Russian Destroyer Azard

''Azard'' (Russian: Азард) was one of eight s built for the Russian Imperial Navy during World War I. Completed in 1916, she served with the Baltic Fleet and joined the Bolshevik Red Fleet after the October Revolution of 1918. She was active during the Russian Civil War, taking part in several engagements against British ships during the British campaign in the Baltic. The destroyer was renamed ''Zinoviev'' (Russian: Зиновьев) in 1922 and ''Artem'' (Russian: Aртёm) in 1928. She remained in service with the Soviet Baltic Fleet when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, and was sunk by a mine on 28 August.

Design and construction

In 1912, the Russian State Duma passed a shipbuilding programme for the Imperial Russian Navy that envisioned the construction of four battlecruisers, eight cruisers, 36 destroyers and 18 submarines, mainly for the Baltic Fleet. To meet this requirement, the Putilov Yard of Saint Petersburg proposed a modified version of the , to be built by Putilov, the Metal Works of Saint Petersburg, and the Russo-Baltic Yard of Reval (Tallinn) in Estonia. An order for 22 destroyers to Putilov's design was placed with the three shipyards in December 1912.

The ''Orfey''-class destroyers were long, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal. Four Vulkan-Thornycroft boilers fed steam at to two AEG steam turbines that drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at , giving a speed of . A speed of was reached during sea trials.

The ships were originally designed to carry an armament of two guns and four triple torpedo tubes, but during construction, the Russian Naval Staff decided to strengthen the gun armament, replacing one set of torpedo tubes with two more 102 mm guns. One anti-aircraft gun was fitted, while 50 mines could be carried. The ships had a crew of 150. By the Second World War, ''Artem'' had lost one triple torpedo tube mount and the old 40 mm anti-aircraft gun, replacing them by two 45 mm and two 37 mm guns, which were backed up by three 12.7mm and nine 7.62mm machine guns. The ships crew had increased to 160.

''Azard'' was laid down in July 1915, launched on 22 May 1916 (9 May 1916 Old Style) and commissioned on 10 October 1916 (27 September 1916 Old Style).

Service

''Azard'' joined the 2nd Destroyer Division of the Baltic Fleet on commissioning, being employed on screening operations of the fleet, convoy escort and patrol. ''Azard'' sided with the Bolsheviks following the October Revolution, joining the Red Fleet. In March 1918, Germany intervened in the Finnish Civil War, landing a division of troops (the Baltic Sea Division) to reinforce the Finnish White forces. The advance of the Germans and White Finns soon threatened the port of Helsingfors (Helsinki), where the Baltic Fleet was based. On 10 April 1918, the Bolsheviks managed to evacuate most of the Baltic Fleet, including ''Azard'', to Kronstadt in the "Ice Cruise", despite much of the Baltic still being ice-bound.

''Azard'' was active during the Russian Civil War, and from 4–24 December 1918 shelled German and Estonian forces near Aseri and Kunda in Estonia. Fyodor Raskolnikov, Commissar of the Baltic Fleet, planned an attack on British naval forces at Reval (Tallinn) on 25 December, to be carried out by ''Azard'' and the destroyers ''Spartak'' and ''Avtroil'', with the cruiser and battleship in distant support. ''Azard'' was out of fuel and ''Avtroil'' was suffering from mechanical problems, so ''Spartak'' attacked Reval alone on the morning of 26 December, but was caught by the British destroyers ''Vendetta'', and while trying to retreat to Kronstadt. ''Spartak'' ran aground and surrendered to the British.

On 29 May 1919, ''Azard'' was escorting six minesweepers when she was unsuccessfully attacked by the British submarine . This encounter prompted the British to send a force of three light cruisers and six destroyers into the Gulf of Finland, arriving off Seskar on 30 May. On 31 May, ''Azard'' was again escorting minesweepers, with the battleship as distant cover, when it encountered the British destroyer . ''Azard'' opened fire on ''Walker'', but the remainder of the British force soon arrived on the scene, and ''Azard'' retreated towards ''Petropavlovsk'' and behind a minefield, with both the two Russian ships and coastal artillery maintaining fire on ''Walker'' until the British broke off the engagement, with ''Walker'' being hit twice with slight damage. On 2 June 1919, ''Azard'' and the destroyer were engaged by the British destroyers and across a minefield, with no damage occurring on either side. A similar exchange of fire occurred on 4 June, between ''Gavriil'' and ''Azard'' on the Russian side and the destroyers , ''Vivacious'' and ''Walker'', with ''Petropavlovsk'' providing distant support to the Russian destroyers. Shortly after this exchange of fire, the British submarine attempted a torpedo attack against the two Russian destroyers, but broke surface after the attack and was hit by a shell from one of the destroyers. ''L55'' attempted to dive away to safety but exploded and sank with the loss of all hands (probably after striking a mine). On the morning of 21 October 1919, ''Azard'' and the destroyers ''Gavriil'', and , set out from Kronstadt to lay a minefield in Koporye Bay to deter British ships supporting Estonian troops advancing on Petrograd, but ran into a British minefield. ''Gavriil'', leading the destroyers, was the first to strike a mine at 05:48 and sank after twenty minutes. ''Konstantin'' and ''Svoboda'' were sunk by mines within minutes, with only ''Azard'', at the rear of the formation, escaping unharmed. Only 25 men were rescued from the three lost destroyers.

The ship was renamed ''Zinoviev'' on 31 December 1922, and underwent a major refit in 1923. She was commanded by Gordey Levchenko, later to become an Admiral in the Soviet Navy, from April 1928 to May 1929. The ship was again renamed to ''Artem'' on 27 November 1928. ''Artem'' was refitted again in 1933.

''Artem'' took part in the Winter War, the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939–1940, shelling Finnish fortifications on islands in the Gulf of Finland in December 1939.

On 22 June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and as a response the Baltic Fleet laid minefields in the Gulf of Finland, with ''Artem'' sailing from Tallinn as part of a minelaying force that also included the destroyers , , and and the minelayers ''Marti'' and ''Ural''. On 2 August 1941, ''Artem'' was unsuccessfully attacked by the German motor-torpedo boats ''S-55'' and ''S-58'' in the Gulf of Riga. On 21 August, ''Artem'' and unsuccessfully attacked German transports in the Gulf of Riga. By August 1941, Tallinn was surrounded by German troops, with the Germans launching a final assault on the city on 19 August. The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn began on 27 August, with 190 ships being split between four convoys bound for Kronstadt, with ''Artem'' forming part of the covering force. On the night of 28/29 August, the convoys encountered dense minefields off Cape Juminda. ''Artem'' was sunk by a mine during that night, as were the destroyers , , ''Kalinin'' and ''Voldarsky'', three submarines, three minesweepers and thirteen transports.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Azard
Orfey-class destroyers
Destroyers of the Imperial Russian Navy
Ships built in Russia
1916 ships
World War I destroyers of Russia
Destroyers of the Soviet Navy
World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea
Ships sunk by mines