''Minsk'' () was one of six destroyer leaders built for the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

during the 1930s, one of the three Project 38 variants. Completed in 1939, the ship was assigned to the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

and played a minor role in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 1939–1940. After the start of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, ''Minsk'' covered minelaying operations and provided

naval gunfire support Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of seve ...

to Soviet units. She escorted ships during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn,

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, in late August. The ship was sunk by German

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s on 23 September, although her wreck was salvaged in 1942 and repaired. ''Minsk'' was recommissioned in 1943 but the repairs were not completed until the following year. The ship was reclassified as a training ship in 1951, then became a target ship in 1958 and was sunk that year.

Design and description

Impressed by the French large destroyer () designs such as the of the early 1930s, the Soviets designed their own version. The ''Leningrad'' class had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of , and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of at deep load. Built in two batches, the second batch (Project 38) displaced at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 250 officers and sailors in peacetime and 311 in wartime. The ships had three geared

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s, each driving one propeller, designed to produce using steam from three three-drum boilers which was intended to give them a maximum speed of . The ''Leningrad''s carried enough

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

to give them a range of at .Breyer, p. 220 As built, the ''Leningrad''-class ships mounted five B-13 guns in two pairs of

superfiring Superfiring armament is a naval design technique in which two or more turrets are located one behind the other, with the rear turret located above ("super") the one in front so that it can fire over the first. This configuration meant that both ...

single mounts fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and another mount between the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

and the forward funnel. The guns were protected by gun shields. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 34-K AA guns in single mounts on the aft superstructure and a pair of 21-K AA guns mounted on either side of the bridge as well as six DShK machine guns. They carried eight

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in two rotating quadruple mounts; each tube was provided with a reload. The ships could also carry a maximum of either 68 or 115 mines and 52 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Arktur hydrophones for anti-submarine work.

Modifications

During the war, ''Minsk'' exchanged her two 21-K mounts for six 70-K AA guns.Hill, p. 26 She received a British Type 128

ASDIC Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

systemBreyer, p. 217 and was fitted with a Type 291

early-warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum tim ...

. After the war, all of the 76- and 37-millimeter guns were replaced by a dozen water-cooled V-11M versions of the 70-K gun in twin mounts. During the 1950s, the radars were replaced by Top Bow, EWS Top, Plum Jar and Ball End radars and the pole foremast was replaced by a tripod mast to support them.

Construction and career

''Minsk'', named after the capital of

Belorussia Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, was laid down on 5 October 1934 at Shipyard No. 190 (Zhdanov) in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

as yard number 471 and launched on 6 November 1935. Commissioned on 10 November 1938, she was assigned to the Red Banner Baltic Fleet in February 1939.Breyer, p. 216 She sailed to

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

on 22 October when the Soviet Union began to occupy

. After the Winter War began on 30 November, ''Minsk'' and her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

bombarded Finnish coastal defenses on Saarenpää Island, part of the Beryozovye Islands, on 10 December and again on 30 December 1939 – 3 January 1940; ''Minsk'' bombarded them by herself on 18–19 December as well. She was badly damaged by a storm in September and under repair until 17 June 1941. The beginning of Operation Barbarossa five days later, found ''Minsk'' in Tallinn as part of the 5th Destroyer Division and she was ordered to cover mine-laying operations at the entrance to the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

between Hanko and Osmussaar on 23–27 June. On 3 July she helped to lay minefield covering the approached to Tallinn. The ship bombarded German positions around Tallinn on 23–27 August, firing 563 shells from her main guns. One of those guns was struck by a German shell on 27 August. That night, the Soviets began evacuating the port, covered by ''Minsk'', flying the flag of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Y. A. Panteleyev, the fleet

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

. The ship continued to provide gunfire support until all of the evacuees were loaded by the morning of 28 August. Later that night, a mine detonated in one of her paravanes, damaging the ship's hull. The explosion flooded three compartments with of water and Captain 2nd rank Peter Petunin ordered her to be anchored for the night lest she strike anymore mines; the ship reached

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

the following day. On 30 August, ''Minsk'' was assigned to provide gunfire support to Soviet troops in the Kronstadt/ Oranienbaum area together with the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s '' Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' and '' Marat'', the

heavy cruiser A heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in calibre, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Treat ...

and the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s , , , and and the

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

''Volga''.

Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the ...

dive-bombers of StG 2 attacked the ships in Kronstadt harbor on 23 September. ''Minsk'' was initially hit with three bombs that knocked out all her power, set her on fire and flooded part of the ship. She drifted until her stern grounded near the Leningrad

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

, although she was pulled off by

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s and towed to the harbor. Later in the day, a large bomb exploded away and further damaged the hull. ''Minsk'' sank in shallow water later that night. She was refloated in August 1942 and received temporary repairs at the Kronstadt Marine Plant. The ship steamed under her own power to Shipyard No. 190 on 9 November for permanent repairs. ''Minsk'' was recommissioned on 22 June 1943, although her repairs were not official completed until 28 August 1944. She continued to serve with the Baltic Fleet postwar and was reclassified as a destroyer on 12 January 1949 like her surviving sister ships. ''Minsk'' was converted into a training ship of the Dzerzhinsky Higher Naval Engineering School in Leningrad on 31 July 1951. She was reclassified an unpowered training ship on 8 April 1953, renamed ''Chorokh'' on 13 December 1954, then ''UTS-14'' on 27 December 1956. The vessel was struck from the Navy List on 3 April 1958, turned into a floating target on 22 April and sunk later that year during testing of new missiles in the Gulf of Finland near the island of Maly Tyuters.Kachur, p. 132

References

Bibliography

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External links