During the Great Patriotic War, each piece of equipment - an airplane, 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 it can depend on a simple sailor or one ship? How can they lead the country and the whole world to an end to 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 the people was, as it were, transferred to the technique that they controlled.
So the destroyer "Thundering" together with the team, its deeds and actions earned its terrible name for the enemies. What kind of ship is it called a destroyer?
Destroyer - auxiliary battle ship
The destroyer, also called the destroyer, is a multi-purpose fast-moving combat ship, which is best prepared to deal with submarines, aircraft (in the 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 during the landing, and so on.
"Thundering" - destroyer guards squadron 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 Baltic Red Banner Fleet took it to its state. A few months later, the destroyer Thundering, which was then commanded by A.I. Gurin, crossed the White Sea-Baltic Canal with the destroyer Crushing, and arrived from Kronstadt to Polyarnoye.
During the Finnish war, “Thundering” many times performed its assigned tasks of patrolling and reconnaissance, as well as protecting transport convoys.
In November 1940, the ship began for warranty service and repairs, which lasted until May 1941. So the destroyer before the start of World War II was in excellent technical condition.
The Thundering, the destroyer of 1937, in the early days of the war
At half past one in the night of June 22, 1941, the Northern Fleet was alerted. "Thundering" was ordered to immediately go to Vaenga Bay from the Arctic. At this point, on June 23, the destroyer repulsed the attack of German aircraft, and the next day he went on his first military campaign, escorting transport ships from Murmansk to Titovka, where an enemy bomber shot down.
Until mid-August 1941, the destroyer "Thundering" of the Northern Fleet was in Vaeng, making rare sorties into the sea. However, during this time he managed to repel more than 20 air attacks.
By August 18, the destroyer was relocated to Murmansk, where its anti-aircraft weapons were strengthened: several 37-mm guns were added to the 45-mm guns.
On August 22, a German submarine and a link of enemy bombers attacked the Maria Ulyanova floating base. The destroyer Thundering along with the Kuibyshev and Uritsky ships and the escort ship Thunderstorm were sent to protect it. 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 air bombs exploded just 15 meters from its side. But four days after the urgent repair, the next convoy to the sea escorted “Thundering”.
Throughout September, the destroyer was engaged in the installation of minefields and only four times went into the open sea for firing at enemy land targets. During this period, he installed more than 190 mines and fired about 300 shells.
Until the end of 1941, “Thundering” cruised between the bases in Murmansk, Polyarny and Vaeng, constantly conducted shelling of enemy positions. The most significant destroyer operation in the early months of the war was the shelling of the port of Varde in Norway on November 24 at night. For 6 minutes, he fired 87 shells and safely returned to the home base, not injured in return fire.
In the new year, the tests continued
The destroyer "Thundering" of the Northern Fleet February 21, 1942 fired at enemy positions in Norway with 121 shells.
By the spring of 1942, the destroyer was accompanied by 11 allied convoys. All ship raids 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, when escorting another caravan, he fell into a powerful storm. Transport ships and escort ships scattered in different directions. “Thundering” also suffered - the destroyer from the blows of sea waves received a number of serious injuries. For two days he got to his base, so that on March 28, together with the destroyer Shattering and the English ship Oribi, would go to sea to meet another caravan of transport ships coming from the UK.
The next day, the convoy and escort were attacked by enemy ships, which were safely 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 enemy’s deployment site and dropped 17 depth charges into the water. The attack was successful: after a short time, debris, an oil stain and a German command 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, the “Thundering” along with the “Shattering” entered the guard of the British cruiser “Edinburgh”, which was attacked by a German submarine. On the night of May 1, destroyers were forced to return to the base for refueling. On the second day, the "Thundering" returned to the cruiser, but it was already too late: the "Edinburgh" was sunk by German ships.
From May to the end of June, the Soviet destroyer “Thundering” underwent repair work on the floating base number 104. It was not only patched up, but changed and supplemented with weapons. In the process, almost every day had to fend off attacks by enemy aircraft. So, on June 15, during the next air raid on a repair shop, the destroyer anti-aircraft complex shot down three bombers and inflicted the same amount of damage.
After repair
After the repair was completed, the destroyer continued to escort transport ships, constantly reflecting the attacks of enemy aircraft.
From the end of August - beginning of September 1942, the “Thundering” was located at the joke in Murmansk, where it was included in the air defense system. On September 5, anti-aircraft gunners of the airborne state, 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, “Thundering” conducted 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 sea element. He constantly fell into storms, after which he could hardly get to the nearest base for repairs. For example, on October 21, the destroyer fell into a storm, because of which it lost part of its equipment and some ammunition. In late October, he again fell into a 7-point storm with a snowy wind, and then the ship flooded with a solid shaft of water. The ship began to roll at 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 “Thundering”, together with its crew, was awarded the title of Guards for their bravery and courage.
Until the end of April of the 43rd ship was under repair, repelling before this more than ten air raids. There was one strange case among them when a plane was shot down with Russian identification markers of an unknown type.
From May to June, the guards destroyer escorted eleven transport caravans, while repelling the attack of the "wolf pack" of German submarines.
In the fall of 1944, “Thundering” in the fleet provided fire support to the advancing armies of the Karelian Front.
As you call a ship, it will sail
The destroyer Thundering during the war really earned its name. He performed more than 90 combat missions assigned to him by the high command, passed about 60 thousand nautical miles. The destroyer repulsed 112 attacks of enemy aircraft, shot down 14 and seriously damaged more than 20 aircraft, successfully escorted about 40 allied and 24 of our convoys, sank one and damaged two German submarines, bombarded enemy ports and positions dozens of times. And this is only according to official, documented data.
In the summer of 1945, the ship's commander A.I. Gurin received the high rank of Hero of the Soviet Union.
After victory
In 1956, weapons were removed from the destroyer, and it became a training ship. And a couple of years later he was expelled from the Navy. The destroyer "Thundering" 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 ship is 32 knots, the power reserve 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 bombs and two torpedo tubes. In addition, 56 mines, about 55 depth shells of various sizes, were placed on board the ship. The crew of the vessel totaled 245 people.
Review Summary
According to the records of German officers and soldiers of the Second World War, the Soviet fleet always hit them not so much with the technical characteristics of the guns, but with the courage of sailors and captains who could fight in any weather conditions under a variety of circumstances.
So, “Thundering” earned its formidable name for many years of military service to protect and protect our country from enemy invasion. In the modern Russian fleet, the Navy is armed with, of course, more advanced ships than the ships of 1941-1945. However, the spirit of martial traditions remains the same.