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Soviet destroyer Baku
Baku (Russian: Баку) was one of six Leningrad-class destroyer leaders built for the Soviet Navy during the 1930s, one of the three Project 38 variants. Completed in late 1939, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. About a year after the German invasion of Russia in June 1941, she was ordered to join the Northern Fleet, sailing through the Arctic Ocean. Together with several other destroyers, Baku left the Soviet Far East in July 1942 and arrived off Murmansk three months later where she began escorting convoys, mostly in the White and Barents Seas. The ship was badly damaged in a storm that sank another Soviet destroyer in November and was under repair for several months. Baku spent most of the rest of the war on convoy escort duties, although she did bombard several German-occupied towns during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive of October 1944. The ship and her crew were awarded the Order of the Red Banner in early 1945 for their performance during the war.
After the war, she was refitted and rejoined the Northern Fleet in 1946. For the next several years she exercised during the warm months and was put in reserve during winter. The following year she starred in a movie about a fictional destroyer during the war. Baku began a lengthy overhaul in 1948 that lasted until 1954. Upon its completion she was used for experimental work and was formally reclassified as an experimental ship two years later. Baku was converted into a target ship in 1958, but was hulked as a depot ship a few weeks later. She became an accommodation ship in 1959 and was finally struck from the Navy List in 1963 and scrapped the following year.
Impressed by the French large destroyer (contre-torpilleur) designs such as the Vauquelin class of the early 1930s, the Soviets designed their own version. The Leningrads had an overall length of 127.5 meters (418 ft 4 in) and were 122 meters (400 ft 3 in) long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of 11.7 meters (38 ft 5 in), and a draft of 4.06 meters (13 ft 4 in) at deep load. Built in two batches, the second batch (Project 38) displaced 2,350 long tons (2,390 t) at standard load and 2,680 long tons (2,720 t) at deep load. Their crew numbered 250 officers and sailors in peacetime and 311 in wartime. The ships had three geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, designed to produce 66,000 shaft horsepower (49,000 kW) using steam from three three-drum boilers which was intended to give them a maximum speed of 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph). The Leningrads carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).
As built, the Leningrad-class ships mounted five 130-millimeter (5.1 in) B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure and another mount between the bridge and the forward funnel. The guns were protected by gun shields. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 76.2-millimeter (3 in) 34-K AA guns in single mounts on the aft superstructure and a pair of 45-millimeter (1.8 in) 21-K AA guns mounted on either side of the bridge as well as six 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) DShK machine guns. They carried eight 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two rotating quadruple mounts fore and aft of the rear funnel; each tube was provided with a reload. The ships could also carry a maximum of either 68 or 115 mines and 52 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Arktur hydrophones for anti-submarine detection.
In 1944 Baku was fitted with four depth charge launchers. Before leaving the Pacific Fleet, she exchanged her two 21-K mounts for ten 37-millimeter (1.5 in) 70-K AA guns. She received a British Type 128 asdic system during the war and was initially fitted with a Type 286M surface-search radar, but this was replaced by a Type 284 gunnery radar and an American SF-1 radar by 1945. After the war, all of the 76- and 37-millimeter guns were replaced by a dozen water-cooled V-11M versions of the 70-K gun in twin mounts. During the 1950s, the radars were replaced by Top Bow, EWS Top, Plum Jar and Ball End radars and the pole foremast was replaced by a tripod mast to support them.
The ship that became Baku was originally named Kiev, after the Ukrainian capital. Major components for Kiev were laid down at Shipyard No. 198 (Marti South) in Nikolayev on 5 January 1935 as yard number 267, railed to the station of Pokrovka near Khabarovsk, and shipped by barge down the Amur to the new Shipyard No. 199 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Siberia, for assembly under the supervision of experienced shipbuilder Konstantin Terletsky and shipyard chief engineer Pavel Goynkis. The ship was again laid down on 10 March 1936, with its construction accelerated by Goynkis' usage of a horizontal slipway for construction and the installation of machinery. Launched and renamed Ordzhonikidze on 25 July 1938 in honor of the Soviet politician, the still-incomplete destroyer leader was ordered towed to Vladivostok for completion at Shipyard No. 202 (Dalzavod) to build her faster.
Ordzhonikidze was towed from Shipyard No. 199 downriver to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and then Sovetskaya Gavan beginning on 27 September, where some components were installed and the ship was prepared for towing by sea. She reached Vladivostok on 25 October and upon completion underwent a series of trials which concluded on 11 December, after which she entered service on 27 December 1939 and was simultaneously renamed Sergo Ordzhonikidze; her construction cost 33.2 million Rbls. Following additional tests and combat training, the destroyer leader, now the largest and fastest ship of the Pacific Fleet, was assigned to the latter's 1st Destroyer Division on 6 May 1940. In order to reuse the name for a Kirov-class cruiser, the vessel was renamed Baku, after the Azeri capital, on 25 September. After Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941, Baku, commanded by Kapitan 3 ranga (Captain 3rd Rank) Boris Belyayev from 1940, laid minefields and escorted transports, receiving a LFTI degaussing system in early October.
As a result of the weakness of the Northern Fleet and the importance of the Arctic convoys of World War II, Stavka decided to transfer several modern ships from the Pacific to the Northern Fleet in May 1942; this was ordered by People's Commissar of the Navy Nikolay Kuznetsov on 18 June. Along with Baku, three Gnevny-class destroyers – Razumny, Razyaryonny, and Revnostny – were planned to be transferred to the Northern Fleet as the Expedition of Special Purpose (EON)-18, the first time that Soviet warships would use the Northern Sea Route to steam from east to west. The expedition was accompanied by three icebreakers, three oil tankers, and two transports for material supplies, and was prepared in great secrecy, using the pretense of a relocation to Kamchatka. To strengthen her hull against ice, Baku was drydocked at Dalzavod in June, where 100-millimeter-thick (3.9 in) wooden beams lined with 3–5-millimeter (0.12–0.20 in) sheet iron were attached to her sides; the sheet iron was 14–15-millimeter (0.55–0.59 in) thick where the beams were placed vertically and 500 millimeters (19.7 in) on the stern. Other changes included the movement of the degaussing coils to the interior of the hull, the installation of an additional fire extinguisher for the boiler rooms, the replacement of her regular propellers with special reinforced propellers for ice travel, and the replacement of the 45 mm 21-K anti-aircraft guns with 37 mm 70-K weapons.
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Soviet destroyer Baku
Baku (Russian: Баку) was one of six Leningrad-class destroyer leaders built for the Soviet Navy during the 1930s, one of the three Project 38 variants. Completed in late 1939, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. About a year after the German invasion of Russia in June 1941, she was ordered to join the Northern Fleet, sailing through the Arctic Ocean. Together with several other destroyers, Baku left the Soviet Far East in July 1942 and arrived off Murmansk three months later where she began escorting convoys, mostly in the White and Barents Seas. The ship was badly damaged in a storm that sank another Soviet destroyer in November and was under repair for several months. Baku spent most of the rest of the war on convoy escort duties, although she did bombard several German-occupied towns during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive of October 1944. The ship and her crew were awarded the Order of the Red Banner in early 1945 for their performance during the war.
After the war, she was refitted and rejoined the Northern Fleet in 1946. For the next several years she exercised during the warm months and was put in reserve during winter. The following year she starred in a movie about a fictional destroyer during the war. Baku began a lengthy overhaul in 1948 that lasted until 1954. Upon its completion she was used for experimental work and was formally reclassified as an experimental ship two years later. Baku was converted into a target ship in 1958, but was hulked as a depot ship a few weeks later. She became an accommodation ship in 1959 and was finally struck from the Navy List in 1963 and scrapped the following year.
Impressed by the French large destroyer (contre-torpilleur) designs such as the Vauquelin class of the early 1930s, the Soviets designed their own version. The Leningrads had an overall length of 127.5 meters (418 ft 4 in) and were 122 meters (400 ft 3 in) long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of 11.7 meters (38 ft 5 in), and a draft of 4.06 meters (13 ft 4 in) at deep load. Built in two batches, the second batch (Project 38) displaced 2,350 long tons (2,390 t) at standard load and 2,680 long tons (2,720 t) at deep load. Their crew numbered 250 officers and sailors in peacetime and 311 in wartime. The ships had three geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, designed to produce 66,000 shaft horsepower (49,000 kW) using steam from three three-drum boilers which was intended to give them a maximum speed of 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph). The Leningrads carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).
As built, the Leningrad-class ships mounted five 130-millimeter (5.1 in) B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure and another mount between the bridge and the forward funnel. The guns were protected by gun shields. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 76.2-millimeter (3 in) 34-K AA guns in single mounts on the aft superstructure and a pair of 45-millimeter (1.8 in) 21-K AA guns mounted on either side of the bridge as well as six 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) DShK machine guns. They carried eight 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two rotating quadruple mounts fore and aft of the rear funnel; each tube was provided with a reload. The ships could also carry a maximum of either 68 or 115 mines and 52 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Arktur hydrophones for anti-submarine detection.
In 1944 Baku was fitted with four depth charge launchers. Before leaving the Pacific Fleet, she exchanged her two 21-K mounts for ten 37-millimeter (1.5 in) 70-K AA guns. She received a British Type 128 asdic system during the war and was initially fitted with a Type 286M surface-search radar, but this was replaced by a Type 284 gunnery radar and an American SF-1 radar by 1945. After the war, all of the 76- and 37-millimeter guns were replaced by a dozen water-cooled V-11M versions of the 70-K gun in twin mounts. During the 1950s, the radars were replaced by Top Bow, EWS Top, Plum Jar and Ball End radars and the pole foremast was replaced by a tripod mast to support them.
The ship that became Baku was originally named Kiev, after the Ukrainian capital. Major components for Kiev were laid down at Shipyard No. 198 (Marti South) in Nikolayev on 5 January 1935 as yard number 267, railed to the station of Pokrovka near Khabarovsk, and shipped by barge down the Amur to the new Shipyard No. 199 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Siberia, for assembly under the supervision of experienced shipbuilder Konstantin Terletsky and shipyard chief engineer Pavel Goynkis. The ship was again laid down on 10 March 1936, with its construction accelerated by Goynkis' usage of a horizontal slipway for construction and the installation of machinery. Launched and renamed Ordzhonikidze on 25 July 1938 in honor of the Soviet politician, the still-incomplete destroyer leader was ordered towed to Vladivostok for completion at Shipyard No. 202 (Dalzavod) to build her faster.
Ordzhonikidze was towed from Shipyard No. 199 downriver to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and then Sovetskaya Gavan beginning on 27 September, where some components were installed and the ship was prepared for towing by sea. She reached Vladivostok on 25 October and upon completion underwent a series of trials which concluded on 11 December, after which she entered service on 27 December 1939 and was simultaneously renamed Sergo Ordzhonikidze; her construction cost 33.2 million Rbls. Following additional tests and combat training, the destroyer leader, now the largest and fastest ship of the Pacific Fleet, was assigned to the latter's 1st Destroyer Division on 6 May 1940. In order to reuse the name for a Kirov-class cruiser, the vessel was renamed Baku, after the Azeri capital, on 25 September. After Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941, Baku, commanded by Kapitan 3 ranga (Captain 3rd Rank) Boris Belyayev from 1940, laid minefields and escorted transports, receiving a LFTI degaussing system in early October.
As a result of the weakness of the Northern Fleet and the importance of the Arctic convoys of World War II, Stavka decided to transfer several modern ships from the Pacific to the Northern Fleet in May 1942; this was ordered by People's Commissar of the Navy Nikolay Kuznetsov on 18 June. Along with Baku, three Gnevny-class destroyers – Razumny, Razyaryonny, and Revnostny – were planned to be transferred to the Northern Fleet as the Expedition of Special Purpose (EON)-18, the first time that Soviet warships would use the Northern Sea Route to steam from east to west. The expedition was accompanied by three icebreakers, three oil tankers, and two transports for material supplies, and was prepared in great secrecy, using the pretense of a relocation to Kamchatka. To strengthen her hull against ice, Baku was drydocked at Dalzavod in June, where 100-millimeter-thick (3.9 in) wooden beams lined with 3–5-millimeter (0.12–0.20 in) sheet iron were attached to her sides; the sheet iron was 14–15-millimeter (0.55–0.59 in) thick where the beams were placed vertically and 500 millimeters (19.7 in) on the stern. Other changes included the movement of the degaussing coils to the interior of the hull, the installation of an additional fire extinguisher for the boiler rooms, the replacement of her regular propellers with special reinforced propellers for ice travel, and the replacement of the 45 mm 21-K anti-aircraft guns with 37 mm 70-K weapons.