by River Gunboats- An Illustrated Encyclopaedia (retail) (epub)
A modellers’ set of drawings for the BK-2, showing how a rudimentary canopy could be fitted to the stern compartment. Note also the external tiller bar which is not usually seen, as in action it would be disconnected and stowed internally. Also the two vision ports at each side of the central cabin.
BK-2 Small Armoured Boats
Eighteen of these sturdy armoured gunboats were provided by Mullins & Co. in 1917. In the chaos following the Revolution, the Germans seized six of them, but later the Soviets recovered these. The rear compartment usually carried a short-barrelled Hotchkiss 1-pounder, but a second Maxim could be mounted there instead on several examples. They were long-lived, but when next the Germans came, probably all of these little gunboats were lost, either scuttled when cut off from escape down the Dnieper, or destroyed by Panzers.
Launched:
1917 by Mullins & Co in the USA.
Dimensions:
Displ: 6.5 tons; L: 9.15m/30ft; B: 2.44m/8ft; D: 0.61m/2ft.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; 97.5bhp Stirling petrol engine/11 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 37mm Hotchkiss Model 1885 QF; 1 × Maxim MG in the turret/Bulletproof plating.
Fate:
Lost on the Dnieper in autumn 1941.
Udarnyi
Udarnyi was designed to operate on the Dnieper, but was transferred to the Danube in 1940. She would later return to the Dnieper, where she was sunk.
Designed by A Baybakov, Udarnyi was built at Kiev under Project SB-12, but remained a one-off, possibly because too much displacement had been taken up by her two large barbettes and pseudo-turrets. Also she was overweight, and never floated at her designed draught of 49cm (19in). The arrangement of the main armament appears strange at first sight, with the ‘turrets’ fixed in position on the roofs of large barbettes, the entire roof being braced to the gun housing and turning with it. In fact this is an ingenious method of providing ammunition spaces underneath the gun mountings for the large 130mm shells, in what was a very shallow hull: the ammunition is carried inside the barbettes. Instead of providing a substantial central pivot for the gun housing, the complete roof of the bar-bette revolves on a set of bearings set around its edge, thus saving considerable weight. As well as the rangefinder in an armoured cupola on the bridge, the fall of shot from the main armament could be spotted from a crow’s nest mounted on a telescoping mast, and which could be raised up to 12m (39ft) above deck level.
As no high-quality contemporary photos of Udarnyi have so far surfaced, here is a black-and-white version of a photo of Vladimir Yabukov’s fine scratch-built model of Udarnyi, in 700th scale. (Photo by Vladimir Yabukov)
Profile and plan of Udarnyi. Note her telescopic mast carrying a spotting top.
Closeup of a quad Maxim 7.62mm AA MG mounting. This is obviously a posed shot, as the muzzle blast from the left-hand gun would be quite uncomfortable for the observer. The mounting looked impressive, and the four MG could fire at a cyclic rate of more than 2,300 rounds a minute. But the rifle-calibre round had a maximum ceiling of only 150m (500ft) and was ineffective against the aircraft of the Second World War, especially the Ju 87 Stuka. (Photo from Website: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com)
Following the Soviet takeover of Bessarabia in 1940, Udarnyi was transferred to the Danube as flagship, and fought there during the opening stages of ‘Barbarossa’. On 19 July 1941 the Flotilla ran the gauntlet of the Romanian shore batteries and withdrew to Odessa. Udarnyi returned to the lower reaches of the Dnieper, and on 19 September came under attack by Stuka dive bombers. When she had used up all her AA ammunition, she was hit by bombs which killed her captain and many of the officers, and detonated her magazines. Out of her complement of seventy-four, no less than fifty-six men were killed. The wreck was rediscovered in 1963, and twenty years later one of her main 130mm guns, a twin 45mm turret and a quad Maxim mounting were recovered and placed on display in Odessa’s History Museum.
Launched:
17 May 1932 by Leninskaya Kuznitsa DY, Kiev.
Dimensions:
Displ: 262.5 tons; L: 55.4m/181ft 9in; B: 11.1m/36ft 5in; D: 0.82m/2ft 8in, 2.14m/7ft full load.
Crew:
74.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 400bhp diesel engines/9 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 130mm; 2 × twin 45mm AA; 4 × quad 7.62mm Maxim AA MG/6–12mm plating on critical areas.
Fate:
Dive-bombed and sunk 18 September 1941.
Zhelezniakov Class
Derived from the partially-successful Activnyi of Project SB-30 (see Amur Flotilla above), in this class the bridge above the turret remained fixed, on a central pillar support, while the turret together with the rangefinder revolved. The 45mm L/46 K-21 AA guns mounted in the smaller twin 41-K turrets fore and aft had a high rate of fire of 30 rpm per gun, and could reach a ceiling of 6,000m (almost 20,000ft). However, their usefulness was limited by the very fact that they were mounted in a small enclosed turret which, although providing some degree of protection for the gunners, severely restricted their range of vision against attacking high speed modern aircraft. Much more efficient were the two single 37mm open AA mountings and the 12.7mm HMG. Their close defence anti-personnel armament comprised two 7.62mm Maxims, in small turrets which would soon reappear on the BKA 1125 series.
Zhelezniakov currently preserved on a plinth at Kiev. (Photo from Website http://www.trip-points.com/sightseeing-places/monument-to-monitor-ship-zheleznyakov.html)
The Zhelezniakov class with their relatively heavy armament.
There were originally six vessels in the class, but Flyagin, Martynov, Rostovcev and Zhemchuzin were all lost on the Dnieper in August 1941. Only the class leader Zhelezniakov survived, as she had been transferred to the Danube Flotilla.
Zhelezniakov’s war began at 0415hrs on the morning when ‘Barbarossa’ was unleashed. Fired on by enemy batteries, the monitor responded, silencing one gun battery, and shooting down an enemy aircraft. Forced to withdraw from the Danube, she retreated to Odessa. Having fought in the Dnieper-Bug estuary, she moved to the Azov Flotilla, operating on the lower reaches of the Don and the Kuban. One of the last Soviet ships to break out through the Kerch Strait, she ran aground near Kuchugura, where her crew spent three days patching the holes before she could be refloated. Repaired at Poti, in 1944 Zhelezniakov returned to the Danube and provided fire support to the advancing Red Army units. Restored to her wartime configuration in 1965, today she stands on a plinth at Kiev.
Launched:
1934–6 by Leninska Kuznya DY, Kiev.
Dimensions:
Displ: 263 tons; L: 51.2m/167ft 11¾in; B: 8.2m/26ft 11¾in; D: 0.9m/2ft 11½in.
Crew:
72.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × diesel engines, total 280bhp/8.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 102mm; 2 × twin 45mm AA; 2 × 37mm AA; 3 × 12.7mm AA HMG; 2 × 7.62mm MG/Belt 16mm; Deck 4mm; Conning tower 30mm.
Fate:
Five units lost August 1941. Zhelezniakov preserved as a monument in Kiev.
Pinsk Flotilla June 1940 – September 1941
When the Dnieper Flotilla was disbanded in June 1940, a large number of its vessels were incorporated in the new Pinsk Flotilla, which by the start of the Great Patriotic War comprised no less than seventeen monitors and gunboats, twenty-two Bronekater and nineteen patrol boats. Actively engaged in the defence of Kiev and the support of Red Army forces, the Flotilla lost most of its vessels in combat, and the survivors, cut off from escape, were blown up by their crews in September 1941.
A heavily-armed (unnamed) Soviet gunboat of the Pinsk Flotilla, with Nieman. The AA gun on the right is a 76mm L/30 Lender. In the background is the Soviet Nieman; ex-ORP General Szeptycki.
Generał Szeptycki began as the Russian merchant vessel Desna, converted as a Soviet gunboat in 1919, captured by the Poles and used until 18 September 1939 as a gunboat. Scuttled
by the Poles and raised by the Russians, she was renamed Nieman, only to be lost to a German attack in 1941.
Ex-Polish gunboats
All four of the Warszawa class river gunboats were salvaged and recommissioned by the Soviets. For basic details, see POLAND. Warszawa was renamed Vitebsk. She was sunk by the Germans on 18 September 1941 near Kiev. Horodyscze was renamed Boborujsk. She was sunk by German tanks on the Dnieper on 31 August 1941. Pińsk became Zitomir. She too was sunk in action with German tanks on 31 August 1941. Toruń was renamed Vinnica. On 16 July 1941 she was damaged by German shellfire near Berezina and sank the next day.
Smolensk
Kraków, scuttled in the Pina River in September 1939, was repaired and renamed Smolensk. On 15 September 1941 Smolensk was sunk near Chernigov. For basic details, see POLAND.
Zaradna
The ‘Z’-class gunboat Zaradna was salvaged by the Soviets and used against the invading Germans in the Summer of 1941. She was captured in a damaged state by the Wehrmacht on 18 September 1941. For basic details, see POLAND. For her subsequent fate, see GERMANY.
Kraków following salvage by the Soviets.
Dnieper Flotilla September 1943 – May 1945
The Dnieper Flotilla was re-established for a third time in September 1943, and from the following month it was active on the Pripyat, Berezina, Dnieper, Western Bug, Vistula, Oder and Spree Rivers. By 1945 it included some 150 vessels, including six gunboats, thirty-four Bronekater and sixteen patrol boats. The Dnieper Flotilla was once more disbanded after the end of the war.
KAMA RIVER FLOTILLAS
Red Flotilla
DON FLOTILLA
A Red Don Flotilla existed briefly from March to August 1919, assisting Red ground troops along the River. In 1941 a Don Flotilla was charged with defending the Don Estuary and the Sea of Azov, supporting the Soviet Ninth and Fifty-Sixth Armies. With the Germans’ capture of the Kerch Strait the surviving units had to try to run the Strait in an attempt to escape into the Black Sea. See the Dnieper Flotilla, Zhelezniakov, above.
DVINA FLOTILLA
See Northern Dvina Flotilla below.
White Flotilla
LAKE BAIKAL
During construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, for several years the lines stopped at the western and eastern shores of Lake Baikal. When the lake was frozen over, rail tracks could be laid across it, but this was a method fraught with difficulties. As a means had to be found to bridge this 40-mile (70km) gap, two icebreaker ferries were ordered from Armstrong & Co., and the larger of these was the Baikal.
Built on the Tyne, her hull was painted white on one side and black on the other, to aid reassembly. She was then stripped down into 6,900 individual parts which were transported to Lake Baikal, followed by the engines and boilers built by Wigham Richardson & Co. She ran her first trials on the lake in February 1900, and entered service the following summer, carrying complete trains on three parallel tracks on her main deck. Just five years later the rail link around the Lake was completed, but frequent landslides meant that the Baikal was kept busy.
During the Civil War, Baikal was taken over by the Reds and incorporated into their Red Guard Baikal Fleet, armed with a howitzer (probably 76.2mm calibre) and doubtless numerous Maxim MG. In August 1918 she was attacked by the Czech Legion steamer Feodosia, and was hit by two shells. The first started a fire which rapidly spread out of control, while the second destroyed her steering gear. Her steam siren howling, Baikal was run ashore near the Mysovaya Pier, where her crew abandoned ship. She burned for several days, while her ammunition continued to explode. Her wreck was recovered during the Great Patriotic War and cut up for scrap.
The impressive icebreaker SS Baikal, the ‘Titanic’ of the lake. With her 1in-thick (25.4mm) hull plating, she could break ice up to 5ft (1.52m) thick. (Photo from an old postcard)
Launched:
Hull completed June 1896 by Armstrong, Low Walker Yard, Tyneside. Reassembled and launched on the Lake on 29 June 1899.
Dimensions:
Displ: 4,200 tons; L: 88.4m/290ft; B: 17.4m/57ft 1in; D: 5.8m/19ft.
Crew:
200 (as commercial vessel).
Power/Speed:
Triple screws (one bow-mounted, two stern); 3 × 1,250ihp VTE steam engines/12 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1918: 1 × howitzer possibly 76.2mm; Maxim MG?
Fate:
Set on fire by shell 16 August 1918 and run aground. Scrapped during the Second World War.
The burnt-out wreck of Baikal after the Feodosia’s attack. (Photo from Website: bashny.net)
The icebreaker SS Angara. Note the crane gantries suspended from her masts, for cargo-handling lakeside. Her hull was built of steel 1in (25mm) thick. (Photo from Website http://1baikal.ru/en/o-bajkale/istoriya-regiona/war-and-peace-atbaikal-the-fate-of-the-two-ice-breakers)
Angara
The second, smaller icebreaker ferry was ordered from Armstrongs at the same time as Baikal, and was also supplied in knock-down form for reassembly at the lake, but Angara was intended to carry only passengers. Well-armed by the Red Guards during the Civil War, she became the flagship of the Lake Baikal Fleet. If Angara had been present at the Fleet’s base during the attack by the Czechs, it is thought that Baikal would not have been destroyed. After many vicissitudes, this old veteran has been preserved as a museum ship.
Launched:
1899.
Dimensions:
L: 61m/200ft; B: 10.7m/35ft 1in; D: 4.7m/15ft 5in.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws.
Guns/Armour:
1918: 2 × 6in; Maxim MG?
Fate:
Preserved as museum ship.
LAKE LADOGA FLOTILLA
During the Continuation War, control of the southern part of Lake Ladoga was crucial to Soviet efforts to resupply the besieged city of Leningrad. Despite the arrival of German and Italian forces, the Soviet Flotilla was continually reinforced by Leningrad’s shipbuilding capacity, and the Axis forces were never able to sever the vital communication link.
At the close of the Winter War, the Soviets had taken over the Finnish gunboats Aallokas and Aunus. For details of them in Finnish service, see FINLAND.
Sheksna (ex-Aallokas)
On 14 August 1940 Aallokas was incorporated in the Soviet Training Squadron. With the start of the Continuation War, she was rearmed as a gunboat with two 76mm, one 20mm, two 12.7mm MG and one quad 7.62mm Maxim AA MG. On 3 August 1941 she became part of the Ladoga Flotilla under the name of Sheksna. During the siege of Leningrad, Sheksna took part in the resupply of the beleaguered city, but operations were hampered by a lack of coal. On 28 August 1942 Sheksna drove off two Italian MAS boats attacking the convoy she was escorting. As an icebreaker she was part of the special ice navigation squadron formed in November 1942, and in April 1943 she was reclassified as a transport, serving in various roles until withdrawal in July 1961. For details, see FINLAND.
UK-100 (ex-Aunus)
On 14 August Aunus was transferred to the Training Detachment on Vaalam Island, under the designation UK-100. Rearmed as a minesweeper, on 3 August 1941 she was incorporated in the Ladoga Flotilla as TSch-100. Her crew now numbered thirty-eight, and she was armed with two 45mm QF, two 12.7mm HMG and one 7.62mm Maxim MG. TSch-100 played a major role in the battle of Suho Island on 22 October 1942 when she spotted the inbound German vessels and radioed a warning in clear, before engaging the enemy with gunfire (firing 400 shells). Renamed T-100 on 24 October 1944 she transferred to the Baltic as a minesweeper. Disarmed in 1946, she served as tug RB-30 in a Latvian fishing co-operative, before being laid up ashore in 1982 as museum ship Tsch-100 at Novaya Ladoga. For details, see FINLAND.
The former Finnish Aunus preserved as museum ship TSch-100. (Photo Website http://heninen.net/aunus/english.htm)
Siebel Ferry
After the unsuccessful raid on Suho Island on 22 October 1942, one of the Siebel Ferries lost by the German force was recovered by the So
viets and renamed DB-51. For details, see GERMANY.
Amgun Class Gunboats
These gunboats were eleven cargo vessels built for Russia in Germany during the period of German-Soviet co-operation in 1939–41, which were all converted to heavily-armed gunboats by the Soviets. Their allocations between the Baltic and Lake Ladoga are not recorded, but the following units were mentioned as taking part in actions on the lake:
On 15 August 1942 Nora and Selemdzha clashed with Italian MAS 528 and 522. One Italian torpedo aimed at Selemdzha exploded on the shallow lake bed, the major problem with deploying torpedoes on the lake.
Bira, the only member of the class to mount three main-armament guns. Note the repair patch on her port bow. (Photo from The Naval War on Lake Ladoga by Andrew Hind)
During the attack on Suho Island on 22 October 1942, when TSch-100 sounded the alarm, among the Soviet ships arriving to reinforce her were gunboats Bira and Selemdzha.
Launched:
1940 by Deutsche Werft, Hamburg.
Dimensions:
Displ: 1,140 tons; L: 59.5m/195ft 2½in; B: 11.9m/39ft; D: 3.6m–3.9m/11ft 9½in/12ft 9½in.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × VTE steam engines, total 800ihp/8.5–10 knots.
Guns/Armour:
Amgun, Volga, Zeya, Kama, Oka: 2 × 130mm; 4 × 45mm AA. Bira: 3 × 130mm; 4 × 45mm AA. Moskva, Olyokma, Selemdzha: 2 × 100mm; 4 × 45mm AA. Bureya, Nora: 4 × 76mm L/52; 4 × 45mm AA; 3 × 12.7mm HMG.
