Novik-class destroyers – a steel legend
Usually the class of "destroyers" is derived from destroyers or "fighters" - counter-destroyers. In the case of Russia, this is not the case. Our destroyers are directly descended from mine cruisers. The fact is that having lost fleet in Port Arthur and at Tsushima, the government of the Russian Empire urgently made a decision to recreate it, but on a new material base. In terms of mine carriers weapons At a meeting, the Marine Technical Committee (MTC) decided to stop building small destroyers that suffer from a number of irreparable shortcomings, such as poor seaworthiness and low survivability, and to focus on larger mine cruisers.
To say that the requirements for the new mine cruisers were drawn up over a long period of time is to say nothing! Letters were sent to leading shipbuilding companies asking them to present their vision of the new ships. Surveys were conducted among sailors who had participated in the recent war, opinions were compared in the course of heated discussions, more or less competent justifications were provided for various configurations of the performance characteristics, and discussions and agreements began again...
Parsons Turbine - 19th Century Hi-Tech
There was no particular debate about the propulsion system. Instead of a steam engine, a steam turbine was planned from the very beginning. At that time, this was “mega-high-tech” — “Parsons turbines” appear in the science fiction novels of Jules Verne, and this Frenchman had a keen sense of promising technical innovations. The first turbine was installed by the British in 1899 on the experimental ship “Turbinia”. Subsequently, the experiment was repeated on the destroyers “Viper” and “Cobra”: the ships with a displacement of 370 tons were able to accelerate to an unprecedented 30 knots at that time.
The Unlucky Destroyer "Cobra"
Why then was such a successful experiment not scaled up at that time? Well... things didn't work out very well with the destroyers. In order to achieve the record speed promised by the new propulsion systems, English engineers significantly over-lightened these very "power-armed" ships. As a result, the Viper ran aground and broke in half, the entire crew was saved, including two kittens - the sailors' favorites. And the crew of the Viper was lucky: the Cobra broke apart on a wave during a storm, the stern sank immediately, the bow remained afloat for some time. 12 people from the crew managed to escape in a lifeboat, 65 drowned. Only a month and a half passed between the death of the Viper and the tragedy of the Cobra, which is why the naval and near-naval public decided that the cause of the ships' deaths was the turbine. By the way, after this incident the English stopped calling ships "snake" names...
Water-tube boiler of the destroyer Novik (a similar boiler of the Italian destroyer is placed below for comparison)
But the Russo-Japanese War put everything in its place, and the new mine cruisers of the Russian Imperial Navy (RIF) had to furrow the expanses of the World Ocean using turbine propulsion. It was decided to install water-tube boilers to feed the turbines with steam - they ensured a more complete return of steam energy, high maneuverability, smaller weight and dimensions. Well, water-tube boilers were much better suited to oil heating, and the mine cruisers of the new project were supposed to be oil-powered from the very beginning.
It was more complicated with weapons: there was clarity regarding the refusal of fixed underwater torpedo tubes, but there were disputes regarding the number of "tubes" themselves. At first, it was even planned to install six twin-tube rotating torpedo tubes. artillery There were fewer disputes, it became clear that there was no point in installing guns with a caliber of less than 4 inches, it remained to decide on the number of guns. A radio station was also recognized as a necessary part of the ship's equipment.
While the approximate performance characteristics of the future torpedo cruiser were being agreed upon, the "Small Shipbuilding Program" was adopted in 1907. Torpedo cruisers of the new type were not included in it, but it was planned to build 14 destroyers of the old type in the Black Sea. Yes, "destroyers" - it was in 1907 that torpedo cruisers received a new name. True, at first they were in no hurry to build in the Black Sea: the Turks were not the most formidable enemy, but in the spring of 1910 they intended to buy three new battleships, so in 1911 they had to urgently adopt a new plan called "On the allocation of funds for strengthening the Black Sea Fleet." Among other things, it provided for the construction of nine destroyers of the new type for the Black Sea Fleet. And in 1912, the "Great Shipbuilding Program" was adopted, which assumed the completion of the construction of new ships by 1916-1917. According to it, the number of destroyers of new types was to be 36 units in the Baltic Fleet alone. The Russian Empire did not manage to fully implement either the small or the large program, but the projects of the ships included in it lived a long life!
However, let's return to our destroyers. The agreed requirements for the ship were as follows: speed - 35 knots, seaworthiness - allowing to perform combat missions in wind force 8-9 and sea state 6-7, cruising range - 86 hours of continuous sailing at a speed of 21 knots, in other words - 1800 miles. The ship's armament was to be represented by two twin-tube torpedo tubes, two 120-mm guns of 45 calibers in length. There were to be 4 spare torpedoes, and 100 shells for each gun. All this was planned to fit into a displacement of 1000 tons. It was separately stipulated that the destroyer's silhouette should not stand out among other ships, for the sake of minimal visibility.
Alexey Krylov is one of the fathers of Novik
Having received the requirements, the MTC began to develop technical specifications for a "35-knot destroyer". Since the members of the MTC at that time were such outstanding shipbuilders as Alexey Krylov (future academician) and Ivan Bubnov - the creator of the first Russian submarine with internal combustion engines "Dolphin", Alexander Shershov (future builder of the battleships "Gangut" and "Poltava") and Gustav Schlesinger (who supervised the construction of the destroyers of the "Finn" type), the result of their work could not but be outstanding!
Ivan Bubnov knew a thing or two about strength of materials...
Let's start with the fact that Russian shipbuilders did not repeat the mistakes of the British, who over-lightened the Viper and Cobra. The longitudinal hull frame system and the standards for permissible stresses were developed by Bubnov, and the project was the first to fully implement the system. It was he who, in a report to the chairman of the MTC dated November 2, 1907, defined the main elements of the future ship, which can be considered the first document that formed the basis of the 35-knot destroyer project. In 1908, the MTC developed 5 versions of technical specifications, two of which were sent to one rather interesting organization. It was called the "Special Committee for Strengthening the Naval Fleet with Donations."
Admiral Ivan Dikov
The fact is that the destruction of the navy in the Russo-Japanese War did not leave the people of the Empire indifferent. On the initiative of Count L. M. Kochubey, who addressed his fellow citizens through the newspaper "New Time", a collection of funds was started to build ships to replace those lost. Donations were of various sizes: from a peasant ruble to a million rubles contributed by the Emir of Bukhara, but so much money was collected that it was necessary to create a special body headed by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, whose deputy was Adjutant General Admiral I. M. Dikov. The collection was stopped after more than 17 million rubles were in the committee's coffers.
Emir of Bukhara Seyid Abdulahad Khan is a man...
The collected money was used to build 18 coal-fired mine cruisers with a displacement of 550-600 tons and a speed of 25 knots: "Voyskovoy", "Dobrovolets", "Kazanets", "Moskvityanin", "Trukhmenets", "Ukraina", "Finn", "Emir Bukharsky", "Donskoy Kazak", "Steregushchiy", "Strashny", "General Kondratenko", "Amurets", "Zabaikalets", "Ussuriets", "Okhotnik", "Pogranichnik", "Sibirsky Strelok". It is interesting that the part of the names of these destroyers that is not dedicated to the heroes of the Russo-Japanese War was given in honor of those parts of the Empire where the money for the construction was collected (Emir Bukharsky was honored with "his" ship!). And with this same money, the first of the destroyers of the new type began to be built...
...and a steamship!
The task of designing the ship was not simple. On the one hand, it was necessary to make the ship narrow and long - to achieve a speed of 35 knots, on the other hand - to achieve the necessary longitudinal strength, but without weighing down the elements of the ship's framing. In general, the task of slipping between the drops in the rain is not much easier! But it was solved by means of the framing system proposed by Bubnov and the use of high-resistance shipbuilding steels.
Steam turbine of the destroyer Novik[/ Center]
A separate issue was the choice of steam turbines for the new destroyer. The manufacturer was given the right to choose from the already proven Parsons, Curtis and Rateau turbines, for which it was also possible to choose water-tube boilers of the Yarrow, Thornycroft, Norman or other types. An original twin-tube torpedo tube of 450 mm caliber and a new 102-mm gun with a barrel length of 60 calibers were developed for the ship's armament. It was proposed to install rails on the deck, which ensured the convenience of fastening and installing mines. In general, by 1909, the technical specifications were agreed upon and sent to the factories that wished to participate in the competition for the destroyer project: Admiralty, Metallichesky, Nevsky, Creighton and Co., Nikolaevsky and the Lange and Son factory in Riga.
Twin-tube rotating torpedo tube of the Black Sea "Novik" "Derzkiy"
The MTK liked the Metal Plant project the most. It was the one that proposed installing six double torpedo tubes and 2x102-mm guns on the ship. However, it was not without its shortcomings: the high metacentric height with a shallow draft made the ship insufficiently stable. The placement of oil in the side compartments also raised questions: one shell that hit them could lead to the destruction of the destroyer. In general, all the projects were returned for revision, and the Creighton and Co. plant dropped out of the competition. The final project (presented by the Metal Plant) was approved on September 30, 1909. But they demanded that changes be made to it: the Naval General Staff (MGSh) agreed to a slight increase in draft...
102mm gun on the stern of the Novik Nezamozhnik, formerly Zante
Constant alterations and modifications of the ship designs caused harsh criticism in the press: the money for the construction of the fleet was raised much faster than the ships themselves were designed. In the end, on April 2, 1910, the destroyer design of the Metal Plant was finally approved. It provided for the construction of a ship with a displacement of 1025 tons, a length of 96 meters, a width of 9 meters, and a draft of 2,76 meters. True, for the Black Sea, they decided to slightly rework the design: to install a third 102-mm cannon instead of one of the torpedo tubes, and a Curtis-AEG-Vulcan turbine instead of the Rateau turbine. This led to a new competition: to design a destroyer for the Black Sea Fleet. It was completed on December 19, 1911.
The Special Committee for Strengthening the Navy was given the opportunity to order a new destroyer from industry, using donations: it had a simpler financial situation than the Naval Ministry, all expenses did not need to be coordinated with the State Duma, and two million of the 17 million collected were still left in the account. It was decided to build the ship at the Putilov Plant, the delivery of the finished ship for testing was to occur no later than June 1, 1912, and acceptance into the treasury - August 1 of the same year. The problem was that the propulsion system of the new destroyer was planned to be ordered from the German company "Vulcan", but it made a mistake in calculating the power of the mechanisms based on the results of testing in the experimental pool of the ship model, so the construction was delayed by almost a year...
Konstantin Alexandrovich Tennyson
Konstantin Tennyson was appointed the destroyer's chief builder, and the ship's keel was laid on July 19, 1910. In January, the boilers and turbines were installed, and it was then that it became clear that Vulcan had screwed up its calculations, and the boilers had to be replaced with more efficient ones. In other respects, German quality was also not up to par: cavities were found in the mechanisms accepted by German Lloyd - perhaps the Germans were deliberately pushing out defects? After all, no one had any doubts that war was just around the corner...
The name of the new destroyer, at the suggestion of the commander of the Baltic Sea forces, Vice-Admiral Nikolai Ottovich von Essen, was given in honor of the famous Port Arthur cruiser Novik, which Essen himself commanded during the Russo-Japanese War, which perished in an unequal battle with Japanese cruisers. Taking into account the screw corvette Novik, the destroyer became the third ship of this name in the Russian fleet. The word "novik" in the Muscovite kingdom meant a nobleman or a boyar's son who had reached the age of 15, but had not yet entered service, in general - a recruit. In a figurative sense - something new and modern. Nicholas II also agreed with the name, putting the letter "S" on the proposal - "I agree".
Novik's launch into the water
The ship was launched on June 21, 1911. There were no special celebrations because the battleship Poltava was launched at the same time, so all the VIPs were there. Captain 2nd rank Dmitry Verderevsky, later the Minister of the Navy of the Provisional Government, was appointed commander of the ship under construction. Completion continued until the spring of 1912. At the same time, further changes were made to the project: the artillery armament was reinforced - 4x102-mm guns were installed instead of two according to the original project, and the number of twin-tube torpedo tubes was reduced to four (the artillery of different destroyers of the Novik type varied from 3 to 5 guns of 102 mm caliber). On May 1, 1912, the St. Andrew's flag was raised over the ship.
It must be said that for its time the ship was uniquely good! The ratio of the weight of the hull to the weight of the mechanisms was extremely small: thanks to the new framing system, the ship's hull was very light, but at the same time very strong. To ensure unsinkability, it was divided into compartments by watertight longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. Three turbines (two in the bow and one in the stern turbine rooms), fed by six water-tube boilers, rotated three propellers. The power of each turbine on the shaft was 10,7 thousand horsepower. The ship had four pipes, fuel was stored in double-bottom and side tanks, water - in the bow tank. The engineers of the Putilov plant provided for the possibility of combat damage to the ship, so a backup steam pipeline was laid parallel to the main one, so that if the main one was damaged, the ship could maintain speed.
The officer's cabin of one of the "noviki", most likely the destroyer "Desna"
The ship had good habitability: seven officers' cabins, a buffet and a wardroom were located on the upper deck near the forecastle. Sailors' quarters for 80 people were on the living deck in the bow and stern. In the stern on the living deck there was also a six-berth conductor's cabin. All living quarters had portholes and were heated by steam heaters; lockers and hanging bunks were intended for the crew to rest.
102-mm Obukhov gun of the destroyer "Stalin", formerly "Samson"
The armament for 1913 was extremely powerful: the 102 mm guns of the Novik had a firing range of up to 120 cables and good accuracy. The 450 mm torpedo tubes were aimed at the target using an optical sight. The ship was equipped with a radio telegraph station, providing a communication range of up to 300 miles. During trials, the ship exceeded the speed specified in the technical conditions, showing a maximum speed of 37,3 knots on a measured mile. Thus, at the beginning of the First World War, it was the best destroyer in the world.
Novik-class destroyers on the slipway (judging by the name "Kerch" - in Nikolaev)
Soon, the construction of serial ships of the Novik type began. In total, 30 such ships were built in Russia, and another 28 were on the stocks by the time of the October Revolution. Six of them were subsequently completed in the USSR. It is worth mentioning right away: not all destroyers of this type met the standard set by the Novik: during the war, the quality of construction significantly decreased, but this did not prevent the ships from actively fighting in the First World War, and in the Civil War, and in the Great Patriotic War.
Gorshkov G.V. "Destroyer Novik fights German destroyers V-99 and V-100 on August 17, 1915"
It is interesting that the active participation of the Germans in the creation of the Novik engines led to the presence of Noviks in the Kaiserliche Marine as well - around the boiler-turbine units ordered by Russia, during the war 8 destroyers were built that strongly resembled the Novik in all details except for the artillery: the Blohm und Voss company built the B-97, B-98, B-109, B-110, B-111 and B-112, and the Vulkan shipyard built the V-99 and V-100. The difference in the designations should not be confusing: in Germany, the first letter in the ship's number designated the company where it was built. It was the Noviks that became the first "zerstrohrer" - destroyers in the German fleet. All ships before them were called "torpedo-bot" - a destroyer in our language.
The result of the above mentioned battle for V-99
It is no less interesting that on August 17, Novik single-handedly entered into battle with two of its German “clones” — V-99 and V-100 — in the Gulf of Riga. And emerged victorious! The Russian 102-mm guns turned out to be better than the German 88-mm guns installed on the “zerstrorrers,” and the V-99 received such serious damage that it lost its course and was blown onto mines, after which it story ended tragically. The story of the others ended with the self-sinking of Scapa Flow.
Peruvian newcomers in Callao...
And the Russian "Noviki" served for a long time! Some in Latin America served until the 50s. Yes, there was such a thing: the destroyers "Kapitan 1-go rank Miklukha-Maklay" and "Avtroil" after long adventures were sold by Estonia (to which they were given after the Civil War by the British, who captured the destroyers) to Peru for 400 thousand dollars, where they received the names "Almirante Villar" and "Almirante Guisse". The ships even fought a couple of times in local civil strife and were decommissioned only in 1955.
The Novik's bridge today...
Well, the Novik itself was less lucky: after the revolution it was renamed the Yakov Sverdlov, and it was under this name that it perished during the Tallinn crossing. According to the initial version, the destroyer covered the cruiser Kirov from a torpedo fired by an enemy submarine, but post-war research did not confirm this version — the ship perished on a mine. The former Novik was unlucky: ships of this project were unusually resilient: the destroyer Zabiyaka hit a floating mine near the Dagerort lighthouse on December 24, 1915, but remained afloat, was towed, and put into repairs. It served until 1955 under the name Uritsky; to sink the old ship, an atomic torpedo was needed — the last mission of the Zabiyaka was to participate in the tests of the T-5 nuclear torpedo warhead on September 21, 1955. At the same time, two more Noviks sank to the bottom - Valerian Kuibyshev (née Captain Kern) and Karl Liebknecht (Captain Belli). Although, well, how to the bottom... Kuibyshev really sank, and Liebknecht survived the nuclear explosion that occurred 1600 meters away, was towed to the shallows, and subsequently served as a floating dock in Belushya Bay for a long time. However, along with Novik, the Noviks Artem (former Azard), Volodarsky (former Pobeditel), Kalinin (former Pryamislav) perished in the Tallinn passage...
"Horned Death" on the deck of one of the "noviks"
The combat merits of the Novik-class destroyers are great. In World War I, the cruiser Bremen and the destroyers V-107, S-177, and the patrol ship Freya were sunk by the mines they laid (the rails for the mines on the decks were an excellent technical solution!). During the raid on the German convoy in Norrköping Bay, they sank several escort ships and 2-4 transports. In the Black Sea, their prey included the Turkish gunboats Tash-Kayprü and Chesgar, the German submarine US-13, but most importantly, they interrupted the coal supplies from the Zonguldak coal mines, sinking most of the colliers. During the Civil War, the Noviks Azard and Gavriil sank the English submarine L-55.
“Azard” and “Gabriel” sink the L-55 submarine in Koporye Bay,” art. N. E. Bublikov and G. V. Gorshkov
By the end of World War I, the Novik-class destroyers were no longer the best in the world: British and German destroyers had switched to larger-caliber artillery (120 mm), and the Noviks were no longer record-breaking in speed. Nevertheless, they fought successfully in the Great Patriotic War! It is worth mentioning the Nezamozhnik, formerly the Zante, one of the most distinguished ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which participated in the most famous operations, such as the Feodosia Wake-up Call on December 28-29, 1941. The Noviks of the Northern Fleet, the Uritsky and Kuibyshev, became workhorses, guarding polar convoys - the excellent seaworthiness incorporated into the design of the ships allowed them to successfully withstand the trials of the stormy Barents Sea. In a word - Legend!
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