Soviet destroyer Serdity (1940)
![]() An unidentified Storozhevoy-class destroyer in the Black Sea
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History | |
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Name | Serdity (Сердитый (Enraged)) |
Ordered | 2nd Five-Year Plan |
Builder | Leningrad |
Yard number | 298 |
Laid down | 15 October 1938 |
Launched | 21 April 1939 |
Completed | 15 October 1940 |
Commissioned | 12 April 1941 |
Fate | Sunk by aircraft, 19 July 1941 |
General characteristics (Storozhevoy, 1941) | |
Class and type | Storozhevoy-class destroyer |
Displacement |
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Length | 112.5 m (369 ft 1 in) ( o/a ) |
Beam | 10.2 m (33 ft 6 in) |
Draft | 3.98 m (13 ft 1 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 steam turbine sets |
Speed | 38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph) |
Endurance | 1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
Complement | 207 (271 wartime) |
Sensors and processing systems | Mars hydrophones |
Armament |
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Serdity (Russian: Сердитый, lit. 'Enraged') was one of 18 Storozhevoy-class destroyers (officially known as Project 7U) built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Although she began construction as a Project 7 Gnevny-class destroyer, Serdity was completed in 1940 to the modified Project 7U design.
Serving with the Baltic Fleet, she participated in minelaying operations after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941. Serdity engaged German minesweepers in the Irbe Strait on 6 July without result, and on 18 July was damaged by a friendly air attack. While anchored off Hiiumaa the following day, she was sunk by German bombers. Her survivors were taken off by other destroyers and what remained of the ship was broken up for scrap postwar.
Design
Originally built as a Gnevny-class ship, Serdity and her
Like the Gnevnys, the Project 7U destroyers had an
The ships mounted four
Construction and World War II
Serdity was
In the days after the 22 June beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Serdity participated in minelaying with her sister ships of the 2nd Division on 24 and 26 June. The destroyer moved north to the Kuivastu roadstead on 27 June due to the German advance, and after the departure of the remainder of the Light Forces Detachment for Tallinn she was left to defend the Gulf of Riga with her sister Silny and the elderly destroyer Engels. The destroyer expended 115 130 mm shells during the 6 July Battle of Irbe Strait against the German minesweeping support ship Minenräumschiff-11 (the former Osnabrück) and her attached minesweepers.[7][Note 1] Due to an inexperienced gunnery officer who was unable to distinguish the fall of Silny's shells from those of his own ship, all of the shells missed.[6]
She participated in an unsuccessful attack on a group of German
On that day she came under sudden attack by four Junkers Ju 88 bombers of Kampfgruppe 806 while anchored. Efforts to raise steam proved futile and one of her boilers was destroyed by a bomb that penetrated the deck, knocking out power. A second bomb holed the hull and displaced fuel oil from her tanks, starting a fire that engulfed the forward superstructure and both forward boiler rooms. Although the crew flooded the aft 130 mm magazine, damage control was hindered by the lack of power. The fire spread aft and caused the explosion of ammunition and depth charges, destroying the aft section. Due to the shallow depth of the anchorage, the hull rolled to starboard and remained above the water. The destroyer remained afloat for slightly more than an hour after the air raid, and her survivors were taken off by Steregushchy and the destroyer Gordy. A total of 35 crewmembers were killed and more than 30 were wounded during the sinking. What was left of the hull was destroyed by the explosion of the forward magazines. The destroyer was officially struck from the Soviet Navy on 27 July.[7] Postwar, the wreck was raised in pieces and towed to Tallinn for scrapping between 1949 and 1952.[6]
Notes
- Jurgen Rohwer states that the only German participants were Minenräumschiff-11 and the minesweeper M-31.[8]
Citations
Sources
- Balakin, Sergey (2007). Легендарные "семёрки" Эсминцы "сталинской" серии [Legendary Sevens: Stalin's Destroyer Series] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza/Eksmo. ISBN 978-5-699-23784-5.
- Berezhnoy, Sergey (2002). Крейсера и миноносцы. Справочник [Guide to Cruisers and Destroyers] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5-203-01780-8.
- Hill, Alexander (2018). Soviet Destroyers of World War II. New Vanguard. Vol. 256. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2256-7.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Rohwer, Jürgen & Monakov, Mikhail S. (2001). Stalin's Ocean-Going Fleet. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-4895-7.
- Yakubov, Vladimir & Worth, Richard (2008). "The Soviet Project 7/7U Destroyers". In Jordan, John & Dent, Stephen (eds.). Warship 2008. London: Conway. pp. 99–114. ISBN 978-1-84486-062-3.
Further reading
- Budzbon, Przemysaw (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.
- 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.