Campaign of the battleship Paris Commune from Kronstadt to Sevastopol

Three battleships - "Marat", "Paris Commune" and "October Revolution" in the late 20s and early 30s of the twentieth century formed the basis of the combat power of the Russian fleet in the Baltic. Each has 12 305-mm guns - three in four towers, 16 120-mm anti-mine caliber, placed in armored casemates. The anti-mine caliber was divided into eight plutongs. Anti-aircraft artillery consisted of six 75 mm and one 47 mm guns. An impressive number of shells were stored in the cellars of the battleships, one hundred for each gun of the main caliber, three hundred for the anti-mine barrel. Artillery battleships could fight in turret and battery-by-battery or be controlled centrally, from command posts. The supply of shells from the cellars, the loading of the guns and the aiming of the towers were provided by the operation of hundreds of electric motors. The bulk of the battleship, with a total displacement of more than 26,000 tons, could move at a speed of 22–23 knots thanks to 10 turbines with a total capacity of 42,000 horsepower. Steam was supplied to them from 25 boilers concentrated in four boiler rooms. Coal served as fuel, its maximum supply was 1500 tons. When the boilers were boosted to full capacity, oil was supplied to the furnaces through the nozzles from tanks designed for a reserve of 700 tons. Turbines located in three engine rooms rotated four propeller shafts ...
In order for boilers and machines to work, turbodynamos to generate electricity, fire guns, radio communications were maintained, navigational instruments were in operation and air and sea were monitored, more than a thousand two hundred sailors, foremen and commanders checked the serviceability of mechanisms and weapons, repaired what was necessary, carried round-the-clock watches and duty during campaigns, anchorages or at the wall.
On June 3, 1909, the battleship Sevastopol was laid down at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg (simultaneously with three ships of the same type Petropavlovsk, Gangut, Poltava). And on November 17, 1914, Sevastopol was included in the Baltic Fleet.
During the First World War, Sevastopol was part of the first brigade of battleships, although the Baltic battleships almost did not take part in hostilities. During the civil war, Sevastopol participated in the defense of Petrograd.
And in March 1921, an anti-Bolshevik, anti-Jewish uprising broke out on the battleship and other ships of the Baltic Fleet located in Kronstadt. Sevastopol fired on the remaining faithful Soviet power Fort Krasnaya Gorka, through the cities of Oranienbaum and Sestroretsk, along the railway stations located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. It turned out that four Baltic battleships ended up on opposite sides of the barricades. Gangut and Poltava were in long-term storage in Petrograd, and the active Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol became the initiators of the rebellion.
After the fall of Kronstadt on March 18, 1921, new crews arrived in Sevastopol and Petropavlovsk. And on March 31, the general meeting of sailors decided to rename Sevastopol to the Paris Commune, and Petropavlovsk to Marat.
The battleship "Paris Commune" was seriously damaged not only in March 1921, but also earlier, in the summer of 1919, during the shelling of Kronstadt by the rebellious fort Krasnaya Gorka, and was laid up.
From the spring of 1921, the battleship "Paris Commune" was put in order by the forces of a gradually recruited team and in 1922 became part of the MSBM Training Detachment and even participated in maneuvers the following year, being on the Great Kronstadt roadstead, - it provided communications for the headquarters MSBM with ships at sea.
On September 17, 1924, the battleship "Paris Commune" "... after being repaired by ship's means, it successfully passed a test of the mechanisms and entered service." On November 5 of the same year, the ship was brought to Leningrad to the wall of the Baltic Shipyard for repairs, and at the end of it, on April 4, 1925, he returned to Kronstadt and was enlisted in the half-brigade of battleships.
On June 20-27, 1925, the battleships "Pa¬rizhskaya Kommuna" and "Marat" (under the flag of the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People's Commissar for Military Affairs M.V. Frunze), together with six destroyers, made the so-called "Great Campaign" to the Kiel Bay , and on September 20-23, they participated in the ISBM maneuvers in the Gulf of Finland and near the Moonsund Islands.
The battleship "October Revolution" (before July 7, 1925, bearing the name "Gangut") on April 18, 1925, was enlisted in the Training Detachment of the MSBM, and at the end of April was towed to Kronstadt for refurbishment on Steamboat factory. On May 15, the flag and guis were hoisted on the ship, in July-August it stood in dry dock, and from January 1, 1926, it became part of the armed reserve of the MSBM. June 28 "October Revolution" made the first exit to the sea to test mechanisms with enrollment in the brigade of battleships and July 23, 1926 entered the campaign.
Restoration of the fourth battleship - "Poltava" - due to significant damage received in a fire on November 24, 1919 (the most serious was the complete burnout of the central artillery post), in the conditions of the devastation of the early 1920s, the command of the Naval forces (MS) of the Red Army considered it inappropriate. They decided to disarm the ship and transfer it to the jurisdiction of the Marine Scientific and Technical Committee (NTCM), and use mechanisms, equipment, pipelines, cables, etc. to restore and repair three other battleships. By decree of the Council of Labor and Defense (STO) dated September 2, 1924, the remnants of artillery weapons were removed from the ship.
Taking into account the state of the battleship, the Operational Directorate of the Staff of the Red Army MS proposed, following the example of other countries, to convert the Poltava, like the unfinished battle cruiser Izmail, into an aircraft carrier, but the state of the country's economy and industry did not allow this progressive idea.
In the spring of 1925, when preparing the first Soviet military shipbuilding programs, the question arose again of commissioning all four battleships, and in June, during the “Great Campaign” of the MSBM, M.V. Frunze authorized the restoration of the Poltava. Work began: six months before mid-February 1926, the Baltic Shipyard mastered up to 300 thousand rubles, and then the loan dried up.
In accordance with the six-year Program for the Construction of the Naval Forces of the Red Army, approved by the STO on November 26, 1926, the restoration of Poltava (since January 1, 1926 renamed Frunze) was postponed to 1927/28-1931/32 operational years, and the modernization of Marat planned to start in 1928. The next one was supposed to modernize the “October Revolution”, and then the “Paris Commune” (in the official correspondence of those years, these ships were often abbreviated: “OR” and “PK”).
Three Baltic battleships, thanks to which the USSR fleet ranked sixth in the world, conducted intensive combat training in the second half of the 1920s during the summer campaigns from May to November (“Paris Commune”, for example, in 1926, 1927 and 1928 traveled 2300, 3883 and 3718 miles, respectively, in 219, 292 and 310 running hours), and in winter they were repaired with limited modernization work (for example, on the same "Paris Commune" to reduce the smoke of the foremast, the top of the bow chimney was “bent” towards the stern in the winter of 1927/28).
Of the notable events in the service of the brigade of battleships in the late 1920s and early 1930s, it should be noted accidents with the battleship "October Revolution": it received a hole in the area of ​​70 -75 sp. from a ramming attack from the cruiser "Aurora" on the Great Kronstadt roadstead in the summer of 1928 and the loss of a large rudder along with a fragment of its stock (during circulation at full speed with a full rudder shift) on the Gogland reach in June 1929. The elimination of these damages was carried out in a dry dock, and the new steering wheel was removed from the Frunze battleship. In addition, in July 1929, during training shooting, from the premature opening of the lock of 120-mm gun No. 16 after a long shot, semi-charges caught fire in the casemate, which caused human casualties, and in 1931 the battleship touched the bottom of the ground, damaging the outer skin in the area from the 1st tower to the turbine section; elimination of damage in the dock took 15 days.
As for the Black Sea theater, there are hopes for the return of the General Alekseev battleship, taken away by the Whites to Bizerte (until October 1919, Volya, until April 29, 1917, Emperor Alexander III) and for the completion of the battleship launched in Nikolaev hulls of the battleship "Democracy" (until April 29, 1917 - "Emperor Nicholas I") using "equipment from ship lifting", that is, from the battleships "Empress Maria" and "Free Russia" (until April 29, 1917 - "Empress Catherine the Great"), turned out to be unrealizable. Therefore, the military-political leadership of the country decided to transfer one of the Baltic battleships to the Black Sea, since in 1930 the overhaul of the Turkish battlecruiser Yawuz (Goeben) was expected to be completed, and this could lead to an undesirable change in balance for us strength in the theatre. The choice fell on the battleship "Paris Commune", which began to prepare for the campaign.
As you know, our battleships, designed under the strong influence of the artillery specialists of the Naval General Staff, were distinguished by a relatively low freeboard (height less than 3% of the ship's length), had practically no sheer and collapse of the frames in the bow, and, in addition, had a construction trim on the bow . Therefore, at high speed, especially in fresh weather, significant masses of water fell on the tank, and the spray even reached the cuttings. To improve the seaworthiness of the ships, the Naval Scientific and Technical Committee (NTCM) in August 1927 proposed "to collapse the upper part of the board (with the help of fittings) and, perhaps, continue the board in the bow to the height of the lifeline", which required carrying out model tests in the Experimental Shipbuilding Basin (OSB).
The attachment was designed by the technical bureau of the Baltic Shipyard under the leadership of the NTKM, first in relation to the battleship Marat, which was to be the first to be upgraded, and from September 1928, the development was reoriented to the Paris Commune going on a long trip, "in order to have experience in time of similar alterations on other battleships.
For implementation, the VI version of the lining, tested in the OSB, was chosen. The work was carried out by the Baltic plant from October 1928 to May 1929. Tests of the ship with the attachment took place in May 1929 in the Gulf of Finland at speeds up to 23.5 knots. With a wind of 4-5 points in a hauled wind and the same state of the sea, the fitting "justified itself in the sense of less water getting on the forecastle, tower and bridge."
A detachment consisting of the battleship "Paris Commune" and the cruiser "Profintern" was on the campaign. An experienced sailor L. M. Galler was appointed commander of the detachment. The cruiser was commanded by A. A. Kuznetsov.
How happy Haller was when Namorsi Muklevich informed that the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR instructed him to transfer the battleship "Paris Commune" and the cruiser "Profintern" from the Baltic to the Black Sea! His candidacy, Muklevich explained, was put forward by G.P. Kireev. Of course, trust is nice, but also how wonderful it is to go out into the ocean, to go through the sea roads that were traveled in the pre-war years on the Duke of Edinburgh, on the Glory! But while the ocean was preceded by prose: work at the headquarters of the RKKF to coordinate the schedule for receiving fuel from transports during the transition, briefing at the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. And finally, another meeting with Muklevich, where Galler was told that he would receive secret instructions on the transfer of the detachment, but the main thing he should know right now: his formation would be called the practical detachment of the Baltic Sea. Only the flag officer, the commissar of the detachment and the commissars of the ships will be informed that the detachment is going to Sevastopol. Officially, the ships go to the Mediterranean for combat training in the winter, in order to then return to Kronstadt or go to Murmansk.
Returning to Kronstadt, Haller immediately began preparing the "Paris Commune" and "Profintern" for the campaign. For the first time in the years of Soviet power, ships of this class had to go to the Mediterranean Sea. The detachment was supposed to cross the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay during the winter storms and, rounding the Iberian Peninsula, pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Are the battleship and cruiser ready to withstand the violent storms of Biscay? No one could give an answer to this question: neither Sevastopol-class battleships nor Svetlana-class cruisers had ever gone beyond the Baltic Sea. The Profintern, which entered service only in July 1928, was a new ship. But this did not calm Haller: new means not yet sufficiently tested.
The "Paris Commune" was in the dock, the battleship, which had been in service for 15 years, was carefully prepared for sailing ...
By order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea dated November 15, 1929, the following composition of the command and headquarters of the detachment was announced: commander L. M. Galler, flag navigator N. A. Sakellari, assistant flag navigator B. P. Novitsky, flag mech K. G. Dmitriev, flag communications officer V M. Gavrilov. In addition, at the request of Lev Mikhailovich, teachers of the Naval Academy E. E. Shvede and P. Yu. Oras entered the headquarters of the detachment “for special assignments”. Connoisseurs of theater and international maritime law, they could come in handy. A member of the Revolutionary Military Council, the head of the political department of the fleet, G.P. Kireev, also went on a campaign.
On November 21, the head of the Naval Forces of the Red Army, R. A. Muklevich, arrived in Kronstadt. "Paris Commune" and "Profintern" were already standing on the Great Kronstadt roadstead, ready for the campaign. Namorsi held a review of the ships, made a short speech to the battleship crew: “The upcoming campaign is difficult and will be full of hardships, but there is not a single sailor left on the Kronstadt roadstead who would not envy you.” And now Haller in the cabin of the flagship receives the last parting words. Muklevich hands him a secret instruction. It states that the task at hand has "important political and military value"and" before parking in Naples, no one except you and the commissioners of the ships should know that the detachment is heading to the Black Sea. The instruction allowed informing the personnel about the march to Sevastopol only after leaving Naples. And finally, the last instruction: “Do not give interviews to newspaper reporters” (TsGAVMF, f. R-307, op. 2, d. 55, l. 100).
At 16:25 on November 22, 1929, the detachment, accompanied by destroyers, went to sea. Galler stood on the bridge of the battleship, listening to the usual words of the commands of K. I. Samoilov, the commander of the Paris Commune. In Moscow, it was proposed that A. K. Sivkov commanded the battleship on the campaign. Samoilov de has brothers abroad - in France, I think. Non-partisan, volcanic character, survived from the ship of his first mate - G. I. Levchenko. And in general ... But Lev Mikhailovich defended both him and the commander of the "Profintern" Apollo Aleksandrovich Kuznetsov, also from former officers. “And I'm from the former, Romuald Adamovich,” he said then. - In the sea the main thing is professional experience. Both Samoilov and Kuznetsov are real sailors, they will not let you down. Believe me - both patriots, everything will be all right. I vouch…” “Well, if you vouch, then I give my consent,” smiled Muklevich. And now Samoilov is in command of the battleship, and Kuznetsov is standing on the bridge on the Profintern following him. There is someone to rely on...
At Gogland they said goodbye to the destroyers, which were laying down on the return course to Kronstadt. The brigade commander wished a happy voyage with a semaphore. Then they went alone. The weather was decent for a Baltic winter - the wind was about four points. By midnight on November 24, they reached the Kiel Bay well, and here they anchored in international waters. The tanker "Railwayman" and the coal miner "Metalist" that were already waiting for the detachment were moored to the ships. Oil and coal were accepted quickly and in an organized manner, Haller was pleased: according to the calculations of the flag mech, the detachment would have enough fuel for more than two thousand miles of sailing. But stocks will still be replenished off the coast of France. Galler ordered the captain of the tanker to leave immediately and proceed to Cape Barfleur - to the northern coast of France, where the next rendezvous point for receiving oil was.
On the morning of November 26, the detachment headed for the Great Belt. We went at a 15-knot course, and the navigator, dividing forces, worked at a good pace: Sakellari led the laying, Novitsky took the bearing to the coastal landmarks - lighthouses and signs, to the impressive windmills indicated on the map. The navigator of the battleship Ya. Ya. Schmidt and S. F. Belousov helped. Soon the fog rolled in, the navigators had to take bearings in its breaks, when the shores suddenly opened up. But the Belt passed safely, the Kattegat Strait remained behind. Lev Mikhailovich, after the navigators, took the bearing to the Skagen lighthouse himself - what can you do, the commander's habit of checking. Sakellari and Novitsky will understand - this is not distrust ... Then the detachment went through the Skagerrak Strait and into the North Sea according to the number. But in the afternoon of November 27, the flagship reported to Haller about the "boiling" of water in the boilers. This happened due to the fact that the engine crews of the ships had no experience in operating mechanisms in waters with ocean salinity. Lev Mikhailovich ordered to anchor. “Let the mechanics work, look for faults in a calm environment,” he decided. “But then we’ll go without incident…”
Galler went to his cabin. Heaters breathed warmth, creating cosiness, sconces on the bulkheads dimly shone, a table lamp under green glass on the desk. Lev Mikhailovich approached the deployed general map, on which the junior navigator of the battleship periodically noted the distance traveled. The detachment anchored in the area where the first phase of the famous battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle the past world war. Here the British and German squadrons maneuvered, here the Grand Fleet of Lord Jellicoe missed the breakthrough of the High Seas Fleet of Admiral Scheer to the coast of Germany - to Helgoland and Wilhelmshafen.
Galler remembered the balance of power in large ships: the British had 28 battleships and 9 battlecruisers, the Germans have 22 and 5, respectively. And the battle, in fact, ended in a draw ...
... We anchored early on the morning of November 28, laid down on a course to the English Channel. There were squalls with rain, visibility was low - 10-20 cables. Galler, standing on the navigation bridge, listened rather than peered, trying to understand the situation ahead on the course. He ordered to take the depths of the Thomson lot in order to find approaches to Dogger Bank. Together with Sakellari and Novitsky, who plotted depth measurement points on the map, he tried to establish where the detachment was going. But there was no clear picture. For a moment, the lightship of the Outer Gabbard opened, and the darkness thickened again. Disappeared from visibility at times even the "Profintern", which went in three cables. And the determination of the place by the cruise bearing of the Outter-gabbard lighthouse turned out to be not accurate enough, it was not possible to see the floating lighthouse Galloper. Lev Mikhailovich went up to the card, figured - ahead of the bank ...
B. P. Novitsky recalls: “Assuming that we were being carried away by the tidal current, we took a course of 193 ° with the expectation of reaching the Sandetti lightship by noon. But he found a continuous fog, and at 11:20 the commander of the detachment offered to anchor. I remember that I was even angry, believing that I could calmly walk for another forty minutes. But the proposal turned into an order ... ”(Marine collection. 1964. No. 12. P. 22–23).
Galler gave the order to anchor, although he did not doubt the high navigational culture of Sakellari and Novitsky. However, caution is necessary. At 11:50 a.m., five minutes after the anchor was dropped, the fog definitely broke through. “... And we saw in 37 cables, almost to the west, the Sandetti lightship. Straight ahead, 2 miles away, was the Sandetti Bank!” - continues B. P. Novitsky. Another ten minutes of the same course, and the detachment would have been on the bank. “This is what the sea experience, flair and caution of the commander of the detachment L. M. Galler mean,” the flag navigator ends the story about this episode. But is it only flair, experience and caution?
V. A. Belli, recalling Lev Mikhailovich, emphasized that the caution inherent in him (including in navigation) was not at all intuitive, but was always based on accurate calculation. So, telling at one time about this case, Galler explained that he estimated the radius of a probable error at the place of the detachment, based on the “excellent” standard when laying by dead reckoning. And it turned out that with this acceptable "excellent" the detachment could be stranded. Then he ordered to anchor ...
The detachment arrived at the rendezvous point with the supply transports at Cape Barfleur at 4:30 November. Here the ships received oil from the tankers Zheleznodorozhnik and Sovneft, coal from the transport Proletary. It was not easy to take coal: a strong swell either raised or lowered the transport standing at the side of the battleship, and interfered with loading. But on December 2, the ships finished receiving fuel and boiler water. Now back on the road!
As soon as the ships entered the Bay of Biscay from behind the cape covering the parking lot, the strongest pitching began. The "Paris Commune" did not ascend the wave, but, as it were, cut through its thickness. The height of the incoming waves was much greater than the bulwark built on the battleship's forecastle last winter to reduce deck flooding and bow digging into the water. For the Baltic wave, this bulwark may have been good, but now the oncoming ocean wave freely broke into the forecastle. The roll of the battleship reached 29 degrees, it swayed like a roly-poly with an amplitude of seven to eight seconds. Lev Mikhailovich met each wave as if he were taking its blow with his chest. He figured: with a bow surrounded by a bulwark, the ship scooped up about a hundred tons of water, which then went overboard through the doors of the breakwater at the first tower. Will the pillers supporting the forecastle deck withstand this weight, these impacts of waves? It was hard for Profintern as well. Kuznetsov reported that he was putting on board up to 34 degrees. However, due to the high forecastle, the cruiser was flooded less than the battleship, it was clear how she climbed her nose into the wave. So far, everything was going as it should, and Lev Mikhailovich was already thinking that the Bay of Biscay, in the end, would remain astern. But late in the evening on December 3, Kuznetsov reported with a semaphore about the flow of water into the boiler room. Soon he clarified: the rivet seam of the skin had parted, the damage could not be repaired on the move. It was impossible to hesitate, and Galler ordered to lay down on a course to Brest. He decided to anchor near Wissan Island and repair the damage. However, I had to ask for permission from the naval prefect of Brest, Vice Admiral Piro, to go to the roadstead: giant waves were walking around Wissant, pitching did not allow to carry out the necessary work.
At 12:30 on December 4, the battleship and cruiser entered the Brest raid, 21 volleys of the Salute of Nations of the ships of the detachment thundered and response volleys of the coastal battery ...
Ordering Samoilov and Kuznetsov to immediately conduct a thorough inspection of the hull and mechanisms, and then immediately begin repairs, Galler went on a visit to the naval prefect. The French observed etiquette: a staff officer met the Soviet sailors on the pier, waiting for the car. The vice-admiral was also kind, offering help to repair the damage. But Haller, apologizing for his poor French, refused, asking only to supply the ships with fuel and water.
Water from small Aquarius barges was received on the same day, but the fuel was not accepted: by the evening of December 4, the wind strength began to increase, reaching 10 points. Galler ordered the "Profintern" to stand with warmed-up machines. Soon Kuznetsov reported that the anchors were not holding well, and the cruiser, in order to stay in place, was working at low speed forward. By the morning of December 5, the wind dropped to 6 points. On the "Profintern" hastily began work to eliminate the damage. By the morning of the next day, the water was pumped out, new rivets were put on the steel sheathing sheets.
The improvement in weather, however, was short-lived. And when. Galler saw off the battleship of Vice Admiral Piro, who arrived on a return visit, on the poop, the excitement again began to intensify. Together with the French, Gelfand, the secretary of the USSR embassy in France, who arrived from Paris, also went ashore. He told Kireev and Galler that Moscow was dissatisfied with the delay. The commander of the detachment was ordered to immediately continue the campaign.
15 shots of the salute due to the naval prefect thundered, and Galler climbed onto the navigation bridge. The sea seemed to be boiling: one after another, foamy shafts ran up from the sea. The loading of coal again did not take place, since it was impossible to supply barges with coal to the outer roadstead. We had to wait for at least some improvement in the weather.
Despite a strong wave, on the morning of December 6, tugboats brought two coal barges to the battleship and a barge with oil to the cruiser. The loading of fuel was completed before the weather worsened again. At night, the wind reached 10 points, the ships stood with heated engines, ready to immediately move. G.P. Kireev entered Lev Mikhailovich’s cabin, stood for a moment, tapped the barometer glass with his finger - the pressure dropped ... Then he said: “We need to get out, commander. I say this as a member of the Revolutionary Military Council ... - And grinning, he finished; “Delay is like death.” At noon on December 7, the detachment left the Brest raid. And again the ships entered into combat with the storm. On the second day, the pitching amplitude reached 38° on the battleship and 40° on the cruiser. The boats were broken and carried away by the waves, as if the visors of the ventilation shafts were cut off with a razor - "mushrooms", as they are called in the navy. Water flowed through their openings. It was necessary to remove water from the battery deck to leave those free from the watch. An even more dangerous situation developed in the boiler rooms. Here the water splashed on the paels of the platforms in front of the boilers, the drainage means could hardly cope with pumping. But another trouble lay ahead. On the third day of the fight against the storm, the waves destroyed the bow of the bulwark on the battleship, tore off half of the breakwater on the forecastle. The "Paris Commune" began to bury its nose even more into the oncoming wave.
Samoilov approached Galler, who was standing on the navigation bridge: “Lev Mikhailovich, it’s bad. Pillers in the buffet deck are bent, there is water in the deck. The hatches are leaking water, the ventilation is out of order ... ”Galler silently nodded - he understood!
Lev Mikhailovich asked to go up to the bridge of Kireev, called the chief mechanic I.P. Korzov, who reported that more than fifty tons of water were supplied to the stoker hourly, that water penetrated into the bow tower through the mamerinets and the tarpaulin of gun embrasures torn to shreds. The water has flooded the holds of the stokers, it is being pumped out, but it is dangerous near the steam lines ... “Grigory Petrovich,” Galler turned to a member of the Revolutionary Military Council, “I have never been in such storms. Imagine, there was a fertoing bracket above the casemate of gun number three. A wave dragged from the tank, and in it - 25 pounds. Then Galler led Kireev to the navigational cabin: “Look, Grigory Petrovich, a weather map ...” Navigator Belousov reported that hundreds of ships were in distress in Biscay, the air was filled with SOS signals, the speed of the detachment did not exceed four knots ...
Galler looked Kireev in the eyes and said firmly: “As the commander of the detachment, who is responsible for the lives of the crews and the ships, I decide to turn to the French coast. Now I will write down the order in the logbook ... ”Kireev did not mind.
To the south of the Brittany peninsula, between the ports of Lorian and Saint-Nazaire, there is the isle of Belle-Ile, the very one on which, according to Dumas, his musketeer heroes visited. There is a stone ridge 5–6 miles from the island, here near Quiberon Bay the battleship France was lost in the 1920s. But this is the only place recommended by the pilot for shelter from storm winds and southwest winds. Galler led the detachment here. B. P. Novitsky recalls: “We are turning back to the course 41 °. The ship lies on course for two or three minutes, then the stern runs sharply downwind, there is no way to stop it. Commander ... Samoilov tried to turn left on the move (12 knots) to the stop. But the ship turns lazily, reaches courses of 190-160 ° and does not go further. Several times he puts it in such a way that not only the casemates, side and waterway, but also the deck goes 1-2 meters into the water. The inclinometer in the navigational cabin knocks on the walls of its box. The spans were about 38–42°” (Morskoi sbornik, 1964, no. 12, p. 25).
But the turn is still necessary. “Konstantin Ivanovich, do not lay the steering wheel more than ten degrees,” Galler ordered. But that didn't help much either. “I was standing on the left wing of the navigation bridge,” Novitsky recalls, “the detachment commander on the right. Suddenly he, hugging the pellorus of the gyrocompass, hung literally over me: the ship lay completely on board and did not get up. It lasted for seconds, but it seemed like an eternity to me!
The battleship and cruiser lay down on a course of 90°, the pitching range decreased to 20–22°. Galler ordered to go this course to the shore: it was necessary to clarify their place. At 10:15 a.m. on December 9, foreman signalmen V.V. Tokarev saw the fire of the Chassiron lighthouse. The detachment was at the entrance to La Rochelle, but the ships could not enter this port because of the heavy draft. And the detachment commander ordered to go to Brest. On the evening of December 10, the detachment anchored in the Brest roadstead.
The hard and dangerous voyage is over. Only now, having had the opportunity to read the French and English newspapers, did Haller realize what exceptional storms the detachment had to face. The first storm, December 5-6, they survived, anchored in Brest and having heated cars. At this time, in the sea and the English Channel, the wind strength reached 10–12 points. The second strongest storm overtook the detachment that left Brest on December 7, somewhere in the middle of the Bay of Biscay. The storm, wrote the English newspapers, culminated on the night of 7/8 December. At this time, the wind gained hurricane strength, which is rare in this area, in any case, has not been observed since 1922. Giant waves led to the death of several English, French and Italian ships, many ships were washed ashore, dozens were seriously damaged.
The ships of the detachment needed to carry out the necessary repairs, and the help of the port workshops was needed. Lev Mikhailovich went on a visit to the shore, conveyed the corresponding request to the maritime prefect. However, Rear Admiral Berguelo, who was replacing the absent Vice Admiral Piro, was in no hurry to answer and did not show much cordiality. Workers for repairs arrived only on December 14, when the battleship was brought to the internal protected roadstead, shore disembarkation was allowed only command staff. It is clear that no one took advantage of this permission.
In those days in Brest, Galler also had to defend the honor of the Red Fleet, when the French battleship that arrived in Brest did not greet the Soviet flagship with the prescribed gun salute. P.Yu. Horace recalls that Haller immediately sent a protest to the maritime prefect on this matter. “They may not let us into their own shore, but they must respect the flag!” - he said. And the "Frenchman", apologizing, a few hours later saluted as expected, and the "Paris Commune" answered ...
The main repair work was completed by December 23: on the battleship, with the help of French workers, the remains of the bulwark were removed and a new breakwater was installed, several pillars were replaced, and the electric drive of the steering gear was repaired on the cruiser. On December 26, the detachment left Brest, and two days later Biscay was already astern. On December 30, the ships passed the Strait of Gibraltar. The weather was excellent, the southern sun warmed, and Lev Mikhailovich rested for the first time in a month of camp life. Good in the Mediterranean!
On the morning of January 1, the ships anchored in neutral waters near Cagliari Bay, and the acceptance of fuel from the Plekhanov Black Sea transport began. The chief mates immediately organized the washing of the sides and superstructures, and touch-up. Soon the Italian authorities showed courtesy by inviting Soviet ships to move to the Cagliari raid. On January 6, the battleship and cruiser dropped anchor only two miles from the military port. Lev Mikhailovich immediately went on a visit to the Italian naval command and the mayor of the city, then received return visits on board the Paris Commune. The Italian command willingly allowed the Soviet sailors to go ashore. For the first time in a month and a half, hundreds of Red Navy men set foot on solid ground.
On January 9, the detachment was already approaching Naples, volleys of the Salute of Nations thundered, then the salute of the commander of the naval district. And here the teams visited the shore more than once. For the entire stay in Naples, as in Cagliari, not a single violation of discipline. And a flurry of visits fell upon the commander of the detachment. Lev Mikhailovich visited the chief of staff of the commander of the South Tyrrhenian Maritime District, Captain Miraglia, the commander of the army corps, General Taranto and the division commander, General Bonstrocchi, the deputy commander of the police, General Longo, the deputy high commissioner of the province of Naples and the mayor of the city. Then he received return visits for two days. Representatives of the Italian authorities spoke flatteringly about Russian sailors: they visit museums, visited Pompeii, there are no drunks, no scandals, they are kind and fit! Lev Mikhailovich remembered for a long time about another event of those days - a meeting with Maxim Gorky. On January 13, Alexey Maksimovich visited the ships of the detachment. Only half an hour was Haller with him in a narrow circle: they drank tea in the cabin of the flagship. Kireev for the owner, Samoilov and the commissar of the battleship Kezhuts were present. But this time was enough to understand: the writer is closely following what is happening in the USSR, he knows a lot about the cultural life in Leningrad. For example, he asked: are there commanders at exhibitions of artists and at which ones, how do they treat new trends - Filonov, Malevich, what they read ...
At 10:00 on January 14, Haller appointed an exit to the sea. In the cockpits and wardrooms they wondered - where will he go squad? There were rumors: to Murmansk, until spring ... Two hours before the departure, Kireev and Galler gathered commanders and commissars, the headquarters of the detachment on the battleship. Galler announced: by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, the ships were going to Sevastopol. Teams report this with access to the sea. On the way, provocative actions of the British fleet are possible - to remain vigilant. And now the detachment is drawn into the Messianic Strait.
All the time that the detachment went to the Aegean Sea, it was accompanied by English ships. They disappeared on the horizon at Cape Matapan, after they established the movement of Soviet ships to the Dardanelles. On January 16, Haller signed a radiogram to Istanbul addressed to the chairman of the international Strait Commission, reporting on the upcoming movement to the Black Sea. On the night of January 17, the ships passed the Dardanelles and entered the Sea of ​​Marmara. In the morning we passed San Stefano, a small town on the European coast. Lev Mikhailovich touched Kireev on the shoulder: “Look, Grigory Petrovich, do you see the town? A little more than fifty years ago, here, it seemed, the straits were forever opened for Russia and closed for her enemies. And friendly Bulgaria was supposed to stand side by side on guard of our interests. It didn't work out. Bismarck betrayed Russia, England and France deprived us of the fruits of victory…” “It's all Milik's tricks that are playing in you,” Kireev responded. Galler frowned: “Don't tell me… How much Russian soldier's blood was shed. It turned out - in vain. True, the Bulgarians were released ... "
At 09:20 on January 17, the detachment entered the Bosporus, and the cannon salute of the nations rang out. On the mast of the battleship, the flags of the signal according to the international code rinsed in the wind: "Greetings to the Turkish nation, government, fleet." At 11:34 a.m., the Bosphorus remained astern, here it is, the Black Sea! Lev Mikhailovich called the flag signalman, wrote a radiogram to Sevastopol in the journal: “... we arrive on January 18th. Commander of the practical detachment of the Baltic Sea Haller. He touched his mustache, looked merrily at Samoilov: “Come on, Konstantin Ivanovich! Order to give fresh water to the baths and showers, watchmen to wash and wash. And tell the Profintern about the same. Chernomortsy are famous for cleanliness and order, no matter how the Baltics do not let us down!
The Black Sea winter wave also heeled the ships of the detachment, snow pellets fell, but the Crimea was getting closer and closer. Around noon on January 18, the shores of the Crimea appeared through the mist. At Cape Aya, the detachment was met by destroyers and seaplanes, and “cheers” broke out from the ships of the Baltic and Black Sea. Having traveled 6270 miles in 57 days in difficult winter weather conditions, the battleship and cruiser stood on barrels in the Sevastopol Bay.
Back in Sevastopol, during the days of the transfer of ships to the Black Sea Naval Forces, Galler read the order on Naval Forces Red Army No. 13 dated January 18, 1930, signed by R. A. Muklevich: “... today I had the opportunity with great satisfaction to report to the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR that the personnel of the battleship Paris Commune and the cruiser Profintern, having shown in conditions of a long and heavy swimming high political, moral and physical qualities and overcoming all the difficulties that stood in the way, fully justified the hopes placed on him and successfully completed the task assigned to him ... "The replenishment of the Soviet fleet on the Black Sea with a battleship and a cruiser was of great importance, fully appreciated already during the Great Patriotic War. These ships made a significant contribution to the victory over the enemy, acting as part of a squadron commanded by the remarkable flagship L.A. Vladimirsky.

After severe injury Russian fleet in the war of 1904-1905, the loss of almost all battleships and the rapid development of battleships that began in the same years, indicated by the appearance of the English Dreadnought, the restoration of the Russian battleship fleet was an extremely important task. It was planned to build a series of "armored ships" (battleships) primarily for the Baltic Sea, taking into account world trends in military shipbuilding and the experience gained in the Russo-Japanese War.
Back in 1906, the drafting of the terms of reference for the design of a dreadnought-class ship, initiated by the Main Naval Staff, began.

(Gangut)

And in April 1907, Emperor Nicholas II was presented with 4 options for the development program for the navy. According to the project approved by him, it was planned to build four battleships for operations in the Baltic, and in the summer of that year a competition was announced for the project of a Russian dreadnought, which had an international character. At the end of 1907, invitations were sent to firms - future participants in the competition, containing and developed by the Naval General Staff tactical and technical requirements.

(Empress Maria)

The TTT indicated a design displacement of ~ 20,000 tons, a speed of 21 knots. The armament was to consist of at least 8 main caliber guns (305 mm) and 20 medium caliber anti-mine guns (120 mm). Armor protection was planned in the range of 130-200 mm along the belt, more than 200 mm along the towers.
6 Russian enterprises and 21 foreign firms took part in the competition, including the British Vickers and Armstrong, the German Blom und Voss and Shihau, and many others. Under the terms of the tender, the construction of the ships was to be carried out at domestic shipyards, but with the maximum involvement of the winning company. The evaluation of the proposed projects was entrusted to the Marine Technical Committee (the shipbuilding department of which was headed by A.N. Krylov since 1908), with the complicity of the Naval General Staff.

(Andrew the First-Called)

By February 28, the ITC received a total of 51 projects, of which four were clearly in the lead: the dreadnought of the German company Blom und Voss, the battleship of the Baltic Plant (chief designers - I. G. Bubnov and N. N. Kuteinikov), the battleship of the Italian company "Ansaldo" (chief designer - V. Cuniberti) and the project " Far East"Colonel L. L. Coromaldi. These ships differed quite noticeably among themselves: for example, german version it was characterized by a rather wide body with a large volume of side compartments and a high placement of powder magazines; the domestic project had a linear-step placement of gun turrets and a "compressed" silhouette; the Cuniberti project was distinguished by the original layout of the engine room, and the Coromaldi project by a non-standard installation of anti-mine artillery. Unfortunately, all four options were united by one drawback - relatively weak protection. The ITC recognized the development of Blom und Voss as the best, followed by the Russian and Italian. MGSH, on the contrary, put forward the Cuniberti project in first place, giving second place to the Germans, and third to Coromaldi.

(Sevastopol)

However, the final verdict of the jury was influenced by politics: the French government intervened, fearing the possibility of placing an order with a potential adversary. "Blom und Voss" was excluded from the competition, and the battleship of the Baltic Shipyard moved to the first place, which some saw as a consequence of a behind-the-scenes struggle, because the actual chairman of the jury, A. N. Krylov, contributed to the design of this ship.
In 1908 - early 1909, work was underway to improve the project and eliminate the identified design flaws. In May 1909, the drawings of the battleship were approved by the ITC, and, by decision of the Minister of the Sea, S. A. Voevodsky, the Baltic Shipyard began immediate preparations for the construction of four battleships. On July 3, the battleships named "Sevastopol" and "Petropavlovsk" were laid down at the Baltic Shipyard, and the battleships "Gangut" and "Poltava" were laid down at the Admiralty Shipyard. On June 16, the lead battleship, Sevastopol, was launched into the water in a festive atmosphere, but further completion was delayed. The ships were completed and entered service only at the end of 1914.

(Gangut)

(Poltava)

(Petropavlovsk)

(Sevastopol)

The Sevastopol-class battleships had the greatest length of 181.2 m with a width of 26.9 m and a draft of 8.5-9 m. The hull consisted of a base of 150 frame frames and a keel beam, and steel plates from three grades of steel that formed the hull and armor belt. The ships had three decks and a total of fifteen watertight bulkheads that divided the hull into compartments. The central armor belt varied in thickness from 225 mm (the side of the hull that covered the turret magazines, from the 1st to the 4th gun turret, which was more than 110 m) to 100-125 mm in the bow and stern. The upper belt was noticeably inferior in thickness (75-125 mm) to the main one. Armor of decks and bulkheads ranged from 50 to 12 mm. The vertical walls of the two conning towers were protected by 250 mm steel, while their horizontal armor was 70-120 mm.

Gun turrets in the amount of four were placed linearly; the firing sector of the 2nd and 3rd towers was partially blocked by conning towers and pipes, so they opened joint fire at heading angles from 25 to 155 degrees; thus, the total sector of the space covered by all guns was 130 degrees on each side. Frontal and side turret armor - 203 mm, rear - 305 mm (to give static balance), roof armor - 75 mm.

Each turret was equipped with three 305-mm guns with a barrel length of 52 caliber. A 471-kilogram projectile left the barrel at a speed of 762 m / s (muzzle energy - 136 MJ). The elevation angles of the guns varied within -5 / +25 degrees, the horizontal guidance speed - up to 3 degrees / s. The turret space was occupied by cellars (100 shots for each turret, shells and powder semi-charges were stored separately) and mechanisms for loading and aiming guns with electric or electro-hydraulic drives. The loading cycle, depending on the elevation angle, ranged from 40 to 60 seconds, and, as a result, the maximum total minute salvo was 18 shots.

Sixteen 120-mm guns, designed for self-defense against destroyers, were installed in the casemates of the upper deck along the side. The guns were covered with semi-annular armored shields, which rotated together with the ball bearings of the guns. Their ammunition load was 250 (later 300) rounds.
Additional armament - according to the project, eight 75-mm, four 63.5-mm and the same number of 47-mm anti-aircraft guns, but in the end the ships were equipped with only two 75-mm and one 47-mm guns. The battleships were also armed with four 450 mm torpedo tubes.

In the boiler room, 25 steam boilers of the Yarrow system were installed, two types of boilers were used - three small ones with a heating surface area of ​​311.9 square meters. meters and 22 large (375.6 sq. m.). Six boilers worked on fuel oil, the rest - on coal. The standard fuel supply was 816 tons of coal and 200 tons of oil, full - 1500 and 700 tons, respectively, reinforced - 2500 and 1100. The main power plant was formed by ten steam turbines of the Parsons system, which worked on four propeller shafts, and condensers. The standard turbine power is 32,000 hp. With. - gave the ship a speed of 21.75 knots, when forcing up to 42,000 hp. With. speed increased to 23 knots. The ship was driven by four propellers with a diameter of 3.28 m, and the control was carried out by two rudders. Finally, the mooring equipment consisted of three Hall anchors.

In general, the first Russian dreadnoughts deserved very mixed ratings. On the one hand, they were characterized by extremely powerful weapons: the 305-mm guns of the Obukhov plant were considered the best in the world, they were distinguished by very high accuracy, firing range (23 km versus 18-20 for English and German guns of the same caliber) and barrel survivability. Among other advantages of the "Sevastopol" it is necessary to note the small area of ​​the silhouette and the high speed. However, the rest of the performance characteristics of the ships looked mediocre.
The main drawback of Russian battleships was weak protection. A similar thickness of armor was more suitable for battlecruisers: for comparison, Sevastopol's contemporaries - German dreadnoughts of the Nassau class - with a smaller displacement had armor of the main belt and conning towers up to 300 mm, towers - up to 280 mm. With later dreadnoughts, especially with the British Royal Sovereigns and the German Bayerns, Russian battleships were not at all comparable. In this design feature - an attempt to solve the issue of protection due to speed, not armor - there was an uncritical analysis of naval battles Russo-Japanese War. The cruising range was also low - only 1625 miles with a 13-knot course with a standard fuel supply, which was explained by the unsuccessful design of the power plants.

Unfortunately, the shortcomings of the Sevastopol-class battleships turned out to be so serious that they actually put an end to their combat career. The unacceptable vulnerability (especially of the powder magazines) of the ships forced the Russian naval command to keep these battleships as a reserve throughout the First World War: they spent most of the time at the parking lot in Helsingfors, although in 1915 they took part in maneuvers and in operations to restoration of minefields in the Irben Strait, providing cover for the destroyers. Such a service became one of the reasons for the spread of revolutionary sentiments among the crews of battleships: in particular, the influence of the Bolsheviks was especially strong on the Gangut, and the Socialist-Revolutionaries on the Poltava. The sailors of the Baltic battleships took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1917 and, subsequently, in the Civil War.

According to the Brest Peace, battleships were required to be withdrawn from bases in Finland. On March 17, 1918, all four ships of the Sevastopol class arrived in Kronstadt. In October 1918, "Gangut" and "Poltava", which became problematic to maintain in combat readiness, went to "long-term storage". Only Sevastopol and Petropavlovsk remained in service. It was these ships that took part in the dramatic events of March 1 - 18, 1921 - the Kronstadt mutiny. For two weeks, the battleships fired at the Krasnoflotsky fort, which remained loyal to the government, and the cities of Sestroretsk and Oranienbaum, trying to prevent the concentration of the Red Army forces preparing to storm Kronstadt. They capitulated only on the night of March 18.
After the fall of Kronstadt, the rebellious crews were filtered and repressed. The composition of the teams was almost completely replaced, and later, on March 31, at the general meeting of the sailors, the ships received new names: Sevastopol became the Paris Commune, and Petropavlovsk became Marat.

At the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) in the spring of 1921, a program for the restoration of the navy was adopted. However, the situation of the country's economy remained extremely difficult, and the three surviving battleships of the Sevastopol type (Poltava completely went out of action during a fire on November 25, 1919) became the last ships of this class that had military potential: the completion of the battleship Nikolay I and four battlecruisers of the Izmail class was not possible.
The technical condition of the battleships was catastrophic and required immediate repairs. It was only partially implemented in 1924-1925, which, however, made it possible to make a trip abroad, during which "Marat" and "Paris Commune" visited the Kiel Bay. Restoration measures were also carried out on the "Gangut", renamed the "October Revolution".

During the second half of the 20s - 30s. battleships underwent a major modernization, during which the boilers were transferred to oil heating (22 boilers were installed on the Marat, 12 boilers of increased productivity were installed on the October Revolution), auxiliary power units were replaced, fire control systems were improved, the design of the bow superstructure, front pipes and foremasts, installed a bow fitting with a closed forecastle. In addition, on the October Revolution and the Paris Commune, horizontal armor and anti-aircraft weapons were somewhat strengthened, and on the last ship, the main caliber artillery was modernized: the elevation angle was now 40 degrees, and the rate of fire was 2-2.2 rounds per minute. The total displacement after the measures taken exceeded 26,000 tons.
In the 30s. Soviet battleships repeatedly went to sea, visiting foreign harbors. "Paris Commune" was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet. Later, before the start of the Great Patriotic War, work was carried out on the ships to further increase number of anti-aircraft guns.

The fate of "Sevastopol" during the war years was different. "Marat" took part in the defense of Leningrad, interrupted on September 23, 1941: on that day, as a result of a German air raid, the ship received severe damage, during which the hull was destroyed and settled on the ground, and the bow, along with the superstructure and the first tower, sank. Later, in 1943, "Marat" was restored as a non-self-propelled floating battery; in this form, he supported the fire of his artillery Soviet troops during the Krasnoselsko-Ropsha and Vyborg operations. In 1950, she was renamed "Volkhov" and soon reorganized into a non-self-propelled training vessel. In September 1953, it was scrapped.

"October Revolution" participated in the same military operations as "Marat". On September 23, she also came under air attack, but received minor damage. July 22, 1944 the ship was awarded the order Red Banner. In 1956, the battleship was excluded from the lists of the fleet and cut into metal in 1957.
"Paris Commune" by November 1941 was relocated to the port of Poti. In November-December, the battleship appeared twice near Sevastopol and delivered powerful artillery strikes against the advancing German troops. In 1942, the ship repeatedly acted against German units and fortifications on the Kerch Peninsula. In total, during the war, he made 15 military campaigns without receiving a single serious injury. On May 31, 1943, he was given back his former name - "Sevastopol", and in 1945 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The ship's journey ended in 1957 at the Glavvtorchermet base in Sevastopol.

1941 was marked by a fierce struggle on the South Ukrainian front. The battle was for Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet was based.

They make up 30 bays that are never covered with ice. Vessels of any displacement and draft can stop here. The strategic importance of Sevastopol was obvious. The Caucasus remained out of reach for the Wehrmacht as long as the Sevastopol Bay was defended by the Black Sea fleet.

An attempt at lightning-fast capture of the city and the bay failed in the autumn of 1941. In winter, the Germans launched another offensive. By the end of December German forces only 2 km left Sevastopol bay and they prepared hard for the attack.

At the height of the battle, a hail of shells of gigantic destructive power rained down from the sea towards the enemy. The enemy forces were swept away by the artillery of the battleship Paris Commune. Storming of Sevastopol by forces german army crashed.

Battleship, or is a very complex and powerful structure. The size of such a ship can be as large as two football fields, and the height - from the battleship is armed with large-caliber long-range double-barreled artillery, and is also protected by armor. All this makes the ship a real floating fortress. Not a single floating object is capable of withstanding the pressure of a battleship. By 1941, the USSR had three battleships: "Paris Commune" (Black Sea), "Marat" (Baltic Sea) and "October Revolution" (Baltic Sea). Battleships were built back in pre-revolutionary times according to one project. Several innovative solutions favorably distinguished these ships. First of all, the role was played not by a steam engine, but by 4 Towers of the main caliber equipped with not two, but three guns. The towers were arranged in a line, which made it possible to fire 12 guns at the same time.

The battleship "Paris Commune" was previously called "Sevastopol". The ship's displacement was 23,300 tons. The armament consisted of three towers with 12 guns and 16 guns in side casemates. For the creation of this giant, 40 million rubles, or 30 tons of gold, were allocated from the imperial treasury. 1220 people - so many people were required to serve, maintain and manage such a ship. These were soldiers and officers of the Paris Commune. It was the most accurate and long-range battleship in the world.

The revolution transferred Sevastopol to the Red Fleet. The ship was named "Paris Commune". Until 1930, the base of the battleship was on the Baltic Sea, and then it was sent to the Black Sea, where it was completely modernized. As a result, the displacement of the ship and the number of crew were increased. But despite the difficult conditions of service, the soldiers and officers of the "Paris Commune" were proud of their ship.

The Black Sea Fleet was designed to provide the Soviet Union with complete dominance in the Black Sea and destroy any enemy. And it seemed completely real, because the fleet included the Paris Commune ship, 47 submarines, 19 destroyers and 5 cruisers. Under the terms of international treaties, Germany did not have the right to sail ships on the Black Sea. Turkey had only one powerful ship. Only Italy looked like a serious opponent. Her fleet had 4 battleships, 59 destroyers, 22 cruisers and 110 submarines.

The legendary ship met in the raid, and at midnight was put on alert. Already at 3 o'clock in the morning the battleship repulsed the first raid of fascist aviation.

Later, the Germans sent their best forces to destroy the Paris Commune. The ship saved Soviet soldiers on land more than once when the Germans were on the outskirts of Sevastopol. Thanks to the crew of the ship and its excellent weapons, it was possible to beat off attack after attack. After some time, the ship ceased to participate in military operations, as the threat from aviation was too great. But his team went ashore and joined the ranks of those fighting on land.

The battleship lowered the flag only in 1957, which ended the great era of artillery ships.

On June 3, 1909, the battleship Sevastopol was laid down at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg (simultaneously with three ships of the same type Petropavlovsk, Gangut, Poltava). And on November 17, 1914, Sevastopol was enrolled in the Baltic Fleet.
During the First World War, Sevastopol was part of the first brigade of battleships, although the Baltic battleships almost did not take part in hostilities. During the civil war, Sevastopol participated in the defense of Petrograd.

And in March 1921, an anti-Bolshevik uprising broke out on the battleship and other ships of the Baltic Fleet located in Kronstadt. Sevastopol fired on the Krasnaya Gorka Fort, which remained loyal to Soviet power, on the cities of Oranienbaum and Sestroretsk, and on the railway stations located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. It turned out that four Baltic battleships ended up on opposite sides of the barricades. Gangut and Poltava were in long-term storage in Petrograd, and the active Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol became the initiators of the rebellion.
After the fall of Kronstadt on March 18, 1921, new crews arrived in Sevastopol and Petropavlovsk. And on March 31, the general meeting of sailors decided to rename Sevastopol to the Paris Commune, and Petropavlovsk to Marat.

The difficult economic situation of the young Soviet Russia after the civil war did not allow the construction of more advanced dreadnoughts.

After the end of the civil war, the Tenth Party Congress in the spring of 1921 decided to restore the navy. By the time the program for the revival of the fleet was adopted, the technical condition of the battleships was very deplorable - only one Marat could move independently. But even Marat needed immediate repairs. In addition, the Baltic dreadnoughts were catastrophically lagging behind their foreign counterparts, so the question of their speedy modernization was especially acute.

Modernization began with Marat. For three years, the boilers were completely replaced on the battleship, the cruising turbines that did not justify themselves were removed, the communication and navigation systems were improved, diesel generators and other auxiliary mechanisms and devices were replaced. Also, the bow superstructure underwent a significant alteration, the hull was equipped with a bow attachment with a closed forecastle, and a simple foremast was replaced with a tower-like one. Thanks to the modernization carried out during trials in 1931, Marat reached a speed of 23.8 knots (which was a very good result), but the armor and armament of the battleship remained the same.

In those years, the ships of the Baltic Fleet "opened the season" of navigation in May. Alone and as part of detachments, they walked around the Gulf of Finland, performing various evolutions, artillery and torpedo firing, repelling "attacks" of submarines, etc. The study ended with general fleet autumn maneuvers. From December to April, ice fettered the Marquis Puddle. The ships wintered in Kronstadt harbors or at the berths of Leningrad factories.
In 1929, in order to extend the training period and give the crews good seamanship, it was decided to make a long voyage in winter storms. A detachment consisting of the battleship "Paris Commune" and the cruiser "Profintern" went on a campaign. An experienced sailor L. M. Galler was appointed commander of the detachment. The cruiser was commanded by A. A. Kuznetsov. The detachment was to pass from Kronstadt through Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean to Naples and back. Entry was planned only in Naples, and the ships had to refuel several times from transports at sea. Considering that the return to the Baltic might be difficult due to the ice situation, the possibility of returning the detachment to Murmansk was envisaged.

On November 22, the ships left the Great Kronstadt roadstead. Having safely passed the autumn Baltic, the detachment anchored in the Nile Bay late in the evening of November 24. Having taken fuel from the transports, the next day they continued the campaign. The Bay of Biscay met the ships with a fierce storm. On December 4, having saluted the nations, the ships entered the outer roadstead of Brest. And the storm kept getting stronger. Even in the roads the wind reached 10 points. Standing at two anchors, the ships continuously worked with “small forward” turbines. When the ships again entered the Bay of Biscay, the storm reached hurricane force - winds up to 12 points, waves 10 meters high and 100 long. The battleship received heavy damage, burying its nose in a wave. Its deck was hidden under water up to the first tower. When, under the impact of the waves, the bow fitting collapsed on it, the commander of the detachment decided to return to Brest.

On December 10, the detachment again came to the raid of Brest. The battleship moved to the inner road for repairs. Anchoring in the open road gave only a short rest to the exhausted sailors. The fact is that local authorities did not allow the dismissal of teams ashore. Commanders could only go to the city on business visits. Two weeks later, the repair of the battleship was completed and the ships were ready for the campaign, but due to the incessant storm, the exit was postponed.
Only on December 26 did the detachment leave Brest, now for good. The Bay of Biscay was at last astern; rounding Cape San Vincent, the ships headed for Gibraltar.

Having met the coming year 1930 at sea, on January 1, the detachment arrived in the bay of Cagliarna Sardinia. Transports with fuel and water were already waiting here. On January 6, permission was received to enter the harbor of the city of Cagliari and leave the teams ashore. For the first time in a month and a half, sailors could feel solid ground under their feet. On January 8, the ships left the hospitable Cagliari, and the next day they arrived in Naples, the ultimate goal of the campaign.

The command of the detachment understood that it would not be easy for damaged ships with tired crews to make their way back through the stormy Atlantic to the Kola Peninsula. Haller sent a telegram to Moscow with a request to be allowed to go to the Black Sea, where to make a thorough repair and return to Kronstadt in the spring. But there was no answer. At 10 o'clock on January 14, the ships left the harbor of Naples and headed for Gibraltar, and at that time the long-awaited answer was received from Moscow. "Good" to enter Sevastopol was received. The Mediterranean and Aegean seas were passed, the ships entered the Dardanelles. At noon on January 17, the detachment entered the Black Sea. Met by the Black Sea destroyers, "Paris Commune" and "Profintern" entered Sevastopol on January 18, 1930. The campaign, which showed the good sea skills of the sailors of the young Soviet fleet, ended. For 57 days, the ships traveled 6269 miles.

It was decided not to return the battleship and the cruiser to the Baltic, but to include them in the Black Sea Naval Forces. So the Black Sea Fleet somewhat unexpectedly received at its disposal its flagship for the next decades.

During this campaign, my great-grandfather, Kokorin Vissarion, served on the battleship Paris Commune. Unfortunately, only a few photos remain.

Please note that the route of the hike Kronstadt - Sevastopol is marked on the background picture

Left - Kokorin Vissarion.

The battleship Paris Commune was overhauled and modernized in Sevastopol in 1933-1938 on the basis of the Sevastopol Marine Plant. During this repair, significant work was carried out to modernize the ship: changed power plant- 12 boilers of higher steam capacity were switched to oil heating only, the thickness of the roofs of the main battery towers was increased to 152 mm, the thickness of the armor plates of the middle deck was increased to 75 mm, the height of the embrasures of the main caliber towers was increased, the vertical aiming angle of the guns and the firing range were increased accordingly, anti-torpedo boules were made , new communication and fire control systems were installed, the front tube was given a characteristic bevel back, the bow was changed and made more perfect to reduce deck flooding at full speed. In addition, six 76-mm anti-aircraft guns were openly installed on the bow and stern turrets.

The first day of the war, June 22, 1941, the battleship met under the command of Captain 1st Rank F.I. Kravchenko as part of a squadron in Sevastopol, at 4.49 went into readiness No. 1. During October 600 people personnel ship weaved a camouflage net with an area of ​​4000 sq.m. On November 1, at night, at the head of a detachment of warships, the battleship left for Poti due to the threat of enemy air strikes from the captured airfields of Crimea.

On November 8, 1941, the battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna took part in the fighting near Sevastopol for the first time. A month later, the battleship again approached Sevastopol and opened fire on the enemy's battle formation. This time, 13 tanks, 8 guns, 4 tractors, 37 vehicles with military supplies and up to a semi-battalion of infantry were destroyed.
On January 5, 1942, the battleship left Novorossiysk and, guarding the destroyer, Boyky headed for the Crimean coast to provide fire support for the 44th Army that had landed there. In 27 minutes, 168 shells of the main caliber were fired.
In the second half of March 1942, going into Kerch Strait guarding the leader Tashkent, the destroyers Zheleznyakov and Boykiy, on the night of March 21 and 22, the battleship made two fire raids, firing more than 300 shells of the main caliber at the enemy’s fortifications on the Kerch Peninsula. During the shooting, the sailors noticed that fragments of metal flew off the gun barrels, which indicated the limiting wear of the ship's weapons. Therefore, having returned to Poti, the Paris Commune got up for repairs.

On April 12, all main caliber barrels were replaced, and at the same time, an average repair of anti-mine caliber firing control devices, elevators and optical instruments was carried out. However, the active combat activity of the battleship Paris Commune ended. The desperate situation near Sevastopol forced the commander of the Black Sea Fleet at the end of May to propose to the Headquarters to use the battleship to transfer 25 KV tanks to Sevastopol, but no one agreed to this, and the ship did not leave Poti until the end of hostilities. Only once, on September 12, 1942, he was transferred to Batumi, but after the start of a successful offensive near Stalingrad on November 25, he was returned back to Poti. On May 31, 1943, the name Sevastopol was restored to the battleship.

Once again, they wanted to use the battleship to provide fire support for the landing of amphibious assault troops in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe village of Ozereyka, but the lack of dominance at sea forced it to be replaced by the less valuable cruiser Krasny Krym. Partially, the ship participated in the Novorossiysk landing operation, when in September 1943 part of the 120-mm guns were removed from it and installed as a separate Sevastopol coastal battery.

In total, during the war, the battleship made 15 military campaigns, covering 7,700 miles, fired 10 artillery fires at enemy positions near Sevastopol and on the Kerch Peninsula. The anti-aircraft artillery of the ship repelled 21 air attacks and shot down 3 aircraft. On November 5, 1944, the battleship under the flag of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky, at the head of the squadron, entered the roadstead of the liberated Sevastopol.

Kokorin Vissarion died in 1942 in the Rostov region.

On July 24, 1954, Sevastopol was reclassified into a training battleship, and on February 17, 1956 it was excluded from the lists of the Navy ships in connection with the transfer to the stock property department for dismantling and sale, on July 7, 1956, it was disbanded and in 1956-1957 it was cut up on the basis of Glavvtorchermet in Sevastopol for metal.

At the end of 1941, a fierce battle unfolded on the southern Ukrainian front for the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol, which is located in the south-west of the Crimean peninsula and is a unique harbor.

The Sevastopol Bay consists of 30 deep-water non-freezing bays, which can receive ships of any displacement and any draft. The Wehrmacht High Command was well aware of the strategic importance of Sevastopol. Through the Crimea - the shortest route to the Caucasus, but as long as the Soviet navy, the strongest in the Black Sea, was here, the Germans could not capture the oil fields of Grozny and Baku.

In autumn, Wehrmacht military units invaded the Crimea, but the attempt to capture Sevastopol on the move failed. In December, having pulled up reserves from Army Group South, the Germans again went on the offensive. The main blow was delivered in the northern sector in the direction of the Sevastopol Bay. Here were the parking of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet. Reinforcements were brought here by sea, Combat vehicles and ammunition for the defenders of the city.

On the morning of December 29, 1941, the advance units of the German 22nd Infantry Division were preparing to attack. Only 2 km remained to the Sevastopol Bay. The last throw of the assault battalions and the goal of the offensive is achieved - the Black Sea Fleet will lose its base and the fortress will fall.

A division of self-propelled guns was moving along the front line, artillery batteries were deployed. Suddenly, a low humming sound came from the direction of the Sevastopol Bay. It was the ship's howler siren. A moment later, a devastating flurry of shells of enormous destructive power covered the German positions. The infantrymen were covered in a wave of sand and stones, the assault guns flew up and turned over like toys. This crushing blow was dealt by the artillery of the battleship " Paris Commune". The guns of the main caliber literally at close range from a distance of 30 km shot the German units. The shelling was carried out directly from the city center from the building of the "refrigerator" in the South Bay. The December general assault on the city ended in failure.

the fate of the battleship "Paris Commune"

The largest and most powerful among surface ships. The most complex technical structure the size of two football fields and the height of a multi-storey building. The main weapon of the battleship is large-caliber long-range double-barreled artillery, and the armor protection makes the battleship a floating fortress. In battle, such a ship is capable of destroying any enemy floating object, while remaining invulnerable itself. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War Soviet Union had three battleships" Marat», « October Revolution » who served in the Baltic, and battleship « Paris Commune" - on the Black Sea. All of them were built before the revolution according to a single project. The design of the ship was based on several revolutionary solutions. For example, instead of a steam engine, a lighter and more economical four steam turbines were chosen as a power plant, with a total capacity of 61,000 hp. For the first time in the world, the main battery turrets were equipped with three instead of two guns and were arranged in a line. This made it possible to fire immediately from 12 barrels of any side. Lead ship of the series, future battleship « Paris Commune"was called" Sevastopol". The battleship with a displacement of 23,300 tons carried 12 305 mm guns in three turrets and 16 120 mm guns in side casemates. The cruising range was 3,000 miles at an economical speed of 24 knots. Served on a warship 1220 sailors and officers. The construction of this giant cost the imperial treasury 40 million rubles (at 1914 prices, 30 tons of gold). The large cannons of this battleship fired farthest and most accurately than anyone in the world. The rational layout of the main battery turrets allowed the battleship gunners to fire two volleys per minute. The 105 mm gun fired shells weighing 470 kg for 24 km. To work with such heavy ammunition, muscular strength was not enough, so electric and hydraulic drives were used in the feed and load mechanisms. The casemate 120 mm guns of the battleship were also the best in the world. They made it possible to shoot 32 kg shells at 14 km. After the revolution, the battleship "Sevastopol" became part of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet. In 1921, the Kronstadt rebellion broke out. The crews of the battleships "Petropavlovsky" and "Sevastopol" opposed the Bolsheviks under the slogan "Power to the Soviets." Units of the Red Army under the command of Mikhail Tukhachevsky were sent to fight the rebels. As a result, the uprising was crushed. The crews of the battleships were replaced, and the ships received new names. Petropavlovsk» called « Marat», « Sevastopol» - « Paris Commune". Until 1930, the battleship "Paris Commune" served in the Baltic, but then was sent to the Black Sea. At the end of 1930, the ship underwent a complete modernization at the Sevastopol Marine Plant. First of all, the power supply of the power plant was replaced. Previously, the ship's steam boilers worked on "prune", as the sailors jokingly called coal. Before each exit to the sea, the crew of the ship manually loaded it into coal pits - 2000 tons, and then with the help of rags, water and soap, the sailors removed the sticky coal dust. All personnel were engaged in this hard work throughout the day. Also battleship had the so-called aviation weapons. A catapult was placed on the third tower, from which a reconnaissance aircraft took off. But later they abandoned it, since in a real battle it only interfered with firing from the main caliber guns. The displacement of the modernized battleship increased to 31,000 tons, and the crew to 1,730 people. This led to a deterioration in living conditions on the battleship. In some cabins, one sailor accounted for less than 1 square. meters of living space. But, despite everyday difficulties, the sailors were proud of their service on the battleship, which they called the "Parisian".

battleship "Paris Commune" photo

The southern theater of operations occupied an important place in the pre-war plans of the Soviet command. The navy was supposed to destroy any enemy and ensure dominance in the Black Sea. At first glance, this task looked quite real, because in addition to the battleship, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet included " Paris Commune» 5 more cruisers, 19 leaders destroyers and 47 submarines. Potential adversary Germany, according to international agreements and economic conditions, could not bring ships into the Black Sea. Turkey had only one powerful ship. A really serious opponent was another allied country to Hitler - Italy. Mussolini's fleet was armed with 4 modern battleships, 22 cruisers, 59 destroyers and 110 submarines. In the event of a military conflict, a breakthrough of a large Italian-German squadron through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus into the Black Sea was possible. Here, the adversaries were met by the advance detachment of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, led by the battleship " Paris Commune". The outcome of the confrontation was decided in an artillery battle between squadrons. That's how they saw the script. future war Soviet sailors in the Black Sea.

June 22, 1941 battleship " Paris Commune"I met on the roads of Sevastopol. At midnight, Rear Admiral Eliseev, Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet, received an order from People's Commissar Kuznetsov to transfer battleship on combat readiness No. 1, which allowed to open fire on violators of the airspace.

At 03:00 at night, the onlookers heard the noise of aircraft engines. From the sea at a low altitude, a group of German bombers was approaching Sevastopol. The anti-aircraft artillery of the ship repelled an enemy air raid. So for the battleship" Paris Commune"The war started.

The Soviet fleet in the early days of the Great Patriotic War did not lose a single warship. This happened thanks to a well-developed system of operational readiness and a timely order given by Admiral Kuznetsov. However, in the future, everything turned out, not as expected at the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet. Turkey remained neutral. Romanian and Bulgarian warships stood in their bases. Germany and Italy did not send large surface ships to the Black Sea.

On the land fronts, the Red Army retreated. Instead of long sea voyages, the ships of the Black Sea Fleet had to evacuate base after base and move further and further to the rear. The main enemy of the Soviet sailors were not battleships and cruisers, but aircraft.

During the modernization battleship « Paris Commune"Received more serious weapons. To combat high-altitude targets, 6 anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of 76 mm were mounted, three each above the stern and bow conning towers. 12 anti-aircraft guns of 37 mm caliber worked on low-flying targets, three each on the roofs of all four towers of the main caliber. They were supplemented by 12 DShK heavy machine guns, six each in the bow and stern of the ship. In a word, battleship " Paris Commune» The most powerful artillery ship on the Black Sea represented a serious military force. It is not surprising that the Germans sent the best aviation units to destroy it. The fate of the ship now depended on the courage, courage and skill of the ship's anti-aircraft gunners. From first to last day war, day or night, they did not leave their batteries. Of the 1730 personnel, only 16 were killed, almost all of them were anti-aircraft gunners.

The retreat of the Red Army to the east in the summer and autumn of 1941 put the Black Sea Fleet in plight. Battleship " Paris Commune"I had to not only help the troops in coastal areas, but also protect naval bases from land attack. In November, German troops broke into the Crimea. There was a threat of losing the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. November 28, 1941 battleship " Paris Commune"For the first time opened fire with the main caliber on German positions on the outskirts of Sevastopol, and this is more than 500 shells. On December 29, at a critical moment in the defense of Sevastopol, the battleship's guns "spoke" again. The ship headed for a firing position in the South Bay. At the entrance, water columns shot up next to the side. It was German long-range artillery firing, but the ship moored safely and opened fire on the concentration of enemy troops in the Belbek Valley. The shelling of fascist positions lasted 14 hours. The battleship fired more than 400 shells with a total weight of 100 tons. Then the Nazi army did not have such mobile guns as on the "Parisian", so all their attempts to capture the city failed.

The effectiveness of such fire to support ground forces was very high. The impact of the main caliber shells is much stronger than any other types of fire impact, including bombardment from the air. The fact is that the speed of a falling air bomb is 150-200 m / s, and a projectile fired from a 12-inch ship gun travels 1000 meters in 1 second, and this speed gives the projectile tremendous destructive power.

Such firing capabilities of a warship made the battleship " Paris Commune""The main caliber of the Black Sea Fleet." In January 1942, the battleship opened fire three times on German fortifications in the Crimea. The fire raids were so crushing and sudden that the enemy could not organize any countermeasures. German and Romanian troops suffered heavy losses and were hastily driven back to the rear to re-form.

At the end of February battleship « Paris Commune"fired at the berths of the port of Feodosia, where, according to intelligence, German torpedo boats began to be based. Together with the battleship, the destroyers " Irreproachable" and " Boyky". As a result, the Feodosia port was out of order for a long time. On the night of March 21-22, entering the Kerch Strait, the battleship made two fire raids. During firing, fragments of metal flew off from the gun barrels, which indicated the limiting wear of the ship's weapons. The resource, which amounted to 250 combat shots, was exhausted. At six guns of the main caliber, the barrels cracked in the muzzle area, and at three they were completely torn off. The battleship went to the port of Poti and stood up for repairs, where the replacement was completed in record time - 16 days, but the ship no longer took part in military campaigns. And the reasons were weighty, by that time the whole world knew what a threat aviation posed to large surface ships. Political consequences of the loss of the battleship " Paris Commune»In terms of dominance at sea, German aviation would have been too heavy. But, even being in the base, battleship continued to fight. More than 500 crew members went ashore to fight in units marines. After the war, the battleship lived a long life. Several generations of young sailors have been trained on its decks and combat posts. Last Soviet battleship lowered the flag on January 30, 1957, with his departure an entire era of the Soviet fleet ended - the era of large artillery ships.