Uragan-class guard ship

The "Uragan"-class guard ships were built for the Soviet Navy as small patrol and escort ships. Eighteen were built in the 1930s and served during World War II in all four of the Soviet Fleets: Baltic, Black Sea, Northern and Pacific. Four were lost during the war and the rest remained in service until the late 1950s in various secondary roles. The official Soviet designation was Project 2, Project 4 and Project 39, but they were nicknamed the "Bad Weather Flotilla" by Soviet sailors by virtue of their meteorological names.
Design.
By the mid-1920s the Soviet Navy wanted to replace the few old Tsarist torpedo boats that it had left acting as guard ships. The initial requirement was for a ship not to exceed , armed with two old guns, three torpedo tubes and could carry mines as necessary. It was to be powered by four Beardmore diesel engines imported from the United Kingdom, but this plan was thwarted by Soviet financial support for the miners during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike. The preliminary designs had to be revised for steam propulsion, a task greatly complicated by the break in Soviet ship construction between 1917 and 1924 when no ships, naval or commercial, had been built and many experienced naval architects had either fled the country, found new jobs, or were politically suspect and not allowed to work. It proved impossible to work within the 300-ton limit with steam turbines and the tonnage limit was increased to 350 tons when the Navy approved the preliminary design on 26 November 1926. Detailed design of the ship and its power plant was assigned to the Zhandov Shipyard in Leningrad. They proposed two alternative steam pressure power plants; one low-pressure () and one at . The Navy rejected the high-pressure design and ordered studies evaluating "a three-shaft combined power plant with 2-shaft geared turbines plus 1-shaft diesel engine for cruising, diesel-electric, and diesel." These were rejected and the original two-shaft turbine power plant was selected. At the same time it became clear that the new 350 ton limit was also inadequate and 400 tons would be needed. The twelfth design was approved on 23 June 1927 as the Project 2.
General characteristics.
The "Uragan"-class ships displaced at standard load and at full load. They were long overall, had a beam of and at full load a draft of . The ships had 14 main watertight compartments and a double bottom only underneath the machinery and boiler rooms. The riveted hull used the typical Russian framing method of longitudinal framing for the bulk of the hull and traverse framing for the ends.
The "Uragan"s proved to be heavier than designed and had only a meter of freeboard aft, which made their main deck almost permanently wet in any kind of sea. Their stability was also less than optimum as they were top-heavy and they were almost slower than designed. In their intended role they "were complete failures – they were too slow for use as torpedo boats and of no value as ASW vessels because of their lack of depth charge handling equipment and underwater detection devices".
Propulsion.
The power plant was two three-drum watertube boilers and two geared turbines, each driving one shaft. It was arranged on a unit basis, with alternate boiler and engine rooms in pairs, so that a single hit could not disable both boilers or both turbines. Each boiler had a nominal capacity of 20-tons/hour of superheated steam at a pressure of 21 atmospheres and a temperature of . Each turbine set consisted of one high-speed turbine and a low-speed turbine. The latter had an astern turbine housed in its casing, all driving the same shaft. The total power was designed to be , but this figure wasn't reached in practice. Each shaft drove a three-bladed bronze propeller for a designed speed of , although this too wasn't reached in practice. The normal oil capacity was which gave an endurance of at full speed or at . The maximum amount of fuel that could be carried was .
Two 30 kW turbo-generators supplied the 115 volt electrical systems of the "Uragan"s. One 11 kW auxiliary generator was carried; it was powered by an Izhora-type kerosene engine.
Armament.
Two single guns were carried in open pivot mounts as the ship's main armament. Each gun had a magazine with a capacity of two hundred rounds underneath it, although only the one on the forecastle had a hoist. The ammunition for the rear mount had to be hand-carried. Three single Vickers 2 pounder pom-poms and three machine guns were intended as the anti-aircraft armament, but deteriorating relations with the United Kingdom prevented the Soviets from buying any of these weapons. Most ships completed without any AA guns as the Soviets needed some time to develop their own equivalent AA guns.
A triple torpedo tube mount was fitted between the funnels. Up to fifty mines or depth charges could be carried using mine rails mounted on the main deck. No sonar was fitted so dropping depth charges was largely an act of futility. Two "K-1" minesweeping paravanes were fitted on the main deck after the design was finalized. They were served by a trawl winch and a jib crane mounted on the stern.
One rangefinder was mounted above the open bridge and a searchlight was fitted on a small platform abaft the rear funnel.
Construction.
A total of eighteen "Uragan"-class guard ships were planned, but Soviet shipbuilding capacity was inadequate to begin them all at once. Series I was intended as a group of six to be built at the Zhandov Shipyard in Leningrad and Series II was to consist of two ships constructed at the Marti Shipyard in Nikolayev to that shipyard's variant of the basic design which received the designation of Project 4. The construction of this class was to prove to be a series of problems including design flaws, lack of shipbuilding capacity and a poorly designed and built power plant that was delivered two years after the first ships were launched.
Prefabrication of the hulls began even before the final design was approved and proved to be a major mistake as the strength analysis of the longitudinal joints in the hull proved to be severely flawed and construction was suspended until the end of November 1927 when new blueprints were issued. No slipways were available at the Zhandov Yard until three were finished in May 1928, having only begun construction at the end of 1927, and the assembly of the hulls of the first three Series I ships began shortly afterwards. The other three slipways were completed by July and the other three ships began assembly as the slipways were finished. The hull of "Uragan" was completed within ten weeks after the keel was laid, although the other ships were built a more normal pace. "Possibly she was built to gain as much experience as possible."
Although "Uragan" was launched on 4 September 1928 she didn't receive her power plant for another almost another two years. The ability of Soviet industry to deliver precision machinery like turbine gears was greatly overestimated by the Navy and the gears for the first eight ships had to be imported from Germany to have any chance of completion in a timely manner. The first boiler design proved unsatisfactory during preliminary testing in late 1928 and early 1929 and a second design was tested later in 1929 and into 1930. Even this new design wasn't entirely satisfactory as it proved to be impossible to force its output above the specified limits, but it was approved for use in the "Uragan"s when an improved model would have taken at least another year put into production.
"Uragan" was accepted on 16 December 1930 for sea trials. She proved to be heavier than estimated and had only a of freeboard aft, which made her main deck very wet in almost any kind of moderate sea. She was also top-heavy which reduced her stability and sea-keeping abilities. She was proved capable of during her trials, but was her normal top speed. This was primarily because her boilers had been designed only deliver enough steam for her turbines, nothing was in reserve to power her steam-driven auxiliary machinery. And since her turbines drew 5–6% more steam than specified and her auxiliary machinery had to be powered there simply wasn't enough steam to power her turbines at their designed output. For trials they produced , but a more realistic output was in normal use. "Uragan" was finally commissioned on 12 September 1931, two years after her intended delivery date, the first Soviet-built surface warship.
After "Uragan" was commissioned four more ships were laid down for service in the Far East, two each at Leningrad and Nikolayev. They were built in sections and transported by the end of 1933 to the Dalzavod Shipyard in Vladivostok for assembly. The four Series III ships were laid down in 1934, three at the Zhandov Yard and one at the Marti Yard. One ship from each shipyard were sent to the Far East. Sources differ if these ships were simply repeats of the Series I ships or if they had been improved in detail and known as Project 39. These changes were fairly minor, other than some improvements to the turbines that it was hoped would increase speed by a knot or so. The two ships of Series IV definitely had the improvements and were built at Leningrad for service with the Baltic Fleet.
Modifications.
The minesweeping paravanes were fitted on each ship shortly after completion and further contributed to their overweight problem. By the mid-1930s two semi-automatic 45 mm anti-aircraft gun (21-K) and three or four 12.7 mm DShK AA machine guns were being fitted. Normally the 45 mm guns were mounted fore and aft of the rear 4 inch gun with two machine guns flanking the latter, although some ships mounted one 45 mm gun in front of the forward 4-inch gun with one machine gun on each side of the bridge. As each ship was refitted for the first time its bridge was enclosed. The rear mast was removed during the war.
Their anti-aircraft armament was further increased as a result of lessons learned during the Winter War. Most ships in European waters received two single mounts for the fully automatic 37 mm AA gun before Operation Barbarossa, one on each side of the bridge. Sometimes these replaced the 45 mm guns. During the war gun shields were added to the 4-inch guns from 1942 and most ships exchanged one 45 mm for a 37 mm gun and an extra machine gun or two. Smerch landed both of her 4-inch guns and received one new "B-52" gun on the forecastle with one anti-aircraft gun mounted in front of it and three 76.2 mm AA guns replaced the rear 4-inch gun. All of these additions did nothing to improve their stability and top-weight problems.
Ships.
Ships with their shipyard in parentheses were built in sections and shipped to the Dalzavod Shipyard in Vladivostok for assembly.
History.
"Uragan", "Smerch" and "Groza" were sent to the Northern Flotilla via the newly opened White Sea–Baltic Canal in 1933. To lighten the ships for passage through shallows their armament was removed, along with much of the moveable deck equipment, and carried in barges that followed the ships. During the Lake Khasan Border Incident with the Japanese in the summer of 1938 "Metal" carried wounded to Vladivostok and escorted three convoys carrying troops and supplied to Posyet Bay, fortunately without interference by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
As part of the effort to pressure the Baltic states into accepting Soviet troops they staged an incident in Narva Bay by sinking the tanker "Metallist" on 26 September 1939. The sinking was then blamed on the Polish submarine which, however, was en route to the United Kingdom at the time. "According to Finnish information (based on statements made by a Soviet Prisoner of war) "Metallist" was sunk by "Tucha" (with loss of life) after being missed by the submarine "Shch 303" to give the Soviets an excuse to claim rights to defend Estonian waters." The Estonians capitulated to Soviet demands a few days later.
During the Winter War "Burya", "Vikhr", "Sneg" and "Purga" provided fire support as the Soviets conducted landings on the small Finnish-held islands in the Gulf of Finland. "Groza" helped to transport the 104th Rifle Division to occupy Liinakhamari and provided fire support when Petsamo was occupied between 30 November and 2 December 1939.
World War II.
Northern Fleet.
When the Germans invaded "Uragan" was laid up pending replacement parts for her turbines from Leningrad. They didn't arrive before the city was cut off and she therefore remained laid up until late 1944 after Leningrad had been liberated. Her sisters were quite active early in the campaign providing fire support for Soviet troops defending the Zapadnaya Litsa River and the Rybachy Peninsula. But things were much quieter for most of the rest of the war although "Smerch" was sunk while on trials after a refit on 8 December 1942. However, she was later raised and repaired although it took until Autumn 1944 before she was recommissioned. "Groza" was laid up pending repairs from 1943 until 1945.
Baltic Fleet.
"Sneg" and "Tucha" accompanied a force of seven destroyers in a failed attempt to intercept a German convoy off the Daugava River estuary on 13 July 1941. "Burya", "Sneg" and "Tsiklon" were assigned to the rear guard during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn and laid mines in the harbor approaches before departing: on their mines (barrage 26-A) was sunk the Finnish coastal defence ship Ilmarinen, during Operation Nordwind, scoring one of the best successes of the Soviet Navy against an enemy major warship. However "Sneg" and "Tsiklon" hit mines themselves in the Axis-laid minefield off Cape Juminda and sink during the night of 28–29 August. "Vikhr" was sunk by German bombers on 21 September and "Taifun" badly damaged two days later. "Purga" was sunk in Lake Ladoga by German bombers on 1 September 1942, but she was raised in 1943 and cannibalized to repair "Vikhr", but she herself was eventually repaired and returned to service in 1944. "Burya" ran into an Axis minefield when attempting to bombard Finnish positions on Suursaari Island and was sunk on 24 August 1942.
Black Sea Fleet.
"Shtorm" had been laid up for repairs to her engines at Sevastopol since March 1939 and the repairs were not fully complete by 30 November 1941 when the Germans began their initial attacks on the city. "Shtorm" and "Shkval" escorted the tugs evacuating all of the ships either damaged or under repair to ports in the Caucasus and returned a number of times escorting convoys carrying men and material for the defense of Sevastopol. "Shtorm" provided gunfire support during the Kerch–Feodosiya Operation on 29 December 1941. Both ships ferried troops and supplies to Novorossiysk and Tuapse during 1942 as well evacuating the wounded. "Shtorms" refit was finally completed in June 1942. On 18 December 1942, "Shtorm", supported by the destroyer "Nezamozhnik", shelled the Axis naval base at Feodosiya, where they hit and sank a German tugboat.
"Shtorm" and "Shkval" supported Soviet landings near Novorossisk during 1943 with gunfire and supplies, but they were both worn-out by the end of the year. "Shtorm" was active again in 1944 (escort duty) but was torpedoed by the German submarine , however she did not sink and was towed into port.
Pacific Fleet.
During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 "V'yuga" and "Metel" supported amphibious operations by the 25th Army along the eastern coast of Korea while "Zarnitsa" supported operations on Sakhalin Island.
Postwar.
Little is known about the detailed history of the "Uragan"s after the end of the war although it appears that most became training ships shortly afterwards. "Smerch" was turned over to DOSAAF in 1950 as a training ship and transferred to the Caspian Sea in 1951. It appears that most were disposed of during the mid to late 1950s although sources differ and lack details.