Soviet cruiser Maxim Gorky

Coordinates: 59°20′N 22°20′E / 59.333°N 22.333°E / 59.333; 22.333
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with
SS Maxim Gorkiy
.
Maxim Gorky
History
Soviet Union
NameMaxim Gorky
NamesakeMaxim Gorky
BuilderOrdzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad
Yard number270
Laid down20 December 1936
Launched30 April 1938
Commissioned12 December 1940
Decommissioned17 February 1956
RefitSummer 1953
Honors and
awards
FateSold for scrap 18 April 1959
General characteristics (Project 26bis)
Class and typeKirov-class cruiser
Displacement
  • 8,177 t (8,048 long tons) (standard)
  • 9,728 t (9,574 long tons) (full load)
Length191.4 m (627 ft 11 in)
Beam17.66 m (57 ft 11 in)
Draught6.3 m (20 ft 8 in) (
full load
)
Installed power
  • 6 Yarrow-Normand boilers
  • 129,750 
    kW
    )
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 geared steam turbines
Speed36.72 knots (68.01 km/h; 42.26 mph) (on trials)
Endurance4,220 nmi (7,820 km; 4,860 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement963
Sensors and
processing systems		Arktur hydrophone
Armament
Armor
Aircraft carried2 × KOR-1 seaplanes
Aviation facilities1 ZK-1 catapult

Maxim Gorky (

Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
in mid-1944. She saw no further action in World War II. A major modernization was begun in 1953, but the navy reconsidered the cost-effectiveness of the refit and work was cancelled in 1955. Maxim Gorky was sold for scrap in 1959.

Description

Maxim Gorky was 187 meters (613 ft 6 in)

kW) during her sea trials and propelled the ship to a maximum speed of 36.72 knots (68.01 km/h; 42.26 mph). This was barely short of her designed speed of 37 knots and was because she was over 900 tonnes (886 long tons) overweight. She normally carried 650 metric tons (640 long tons) of fuel oil, 1,660 metric tons (1,630 long tons) at full load and 1,750 metric tons (1,720 long tons) at overload. This gave her an endurance of 4,220 nautical miles (7,820 km; 4,860 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).[2]

Maxim Gorky carried nine 180-millimeter (7.1 in) 57-calibre B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets.[1] Her secondary armament consisted of six single 100-millimeter (3.9 in) 56-calibre B-34 anti-aircraft guns fitted on each side of the rear funnel. Her light anti-aircraft guns consisted of nine semi-automatic 45-millimeter (1.8 in) 21-K guns and four DShK 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) machine guns.[3] Six 533-millimeter (21 in) 39-Yu torpedo tubes were fitted in two triple mountings.[4]

Wartime modifications

By 1944 Maxim Gorky had exchanged her 45 mm (1.8 in) guns for 15 fully automatic 37 mm 70-K AA guns with one thousand rounds per gun, two extra DsHK machine guns and two quadruple Lend-Lease Vickers .50 machine gun MK III mounts.[3]

When war broke out in 1941 Maxim Gorky lacked radar, but she was equipped with British Lend-Lease radar by 1944. One Type 291 was used for air search. One Type 284 and two Type 285 radars were for main battery fire control, while anti-aircraft fire control was provided by two Type 282 radars.[4]

Service

Maxim Gorky was laid down at the

Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive in June, firing a hundred 180 mm shells off Kuokkala on 9 June. Maxim Gorky was repeatedly, if lightly, damaged by German air and artillery attacks,[8] but her only extended refit occurred over the winter of 1942–43 when her upper deck was reinforced with 37-millimetre armour plates.[9]

Postwar career

Following the end of the war, Maxim Gorky was transferred to the squadron of the 4th Fleet in the Southern Baltic when the Baltic Fleet was briefly divided on 25 February 1946. As the squadron headquarters she relocated to

Nikolay Kamov.[8]

She was relocated to

Neva River for Navy Day in July. The refit, which began late that year, was planned to include a complete overhaul of her machinery while her radar, fire-control systems and anti-aircraft guns were to be replaced by the latest Soviet systems. Torpedo bulges were to be fitted which would increase her displacement by 1,000 metric tons (980 long tons), with consequent penalties to her speed and range. The navy re-evaluated the scope of the work in 1955 and deemed it insufficient to create a fully modern ship and suspended the refit. Maxim Gorky was removed from the Baltic Fleet on 17 February 1956 before being similarly removed from the navy list and handed over for scrapping on 18 April 1959[8] after the navy had decided that she was unneeded as a missile-test ship.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Yakubov and Worth, p. 84
  2. ^ Yakubov and Worth, p. 90
  3. ^ a b Yakubov and Worth, pp. 86–87
  4. ^ a b Yakubov and Worth, p. 88
  5. ^ Rohwer, pp. 81–82
  6. ^ Yakubov and Worth, p. 93
  7. ^ Chernyshev and Kulagin, p. 96
  8. ^ a b c Chernyshev and Kulagin, p. 97
  9. ^ a b Yakubov and Worth, pp. 91, 93

References

  • Chernyshev, Alexander; Kulagin, Konstantin (2007). От «Кирова» до «Кагановича». Советские крейсера Великой Отечественной [From Kirov to Kagonovich: Soviet Cruisers of the Great Patriotic War] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza/Eksmo.
    ISBN 978-5-699-19623-4
    .
  • ISBN 1-59114-119-2
    .
  • ISBN 1-86019-874-0
    .
  • Wright, Christopher C. (2008). "Cruisers of the Soviet Navy, Part II: Project 26 and Project 26bis–the Kirov Class". Warship International. XLV (4): 299–316.
    ISSN 0043-0374
    .
  • Wright, Christopher C. (2010). "Cruisers of the Soviet Navy, Part III: The Kirov Class Ships' Characteristics, Section I". Warship International. XLVII (2): 127–152.
    ISSN 0043-0374
    .
  • Yakubov, Vladimir; Worth, Richard (2009). "The Soviet Light Cruisers of the Kirov Class". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2009. London: Conway. pp. 82–95.
    ISBN 978-1-84486-089-0
    .

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maksim Gor'kiy (ship, 1938).

59°20′N 22°20′E / 59.333°N 22.333°E / 59.333; 22.333

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soviet_cruiser_Maxim_Gorky&oldid=1212865477"