"Gremyaschy" (destroyer of the Northern Fleet) during the war years

During the Great Patriotic War, each unit of equipment-an airplane, a ship, and even a simple soldier, contributed to the defense of the Motherland and led it towards the 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 the end of the war? Contemporaries and historical chronicles described the courage, courage and valor not only of individual soldiers and sailors, but also entire units and ship formations, tanks and aircraft. The internal quality of people, as it were, was transferred to the technique that they controlled.

So the destroyer "Gremyaschiy" together with the team, its deeds and actions, deserved its name that was formidable for the enemies. What is this type of ship with the name destroyer?

Destroyer - auxiliary warship

The destroyer, also called a destroyer, is a multipurpose combat high-speed ship, which is maximally prepared for combat with submarines, aircraft (in modern version and with missiles) and enemy ships. The task of destroyers also includes the protection and defense of ship convoys, reconnaissance raids, artillery support during landing, and so on.

"Gremyaschy" - destroyer Guards squadron before WWII

This destroyer was laid down at the Leningrad plant No. 190 under the number C-515. Three years later the building was finished and the Baltic Red Banner Fleet took it to its staff. A few months later, the destroyer Gremyaschy, commanded by AI Gurin at that time, together with the destroyer Sokrushitelny crossed the White Sea-Baltic Canal and arrived from Kronstadt to Polyarnoe.

During the Finnish war, "Gremyaschiy" many times fulfilled the assigned tasks on patrol and reconnaissance, as well as on the protection of transport convoys.

In November 1940, the ship became for warranty service and repairs, which lasted until May 1941. So the destroyer before the Great Patriotic War was in excellent technical condition.

"Gremyaschy," the destroyer of 1937, in the first days of the war

At half past two in the night of June 22, 1941, the Northern Fleet was raised on alert. "Gremyaschy" was ordered to immediately go to the lip of Vaenga from Polar. 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 he shot down an enemy bomber.

Until mid-August 1941, the destroyer Gremyaschiy of the Northern Fleet was in Vaeng, making rare forays into the sea. However, during this time he was able to repel more than 20 attacks from the air.

By August 18, the destroyer was relocated to Murmansk, where an increase in its anti-aircraft weapons took place: a few 37-millimeter guns were added to the 45-millimeter cannons.

On August 22 a German submarine and a link of enemy bombers attacked the floating base "Maria Ulyanov". The destroyer Gremyaschiy, along with the Kuibyshev, Uritsky and Watchtower Groza, was sent to defend it. In this battle the crew of "Gremyashchy" proved to be a steadfast, courageous and experienced combat team. One Junkers was shot down, and the second was badly damaged. However, the destroyer himself suffered a minor loss: 8 aircraft bombs exploded only 15 meters from his side. But four days after the urgent repair, the next convoy in the sea was accompanied by "Gremyashchy".

The destroyer spent the whole of September setting up minefields and only four times went out into the open sea to fire at enemy land targets. During this period, he installed more than 190 mines and produced about 300 shells.

Until the end of 1941, "Gremyashchy" shuttled between the bases in Murmansk, Polar and Vaeng, constantly fired at enemy positions. The most significant operation of the destroyer in the first months of the war was the bombardment of the Vardo port in Norway on November 24 at night. For 6 minutes he released 87 shells and returned safely to the base of the registry, not injured in return fire.

In the new year, the tests continued

Destroyer "Gremyaschy" of the Northern Fleet on February 21, 1942, fired at enemy positions in Norway with 121 shells.

By the spring of 1942, the destroyer had accompanied 11 allied convoys. All raids of the ship took place in difficult climatic conditions. For example, on March 14, the destroyer had to attack the German submarine in depths of the North Sea with three depth charges. And on March 22, during the convoy of the next caravan, he got into a powerful storm. Transport ships and escort ships scattered in different directions. The "Gremyashchy" also suffered - the destroyer from sea-waves strikes received a number of serious damages. For two days he reached his base so that on March 28, along with the destroyer Sokrushitelny and the English ship Oribi, go out to sea to meet the next caravan of transport ships coming from the UK.

The next day, the escort and escort were attacked by enemy ships, which were safely repulsed. But there was another surprise waiting for me. On March 30, 1942, at the entrance to the Kola Bay , an enemy submarine was discovered. "Gremyaschy" at high speed headed to the location of the enemy's deployment and dropped 17 deep-water bombs 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.

During the whole of April the destroyer was constantly going out to sea to escort convoys. At the same time, one unpleasant incident was recorded. At the end of the month, Gremyaschy, along with Sokrushitelny, went to the guard of the British cruiser Edinburgh, which was attacked by a German submarine. On the night of May 1, the destroyers were forced to return to the base for refueling. On the second day, Gremyaschy returned to the cruiser, but it was too late: Edinburgh was sunk by German ships.

From May to the end of June, the Soviet destroyer Gremyashchy was repairing the floating base No. 104. It was not only patched up, but it was changed and supplemented with weapons. Almost every day, during the work, we had to fight off attacks by enemy aircraft. So, on June 15, with the next air raid on the repair shop, the antiaircraft complex of the destroyer shot down three bombers and caused so much damage.

After repair

After the repair, the destroyer continued to convoy transport ships, constantly reflecting the raids of enemy aviation.

From the end of August - early September 1942, "Gremyashchy" was located on a jam in Murmansk, where it was inscribed in the air defense system. On September 5, the anti-aircraft gunners of the airborne state, together with the Coast Guard, opened fire on the enemy group of fighters flying to bomb the city of Murmansk. During the battle, the anti-aircraft battery of the ship shot down three aircraft, but the ship itself did not get damaged, although more than 12 bombs exploded nearby.

Throughout September, many fights were held by Gremyaschy: the destroyer defended the caravans of Soviet and Allied ships. But the ship did not receive the biggest damage from enemy bullets and shells, oddly enough, but from the sea. He constantly got into storms, after which he could hardly reach the nearest base for repairs. For example, on October 21, the destroyer landed in a storm, because of which he lost some of his equipment and some ammunition. In late October, he again got into a 7-ball storm with a snowy wind, and then the ship was flooded with a continuous shaft of water. The ship began to heel by 52 degrees, the first and third running boilers began to fail. Therefore, the destroyer was forced to slowly return to the base, interrupting combat duty.

Guards rank

On March 1, 1943, the destroyer Gremyaschy, together with his crew, was awarded the title of Guards for his courage and courage.

Until the end of April, the 43rd ship was under repair, reflecting before it more than ten air raids. 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, Gremyashchy, as part of the fleet, provided fire support to the advancing armies of the Karelian Front.

As a ship you will name, so it will float

The destroyer Gremyaschiy during the war really deserved its name. He performed more than 90 combat missions, assigned to him by the highest 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 convoys, sank one and damaged two German submarines, scores of times fired enemy ports and positions. And this is only according to official, documented data.

In the summer of 1945, the commander of the ship AI Gurin received the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the victory

In 1956, the destroyer was removed weapons, and he became a training ship. And a couple of years later he was expelled from the Navy. Destroyer "Gremyaschy" in 1941-1945 went on vacation, and he was replaced by a new modern anti-submarine ship of the same name, which continued the glorious combat tradition of the famous destroyer of the Soviet Northern Fleet.

Technical parameters of the destroyer "Gremyaschy"

The destroyer Gremyaschiy, whose photo we see above, had a capacity of 48,000 horsepower and a displacement of 2,380 tons, a length of 113 meters and a width of 10 meters. The maximum speed of the ship is 32 knots, the power reserve in the economical mode is more than 1600 miles. The destroyer had four 130-millimeter guns, two 76.2-mm guns and four 37-millimeter guns, as well as four twin machine guns, two bombs and two torpedo tubes. In addition, on board the ship was placed 56 minutes, about 55 deep shells of various sizes. The ship crew numbered 245 people.

Summary of the review

According to the records of German officers and soldiers of the Second World War, the Soviet fleet has always amazed them not so much by the technical characteristics of the guns as by the courage of sailors and captains who could fight in any synoptic conditions under very different circumstances.

So "Gremyashchy" deserved its terrible name for many years of military service for the protection and protection of our country from the enemy invasion. In the modern Russian navy, the Navy, of course, has more advanced ships than the ships of 1941-1945. However, the spirit of fighting traditions remains the same.