Sevastopol recreates artillery
Mother Nature herself divided the fortifications of Sevastopol into two parts - the fortifications of the North side and the South side. In this article we will talk about coastal batteries, built on the North side, considering them in numerical order.It should immediately point to a very remarkable history Batteries No. 1 and No. 2, which actually consisted of one battery, therefore, up to 1902, for these two batteries, the designation “battery No. 1 / 2” was often used, and in 1902, they were combined into one under the number 1.
These batteries closely adjoined each other, with the battery number 1 was directed at an angle to the coast to counteract the landing of troops in the mouth of the Belbek. Working together with mortar battery No. 7, it was supposed to cover the land approaches to the North side of Sevastopol.
Battery number 1 / 2 is located above a cliff near the sea. The height of the guns above sea level, or rather, the height of the line of fire of guns above sea level is 39,5 m. This battery was built in the 1886 year and was initially covered with earthwork parapets. Twelve 9-inch 1867 guns of the year were installed on a stone base in separate courtyards. The shelling is circular. Yards traverses were not divided. In the period from 1888 to 1893, concrete arrays were built, first batteries No. 1, and then No. 2. In this regard, from 1889 to 1893 year only six guns were in readiness. From 1893 to 1898, the battery was fully operational.
The layout of the battery was as follows. A large flank cellar - two gun yards - a small equipment room - two gun yards - a large cellar, etc. Thus, the battery had four large concrete cellars with a total capacity of 520 shells and charges and three small equipment rooms. Flank cellars were slightly smaller. The size of the main cellar is 4х2 fathoms (around 8х4 m). The size of the equipment room - 2x1 sazheni (4x2 m). Battery height above sea level - 18,5 fathoms (39,5 m). The battery consisted of a solid butto-concrete parapet 1 thick sazhen (2,13 m), earthen parapet thick 6 sazhens (12,8 m). The round courtyards of the guns are slightly embedded in the concrete parapet, between which there were small equipment rooms and first-shot niches located on either side of the entrance to it. The design of large cellars is similar to the construction of cellars on the 7-th mortar battery. They were two-tier, the entrance was without a through-window (a through-window is a short through gallery before the entrance to the dungeon to protect the entrance doors from the shock wave and fragments).
On the right flank of the battery number 1 in 1902, a lodgement was built for two Nordenfeld 57-mm coastal guns, which was a concrete trench (pit). However, the 1906 year 57-mm guns in the cradle have not yet been installed.
Before 1902, the batteries, as already noted, had separate numbers, and in 1902, they were combined into one battery No. 1. At the same time, in 1892, the battery was disarmed to replace Semenov’s machines with the machines of the “large vertical shelling” of the Durlächer system, which, however, arrived at the battery only in 1902. As a result, a shell of hardened cast iron weighing 126,1 kg with an elevation angle of 15 degrees had a firing range of 6,4 km, with an angle of 40 degrees - 11,7 km. The 9 inch guns were removed from the 1 battery in the 1911 year.
In July, 1942, in the area of the battery number 1, were stubborn fighting with the Germans. During the occupation of Sevastopol on the old battery array was a German four-gun battery, whose instruments were installed on turntables in old gun yard. For this, the old foundations of the guns, towering over the courtyard at 40 cm, were knocked down, the installation pins were bent, and a layer of concrete was laid over the whole area of the courtyard.
Currently, dacha plots are located on the fortification, and only in two abandoned plots can the remains of a battery be found, while in the rest of its buildings they were used as foundations for building houses. The right flank of the battery is located in the area of the descent to the beach of the recreation center “Sevastopol”, the left - at the intersection of Simonka and Zagordyansky streets at the gardening cooperative “Chaika” (for more details, see the guideline AV Nemenko “Sevastopol. Shadows of the great past”).
In turn, the construction of battery number 2 began in August 1904. She was the first in the Sevastopol fortress, equipped with 6-inch (152-mm) Kane guns. The battery was placed between battery No. 1 / 2 and mortar battery No. 3. The construction of the battery was completed by November 1 1905. Four Kane 152 / 45-mm cannons were installed on separate concrete foundations. Due to this, it was possible to increase the distance between the guns to the 12 fathoms (25,6 m). Angle horizontal fire - 130 degrees. Groundwork thickness - 5 fathoms (10,67 m). Between the parapet and the base of the gun there is a concrete cellar for 360 cartridges. Charging, like other 6 / 45-inch ground guns, is unitary. Supply of cartridges - through the feed windows with manual hoists. The court yard was, as it were, embedded in the cartridge cellar, and the gun was covered from the front and partly from the flank by the traverse and the cellar. From the rear guns concrete shelter did not have. The guns were covered with a prismatic shield that protected the servants from the front.
The foundation of the instrument was a cone-shaped drum with a diameter in the lower part of about 2,5 m (on the outer diameter of the flange). The cellar had two entrances, covered with armored doors. The skimmer was absent, but the main storage of the cellar was separated from the entrances by vestibules with second armored doors. The hike to the cannon was carried out along two ladders of five steps, which were located on both sides.Construction proceeded in stages: one gun in separate gun courts, not connected by a common array. This made it possible to increase the distance between the guns at no additional cost, plus the three other guns were constantly in combat readiness during construction. On the flanks of the battery were rangefinder pavilions. The design of the battery for its time was advanced and allowed to place the guns at a considerable distance from each other, which increased the survivability of the battery. This arrangement was also used in the construction of Soviet-era batteries. Moreover, the cellars of the battery were equipped with electric lighting, apparently, the electrical wiring was already provided for by the project, but where the generator was located is not clear.
In November-December, 1941 of the year, on the foundations of an old battery, installed Kan's 152-mm guns of the former training battery of the coastal defense school. And in February 1942, one of the yards of the former battery No. 2 was rebuilt under the X-NUMX-mm gun B-130 of the coastal battery No. 13, commanded by M.V. Matushenko. In the area of the battery 12 – 20 June 21, heavy battles were fought. Around the gun number 1942 took up the defense remnants of the personnel of the battery number 1, the soldiers of the 12-th division and rear units of the 95 sector. Resistance on this stretch lasted until 4 June 22 of the year. All four battery yards are riddled with shells and bullets. In Soviet times, the gunnery yards were used as warehouses of a military unit, and then given to the dacha construction.
“Most of the gunnery yards are unavailable for examination, as they have become the foundations of newly built houses, the layout of which repeats the outline of the gunnery yards,” read in the mentioned guidebook A.V. Nemenko. - Her first courtyard was located on the territory of a modern private household in the cooperative "Chaika". Unfortunately, in 2008, the last right-flank battery yard was rebuilt by the site owner. The remaining three courtyards, which had a similar design, were rebuilt by the landlords even earlier. Until 2005, the third courtyard of the battery was still not built up; in 1942, it was rebuilt under the 130-mm cannon of battery No. 12. ”
HOLIDAY BATTERY
For that country street, where the battery number 2 was located, connecting with it by the flank, the battery number 3 was located with eight 11-inch mortars of the model 1877 of the year. The battery is similar in design to the battery of the 12 Southern Group, built in 1893 – 1895 years, but unlike the 12 battery, the ends of the traverse between the guns were not the first-shot niches, but the equipment rooms. The parapet is concrete, the shelling is circular. The guns were installed in single yards: four mortars - on the machines of the Rasskazov system, four - on the machines of the Kokorin system. The distance between mortars of the right half of the parapet (guns on Rasskazov’s machines) is 12 fathoms (25,6 m), and the left half is 14 fathoms (29,9 m).
Between the guns there were four charging and five shell cellars (704 shells), which were located in two levels, in traverses, one for two guns. Outlets from the cellars - in the ends of the traverse. The loading of ammunition was carried out to the lower level, through the armored door of the latter, and the supply through the exits to the guns on inclined ramps by mechanical lifts with manual drive. At the ends of the four traverses there were exits from the cellars to the guns, in the rest - equipment rooms. On the flanks of the battery - range pavilions.
In 1902, a lodgement was built for two 3-mm Nordenfeld coastal cannons near the right flank of battery No. 57, but no guns were installed on 1 in January 1906. In the 1907 year, it was planned to install four 10 / 45-inch guns on the battery, but this plan was not implemented. As well as they did not implement the decision to replace Kokorin's machines in 1916 at 11-inch mortars, with Durlecher's machine tools. Foundations for Kokorin machines have survived to the present. In the 1918, all mortars remained in place, and by the year of the 1920, there were no guns on the battery.
In 1935, two Kane 152-mm guns from the coastal defense battery No. 12 were installed on the battery array. After sending the battery number 12 to Perekop in August 1941, the cellar batteries were used to store ammunition. According to the memoirs of veterans, in October-November 1941, on the battery array were two Kanha 152-mm guns, but it is not clear which battery they belonged to. In January, 1941 had no guns on the array.
In March, the 1942 of the year in the positions of the former battery No. 3 is equipped with a new battery No. 12 of the second formation. Two X-NUMX-mm B-130 guns were placed in the courtyards, and another gun was installed in the converted courtyard of the pre-revolutionary battery No. 13. 2 March 12, the new coastal battery was put into operation. To reduce the likelihood of getting into the cellar of ammunition, the battery is rebuilt. During the reconstruction, the lower entrances to the cellars are filled up (for loading 1942-inch shells), manual elevators for shells are removed. Instead, knocked out small feeding windows. The gun courts, in which 11-mm guns were installed, were also rebuilt for new guns. To install the latter, the level of the courtyards is raised (almost by a meter), ladders for lifting are equipped. A low semi-circular parapet is built around each yard from the back side, not covered by a parapet. At the end of June 130, two cellars of the ammunition were blown up, and the guns of the 1942 battery were damaged. However, there were fierce battles around these fortifications in 12's June.
After the war, a coastal defense artillery battalion is being built on the left flank of the battery. In the 1960s, concrete batteries No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 were blown up by order of the Black Sea command fleet. The goal is to obtain building materials for the construction of their facilities. The territory of the former batteries is given for summer cottages.
TWO “QUOTS”
Interestingly, there were two 4 batteries on the North side - the “old” and the “new”. The “old” was in the depths of the Sevastopol Bay, on the shore of the North Bay not far from the pier, where the ferry linking the North and Artillery Bay is now moored. Since the time of the Crimean War, well-built barracks have been preserved here, the gorzhevaya (gorge (fr. Gorge — neck, throat) is the back part of the fortification) defensive wall, cellars of ammunition. The battery was planned to be equipped first with 6-inch mortars of the 1867 model of the year, and then with 6-inch cannons in 190 pounds, under which the construction of six separate courtyards began. But in the course of the 30 fire in May, 1889 of the year, in the artillery warehouses in the Laboratory beam, the 6-inch guns destined for the battery were damaged. Therefore, from 1891 to 1905, 10 field guns were on the battery. Subsequently, by the year of 1905, such guns, apparently, were installed on the battery, but on machines from 9-inch light mortars. The latter were not in service with the coastal batteries of the fortress, but were in a “special reserve”. The horizontal pointing angle of 9-inch light mortars depended on the type of platform and was 30 or 180 degrees.
In 1906, the battery was re-armed with 75 / 50-mm cane cannons, for which the yards were rebuilt. The courtyards had two niches of the first shots, located on the sides of the gun position. The earthen bank, lined with stone 6 thick fathoms (about 13 m), reliably protected the guns from the front. The battery had a large barracks town located nearby, and a shelter defensive position.
In June, 1942, fierce battles were fought around the barracks and the town. The territory of the old battery became, as it were, a stronghold of defense on the North side. To date, the battery is largely preserved. Behind the shaft lined with Crimean limestone, one can see traces of four gunnery yards, two more were covered during battery rebuilding, the entrance to the battery, barracks and gunpowder cellars built before the Crimean War remained. Border defensive wall is destroyed and almost invisible. Currently, the "old" battery number 4 is not available for inspection: previously there was a Ukrainian one, and from the year 2014 a Russian military unit.
Construction of the “new” battery number 4 began in 1904, on the left flank of the third mortar battery, it received four Kanet 152 / 45-mm guns. The height of the guns above sea level - 13,4 fathoms (28,6 m). Appointment, device and dimensions of facilities - the same as on the battery number 2. By January 1 1906, the battery had three concrete and one temporary wooden base with Kané's 152-mm cannons mounted on them. All guns were ready for action. In 1907, a concrete base was built to the last cannon. And because of the lack of space, the tools had to be placed with a ledge: two right-flank ones - higher and slightly ahead, in one row, and the other two - lower down the hill and slightly behind, a ledge (one slightly behind the other).
In 1914, the guns from the batteries No. 2 and No. 4 were dismantled and sent to Odessa. In the 1920, there were no guns on the batteries of the North side. But by the year of 1925, in order to protect Sevastopol, they had restored the battery No. 4, on which they installed Kanet's 6-inch cannons with scrapped disarmed cruisers. 152-mm guns Kane MA, mounted on the battery, differed only in that they were fastened to the barrel and had separate loading. The external characteristic difference is that the CA (land artillery) or MA (naval artillery) is knocked out on the breech. In the new numbering, the battery becomes No. 3 and is included in the 1-th division, the gearbox of which was located on the former battery No. 7.
In 1927, she receives a new 12 number. The guns on the battery stood until August 1941, after which they were dismantled for shipment to Perekop. In November, 1941 of the year replaced the battery No. 12 (second formation) armed with X-NUMX-mm B-2BM guns on temporary wooden bases at the site of the former battery No. 100. Their location made it possible to lead by sea and land targets. As of January 24, the battery had two guns instead of four, and by June 1942 there were four guns, but there was only one gun on the battery array, and the second gun was on the left flank of the former battery No. 1942 (two more guns were in different positions ). Before leaving the battery number 3, which was still ammunition, was blown up.
“The NP field 1942-mm battery located nearby is being built on the concrete massif of a blown-up battery by the Germans in 1943 – 105,” AV indicates. Nemenko in the guide “Sevastopol. Shadows of the great past. - Later, after the liberation of Sevastopol, a standard KP artillery division of the 50-s was built next to the German NP in the 50-s of the XX century. You can find the remains of the battery by climbing the metal stairs from the beach next to the military unit at Konstantinovsky Cape (on the outer side of the cape). A guideline can serve as two round concrete caps at the end of the climb, but they were later built and were built on the remains of a blasted yard No. 2. Yard number 1 is now built up, two more blasted massifs are among the abandoned villas, to the left of the metal staircase. ”
ON CAPE KONSTANTINOVSKY
The following battery, about which we will tell, battery No. 5, was located at the beginning of Cape Konstantinovsky. The construction of an earth battery for four 11-inch guns of the 1867 model of the year was completed by the summer of 1885, but at the end of 1885, the guns from the battery were removed and sent to Vladivostok. Instead of the old earthen battery, a new long-term one was built for the guns of the same system. In order to equip it, in 1889, three 11-inch guns of the 1867 model of the year were received from the Ochakov fortress. And in 1891, the construction of a fortification begins. On the new concrete battery in 1896, three 11-inch guns of the model 1867 of the year were installed on Semenov’s machines of the model 1870 of the year. The concrete massif was built for four guns, but only three are visible in the photos. Obviously, the fourth gun, which came later from the Batumi Fortress, was not installed, although it was listed in the warehouses of the fortress. The battery was not armed long: from 1896-th to 1898 year. In 1898, the guns are removed from the battery to upgrade the machines. From 1898 to 1908, the battery stood without tools.
The height of the guns above sea level - 6 fathoms (12,8 m). The shelling is circular. The distance between the guns - 10,5 fathoms (22,4 m). Concrete parapet - 1,43 fathing thick (3,1 m), earth parapet - 6 fathoms (12,8 m). Between the guns there are three cellars of ammunition, and on the flanks there are shelters for personnel. Two cellars - two-level, the rest of the premises - one-level. The ammunition was stored on the lower level and was fed up by two manual lifts located on either side of the cellar room (because of this, the battery traverse is T-shaped). When upgrading the battery array in 1902, the entrance to the lower tier was rebuilt, having covered it with a window rider (initially there were no riders). 360 shells were stored in each cellar. The design of the battery is in many respects similar to the design of the battery No. 9 on the South side.
In 1906, four Kané 75-mm cannons were installed in front of the battery front. In Soviet times, the 357-I 37-mm anti-aircraft guns were on its parapet. In November, the 1941 of the year the battery was dismantled and sent to the Caucasus. Instead, right on the roof of the Konstantinovsky fortification, 37-mm anti-aircraft guns 70К were installed from the submerged destroyer and one experienced 37-mm paired 66К installation, intended for the 68 cruisers built in Nikolaev.
On the battery array there were two 100-mm B-24 BM guns of the Soviet battery No. 2. After dismantling the guns in October 1941, the array was not used until March 1942, when one B-2bis battery gun was installed on it. During the fighting, the battery was attacked many times by the German aviation. During one of the raids, the shield of one of the guns was dropped to the water by an explosion, but there were no casualties hidden in the casemates. In June 1942, the B-2bis battery guns were dismantled and moved to the South side.
“Now the battery array is badly damaged. The right-flank cover was blown up in 1942, and after the war, the right flank of the battery was rebuilt. The fortification has multiple damage from bullets and shells. One of the courtyards (4-e gun) filled up. Battery casemates in June 1942 became one of the frontiers of the defense of the Konstantinovsky base. Next to the battery array is the gearbox of the anti-aircraft division, on which a memorial plaque is installed, indicating that the organizers of the uprising on the Prut cruiser were shot at this place. In fact, the participants in the uprising were shot at the wall of the Konstantinovsky fort, and the command post was built only in 1941 year, ”indicates researcher A.V. Nemenko.
The battery number 6 was built in 1893 – 1894 on Cape Konstantinovsky almost closely with the Konstantin battery, built as early as 1840 and already lost all combat significance by 1877, and therefore used as a warehouse in 1876 – 1917.
The battery was armed with three 11-inch Krupp cannons of the 1877 model of the year mounted on concrete foundations. Between the guns - three shell cellars: two extreme - on the 202 projectile, and the middle - on the 303 projectile. The distance between the guns is much greater than on similar batteries of this time. The guns were installed on the Krupp "second delivery" machines with a maximum elevation angle of 20 degrees. With the receipt in 1889 of three guns for battery No. 5 from the Ochakov fortress and installing them in 1891 on battery No. 5, it is possible to begin work on the construction of the long-term battery No. 6, which protected the entrance to the bay from 1894 to 1898. In 1898, the battery was disarmed to upgrade machines. In the same year began its restructuring. In 1902, three 11-inch guns from Libavskoy fortress were installed there, but three years later the battery No. 6 was disarmed.
In 1939, in the area of the former battery No. 6, two 100-mm universal guns B-24BM were installed from the three-gun battery No. 2. In September 1941, the guns were removed from the battery and sent to the land borders of Sevastopol. In December, the 1941 of the year the battery was again armed with new 100-mm cannons, but they were installed higher on the array of the former battery No. 2. By May 1942, the 2bis battery was restored at the site of the battery, but in June 1942, the battery devices were moved to the South side. In the last days of defense in the area of Konstantinovsky fort and old batteries were fierce battles.
In order to supply the coastal batteries of the North side with ammunition, large underground cellars were built, the same as in the Quarantine beam and on the battery No. 13. The design of the tunnel cellars was completely identical to the cellars on the South side. They began to build cellars before the Crimean War, and after they were completed, they received the unofficial name of the Nakhimov cellars.
The batteries were supplied with ammunition using the Deconville narrow-gauge railway, which passed around the swamp and was divided into two branches: one to the batteries No. 5 and No. 6, the second to the batteries No. 3, 4, 1 / 2 and 7. The entrances to the cellars are located in the slope of a clay hill, to the left of the Mikhailovsky Ravelin, if you face it. Currently, one of the cellars is completely flooded, the second is filled, the third is on the territory of private ownership. The cellars were used for their intended purpose until the 1920 year. Later, the narrow gauge railway was dismantled and used in the construction of the Soviet coastal battery No. 10. During the war, the second cellar contained the ammunition of the 112 coastal battery, and in the 1 and 2 there were warehouses of a nearby aerodrome.
“POLITICAL PEOPLE”
In conclusion, it should be noted that until 2014, the Konstantinovsky battery area, including the concrete arrays of batteries No. 6 and No. 5, were located on the territory of the military unit of the Black Sea Fleet and were not available for visiting. The 6 battery array contains three 85K universal 90-mm guns and three 45K 21-mm guns.
In 2015, the Sevastopol media was filled with good news about the fate of the famous Konstantinovskaya battery. Here is a message from 14 June 2015: “In Sevastopol, on the territory of the Konstantinovskaya battery, they will create a large-scale museum exhibition with an area of more than 2 thousand square meters. m.
And here 7 September 2015, the author moved to a new object of the Geographical Society. However, it turned out that it is surrounded by several rows of thorns. I introduced myself to the head of security and asked for permission to go through and inspect the Konstantinovskaya battery or at least an even more interesting object - concrete battery No. 6. The military denied me in a rather crude form: “What is the Geographic Society here? Have read the Internet? Go from here to ... Here is a military site. ”
The battery has three helicopter pads, two well-equipped berths with beautiful, expensive lanterns. Obviously, this is a place for luxury yachts, not for warships. Apparently, out of three coastal batteries that are extremely interesting for historians, they made a “traveling palace” for VIPs. Well, those who know Sevastopol, who asked not to give them names and positions, explained to me that the Geographic society will indeed be present on the battery, which, in addition to receiving VIPs, will be engaged in setting up hydroacoustic equipment to work in the Black Sea.
Apparently, the governor and VIPs, for whom the “traveling palace” on the Konstantinovskaya battery is intended, have little interest in the concrete arrays of batteries No. 5 and No. 6. Their fate is not mentioned in the rework plans of the Konstantinovskaya battery, and, apparently, the objects of batteries No. 5 and No. 6 will be partially exploded and partially buried.
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