The heroic struggle of the battleship "Marat"
Damaged battleship Baltic fleet "Marat"
In Soviet times, this ship was depicted on postage stamps and posters. He was devoted to articles in newspapers and magazines. The flagship of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, armed with 305-mm guns, was able to smash the enemy with its powerful artillery. The defender of the defense of Leningrad, the battleship Marat was the strike core of the Baltic Fleet, its symbol.
"Petropavlovsk"
The ship was laid down in 1909 in St. Petersburg at the Baltic Shipyard. It was a Sevastopol-class dreadnought.
The first dreadnoughts of the Russian fleet were developed under the guidance of engineer, professor of the Naval Academy Ivan Bubnov and with the participation of mathematician and shipbuilder Alexei Krylov. In 1911, the ship "Petropavlovsk" was launched, in December 1914 it was enlisted in the Baltic Fleet. The battleship's crew consisted of more than 1 people. It was a grandiose naval shipbuilding project at the time. The ship took part in the First World War.
In 1918, during the Ice Campaign of the Baltic Fleet, together with other ships, the Baltic Fleet moved from Helsingfors to Kronstadt. On May 31, 1919, the only naval battle of the "Petropavlovsk" (and the battleship from the "Sevastopol" series) took place. British destroyers pursued the destroyer Azard, which was conducting reconnaissance under the cover of the battleship. Our destroyer brought the enemy straight to the guns of the Petropavlovsk. The dreadnought fired at the enemy with 305-mm, and then 120-mm guns. The British destroyers, which approached the battleship up to 47 cables, retreated.
In June 1919, "Petropavlovsk" took part in the suppression of the uprising of the garrisons of the forts "Krasnaya Gorka" and "Gray Horse". The forts revolted when the White Guards attacked Petrograd, and hoped for the support of the British fleet. The red battleships "Andrey Pervozvanny" and "Petropavlovsk" fired at the positions of the rebels, and they left the forts.
In March 1921, the ship's crew took part in the Kronstadt uprising. The mutiny was suppressed, part of the battleship's crew fled to Finland. On March 31, 1921, the ship was renamed "Marat", in honor of the French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat.
"Marat"
In June 1925, during a training campaign on the battleship "Marat", People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Mikhail Frunze was holding his flag. In 1928-1931, the ship was repaired and modernized. Before the war, the ship made sea voyages to Finland, Sweden, Norway, England and the Baltic republics. In 1938, the Marat was the first in the world to test the magnetic mine protection system developed at the Leningrad Physics Institute under the leadership of Anatoly Aleksandrov. In the spring of 1941, the mine protection system was installed, and the Marat became the first Soviet ship to be protected from magnetic mines.
During the Winter War with Finland, the Baltic Fleet flagship fired at enemy coastal positions in the Vyborg area. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War "Marat" met in Kronstadt. Over the summer and autumn, more than 600 sailors from the battleship went to fight in the marines.
In August 1941, the German army reached the approaches to Leningrad. On September 8, 1941, German and Finnish troops blockaded Leningrad (Leningrad in the blockade) and the main base of the Baltic Fleet - Kronstadt. The German Army Group North tried to take Leningrad on the move, capture the second most important city in the Soviet Union and destroy the Russian Baltic Fleet. Thus, the Germans turned the Baltic Sea into their lake, established a strong and land connection with Scandinavia, their Finnish allies and resource base. They created a threat from the north-west for Moscow, and could send large forces of the northern group to other directions.
Leningrad and Kronstadt were surrounded. The bombing and shelling continued day and night. The Nazis tried to crush our troops in Leningrad, to break the enemy's morale. The Baltflot and its flagship Marat played an important role in the defense of Leningrad. The sailors erected numerous fortifications, hundreds of bunkers, for which they used armor plates from reserves. More than 200 firing points, armored with ship steel, were urgently built at Pulkovo Heights alone. The Leningrad system included the battleships Marat and October Revolution, the cruisers Gorky, Kirov, Petropavlovsk and other ships.
Dozens of batteries were erected with the help of the naval artillery of the fleet. The Baltic sailors installed 130-mm naval batteries and guns removed from the Aurora. The Neva fortified position was built. The ship batteries near the Ivanovskie rapids were at the forefront of the defense during the entire period of the Leningrad defense: only the river. The Neva separated them from the Nazis. Four large-caliber railway batteries, manned by sailors, defended Leningrad from land. Naval aviation and anti-aircraft artillery defended the city. Almost half of the personnel of the Baltic Fleet fought on land.
The artillery of the battleship "Marat" has been firing at the Nazis since September 9th. The naval and anti-aircraft artillery of the fleet and the flagship held back the enemy's onslaught, did not give the Wehrmacht the opportunity to begin the assault on the city. The ship's artillery power was one of the main factors that did not allow the Germans to break into Leningrad. At the beginning of the blockade, the Soviet battleship was anchored in the bucket of the Sea Canal opposite Strelna and fired at enemy positions. In the first days of the blockade, "Marat" fired 953 shells of the main caliber at the enemy.
The battleship of the Baltic Fleet "Marat" at anchorage. 1940
Battleship Death
The German command concentrated the efforts of the Air Force and artillery on the bombing of Kronstadt and the destruction of the main combat units of the Baltic Fleet.
On September 16, 1941, the Luftwaffe carried out a massive raid and were able to damage the Marat (four direct hits of 250-kg bombs). Also, ten 150-mm artillery shells hit the Soviet flagship. 78 sailors were killed and wounded. On the battleship, some mechanisms were out of order, the fourth turret of the main caliber, a group of 76-mm anti-aircraft guns aft and a bow battery of 37-mm anti-aircraft guns were damaged. This seriously weakened the battleship's air defense. And the Soviet command was unable to strengthen the air defense of Kronstadt and ships, everything that was available was thrown into the defense of the city. All naval aviation worked in the interests of the front command.
"Marat" went under its own power to Kronstadt and on the 18th moored at the pier of Ust-Rogatka. The ship retained its combat capability and its main caliber guns continued to fire at the enemy. To destroy the Russian battleship, the Germans brought in one-color bombs from Germany. One of the German aces who attacked the Marat was Hans-Ulrich Rudel. On September 21-23, the Luftwaffe carried out a series of massive raids on Kronstadt. The small air defense forces of Kronstadt and the weakened anti-aircraft artillery of the battleship could not repel all the attacks of the German bastards of the Ju-87.
On September 23, German dive bombers attacked the battleship. The first one-ton bomb fell off the port side. The ship was heeled to starboard. Then another one-ton bomb hit the nose. She pierced the armor, exploded inside the ship, which caused the detonation of the ammunition of the first turret of the main caliber. There was a powerful explosion that destroyed the bow tower, the superstructure of the ship with its posts, anti-aircraft guns, the foremast with the forward conning tower, etc. The bow chimney fell. Shrapnel scattered all over Srednyaya harbor. The pillar of smoke rose to 1 km. The ship's commander, Captain 2nd Rank P.K. Ivanov, First Mate Captain 2nd Rank V.S.Chufistov, and 324 more people were killed. The ship received 10 thousand tons of water with a displacement of 23 thousand and sank at a depth of 11 meters.
Here is how one of the eyewitnesses described the death of a warship:
Aerial view of the damaged Soviet battleship Marat
Part of the foremast of the battleship of the Baltic Fleet "Marat", thrown from the ship by the force of the explosion. She was raised and placed on the wall of the Kronstadt harbor
Floating battery "Marat"
During the struggle for survivability, the sailors managed to prevent the flooding of part of the ship's compartments. Sailors from other ships arrived to the rescue. The battleship's hull lay to the bottom, but the depth was shallow and it did not sink completely. The sailors managed to land the battleship on an even keel, and restoration work soon began. The crew of the "Marat" was assisted by the rescuers of "Signal" and "Meteorite", the Expedition of Special Purpose Underwater Works (EPRON), workers of the Kronstadt repair plant.
There was simply no ship after the second tower. The third and fourth towers of the main caliber were intact, the second tower needed repair. Therefore, we decided to use the "Marat" as a non-self-propelled floating battery. Captain 3rd Rank L.E. Rodichev took command of the ship. A crew of 357 people was retained on the ship.
By the selfless efforts of the sailors and workers, the Marat was partially restored in October, and the battleship again stood up to defend Leningrad. The 120-mm guns were removed, three batteries were created, which strengthened the city's land defenses. On October 31, 1941, the guns of the third and fourth turrets opened fire on the Nazis, in November 1942 - the second turret of the main caliber also "spoke".
To protect the stationary floating battery from enemy artillery fire and air raids, granite slabs 32–45 cm thick were laid on the deck, and the boiler room was reinforced with armor plates.
"Marat" fought against enemy batteries. So, on December 12, 1941, the ship suppressed a German battery near the village of Bezbotny. On December 28, the disabled battleship was engaged in a firefight with 280-mm guns of the enemy railway battery at the Novy Peterhof station. 52 shells were fired at our ship, four hit the target. "Marat" received significant damage, but suppressed the German battery. One German shell sunk the auxiliary vessel "Vodoley". At the beginning of 1942, the Marat's crew increased to 500 people. Anti-aircraft guns were installed to protect the floating battery. The ship continued to fight the German artillery. The Nazis fired at the "Marat", but did not achieve significant destruction.
The battleship of the Baltic Fleet "Marat" in Kronstadt during emergency repairs. At the side of the battleship a tug of the Izhorets type
Soviet battleship of the Baltic Fleet "Marat" during emergency repair and conversion into a floating battery
Damaged battleship "Marat" as a floating battery
May 31, 1943 the ship was returned historical name - "Petropavlovsk". The battleship continued to fight the enemy until the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade in January 1944. In June 1944, the battleship's guns fired the last shots at the enemy - during the Vyborg offensive operation.
During the years of the Great Patriotic War, "Marat-Petropavlovsk" fired 1 rounds with its main caliber guns.
After the war, "Petropavlovsk" was going to completely restore, modernize and strengthen the anti-aircraft weapons. Use for this part of the hull of the battleship "Frunze" ("Poltava"). But in the end, these plans were abandoned.
The ship was used as an artillery training vessel. In 1950 the ship was renamed Volkhov. In 1953, they were removed from the fleet and in the early 60s they were sent to the metal. Unfortunately, Petropavlovsk was not preserved as a museum ship like the Aurora.
Calculations of automatic 37-mm anti-aircraft guns 70-K of the battleship "Marat"
- Alexander Samsonov
- https://ru.wikipedia.org/, http://waralbum.ru/
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