''Tuman'' (russian: Туман, meaning ''Mist'') was a Soviet

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

that engaged a battle with German destroyers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, fought in Arctic waters of the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

in 1941.

Ship history

''Tuman'' was built in 1931 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk) as a seagoing fishing trawler, with a displacement of 1,218 tons, a length of and width of , a speed of , and a range of . On October 19, 1939, just before the commencement of the

Soviet-Finnish War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, the trawler was called into the navy as DC-10 (Patrol Ship Number 10). In a list dated March 4, 1940, it is listed in the category of escort ships. It was provided with an armament of two dual purpose 45 mm guns, two light

7.62 mm caliber The 7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the imperial unit and customary unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for ...

machine guns, and depth charges.

Sinking

On August 10, 1941, the ship was on patrol under the command of Lieutenant L. Shestakov on the line Tsyp-Navolok—

Kildin Island Kildin (also Kilduin; russian: Кильдин, North Sami: Gieldasuolu) is a small Russian island in the Barents Sea, off the Russian shore and about 120 km from Norway. Administratively, Kildin belongs to the Murmansk Oblast of the Russia ...

when it encountered three German destroyers (, , and ). The ''Tuman'' reported this sighting to

Northern Fleet Severnyy flot , image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem , start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...

Command, which fulfilled the ship's mission instructions. ''Tuman'' then laid down a

smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...

and began evasive action. The German destroyers, which had a massive superiority in armament, closed to within and begin hitting the craft. ''Tuman'' sustained eleven direct hits from shells and the captain and commissar were killed. Damage to the aft gun prevented ''Tuman'' from returning fire. The German fire shot the ship's flag from the mast, but a wounded sailor (K. D. Semenov) and the senior radio operator (V. K. Blinov) raised it again. Opening late due to poor

interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

, fire from Soviet shore batteries drove off the German destroyers (''Z4 Richard Beitzen'' suffered some damage by near miss). Together with the smoke screen, this allowed the lives of 37 of the 52 crew members to be saved from ''Tuman'', which sank. That evening, surviving crewmen were presented with tributes from the workers of

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') ...

. To this day, Russian naval vessels passing Kildin Island dip their flags and sound a long blast on their horns in tribute when passing over the site where ''Tuman'' sank, at position , about northwest of Kildin. A capsule of seawater from this point was embedded in the giant statue ''

Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War To the Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War (russian: Защитникам Советского Заполярья в годы Великой Отечественной войны), commonly called Alyosha (russian: 'А� ...

''.

References

* Kobchikov, E. Y. ''The Death Battle of the Patrol Ship "Mist" (russian: Бой и гибель сторожевого корабля «Туман»), Gangut (russian: Гангут, ( sv, Hangö) #6, 1993)

External links

* * * (Includes a detailed schematic of the craft) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuman Trawlers of the Soviet Navy World War II naval ships of the Soviet Union World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean 1931 ships 1941 in the Soviet Union Ships built in Danzig Maritime incidents in August 1941