Topic: Ships of WWII Part 4: Russian Battleship Sabastopol

[Chris SI]

Obsolete Russian capital ship

As the largest country in the world, occupying one seventh of the Earth's surface, it was inevitable that Russia's main war effort should concentrate on the land conflict and that her army, assisted by her air force, should play the major part in her war effort. By comparison, the Russian Navy and its activities were barely noticeable on the huge canvas of the Russian campaigns. Quite, apart from geographical considerations, a trio of major campaigns - the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/5, the First World War and the Russian Revolution of 1917 - had decimated the Russian Navy into a force more suited to a small and minor power. After 1918, the Russians possessed only eight serviceable capital ships - five cruisers and three battleships. One of the battleships was Sebastopol, which was renamed Prizskaja Kommuna (Paris Commune) after extensive repairs and alterations in 1926/8 and reverted to its original name in the summer of 1942.

By that time, Sebastopol was thirty-four years old. She was, in fact, a relic of the outburst of dreadnought building which followed the Royal Navy's
surprise acquisition of these revolutionary big-gun warships in 1906/7. Laid down in 1908, along with her three sister ships of the 'Gangut'-class, Sebastopol operated during the Second World War as a floating battery for bombarding the Germans during the defence of the city of Sebastopol in 1941 and 1942, and battering German positions during the offensive around Leningrad in 1944. Sebastopol's crew, which numbered 1,400 men, played a marine-type role when, after 1942, they were used for fighting ashore.

Sebastopol underwent two major overhauls in her time. The first, in 1926/8 provided her with the distinctive 'hammer' bow, built for ice breaking in the Baltic, and 'sickle' or trunked funnel. The second overhaul ten years later gave the battleship greater anti-aircraft power in the form of several 76-mm and six 37-mm AA guns.

Specifications:
Displacement: 26,692 tons (full load)
Length: 606,5ft
Beam: 105ft
Machinery: 25 Yarrow boilers. Four shafts. Parsons SR geared turbines SHP 50.000 = 23 knots
Protection: 4 7/8 - 8 7/8 in main belt (125/225 mm)
Turrets 4 7/8-/8 inches (105/203 mm)
Armament: Twelve 12-inch (305 mm), various AA weapons (the Russians changed this constantly)

[Just plain old Punisher]

In soviet russia, battleship drives you!

[Chris SI]

This ship was old as dirt when WWII broke out, but the three of them proved valuable.

[IndyShark]

Chris, what is the name of the Russian battleship sunk by Hans Ulrich Rudel? Was it repaired?

[Chris SI]

The identical sister of this ship, Oktyabrskaya Revolutsia, origanally the Gangut.

She was listed as sunk, later repaired by the Soviets.