 Opytny in Leningrad | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | Sergo Ordzhonikidze |
| Namesake | Sergo Ordzhonikidze |
| Ordered | 2nd Five-Year Plan |
| Builder | Shipyard No. 190 (Zhdanov),Leningrad |
| Yard number | 500 |
| Laid down | 26 June 1935 |
| Launched | 8 December 1935 |
| Commissioned | 11 September 1941 |
| Out of service | March 1944 |
| Renamed | Opytny (Russian:Опытный,lit. 'Experimental'), 25 September 1940 |
| Stricken | 10 February 1953 |
| Nickname(s) | Golden Fish orGolden 500 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1953 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type | Destroyer |
| Displacement | 1,707long tons (1,734 t) (normal) |
| Length | 113.5 m (372 ft 5 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 10.2 m (33 ft 6 in) |
| Draft | 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in) (deep load) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 gearedsteam turbines |
| Speed | 35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
| Range | 1,370 nmi (2,540 km; 1,580 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement | 262 |
| Armament |
|
Opytny (Russian:Опытный,lit. 'Experimental') was the only member of herclass ofdestroyers built for theSoviet Navy during the 1930s. The Soviet designation for her class wasProject 45. She was originally namedSergo Ordzhonikidze and was the first Soviet destroyer to be indigenously designed.[1] RenamedOpytny in 1940, the ship was intended as aprototype for future Soviet destroyers.
Plagued with severe problems with herboilers, the ship was not suited for fleet operations, but the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) forced the Navy to acceptOpytny several months later. Assigned to theBaltic Fleet in August, the ship was limited to service as afloating battery to providenaval gunfire support for theRed Army during theSiege of Leningrad with frequent periods inreserve or under repair.Opytny was no longer useful after the end of the siege and she was taken out of service in March 1944. A proposal to turn her into a training ship was rejected after the end ofWorld War II and the ship wasscrapped in 1953.
When thenaval architect Valerian Bzhezinsky was visiting German shipyards in 1930–1932, during theperiod when Weimar Germany and the Soviet Union were cooperating most closely, he was intrigued by the high-pressure Wagnerboilers being developed for theGerman Navy. These offered the possibility of producing more power than lower-temperature propulsion plants for a given weight. After his appointment as director of the Soviet Navy's surface-ship design office in 1931 and the struggle to save weight with the design of theGnevny-classdestroyers in 1933–1934, he conceived of a smaller destroyer using this type of advanced propulsion machinery that would be much faster than theGnevny class.[2]
Bzhezinsky intended the ship to serve as aprototype to test thestraight-flow, high-pressure boilers developed byLeonid Ramzin. These worked at a pressure of 75 kg/cm2 (7,355 kPa; 1,067 psi), almost three times the pressure used by the boilers of theGnevny-class ships, and were intended to produce 70,000shaft horsepower (52,000 kW), enough to give the ship a speed of 42knots (78 km/h; 48 mph). This was more than enough to cooperate with theLeningrad-classdestroyer leaders then under construction.[3][4]
To maximize survivability, the ship's propulsion machinery was organized in aunit layout with alternatingboiler rooms andengine rooms so that a single torpedo hit could not disable more than one pair of coupled boilers and engines. The separation between the boiler rooms dictated two widely spacedfunnels. To save weight,welding was extensively used for the internal structure with traditionalriveting limited to thehull plates. More weight savings would accrue from auxiliary machinery working on high-pressure steam and electrical equipment usingalternating current. The Soviet Navy originally intended use the same armament as theGnevny class, but decided to take advantage of the weight savings and augment the main armament to six 50-caliber130-millimeter (5.1 in) B-13 guns in three twin-gunB-2LM turrets. They were arranged with a single mount forward of thesuperstructure and ansuperfiring pair at thestern. The main guns were to be controlled by aGalileofire-control system with a Duplexfire-control director. Thetorpedo armament was to consist of two quadruple mounts for 533-millimeter (21 in)torpedo tubes, each of which was to be provided with a reload. The Soviets expected significant savings from the fuel-efficient boilers and the ship's range was anticipated to be 3,200nautical miles (5,900 km; 3,700 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). The design was approved asProject 45 on 29 December 1934.[5]
The ship waslaid down asyard number 500 atShipyard No. 190 (Zhdanov) inLeningrad on 26 June 1935 under the2nd Five-Year Plan.[6]Launched on 8 December, further work was delayed by major problems with components that were not designed to be used with high-pressure steam or alternating current and the lengthy amount of time required to redesign the ship to accommodate devices that used low-pressure steam and direct current. Even though the Ramzin boilers were in service in power stations throughout the USSR, they often broke down when subject to the frequent changes in loads characteristic of naval boilers. They were not well-suited to manual operation, but an automatic-control system importated from Germany proved to be incapable of solving the problems and Soviet industry was unable to build a system that could. She was given the nameSergo Ordzhonikidze, then theMinister for Heavy Industry, in August 1936. The B-2LM turrets were also delayed and single mounts for the B-13 guns were installed in their place during late 1939 and early 1940.[5] Firing the guns revealed the weakness in their supporting structure.[7] The Galileo fire-control system was unavailable and the same Mina system that was used on theGnevny-class ships was substituted for it. The lengthy delays and increasing costs of fixing her problems gave the ship thenickname ofGolden Fish orGolden 500.[5]
Opytny had anoverall length of 113.5 meters (372 ft 5 in), abeam of 10.2 meters (33 ft 6 in), and adraft of 4.6 meters (15 ft 1 in) atdeep load. The ship was significantly overweight, displacing 1,707 metric tons (1,680 long tons) atstandard load and 2,016 metric tons (1,984 long tons) at deep load. Her crew numbered 262 officers and sailors.Opytny was powered by two gearedsteam turbine sets, each driving a singlepropeller shaft using steam provided by four Ramzin boilers that operated at a temperature of 450 °C (842 °F). During her firstspeed trials in 1940, boiler problems limited the ship to 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) with bursts of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). Similarly her radius of action proved to be a major disappointment as her maximum capacity of 372 metric tons (366 long tons) offuel oil only gave her a range of 1,370 nautical miles (2,540 km; 1,580 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), less than half of what expected.[2]
Development of the B-2LM turrets was delayed andOpytny was completed with three single 130 mm mounts instead. Each gun was provided with 150rounds.[8] The manually operated mounts had anelevation range of −5° to +45° and had arate of fire of 6–10 rounds per minute. They fired a 33.4-kilogram (74 lb) shell at amuzzle velocity of 870 m/s (2,900 ft/s), which gave them a range of 25,597 meters (27,993 yd).[9]
Anti-aircraft defense was provided by four 46-caliber45-millimeter (1.8 in) 21-K AA guns, all in single mounts grouped around the forward funnel, three 67-caliber37-millimeter (1 in) 70-KAA guns positionedabaft the rear funnel as well as a pair of 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in)DKmachine guns in single mounts.[8] The 21-K was a convertedanti-tank gun with a rate of fire of 25–30 rounds per minute with an elevation range between −10° and +85°. The gun fired a 1.41-kilogram (3.1 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 760 m/s (2,500 ft/s). This gave them a range of 9,200 meters (10,100 yd).[10]Opytny stowed 1,000 rounds for each gun.[8] The 70-K had the same range of elevation as the 21-K, but fired its shells about six times more quickly than the bigger gun. Its shells weighed 0.732 kilograms (1.61 lb) and were fired at a muzzle velocity of 880 m/s (2,900 ft/s) to a range in excess of 4,000 meters (4,400 yd).[10] The ship carried 3,000 rounds per gun.[8] The DK machine guns had an effective rate of fire of 125 rounds per minute and an effective range against aircraft of 2,500 meters (2,700 yd).[10]
Opytny was equipped with eight 533 mm torpedo tubes in two rotating quadruple mountsamidships, but only half the tubes were provided with a reload.[2] The ship was intended to fitted for 10 B-1 and 15 M-1depth charges, but she was completed with room for 28 M-1 charges in addition to the B-1s. The destroyer could also carry a maximum of 60 KBmines.[11]
Fire control forOpytny'smain battery was provided by a Minafire-control system that was derived from an Italian Galileo system. It included a TsAS-2mechanicalanalog computer that received information from a KDP2-4 gunnerydirector on the roof of thebridge[12] which mounted a pair of DM-4 four-meter (13 ft 1 in)stereoscopic rangefinders. Anti-aircraft fire control was strictly manual with only a DM-3 three-meter (9 ft 10 in) rangefinder to provide data to the guns.[11]
The ship was renamedOpytny on 25 September 1940 and was scheduled for her final sea trials in June–August 1941, but the Axis invasion disrupted those plans. She was provisionally accepted by the Soviet Navy on 17 August[12] and was assigned to support42nd and52nd Armies of theLeningrad Front on 30 August.[13]
The ship was formallycommissioned on 11 September.[12] Not long afterwards,Opytny suffered significant damage from German artillery fire[14] and was under repair from November 1941 to August 1942. For most of this period, her main guns were removed. The ship was reduced to reserve in July 1943 and was taken entirely out of service in March 1944, after the end of the Siege of Leningrad.[14]Opytny was refitted beginning in September 1947, but a proposal to rebuild her as a training ship was rejected. The ship wasstricken on 10 February 1953 and subsequently scrapped in Leningrad.[12]