Battleships are armored artillery warships that have large displacement and good armament. The battleships of the USSR were widely used in a variety of battles, as they can easily cope with the destruction of the enemy in naval combat by delivering artillery attacks on objects located on the shore.
Features
Battleships are powerful artillery armored ships. At the beginning of World War II, 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 weapons, 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.
Class "Sevastopol"
Battleships of this class had a monitor-shaped hull, in which the freeboard area and ice-stem form were minimized. With a small hull length, the ship's displacement was 23,000 tons, but in reality it reached about 26,000 tons. Coal was used as fuel, and if forced operation was required, then oil. These battleships of the USSR Navy were equipped with a power plant of 42,000 liters. from. at a speed of 23 knots and a cruising range of 4000 miles.
As an armament, the battleship was equipped with rifled guns, which were linearly positioned and were distinguished by a technical rate of fire of 1.8 shots per minute. As a mine weapon, 16 120 mm guns were used, the rate of fire of which was 7 rounds per minute, all of the guns being located on the middle deck. Such placement of artillery led to low firing efficiency, which, combined with low seaworthiness of the battleship itself, made their control more difficult.
These battleships of the USSR were subjected to modernization before the Second World War, which affected the improvement of the silhouette of the ships: they had a tank superstructure, which adhered tightly to the hull, and was covered with a solid flooring on top. The changes affected the nasal extremity, power plants and improved living conditions for the team.
"Paris Commune"
This battleship was modernized by the latest. In the course of improvement, its displacement became larger, 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 air defense weapons: 6 antiaircraft guns 76 mm, 16 artillery pieces and 14 machine guns appeared on the bow and stern. These battleships of the USSR of the Second World War were used in the defense of Sevastopol. For the entire period of hostilities during the Great Patriotic War, the battleship participated in 15 military campaigns, carried out 10 artillery fires, repelled more than 20 enemy air attacks 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 time of fighting a large number of tanks, guns, military vehicles carrying certain loads were destroyed.
"Marat"
These battleships of the USSR defended the approaches to Leningrad, leading 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 cellars. As a result of this tragic event, 326 people died - crew members. Six months later, the ship was returned partial buoyancy, the stern, which sank, surfaced. The Germans for a long time tried 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 him to resist the enemy artillery fire: after restoration, the aircraft, batteries and personnel of the enemy were destroyed by the ship. In 1943, this battleship of the USSR was renamed "Petropavlovsk", and even after 7 years it was completely withdrawn from service and transferred to a training center.
"October Revolution"
This battleship was originally based in Tallinn, but with the outbreak 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 Soviet battleship proved to be a reliable adversary 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: mine barriers were placed under its cover, on which more than one German cruiser subsequently blew up. After assigning a new name to the ship, he spoke during the Second World War, and all attempts by the Germans to deal with it were a failure. The battleships of the USSR of World War II were generally reliable: for example, the “October Revolution” was subjected to numerous air and artillery attacks, and still survived. The battleship itself over the years of the war fired about 1,500 shells, repelled numerous air raids, shot down 13 aircraft and even damaged a large number.
The main campaigns of "Gangut" ("October Revolution")
An interesting fact is that the formidable ships of our army have never met the battleships of the enemy in battle during the two world wars - the first and second. The only battle was carried out by Sevastopol back in the Civil War, when the ship covered the destroyer Azard and repelled the attack of as many as seven British destroyers.
By and large, Gangut visited three military campaigns in the Baltic, where it provided mine installations, then it was given a new name in the arsenal of the Red Army and was included in the Baltic Sea Naval Forces. The battleship also took part in the Soviet-Finnish war as fire support to the ground forces. The most important task of the battleship was the defense of Leningrad.
In 1941, 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 initially in service with our country. So, the battleship "Arkhangelsk" was first part of the British Navy, then it was transferred to the Soviet Union. It is noteworthy, but this ship was converted into 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 the other battleships: Arkhangelsk for the most part stood off the coast of the Kola Bay, where it provided the Soviet troops with fire and disrupted the evacuation of the Germans. In January 1949, the ship was delivered to the UK.
Projects of battleships of the USSR
The battleships of the USSR, the projects of which were developed by various engineers, were always considered one of the most reliable in the whole world. So, engineer Bubnov proposed a project of a super-dreadnought, which attracted attention with elaborate details, artillery power, high speed and an adequate level of booking. Design began in 1914, and the main task of the engineers was to place three four-gun turrets in a small building, 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 length of the vessel;
- horizontal booking on four levels;
- circular booking of towers;
- 12 guns in the towers and 24 anti-mine guns, which were located in the casemates.
Experts said that this battleship is a powerful military unit that, compared with foreign counterparts, was able to develop a speed of 25 knots. True, the reservation was not enough at the time of the First World War, and ship modernization was not planned ...
Project engineer Kostenko
The 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 distinctive features included balanced weapons characteristics, excellent speed and quality booking. The project was based on the Anglo-German experience of the Battle of Jutland, so the engineer in advance refused the ultimate artillery equipment of the ships. And the emphasis was on the balance of armor and mobility.
This ship was developed already in four versions, with the first option being the fastest. As in the Bubnov version, the battleship had a main combat belt, which was supplemented by a two-plate bulkhead. Horizontal booking touched several decks, which in itself acted as an armored deck. Reservation was carried out in the tower, logging, around the ship, in addition, the engineer carefully reacted to the anti-torpedo protection, which earlier on the battleships appeared in the form of a simple longitudinal bulkhead.
As an engineer, the engineer suggested using 406 mm main guns and 130 mm guns. The first were located in the towers, which ensured a good firing range. The projects of this ship, as already mentioned, were different, which affected the number of guns.
Project of engineer Gavrilov
Gavrilov proposed building the most powerful, 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 effective. According to the general concept, the battleship was a terminal ship, the technical characteristics of which were on the verge of an attainable level. The project took into account only the most powerful weapons parameters:
- 16 guns of the main caliber 406 mm in four towers;
- 24 152 mm anti-mine caliber guns in casemates.
Such weapons are fully consistent with the concept of Russian shipbuilding, when there was an amazing combination of the highest possible artillery saturation with high speed with damage to the reservation. It, by the way, was not the most successful on most Soviet battleships. But the ship's propulsion system was one of the most powerful, since its operation was based on transformer turbines.
Features Features
The battleships of the USSR during the Second World War (the photo confirms their power), according to Gavrilov’s projects, were equipped with the most advanced systems at that time. Like previous engineers, he paid attention to booking, and the thickness of the reservation was slightly larger. But experts noted that even with powerful artillery, high speed and huge size, this battleship would be quite vulnerable when meeting with the enemy.
Summary
According to experts, the Second World War was a certain stage for checking the condition of the battleships of the USSR to readiness. As it turned out, the linear fleet was not ready for the destructive power and power of atomic bombs and precision-guided weapons. That is why, closer to the end of the war, battleships ceased to be considered a powerful fighting force, and so much attention was not paid to the development of carrier-based aviation. Stalin ordered the battleships to be excluded from the plans for military shipbuilding, since they did not meet the requirements of the time.
As a result, ships such as the October Revolution and the Paris Commune were withdrawn from the existing fleet, and some models were put into reserve. Subsequently, Khrushchev left literally several heavy artillery ships in the arsenal of 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 parted with the idea of having linear ships in its fleet.