Army launched an offensive on Petrograd.
The rebellion in Kronstadt
The garrison of the city and the crews of some ships that are part of the Baltic Fleet took part in this armed speech. It began with the fact that in Petrograd on February 24, 1921 spontaneous meetings and strikes of workers began to arise, at which a whole series of economic and political demands were put forward. The city committee of the RCP (B.) Regarded such unrest in factories as a rebellion. Therefore, martial law was immediately imposed. It was these events that led to the uprising of the Kronstadt garrison.
On the fifth day of the rebellion, a meeting of the crews of the battleships Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol took place. It decided to put forward demands regarding the re-election of the Soviets, the abolition of commissars, the granting of freedom to socialist parties and permission to free trade. On March 2, the crews of these ships, as well as several military units and teams of the nearest island forts, refused to obey the orders of the central government. The Kronstad rebellion lasted quite a long time. For two weeks, the Sevastopol and Petropavlovsk ships fired at the Krasnoflotsky Fort (the former Krasnaya Gorka), as well as at the cities of Sestroretsk and Oranienbaum. In addition, the railway stations Tarhovka, Lisiy Nos and Gorskaya, located in the northern part of the Gulf of Finland, were shelled. Then the battleships "Petropavlovsk" and "Sevastopol" used up about a thousand 120 mm and more than three hundred and 305 mm shells each.
In the course of firing, some difficulties arose due to the fact that other ships, tightly frozen in ice, were too close to each other. It is worth noting that the firing was conducted on the squares, which had virtually no combat effectiveness. Many residential buildings were destroyed, a large number of civilians were killed, but the shells fired by the battleships did not affect the supply of troops of the 7th Army, which were soon thrown at the assault on Kronstadt. Despite the firepower of the ships, they were not able to suppress the artillery located on the territory of the Krasnoflotsky fort. On the night of March 18, the crews of the ships had to capitulate, as the first units of the Red Army burst into the city right on the ice.
Interwar time
In the history of the battleship there was also such a page when, after the tragic events in Kronstadt, the politicized command of the Baltic Fleet decided to rename the ship, as it was considered one of the symbols of the bloody rebellion. At that time, the nearest holiday in Soviet Russia was the 50th anniversary of the Paris Commune. In this regard, an order came out of the fleet commander Kozhanov to rename this ship. From now on, it became known as the “Paris Commune”.
Four years later, several Soviet battleships, including Sevastopol, took part in the campaign of the squadron to Kiel Bay. A few years later, the ship under the command of K. Samoilov made the transition from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The fact is that after the October Revolution and the ensuing Civil War, there was not a single battleship in the Black Sea Fleet. That is why the "Paris Commune" (formerly "Sevastopol") becomes its new flagship.
The ship took part in the filming of the film "Sailors" (1939). It was filmed by director Vladimir Brown at the Odessa film studio. This heroic adventure tape tells of the feat of Soviet sailors who saved their comrades from imminent death. The premiere of the film "Sailors" 1939 release was very successful. It was watched by 14.8 million viewers in the USSR.
WWII
When Hitler unleashed a war against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the ship was part of the squadron of the Black Sea Fleet. The commander of the battleship was then F. Kravchenko, captain of the 1st rank. In early November, the battleship "Paris Commune" participated in battles off the coast of Sevastopol. A month later, the battleship again approached the city in order to open fire on enemy troops. Thanks to him, 4 tractors, 13 tanks, 37 vehicles with military cargo, 8 guns were destroyed.
On January 5, 1942, the battleship "Paris Commune", leaving Novorossiysk accompanied by the destroyer "Boy", set off towards the Crimean coast in order to support the 44th Army soldiers who had just landed there. About half an hour from the battleship, about 170 shells were fired.
In March of that year, the ship entered the Kerch Strait. He was guarded by the destroyers "Boyky", "Zheleznyakov" and "Tashkent". Several shelling was carried out from the battleship, during which 300 shells were fired at enemy fortifications located on the territory of the
Kerch Peninsula. It was then that the sailors noticed that during the shots from the gun trunks, fragments of metal began to fly off. This could mean only one thing - the armament of the ship was extremely worn out. I had to "Paris Commune" to return to Poti and immediately become for repairs.
By mid-April, all the main-caliber barrels, as well as optical instruments and elevators, were replaced on the battleship. Despite this, the active use of this battleship in further hostilities was completed. True, the ship once again indirectly participated in the Novorossiysk landing operation, when in the autumn of 1943 it was decided to remove several 120-mm guns from it and install them as a separate coastal battery called "Sevastopol".
On the last day of May 1943, the battleship decided to return to its original name - "Sevastopol". On November 5, 1943, a ship flying the flag of Admiral F. Oktyabrsky entered the raid of the heroically liberated city of Sevastopol.
Post-war years
At the end of the war, many Soviet battleships received awards. Not bypassed and "Sevastopol." He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Then the ship continued to serve in the Black Sea Fleet. In 1954, he was retrained as a linear training ship, and two years later he was excluded from the lists of the Navy with the aim of transferring the stock property to the department for subsequent dismantling. During 1956-1957, in Sevastopol, on the basis of Glavvtorchermet, it was cut into metal.