Soviet Destroyer Gremyashchiy (1937)

''Gremyashchy'' () was one of 29 s (officially known as Project 7) built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and was later transferred to the Northern Fleet in 1941.

Design and description

Having decided to build the large and expensive destroyer leaders, the Soviet Navy sought Italian assistance in designing smaller and cheaper destroyers. They licensed the plans for the and, in modifying it for their purposes, overloaded a design that was already somewhat marginally stable.

The ''Gnevny''s had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of at deep load. The ships were significantly overweight, almost heavier than designed, displacing at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 197 officers and sailors in peacetime and 236 in wartime. The ships had a pair of geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, rated to produce using steam from three water-tube boilers which was intended to give them a maximum speed of . The designers had been conservative in rating the turbines and many, but not all, of the ships handily exceeded their designed speed during their sea trials. Others fell considerably short of it. ''Gremyashchy'' reached during trials in 1942. Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the ''Gnevny''s varied between at . ''Gremyashchy'' herself demonstrated a range of at that speed.

As built, the ''Gnevny''-class ships mounted four B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 34-K AA guns in single mounts and a pair of 21-K AA guns as well as two DK or DShK machine guns. They carried six torpedo tubes in two rotating triple mounts; each tube was provided with a reload. The ships could also carry a maximum of either 60 or 95 mines and 25 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Mars hydrophones for anti-submarine work, although they were useless at speeds over . The ships were equipped with two K-1 paravanes intended to destroy mines and a pair of depth-charge throwers.

Construction and service

Built in Leningrad's Shipyard No. 190 (Zhdanov) as yard number 514, ''Gremyashchy'' was laid down on 23 July 1936, launched on 12 August 1937. The ship was completed on 28 August 1938 and was commissioned into the Baltic Fleet two days later.Yakubov & Worth, p. 107

During the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, ''Gremyashchy'' was assigned to performing patrol duties and escorting transport ships, and did not participate in any battles.

Following the entry of the Soviet Union into World War II, she was moved to Vaenga by order of the commander of the fleet, and began her first patrols on 24 June 1941, escorting the transport ships ''Mossovet'' and ''Tsiolkovskiy'' from Murmansk to Titovka. On 22 August 1941, alongside destroyers ''Uritsky'', ''Kuibyshev'' and ''Gromkiy'', ''Gremyashchy'' protected the damaged depot ship ''Maria Ulyanova'' after she was hit by a torpedo attack from a German submarine. At the same time, ''Gremyashchy'' repelled a German air attack, shooting down one aircraft in the process.

During the evening of 24 and 25 November 1941, she fired eighty-nine 130 mm shells at the Norwegian port of Vardø, alongside destroyer and the British light cruiser . From 24 to 28 January 1942, she participated in escorting Convoy QP 6, and was held for repairs for the 15 days following 5 February 1942. On 21 February 1942, she shelled enemy positions from Ara on the Kola Peninsula near the Barents Sea. Later in March, she took part in escorting convoys QP 8 and PQ 12. While escorting Convoy QP 9 on 22 March 1942, a severe storm damaged the upper deck, boiler casing and drinking water pipeline of the ship.

On 29 March, ''Gremyashchy'' and the destroyer were escorting Convoy PQ 13 when they came under fire from , and opened fire in retaliation; ''Sokrushitelny'' was able to damage the boiler room of ''Z26'', however due to poor visibility the German destroyer was able to escape. Later, German destroyers and began attacking British ships, however were fired upon by , ''Gremyashchy'' and ''Sokrushitelny'', and eventually were sunk.

On 30 March 1942 ''Gremyashchy'' detected an unidentified enemy submarine and released twelve depth charges.Platonov, p. 183. During April 1942, she was involved with escorting convoys QP 10, PQ 14 and QP 11. On 30 April, she accompanied the damaged , however was forced to return to base on 1 May due to a lack of fuel. She attempted to return to HMS ''Edinburgh'' on 2 May after being re-supplied, however by then ''Edinburgh'' had already sunk. On 5–6 May, she participated in escorting Convoy PQ 15.

On 8 May 1942, ''Gremyashchy'' provided fire support for troop landings at Cape Pikshuev, and on 23 August, accompanied a detachment of warships at Kola Bay alongside ''Sokrushitelny''. Between 25 and 27 August, she escorted the transport ship ''Dixon'' to Belushya Guba. Later during 17–20 September, she participated in Convoy PQ 18. She was then held for repairs from 16 January 1943 to 29 April 1943.

In 1943 she took part in 18 escort missions within the Arctic Sea region. On 12 October 1943, the cargo ship ''Marina Raskova'' lost steering control as a result of stormy weather, and was towed by ''Gremyashchy''. On 29 October, ''Gremyashchy'' was struck by the anchor of transport ship ''Kanin'' and required emergency repairs. During 8–12 November, she participated in escorting Convoy BC 21, and later stood for repairs between 19 November 1943 and January 15, 1944.

During 21–22 January, ''Gremyashchy'' took part in an unsuccessful interception mission against an enemy convoy near Makkur. From 27 January to 3 October, she took part in 17 escort missions. On 9 October, ''Gremyashchy'' and ''Gromky'' provided support for a troop landing operation, and on the 10th and 11th the same month shelled German troop positions at the river near Titovka. Participated in a bombardment of the Norwegian towns of Vardø and Vadsø on 26 October, during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive. Norwegian fishing boat ''Spurven'' was sunk at Vardo. After a series of seven escort missions between 16 October and 8 December, ''Gremyashchy'' began an overhaul at Molotovsk Factory No. 402 on 14 December 1944.Platonov, p. 184

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gremyashchy (1937), Soviet destroyer
Gnevny-class destroyers
1937 ships
Ships built at Severnaya Verf