Russian destroyer Novik (1911)

Novík was a destroyer of the Russian Imperial Navy and Soviet Navy, commissioned in 1913 where she served with the Baltic Fleet during World War I. She joined the Bolsheviks in November 1917 and was renamed Yakov Sverdlov in 1923. She was a training ship when Operation Barbarossa began, but was recalled to active duty the following day. She struck a mine on 28 August 1941 and sank while escorting an evacuation convoy during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn.

Novik as originally completed
History
Russian Empire
Name: Novík
Builder: Putilovsky Plant, St. Petersburg
Laid down: 1 July 1910
Launched: 4 July 1911
Commissioned: 9 September 1913
Fate: Joined the Bolsheviks, November 1917
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • 1,260 tonnes (1,240 long tons) (normal)
  • 1,590 tonnes (1,560 long tons)
Length: 102.4 m (335 ft 11 in)
Beam: 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Draught: 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 3 shafts, steam turbines
Speed: 37.3 knots (69.1 km/h; 42.9 mph) (trials)
Range: 2,000 nmi (3,700 km) at 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement: 142 men
Armament:
Yakov Sverdlov
History
Soviet Union
Name: Yakov Sverdlov
Namesake: Yakov Sverdlov
Builder: Putilovsky Plant, St. Petersburg
Acquired: November 1917
Out of service: 9 September 1918–1925
Renamed: 1923
Reclassified: 23 April 1940 as training ship
Refit: 28 November 1937–8 December 1940
Reinstated: 23 June 1941
Fate: Sunk by a German mine on 28 August 1941
General characteristics after 1929 rebuild
Type: Destroyer
Displacement: 1,597 tonnes (1,572 long tons; 1,760 short tons)
Length: 102.4 m (335 ft 11 in)
Beam: 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Draught: 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:
  • 3 shaft AEG-Vulcan turbines
  • 6 Vulcan boilers
  • 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Speed: 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Endurance: 1,800 nmi (3,330 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 168 men
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
  • 4 × 1 – 102 mm (4.0 in) guns
  • 1 × 1 – 76.2 mm (3.00 in) AA gun
  • 3 × 3 – 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
  • 50 mines

Construction

The first ship of its class, Novik was completed in 1910 at the Putilovsky Plant. She was originally designed by AG Vulcan Stettin. The class included 52 other ships in four groups:

Novik was one of the best ships of the type during the First World War. Novik -class ships were the first destroyers to be powered by oil instead of coal. When first commissioned she was the fastest ship in the world.[1]

World War I

During the night of 6/7 May 1915 Novik, in company with ten other destroyers, mined the approaches to the port of Liepāja which was being attacked by the Germans. There was an inconclusive encounter between cruisers of the Russian covering force and the German light cruiser SMS München, but the destroyers were undetected. One of the mines laid that night blew off the bow of the new German torpedo boat V 107 when she entered Liepāja on the morning of 8 May and rendered her unrepairable. Novik escorted the armored cruiser Rurik on a mission to shell the German port of Memel, but they became separated from the rest of the force in heavy fog and encountered the German armored cruiser SMS Roon. Rurik opened fire, but was soon forced to turn away by a (false) submarine contact and lost sight of the Germans. During the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915, Novik and three other destroyers set the German destroyer V 99 on fire. V 99 struck two mines while attempting to break out of the Gulf and was sunk. During the night of 19/20 November 1915 Novik led seven Russian destroyers to attack German patrols off Windau. They sank the auxiliary patrol boat Norburg and escaped before German reinforcements could arrive. On the night of 13 May 1916, she led two of her half-sisters in search of German iron ore convoys sailing along the Swedish coast. They found a convoy of ten freighters escorted by four auxiliary patrol boats near Häfringe Island. The freighters fled for Swedish waters while the escorts turned to engage the Russians. The Russians sank the auxiliary cruiser Hermann, even though they refused to close the escorts believing them to be far stronger than they actually were, but the freighters escaped and no other damage was inflicted.[2]

On 26 October 1917 Novik's crew joined the Bolsheviks, although nothing is known of her activities, if any, under their control during World War I.[3]

Rebuilding

She was laid up from 9 September 1918 until 1925 when she was extensively rebuilt between 26 September 1925 and 30 August 1929. Her rearmost set of twin torpedo tubes was removed, the three 102 mm (4.0 in) guns on the quarterdeck were moved forward and a 76.2 mm (3 in) "Lender" anti-aircraft gun was mounted at the very rear of the quarterdeck, which seriously obscured the arc of fire of the rear 102 mm gun. The three remaining twin sets of torpedo tubes were exchanged for triple launchers and re-positioned, a net increase of one torpedo tube. The bridge structure was enlarged and the deckhouse immediately aft of the fourth funnel was removed and a new, larger deckhouse was added about 9 metres (30 ft) aft of the fourth funnel. The masts were re-positioned and reinforced with supporting legs while the forward funnel was heightened by 2 metres (6.6 ft).[4]

She was overhauled between 28 November 1937 and 8 December 1940, although what exactly this involved is not clear. She probably had her machinery overhauled or replaced and between two and four single 45 mm (1.8 in) 21-K anti-aircraft guns were installed. Before her refit was completed, however, she was re-designated as a training ship on 23 April 1940.[4]

World War II

At the start of the war, she was reassigned to the Third Destroyer Division of the Baltic Fleet. During the evacuation of the Soviet Navy from Tallinn to Kronstadt during Operation Barbarossa, Yakov Sverdlov was assigned as an escort to the flagship Kirov. During the operation, she hit a mine and sank near Cape Juminda on 28 August 1941.[5] The wreck was identified in 2018.[6]

Notes
  1. Breyer, p. 56
  2. Halpern, pp. 192, 195, 197, 205, 209
  3. "Destroyer "Novik"" (in Russian). Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  4. Breyer, p. 242
  5. Rohwer, p. 95
  6. "'Legendary' destroyer sunk during 'Russian Dunkirk' discovered in Gulf of Finland". RT. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019.

Bibliography
  • Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Soviet Warship Development: Volume 1: 1917–1937. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-604-3.
  • Budzbon, Przemysaw (1984). "Russia". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 291–325. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Budzbon, Przemysaw (1980). "Soviet Union". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 318–346. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • Halpern, Paul G. (1994). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-266-4.
  • Hill, Alexander (2018). Soviet Destroyers of World War II. New Vanguard. 256. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2256-7.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
  • Yakubov, Vladimir & Worth, Richard (2008). Raising the Red Banner: A Pictorial History of Stalin's Fleet. Gloucestershire, UK: Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-450-1.
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