Soviet destroyer Dzerzhinsky
 A postwar view of sister ship
Zheleznyakov
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Russian Empire | |
| Name | Kaliakria (Калиакрия) |
| Namesake | Battle of Cape Kaliakra |
| Ordered | 17 March 1915 |
| Builder | Naval Shipyard, Nikolayev |
| Laid down | 29 October 1915 |
| Launched | 14 August 1916 |
| Commissioned | 30 October 1917 |
| Fate | Joined the Bolsheviks, 16 December 1918 |
 Soviet Union | |
| Namesake | Felix Dzerzhinsky |
| Acquired | 16 December 1918 |
| Commissioned | 28 August 1929 |
| Renamed | Dzerzhinsky (Дзержинский), 24 November 1926 |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Fidonisy-class destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 93.26 m (306 ft 0 in) |
| Beam | 9.05 m (29 ft 8 in) |
| Draft | 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 steam turbines |
| Speed | 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
| Range | 1,450 nmi (2,690 km; 1,670 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Complement | 136 |
| Armament |
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Dzerzhinsky (Дзержинский) was one of eight Fidonisy-class destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy during World War I. She was originally named Kaliakria (Калиакрия) before she was renamed Dzerzhinsky in 1926.
Design and description
The Fidonisy-class ships were designed as an improved version of the
The Fidonisy-class ships mounted a main armament of four single
Construction and service
Dzerzhinsky transported a Soviet delegation headed by Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs Lev Karakhan to Istanbul for negotiations with the Turkish government on 11 December 1929. She returned to Sevastopol with the delegation aboard on 24 December after the latter signed a protocol renewing the 1925 Soviet–Turkish Treaty on Friendship and Neutrality.[4][5]
World War II
Dzerzhinsky was part of the 1st Destroyer Division of the fleet at
Dzerzhinsky departed Sevastopol for Odessa on 6 September with a 140-man partisan detachment aboard. Arriving the next day, she found the port under Axis artillery fire. In the evening she expended 56 shells against coastal targets and maneuvered at sea during the night. Another 90 shells were fired against coastal targets on the next morning, and she continued maneuvering that day despite the failure of a turbogenerator. Early on 9 September, she entered Odessa to replenish her supplies of fuel and potable water, but fragments from near misses of artillery shells damaged a gun and her torpedo tubes. As there was no fuel in the port, Dzerzhinsky departed under her own smokescreen and fired a volley at an Axis battery. She spent the rest of the day maneuvering off the Vorontsov Lighthouse and departed that night, escorting a transport evacuating the wounded together with a minesweeper. The destroyer arrived at Sevastopol on 10 September, almost out of fuel and having no potable water remaining.[8]
As the situation worsened in Odessa, People's Commissar of the Navy Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov ordered an amphibious landing at Grigorievka near the port to restore the situation. Dzerzhinsky and Frunze were assigned as part of a detachment to support the operation, and on 16 September both destroyers attempted to carry out a rehearsal at the Chersonese Lighthouse, but failed due to heavy seas. On the same day, Dzerzhinsky was dropped from the detachment and instead sent to support the defenders of the Isthmus of Perekop against the German advance. Departing Sevastopol for Karkinit Bay on 17 September, she expended 206 shells that day against Alekseyevka, Khorly, and Skadovsk before returning to Sevastopol, exceeding the planned 150 shells. The bombardment was conducted despite a burst pipes in one boiler and a broken gyrocompass, but the destroyer wore out her gun barrels and was replaced by the cruiser Voroshilov on the bombardment mission.[9]
Between October and February 1942 Dzerzhinsky was under refit at Poti, which took four and a half months.[10] Returning to service in March,[11] she escorted the gunboat Krasnaya Kuban from Poti to Sevastopol between 21 and 24 March during the Siege of Sevastopol. Both returned to the Caucasus coast on 28 March, and on the next day the destroyer expended six depth charges against a suspected submarine. Between 4 and 11 April, she escorted the tanker I. Stalin from Batumi to Sevastopol via Tuapse. Anchored in Sevastopol between 12 and 13 April, the destroyer bombarded a German troop concentration near Mamashay. She departed on 13 April as an escort for the tanker Moskva and returned to Batumi two days later. Dzerzhinsky and the destroyer Boyky escorted the battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna on 19 April while the latter tested her main armament and maneuverability following repairs.[12]
Together with the cruiser
References
- ^ Apalkov, p. 136
- ^ a b Verstyuk & Gordeyev, p. 116
- ^ Berezhnoy, pp. 324–325
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 129
- ^ Hasanli, p. 1
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 141
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 143
- ^ a b Chernyshev, p. 144
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 145
- ^ a b Chernyshev, p. 173
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 148
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 150
- ^ Chernyshev, p. 151
- ^ "Украинско-американская экспедиция обнаружила в Черном море почти 500 подводных объектов культурного наследия Украины" [Ukrainian-American Expedition discovers almost 500 underwater objects of cultural heritage of Ukraine in the Black Sea]. UNIAN (in Russian). 25 May 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
Bibliography
- Apalkov, Yu. V. (1996). Боевые корабли Русского флота 8.1914–10.1917 гг. Справочник [Directory of Russian Navy Warships, August 1914 – October 1917] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Intek. ISBN 5-7559-0018-3.
- Berezhnoy, Sergey (2002). Крейсера и миноносцы. Справочник [Guide to Cruisers and Destroyers] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5-203-01780-8.
- Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Soviet Warship Development: Volume 1: 1917–1937. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-604-3.
- Budzbon, Przemysław (1985). "Russia". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 291–325. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Chernyshev, Alexander (2011). Русские суперэсминцы. Легендарные "Новики" [Russian Superdestroyers: Legendary Noviks] (in Russian) (2nd ed.). Moscow: Yauza/Eksmo. ISBN 978-5-699-53144-8.
- Hasanli, Jamil (2011). Stalin and the Turkish Crisis of the Cold War, 1945–1953. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739168080.
- Hill, Alexander (2018). Soviet Destroyers of World War II. New Vanguard. Vol. 256. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2256-7.
- Likachev, Pavel Vladimirovich (2005). Эскадренные миноносцы типа «Новик» в ВМФ СССР 1920-1955 гг [Novik-class Destroyers in the Soviet Navy 1920-1955] (in Russian). Samara, Russia: ISTFLOT. ISBN 5-98830-009-X.
- Platonov, Andrey V. (2002). Энциклопедия советских надводных кораблей 1941–1945 [Encyclopedia of Soviet Surface Ships 1941–1945] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Poligon. ISBN 5-89173-178-9.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Verstyuk, Anatoly & Gordeyev, Stanislav (2006). Корабли Минных дивизий. От "Новика" до "Гогланда" [Torpedo Division Ships: From Novik to Gogland] (in Russian). Moscow: Voennaya Kniga. ISBN 5-902863-10-4.
- Yakubov, Vladimir & Worth, Richard (2008). Raising the Red Banner: A Pictorial History of Stalin's Fleet. Gloucestershire, UK: Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-450-1.
Further reading
- Budzbon, Przemysław (1980). "Soviet Union". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 318–346. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Budzbon, Przemysław; Radziemski, Jan & Twardowski, Marek (2022). Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945. Vol. I: Major Combatants. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-877-6.
- Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.
External links
- Photographs of the raising of Kaliakria Archived 2019-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
 Imperial Russian Navy | |
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 Soviet Navy |
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 Bulgarian Navy |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in June 1918 | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1942 | |
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