In the early 30s of the last century, the navy of the Soviet Union was rather poorly equipped. It consisted of only 17 "Novikov", so called the destroyers existing at that time. At the time of their creation, they could be considered the best in the world, but by the 30s they were no longer in any comparison with those destroyers that were armed with the leading powers of the world. There was an urgent need for the construction of fundamentally new ships capable of competing with their "twins." So there were destroyers of project 7.
Italian prototype
At that time, the Italian-made destroyers were considered the best in the world. Therefore, a group of Soviet scientists and engineers was urgently sent to Italy, the purpose of which was to adopt the experience of foreign colleagues in the workshop. Soviet engineers studied the documentation, watched the progress of construction and returned to their homeland with new ideas.
Construction of new destroyers
From this moment in the Soviet Union , the construction of fundamentally new, modern destroyers began. The technical design of these vessels was approved in 1934 and received the name "Project No. 7". The construction of the new generation destroyer squadrons, also known as Project 7 destroyers (“Angry” is one of them), from that moment was put on stream and passed under the personal control of President I. Stalin. At this very time, not far from the borders of the Soviet state, the English destroyer ran into a mine and sank. The construction was temporarily suspended, because the ship, which crashes from a single mine, could hardly be called perfect. By order of Stalin, checks were urgently carried out, several designers were punished. As a result, it was decided to complete the construction and launch of the planned number of Project 7 destroyers, and to upgrade and launch the next batch of ships under the improved project.
Armament of destroyers
During the construction of destroyers, the main emphasis was placed on armaments in order to maximize the country's defense power, which suffered during the First World War. Gradually the ships improved. In particular, the air defense system was significantly improved, which initially was not particularly accurate. The first Parsons turbines on Project 7 destroyers were designed with a solid margin. And the designers were not mistaken - Soviet-made destroyers built according to project 7 were the strongest in the world at that time.
By the beginning of World War II, Soviet designers had built and launched 28 Project 7 destroyers. The destroyers of the main enemy, Germany, were slightly stronger in armament (per gun), but they were significantly inferior to the quality of the propulsion system, which was not very reliable. As a result, it was the ships of this series that became the main skeleton of Russia's armaments at the start of World War II. They were used at all naval theaters of war. Only 10 destroyers were incapacitated by the enemy during the war, but they managed to accomplish more than one feat before that.
Famous battles
During a war, it often happens that ordinary ordinary combat will go down in history forever. That is how the battle at Cape Kanin Nos became. In the difficult year of 1942, Russia needed the help of its allies. Weapons, fuel - all this we received by sea through convoys. But it was in September 1942 that Winston Churchill spoke out that the convoys needed to be temporarily stopped due to heavy losses. However, the country's leadership persuaded Britain to organize another convoy, which began moving on September 18. Being in the zone of responsibility of the allies, he lost 11 ships. After that, the protection was taken over by Soviet destroyers. Among them were the famous "sevens" - "Thundering" and "Crushing." Near Cape Kanin Nos, the Germans attacked the convoy from all sides. In a powerful combined strike involved German aircraft and submarines. The fierce battle lasted two and a half hours. Dozens of torpedo bombers and bombers attacked the convoy from the air, but all of them were met with powerful coordinated fire. As a result of a heated battle, the convoy arrived at its destination and suffered minimal losses. Only one ship was torpedoed. The Germans lost 15 aircraft in that battle. It became clear that the convoys were needed, that it was dangerous, but completely justified.
The destroyer "Reasonable"
The destroyer "Intelligent" project 7 was tested and was launched in November 1941. The tasks of the destroyer and his team included the maintenance of sentinel service. During this period, one of the most important pages was the rescue of the crew of the ship "Crashing", which crashed. The command of "Reasonable" successfully coped with the task. To strengthen the Northern Fleet in 1942, "Reasonable", among three more destroyers, was transported by the Northern Sea Route to the port of Polyarny. During the crossing of the ships, Razumny was caught on two sides by ice floes, but, in the end, nevertheless arrived safely at the port. From this moment, the ship began to serve in the Northern Fleet, made several military campaigns, and until the end of the war actively carried out convoy service.
Destroyer Angry
One of the most famous Project 7 destroyers of the time. The Wrathful team was faced with the task of installing minefields in the Gulf of Finland. Purpose: to stop the enemy and prevent a breakthrough to Leningrad. To accomplish this task, a squadron was assembled, headed by "Angry". Suddenly there was an explosion - the destroyer was blown up on a German mine. Then 20 people died. They tried to tow the damaged ship, but this turned out to be impossible. The command decided to sink the destroyer, so that he did not fall into the hands of the enemy. The remaining team was transferred to the accompanying vessels, and opened fire on the "Angry". This project 7 destroyer was the first major loss in the Russian Navy after the outbreak of war.
The fate of the "sevens" after the war
After the war, all Project 7 destroyers participating in the battles were sent for overhaul, and then returned to service. They served in the navy of the Soviet Union for about 12 more years. Over the years, their design and weapons have been modernized and improved. Even the appearance of the Project 7 destroyers has undergone changes. Later, in the 1950s, the Sevens were gradually replaced by fundamentally new and perfect destroyers and withdrawn from the Navy. To date, only three legendary "sevens" have survived, which were transferred to the arsenal in the PRC. There they were renamed and named after the Manchu cities. One of these vessels is the Record destroyer, which served in the Russian Navy for a full period of time, and after modernization in China, regularly performed patrol service until the 1980s.