Spanish ships in the Soviet fleet
In 1938–39, nine merchant ships exchanged their Spanish Republic flags for Soviet ones (see table). These included cargo-passenger vessels, including liners that made regular voyages to South American ports. Writing about these ships is extremely difficult. Of course, the easiest way is to consult archives, but unfortunately, this is not accessible to everyone. Information in printed publications and on the internet, both Russian and Spanish, is highly contradictory and often quite fanciful. Therefore, I will try to stick to the most probable version (in the author's opinion). stories these courts.
Spanish ships requisitioned from Soviet ports in 1938–1939 (9 ships with a tonnage of 47075 GRT)
The total value of all requisitioned ships was estimated at $8 million.
After the outbreak of the military rebellion, some of these vessels were requisitioned by the government of the Republic, many of them armed. The above-mentioned nine vessels were also used to transport various cargoes, including weapon, ammunition, military equipment and Soviet military specialists between the ports of the USSR and the Republic.
By the summer of 1938, communications through the Mediterranean to Soviet ports on the Black Sea for Republican ships were interrupted. fleet Francoists and the Italians, who almost openly supported him. The Spanish ships stationed in the ports of Odessa and Feodosia at the time were left "out of work." In addition, two more ships were stationed in Murmansk.
There are various theories regarding the reasons for the transfer of the "Spaniards" to Soviet ownership. Regarding the "Cabo San Agustin," a decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on September 16, 1938, allegedly exists, authorizing the purchase of the steamship "Cabo San Agustin" from the Spanish Republic, with foreign currency allocated for this purpose. Regarding the remaining ships, there are two opinions: at the end of the war, the Republican government transferred ownership of the Spanish ships interned in the USSR in exchange for Soviet supplies; or Moscow simply took advantage of the situation and confiscated the ships following the fall of the Republic. In this case, since the ships were the property of Spanish private companies and were requisitioned by the government only for the duration of the war, the legality of their transfer to the Soviet flag is questionable. Therefore, the "Spaniards" were used only for cabotage shipping due to the risk of their seizure in foreign ports.
Now let's take a closer look at the fate of each of the courts.
"CABO QUILATES" ("DVINA")
The cargo-passenger steamship Cabo Quilates, with a passenger capacity of 76 (third class), was named Ibay until 1936. After the outbreak of the Civil War, the ship was used as a floating prison for opponents of the Republic in Bilbao. During this time, it was twice attacked by radical militias and sailors from the battleship Jaime I, who arbitrarily executed 79 prisoners.
Cabo Quilates
At the end of 1936, the Cabo Quilates was requisitioned by the Basque Government and used for voyages, including transatlantic ones, delivering weapons and military equipment to the Republican Army.
In particular, on January 13, 1938, the ship delivered the newest American XA-ABI aircraft, 15 thousand Mauser rifles, 111 Vickers machine guns, 4 million 7,65 mm rounds of ammunition, 80 Bergman and Schneider light machine guns, guns, and shells to the French port of Le Havre from Mexico.
At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the Cabo Quilates was in the port of Murmansk (according to other sources, in Arkhangelsk), was requisitioned by the USSR, and renamed the Dvina. Until July 1942, it was part of the Northern Fleet, where it was used as a submarine depot. From August 9, 1942, to July 24, 1943, it was part of the Northern Shipping Company.
Dvina in 1943
From August 8, 1942, to June 27, 1943, the former "Spaniard" sailed to the Far East with a cargo of manganese ore. An attempt to navigate the Northern Sea Route proved unsuccessful due to difficult ice conditions; near the Chukchi Sea, the vessel was forced to turn back and take a new route. Here's how crew member P. A. Filev describes this arduous journey ("Across Three Oceans on the Motor Vessel Dvina"):
The first voyage of the motor ship “Dvina” of the Northern Shipping Company from August 8, 1942 to June 27, 1943.
On August 8, 1942, we left Arkhangelsk.
August 12 - passed the Red Gate Strait
August 16 - Port Dikson
August 20 - Cape Chelyuskin
August 24 - Tiksi Bay, Lena River
September 5 - Ambarchik Bay, Kolyma River
September 11 - We reached the heavy ice of the Chukchi Sea, and it was impossible to go further.
September 21 - set out on our return journey
October 12 - Kara Gate Strait
October 14 - arrived in Belushya Bay (Novaya Zemlya)
November 24 - entered the US alone
December 2 - arrived at the port of Ankudern (Iceland)
December 4 - left Ankudern
December 9 - arrived in Reykjavik (Iceland)
December 27 - An international caravan departed for the USA.
January 18, 1943 - arrived at the port of Boston (USA)
January 19 - arrived in New York
January 25 - ore was unloaded
April 12 - left New York
April 19 - arrived in Cuba
April 20 - left Cuba
April 24 - arrived at the port of Colon (Panama)
April 25 - entered the Panama Canal
May 9 - arrived in San Francisco
May 11 - left San Francisco
May 20 - arrived at Akutan Bay (Aleutian Islands)
May 20 - left the bay
May 28 - arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
June 20 - left Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
June 27 - arrived in Vladivostok.
We completed one round-the-world flight and eight more flights from Vladivostok to the USA and Canada. We delivered approximately 85,000 tons of various cargo—weapons, food, medicine, equipment, and locomotives.
On August 8, 1942, we left Arkhangelsk.
August 12 - passed the Red Gate Strait
August 16 - Port Dikson
August 20 - Cape Chelyuskin
August 24 - Tiksi Bay, Lena River
September 5 - Ambarchik Bay, Kolyma River
September 11 - We reached the heavy ice of the Chukchi Sea, and it was impossible to go further.
September 21 - set out on our return journey
October 12 - Kara Gate Strait
October 14 - arrived in Belushya Bay (Novaya Zemlya)
November 24 - entered the US alone
December 2 - arrived at the port of Ankudern (Iceland)
December 4 - left Ankudern
December 9 - arrived in Reykjavik (Iceland)
December 27 - An international caravan departed for the USA.
January 18, 1943 - arrived at the port of Boston (USA)
January 19 - arrived in New York
January 25 - ore was unloaded
April 12 - left New York
April 19 - arrived in Cuba
April 20 - left Cuba
April 24 - arrived at the port of Colon (Panama)
April 25 - entered the Panama Canal
May 9 - arrived in San Francisco
May 11 - left San Francisco
May 20 - arrived at Akutan Bay (Aleutian Islands)
May 20 - left the bay
May 28 - arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
June 20 - left Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
June 27 - arrived in Vladivostok.
We completed one round-the-world flight and eight more flights from Vladivostok to the USA and Canada. We delivered approximately 85,000 tons of various cargo—weapons, food, medicine, equipment, and locomotives.
During repairs at the New York Shipyard, the ship was fitted with ten armored gun nests, in which 10 guns were mounted.
Upon completion of the voyage, the ship was incorporated into the Far Eastern State Shipping Company. During one of its Lend-Lease voyages, the ship was detained by the Japanese for 37 days on charges of espionage, but its captain escaped with a fine of 2000 yen.
The Dvina as part of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, post-war photograph (Photo from the collection of B.V. Lemachko)
In 1959, a fire broke out in the engine room of the Dvina, en route from Egvekinot (Chukotka) to Vladivostok with 600 passengers on board (mostly military personnel and their families). The crew attempted to extinguish the fire, but to no avail—the ship lost power and lost propulsion. The crew and passengers were rescued by the timber carrier Klara Zetkin and the icebreaker Admiral Makarov. The ship was scrapped in 1960.
"Marzo" (?)
The author's sources available to her provided extremely scant information on the fate of this vessel. The Marzo was the oldest of the "Spaniards." This 2500-ton vessel, with a main steam engine producing only 570 horsepower and a maximum speed of 9 knots, was requisitioned by the Basque government in the fall of 1936 for the needs of the Republic. From September 1936 to March 1937, she made several voyages from Bilbao to English ports carrying ore.
After Franco's capture of the northern provinces, the Marzo sailed to Western Europe and was then chartered by the USSR as one of 14 Spanish ships. From the fall of 1938 until the end of the Civil War, it remained in Murmansk, where it was requisitioned in early April 1939. Almost the entire crew of the Marzo returned to Spain in the spring of 1939. There is no information about the ship's subsequent fate.
"INOCENCIO FIGAREDO" (BRYANSK)
This ship, quite old (built in 1898), had changed owners and names six times by the start of the Civil War. On October 10, 1936, the Inocencio Figaredo was requisitioned by the provincial government of Asturias and León.
In 1937, it broke through from Republican Spain to Odessa, where in 1939 it was requisitioned and incorporated into the Black Sea State Shipping Company under the name "Bryansk." From July 27, 1941, it was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet as a transport vessel.
On August 21, 1941, after unloading its ammunition, the Bryansk was sailing in ballast from Odessa to Sevastopol without escort. It was attacked by the Germans. aviation and sank at 46°32' N, 30°52' E, killing the crew (approximately 40 people). The remains of the Bryansk currently rest at a depth of 18 meters, ten kilometers from Odessa. After the war, the ship's superstructure was cut away to prevent it from interfering with navigation.
Underwater photo of the sunken Bryansk
"ISLA DE GRAN CANARIA" ("PSKOV")
The steamship was built at the Bilbao shipyard for Compañía Marítima del Nervión in 1921 and was named "Mar Adriatico." It was a shelterdeck vessel with a deadweight of 8584 tons, a gross tonnage of 5124 GRT, and a 2320-horsepower steam engine, capable of a speed of 14,2 knots. Its primary purpose was to transport cotton bales from Mexico. Until 1928, the steamship operated liner services between Barcelona, Marseille, and ports on the Gulf of Mexico, and later between ports in Cuba and the Mediterranean.
Isla de Gran Canaria
In 1928, the Mar Adriatico was acquired by Compañía Trasmediterránea and renamed Isla de Gran Canaria. Between 1928 and 1929, the ship was converted into a cargo-passenger vessel at the Unión Naval de Levante shipyard in Valencia and used for the coastal transport of Canarian bananas and Guinean timber to ports on the Iberian Peninsula.
On July 18, 1936, while docked in Cadiz, the Isla de Gran Canaria was requisitioned by the Government of the Republic and subsequently used to transport military and other cargo, including between the Black Sea ports of the USSR and Spain.
In July 1937, the ship was interned in Odessa. A year later, its crew, with the exception of the captain and chief engineer, was repatriated to Spain, and the vessel was chartered to the Black Sea Shipping Company. After the end of the Civil War, it was requisitioned by Soviet authorities and in 1939 incorporated into the Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed Pskov. At the beginning of World War II, it was mobilized and used by the Black Sea Fleet as a transport. On June 30, 1941, the Pskov was scuttled along with the steamships Peter the Great, Oryol, Plekhanov, and Voikov to create a barrier at the entrance to the port of Odessa.
Ships sunk at the entrance to the Odessa port
The Pskov, sunk at the entrance to the Odessa port
In 1943, she was raised by the Romanians and towed to Constanta for repairs. In 1944, during the retreat of German troops, she was scuttled again. She was captured by Soviet troops, raised, and towed to the USSR, where she was likely scrapped. However, several Russian and Spanish websites claim that the ship was subsequently repaired and incorporated into the Black Sea Shipping Company under the name "Tula," and that in 1969 she was scrapped in Split, Yugoslavia. However, the author was unable to find any mention of the post-war Pskov and Tula in the Black Sea Shipping Company's ship lists or in such an authoritative publication as the "Alphabetical Index of Ship Names Listed in the Register of Sea Vessels 1948-1949."
"CABO SAN AGUSTÍN" ("DNEPR")
The largest Spanish vessel to join the Soviet fleet was the cargo-passenger ship Cabo San Agustín. It was the second of three nearly identical ships (Cabo San Antonio, Cabo San Agustín, and Cabo San Tomé) built for Ybarra y Compañía in 1930-1931 at the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval Sestao shipyard. The ships were designed to operate between ports in the Mediterranean, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. Given the huge influx of emigrants from Spain and Italy seeking a better life in South America, the ship's design focused on this category of passengers, with preference given to third-class cabins. Some Russian pundits describe it as a "luxury" liner, but this is far from the truth.
Main tactical and technical characteristics of the motor ship "Cabo San Agustín"
(after construction)
Maximum length, m - 152,26
Length between perpendiculars, m - 147,06
Width is the greatest, m - 19,28
Fully loaded draft, m — 7,72
Displacement, t - 16810
Capacity, BRT - 12589
Main engine power (MAN diesel engines), hp — 2 x 4600
Speed, knots - 16
Ship power plant capacity, kW — 4 x 140
Passenger capacity, persons:
Class II - 12
Class III - 500
Crew, pers. - 112
Number of cargo holds: 6
Volume of cargo holds, m³ — 14366
Fuel capacity, m³ — 1145
Fresh water reserve, t - 645
Volume of refrigerated cargo spaces, m³ — 440
Volume of cargo spaces for mail and vehicles, m³ — 174.
The ship's hull was divided into ten compartments by nine transverse watertight bulkheads. Passengers were accommodated in two-, four-, six-, and eight-berth cabins. In 1934, the ship underwent a modernization, increasing its tonnage to 12589 GRT and the number of second-class passengers to 200.
Cabo San Agustín, early 30s
[Center]
General arrangement plans of the Cabo San Agustín (from The Motor Ship magazine, April 1931)
Cabo San Agustín, wheelhouse
)
One of the main engines of the MAN "Cabo San Agustín"
Cabo San Agustín, a smoking lounge
Cabo San Agustín, an eight-berth passenger cabin
After the outbreak of the Civil War, the fates of these three ships took different turns. The Cabo San Antonio was interned in Buenos Aires, and its sister ships were requisitioned by the Republican government and used to transport various cargoes and passengers for its own purposes.
These were primarily military transports between the Soviet Black Sea ports (Odessa, Sevastopol, Novorossiysk, Feodosia) and the Mediterranean ports that remained under the control of the Republic. To repel attacks by Franco's forces and the de facto allied "neutral" Italians (the latter could monitor the passage of Republican ships and even attack them after leaving the Dardanelles), the so-called "Y" ships were armed (probably partly artillery weapons were installed in Sevastopol in May 1937).
The exact composition of this armament is difficult to determine. Various sources list it as a modest three 45mm guns and two machine guns, up to four 150mm (or 101,6mm, or 105mm, or 75mm) guns and three or four 45mm guns. According to the author, it's likely that, after mobilization in Spain, the ship was armed with four 101,6mm Vickers-Carraca guns for self-defense and in case of use as an auxiliary cruiser. In May 1937, in Sevastopol, these were supplemented with 45mm anti-aircraft guns and machine guns.
The importance of such armament was exemplified by a battle off the Algerian coast on September 10, 1937, between the transport "Cabo San Tomé," carrying military supplies from Odessa to Valencia, and two Nationalist gunboats (equipped with eight 101,6mm main guns). One of the gunboats was knocked out of the battle after sustaining several hits, and repairs lasted for about a month. It is unknown who would have won the battle had a rebel shell not struck the cargo hold of the transport, which was loaded with ammunition. Following an explosion and subsequent fire, the "Cabo San Tomé" sank.
In addition to the armament of the Spanish "Y" ships, various camouflage techniques were also employed to reduce the risk of interception by the enemy. After passing through the Dardanelles, the transports usually stopped for a day or two in the Aegean Sea among the Greek islands, where they were repainted, their superstructures and funnels were reconfigured using pre-prepared shields, as were their names and flags.
"Cabo San Agustín" was the last "Y" to leave Sevastopol for Spain (July 30, 1937). Its captain was Rodríguez Balaguer, and its chief captain was José Antonio Monteblanco (pseudonym of Soviet Lieutenant Commander S. V. Slavin). On board were 62 I-16 fighters, 50 tanks BT-5 tanks, 3,000 machine guns, 14 artillery pieces, 40,000 rifles, shells, aerial bombs, and other weapons and ammunition. The ship was also supposed to carry about 80 Soviet volunteer tank crews, but due to the increased danger along the route, their number was limited to five men.
The "Y" departed Sevastopol under the Soviet flag and the name "Turkestan." In the Aegean Sea, the ship changed its appearance and became the passenger steamship "Habana." Off the Algerian coast, the "Cabo San Agustín" was met by Republican ships and safely arrived in Cartagena on August 10.
In 1938, the Cabo San Agustín sailed again for the USSR, this time under the command of Captain Escudero Eugenio Mantilla, but never returned. Sometime in late 1938 or early 1939, the Soviet naval flag was raised on the ship, and it was transferred to the Black Sea Naval Academy (Sevastopol) as a training ship. The circumstances of the ship's transfer to the Soviet flag are unclear.
The training ship Dnepr, where second-year students were undergoing practical training, arrived in Odessa when the Great Patriotic War broke out. Some of the crew joined the 1st Naval Regiment, formed on August 5. In August and September 1941, the ship made six voyages from Sevastopol and Novorossiysk to Odessa, carrying military reinforcements, weapons, and ammunition, and returned with the wounded, evacuated civilians, and industrial equipment. Thus, on August 15, 1941, at a critical moment in the enemy advance, the Dnepr arrived in Odessa from Sevastopol, carrying 600 volunteer sailors and ammunition.
On September 19, 1941, the ship was reclassified as a medical transport and transferred to the Black Sea Fleet's medical service. The ship's standard evacuation capacity was 200 people. In this capacity, the medical transport ship Dnepr made two evacuation flights from Odessa to Novorossiysk: on September 6 (1053 people) and on September 30 (216 people). A total of 1269 wounded were evacuated, 423 (33%) of whom were bedridden.
At the end of September, the Dnepr arrived from Odessa in Novorossiysk carrying 6000 civilians, 216 wounded, equipment from the tobacco and cloth factories, and 5000 tons of property from the tram trust. After unloading, on October 3, the Dnepr, under the command of Captain 3rd Rank A.N. Morgunov, departed Novorossiysk for Sevastopol, from where it was scheduled to continue to Odessa to participate in the evacuation of units of the Primorsky Army. The transport was part of a convoy along with the transports Abkhazia and Chekhov, under the protection of the destroyer Smyshlenny and the minesweeper T-408 Yakor.
A few hours after leaving port, the convoy was attacked by German He-111 torpedo bombers. The Dnepr was hit by one torpedo and quickly sank at 44°38'N; 37°15'E at a depth of approximately 1200 meters. Forty crew members died. 163 were rescued by a minesweeper.
Scheme of the torpedo attack on the ambulance transport Dnepr by German aircraft
To be continued ...
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