Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

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Brian James
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Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

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Soviet,Gangut Class Dreadnought Battleship Marat (Ex Petropavlovsk) pictured at the 1937 Spithead Fleet Review.
She was the third of the four Gangut-Class Dreadnoughts, built at Baltic Works Shipyards, Saint Petersburg.She was completed during the winter of 1914–1915, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for Minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution of 1917 and she was the only Dreadnought available to the Bolsheviks for several years after the October Revolution of 1917. She bombarded the mutinous garrison of Fort Krasnaya Gorka and supported Bolshevik light forces operating against British ships supporting the White Russians in the Gulf of Finland in 1918–19. Later, her crew joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921 and she was renamed Marat after the rebellion was crushed.
Marat was reconstructed from 1928 to 1931 and two years later, she bombarded a Finnish coastal artillery position during the Winter War once before the Gulf of Finland iced up. Shortly afterwards, her anti-aircraft armament was upgraded. When the Germans invaded on June 22nd 1941 she was in Kronstadt and provided gunfire support to Soviet troops in September as the Germans approached Leningrad. Later that month she had her bow blown off and sank in shallow water after two hits by 2,200 lb bombs (dropped from a Ju 87 Stuka, piloted by Hans Ulrich Rudel) that detonated her forward magazine. She was refloated several months later and became a Stationary Battery, providing gunfire support during the Siege of Leningrad. Plans were made to reconstruct her after the war, using the bow of her sister Frunze, but they were not accepted and were formally cancelled in 1948. She was renamed Volkhov, after the nearby river, in 1950 and served as a Stationary Training Ship until stricken in 1953 and broken up afterwards.
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Brian James
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

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Dreadnought Battleship IRN Gangut pictured c1915.
Lead Ship of the Gangut-Class Dreadnoughts of the Imperial Russian Navy built before World War I and the last of her Class to be completed.She was completed during the winter of 1914–1915, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for Minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution and joined the Bolsheviks in 1918. She was laid up in 1918 for lack of manpower and not recommissioned until 1925, by which time she had been renamed Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (October Revolution).
She was reconstructed between 1931 and 1934 with new boilers, fire-control systems and greatly enlarged superstructures. During the Winter War she bombarded Finnish coastal artillery positions once. Her anti-aircraft armament was greatly reinforced in early 1941, just before Operation Barbarossa. She provided gunfire support against the Germans during the Siege of Leningrad despite being bombed three times and under repair for a year. Retained on active duty after the war she became a Training Ship in 1954 before being struck off the Navy List in 1956 and slowly scrapped.
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designeraccd
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

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This class was repeatedly "knocked" over the decades in various books about their armor, habitability, etc. Mostly it was a repeat of something printed when they were quite new.

Given the original Russian design parameters, they pretty much fulfilled the original requirements. Realistically they were about on a par with most other first generation dreadnoughts. The exception would have been the excellent, long range 12"52s they carried. That naval rifle was probably better than any other 11"-12" of the time.

The use of the 4 Baltic units, during WW1, was pretty much limited to being anchored in harbor. :( The 3 BSF units, of similar design, were fairly active and did have at least one duel with the "Turkish" YAVUZ. The BSF units carried 5.1" as secondaries, but the 4 Baltic class had 4.7".


General characteristics BSF BBs (only)........

Class and type: Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleship
Displacement: 24,644 long tons (25,039 t)
Length: 167.8 m (550 ft 6 in)
Beam: 28.07 m (92 ft 1 in)
Draft: 8.7 m (28 ft 7 in)
Installed power: 27,000 shp (20,000 kW)
20 Yarrow water-tube boilers

Propulsion: 4 shafts; 4 steam turbines
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range: 1,680 nautical miles (3,110 km; 1,930 mi) at 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement: 1,154
Armament: 4 × triple 12-inch (305 mm)/52 guns
18 × single 130-millimeter (5.1 in) guns
3 × single 75-millimeter (3 in) AA guns
4 × single 17.7-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

Armor: Waterline belt: 125–262.5 mm (4.92–10.33 in)
Deck: 9–50 mm (0.35–1.97 in)
Turrets: 250 mm (9.8 in)
Barbettes: 250 mm (9.8 in)
Conning tower: 300 mm (11.8 in

:) DFO
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Brian James
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

Unread post by Brian James »

IRN Petropavlovsk pictured post fitting out at the Baltic Works Shipyard,Saint Petersburg c1914.
She was the third of the four Gangut-Class Dreadnoughts built before World War I. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution of 1917 and she was the only Dreadnought available to the Bolsheviks for several years after the October Revolution of 1917. She bombarded the mutinous garrison of Fort Krasnaya Gorka and supported Bolshevik light forces operating against British ships supporting the White Russians in the Gulf of Finland in 1918–19. Later, her crew joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921 and she was renamed Marat after the rebellion was crushed.
Marat was reconstructed from 1928 to 1931 and represented the Soviet Union at the Coronation Naval Review at Spithead in 1937. Two years later, she bombarded a Finnish coastal artillery position during the Winter War once before the Gulf of Finland iced up. Shortly afterwards, her Anti-Aircraft armament was upgraded. When the Germans invaded on June 22nd 1941 she was in Kronstadt and provided gunfire support to Soviet troops in September as the Germans approached Leningrad. Later that month she had her bow blown off and sank in shallow water after two hits by 1,000-kilogram bombs (dropped from a Ju 87 Stuka, piloted by Hans Ulrich Rudel) that detonated her forward magazine. She was refloated several months later and became a Stationary Battery, providing gunfire support during the Siege of Leningrad. Plans were made to reconstruct her after the war, using the bow of her sister Frunze, but they were not accepted and were formally cancelled in 1948. She was renamed Volkhov, after the nearby river, in 1950 and served as a stationary Training Ship until stricken in 1953 and broken up afterwards.
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designeraccd
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

Unread post by designeraccd »

Some more early pics of these units.

Rather sick today, my dear wifey pASSed her disease on to me..... :( DFO
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Brian James
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

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Soviet Gangut Class Dreadnought Battleship 'Marat' (Ex IRN Petropavlovsk) pictured at Gdynia in September 1934.
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Brian James
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

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Gangut Class Dreadnought Battleship IRN Sevastopol pictured fitting out at Baltic Works Shipyards,Saint Petersburg,1914.
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designeraccd
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

Unread post by designeraccd »

More pics of GANGUT at various stages of her long career..... :) DFO
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designeraccd
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

Unread post by designeraccd »

Three of these maligned first gen dreadnoughts served their soviet masters for many years. They never really did much militarily except provide long range gunfire support for the Red Army in WW2.

Even the hulk of the semi destroyed MARAT provided gunfire support in the Leningrad area. Their 12" gunfire did help their Army both in the Baltic and Black Sea. DFO
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designeraccd
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Re: Dreadnought Battleships: Gangut Class

Unread post by designeraccd »

Rebuilt-somewhat-GANGUT with a seaplane hanging from one of the massive cranes. :o Also, 2 earlier, dry docked views that show the rather unique looking bow.

Her "best" features, those 12-12" 52s she carried show quite well in their "linear" arrangement.... :D DFO
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