USSR battleships of the Second World War period (photo)

Linear ships are armored artillery warships that have a large displacement and good armament. The USSR battleships were widely used in various battles, as they easily cope with the destruction of the enemy in naval combat by artillery strikes against objects on the shore.

Features

Battleships are powerful artillery armored ships. At the time of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were a lot of them in the arsenal of the country. The USSR battleships had high-quality weapons in the form of various guns, which were constantly modernized. Most often, weapons consisted of large-caliber machine guns, torpedo tubes. These ships provided defense of Leningrad, Sevastopol and other coastal cities.

Class "Sevastopol"

The battleships of this class had a monitor-shaped body, in which the surface of the freeboard and the ice-breaking shape of the ice were minimized. With a small length of the hull, the ship's displacement was 23,000 tons, but in practice it reached about 26,000 tons. Coal was used as a fuel, and if an accelerated mode of operation was required, then oil. These battleships of the Soviet Navy were equipped with a power unit of 42,000 liters. from. At a speed of 23 knots and a cruising range of 4,000 miles.

As an armament, the battleship was equipped with rifled guns, which were located linearly and differed by a technical rate of fire of 1.8 shots per minute. 16 guns of 120 mm were used as an antimine weapon, the rate of fire was 7 rounds per minute, and all guns were located on the middle deck. This placement of artillery led to a low efficiency of firing, which in combination with the low seaworthiness of the battleship made their control more difficult.

These battleships of the USSR were upgraded even before the Second World War, which affected the improvement of the ship's silhouette: they had a tank superstructure that tightly mesh with the hull, and was closed with a strong flooring. The changes touched the nose end, power plants and improved living conditions for the team.

"The Paris Commune"

This battleship was modernized the latest. In the course of perfection, its displacement became larger, the engine output became higher and amounted to 61 000 hp, the ship developed a maximum speed of 23.5 knots. Much attention was paid to the modernization of anti-aircraft weapons during the modernization: six anti-aircraft guns 76 mm, 16 artillery guns and 14 machine guns appeared on the nose and the stern. These battleships of the USSR World War II were used in the defense of Sevastopol. During the entire period of hostilities during the Great Patriotic War, the battleship participated in 15 military campaigns, carried out 10 artillery fire, repelled more than 20 enemy air strikes and shot down three enemy planes.

During the Second World War, the ship defended Sevastopol and the Kerch Strait. The first fighting took place on November 8, 1941, and only during the first time of fighting was destroyed a large number of tanks, guns, military vehicles carrying certain cargo.

"Marat"

These battleships of the USSR defended the approaches to Leningrad, leading the city's defense for 8 days. During one of the enemy attacks, two bombs hit the ship, which destroyed the bow of the ship and led to the detonation of the shell cellars. As a result of this tragic event, 326 crew members were killed. Six months later, the ship was returned to the partial buoyancy, the aft part, 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's artillery fire: after the restoration of the ship, aircraft, batteries and enemy personnel were destroyed. In 1943, this battleship of the USSR was renamed into Petropavlovsk, and even after 7 years, it was completely disarmed and transferred to the training center.

"October Revolution"

This battleship was originally based in Tallinn, but with the beginning of the Second World War it was transferred to Kronstadt, as soon as the Germans began to approach the city. The "October Revolution" became a reliable artillery defense of the city, as all attempts by the German army to sink the battleship were unsuccessful. During the war years, this biggest battleship of the USSR proved to be a reliable enemy 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: under its cover, mines were placed, on which not a single German cruiser later blew up. Even after the ship was given a new name, he performed during the Second World War, and all attempts by the Germans to cope with it were flop. The battles of the USSR in the Second World War were generally reliable: thus, the October Revolution was subjected to numerous air and artillery attacks, and still resisted. The battleship itself, during the war years, produced about 1500 shells, repelled numerous air raids, shot down 13 aircraft and even damaged a large number.

The main campaigns of the Gangut (October Revolution)

It is interesting that the formidable ships of our army never once during the two world wars - the first and second - met in battle precisely with the battleships of the enemy. The only battle was made by Sevastopol back in the Civil War, when the ship covered the destroyer Azard and repulsed the attack of as many as seven British destroyers.

In general, the Gangut visited three military campaigns to the Baltic, where it provided mine productions, then it was given a new name in service with the Red Army and was included in the Sea Forces of the Baltic Sea. Battleship also took part in the Soviet-Finnish war as fire support to land forces. The most important task of the battleship was the defense of Leningrad.

In 1941, on September 27, a 500 kg bomb hit the ship, which broke through the decks, tore the tower apart.

"Arkhangelsk"

Not all the battleships of the USSR during the Second World War were originally in the arsenal of our country. Thus, 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 in the US, equipped with modern radar systems for all types of weapons. 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 mostly additional equipment with tools. For 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 other battleships: Arkhangelsk mostly stayed on the shores of the Kola Bay, where it provided a firing offensive by Soviet troops and disrupted the evacuation of the Germans. In January 1949 the ship was delivered to the UK.

Projects battleships of the USSR

The USSR battleships, whose designs were developed by various engineers, have always been considered one of the most reliable in the world. So, the engineer Bubnov proposed a superdreadnought project, which attracted attention with detail, artillery, high speed and sufficient level of reservation. Design began in 1914, and the main task of engineers was to place three four-turret towers in a small building, which was not enough for such weapons. It turned out that the ship in this situation remained without reliable anti-torpedo protection. The main means of armament on this ship were:

• The main armored belt, which extended to 2/3 of the length of the ship;
• Horizontal booking on four levels;
• Circular reservation of towers;
• 12 guns in the towers and 24 implements of anti-mine caliber, which were located in casemates.

Specialists said that this battleship is a powerful combat unit that, in comparison with foreign analogues, was able to develop a speed of 25 knots. True, the reservation was not enough already at the time of the First World War, and the modernization of the ships was not planned ...

Design engineer Kostenko

The perfect battleships of Russia and the USSR were repeatedly rescued by Soviet troops. One of the developments was the ship Kostenko, which is considered the latest. Its distinctive features included balanced weapon characteristics, excellent speed and quality booking. The project was based on the Anglo-German experience of the Battle of Jutland, so the engineer previously refused the maximum artillery equipment of the ships. And the emphasis was on balancing armored protection and mobility.

This ship was developed already in four versions, and the fastest was the first option. As in the version of Bubnov, the battleship had a main combat belt, which was supplemented by a bulkhead of two plates. The horizontal booking touched several decks, which in itself acted like armor plating. The reservation was carried out in the tower, in the cabin, along the circle of the ship, besides, the engineer took an attentive attitude towards the anti-torpedo protection, which earlier on battleships acted as a simple longitudinal bulkhead.

As an armament, the engineer suggested using 406mm main guns and 130mm guns. The first were located in the towers, which provided a good range of fire. The projects of this ship, as already mentioned, were different, which affected the number of guns.

Project of engineer Gavrilov

Gavrilov proposed to build the most powerful, so-called terminal battleships of the USSR. The photo shows that such models were small in size, but for technical and operational characteristics were more effective. According to the general concept, the battleship was the ultimate ship, the technical characteristics of which were on the verge of an achievable level. The project took into account only the most powerful weapons parameters:

• 16 guns of the main caliber 406 mm in four towers;
• 24 cannons of 152 mm of mine ammunition in casemates.

Such weapons fully corresponded to the concept of Russian shipbuilding, when there was noted an amazing combination of the maximum possible artillery saturation at high speed with damage to the reservation. By the way, it was not the most successful on most Soviet battleships. But the propulsion system of the ship was one of the most powerful, since its operation was based on turbine-transformers.

Features of the equipment

Battleships of the USSR during the Second World War (photo confirms their power), according to Gavrilov's projects, were equipped with the most perfect at that time systems. Like previous engineers, he paid attention to booking, and the thickness of the reservation was somewhat 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.

Results

As specialists note, the Second World War has become a definite stage for checking the condition of the USSR's battleships for readiness. As it turned out, the line fleet was not ready for the destructive power and power of atomic bombs and precision guided weapons. That is why already near the end of the war, battleships have ceased to be considered a powerful combat force, and the development of carrier-based aviation has already been neglected. Stalin ordered the elimination of battleships from the plans for military shipbuilding, since they did not meet the requirements of the times.

As a consequence, such ships as the October Revolution and the Paris Commune were withdrawn from the fleet, some models were withdrawn to the reserve. Subsequently Khrushchev left in the arsenal of the country literally several heavy artillery ships, considering them effective in combat. And on October 29, 1955, the flagship of the Black Sea squadron sank in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol - the last Soviet battleship Novorossiysk. After this event, our country took leave of the idea of having in its fleet of battleships.