Soviet cruiser Komintern
Encyclopedia
Komintern was a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
light cruiser originally named Pamiat' Merkuria
Russian cruiser Pamiat Merkuria
The Pamiat' Merkuria was a protected cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy. She saw service during World War I in the Black Sea, survived the Russian Civil War in a damaged state and was repaired by the Soviets, renamed as Komintern, and put into service as a training cruiser.-Service...
(Memory of Mercury), a protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
built for the Imperial Russian Navy
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
. She saw service during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
and survived the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, although heavily damaged. She was repaired by the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
and put into service as a training cruiser. In 1941 she was reclassified as a minelayer
Minelayer
Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
and provided gunfire support and transported troops during the Siege of Odessa, Siege of Sevastopol, and the Kerch-Feodosiya Operation in the winter of 1941—42. She was damaged beyond repair at Poti
Poti
Poti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also...
by a German air attack on 16 July 1942. Afterwards she was disarmed and hulked
Hulk (ship)
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...
. At some point before October 1942 she was towed to the mouth of the Khobi river and sunk as a breakwater.
Service history
Pamiat' Merkuria was seized by the Ukrainian People's RepublicUkrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
on 12 November 1917 and laid up on 28 March 1918 with her guns stripped by Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s to equip armoured train
Armoured train
An armoured train is a train protected with armour. They are usually equipped with railroad cars armed with artillery and machine guns. They were mostly used during the late 19th and early 20th century, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower...
s. She was captured by the Germans
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
on 1 May 1918 and used as a barracks ship. She was renamed to Hetman Ivan Mazepa on 17 September 1918 and formally hand over to the Ukrainian State's Navy. She fell into the hands of the Whites
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
in November 1918. She had her engines sabotaged in April 1919 by order of the British when the Whites temporarily lost control of Sevastopol. She was further damaged by the explosion of a mine when the Whites abandoned the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
in 1920. Once she fell into Soviet hands she spent several years under repair, which required parts and material from her sisters that were even more damaged, including machinery from the Bogatyr, before they were scrapped. She was rearmed with sixteen 130 mm (5.1 in) guns in two twin turrets and a dozen single mounts in casemates and in open mounts in her waist. She was given the proper revolutionary name of Komintern, after the Communist International
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
on 31 December 1922 and was recommissioned in June 1923.
She was refitted in 1930 as a training cruiser and lost four boilers which were converted to classrooms. Her twin turrets were exchanged for single, shielded 130 mm gun mounts and six of her waist guns were replaced by four obsolete 75 mm (3 in)/50 guns. Her submerged broadside torpedo tubes were also removed during this refit. She collided with Krasny Kavkaz in 1932 and seriously damaged the forecastle of the latter ship. Sources are unclear when she was rearmed, but it probably wasn't until the late 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
, probably when her forward smokestack was also removed. She landed all of her 75 mm/50 guns in exchange for a modern suite of anti-aircraft guns
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
: three single 76.2 mm (3 in), three single 45 mm (1.8 in) 21-K
45 mm anti-aircraft gun (21-K)
The 45 mm anti-aircraft gun was a Soviet design adapted from the 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 . This was a copy of a German weapon designed by Rheinmetall that was sold to the Soviets before Hitler came to power in 1933 that had been enlarged to in increase its penetrating power...
, two single 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in) and five 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns. In 1941 she was modified as a minelayer and could carry 195 mines, but her speed had been reduced to 12 kn (14.6 mph; 23.5 km/h).
World War II
Komintern, in company with the cruisers Krasny Kavkaz, Chervona Ukraina and a number of destroyers, laid down a defensive mine barrage protecting the Black Sea FleetBlack Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
base at Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
on 22 June. Komintern, along with the destroyers Nezamozhinsk and Shaumyan, was assigned to cooperate with the Separate Coastal Army
Separate Coastal Army
The Separate Coastal Army was an army-level unit in the Red Army that fought in the World War II. It was ordered to be established on July 18, 1941 by the order of the Southern Front from the forces of 9th Army’s Coastal Group and was stood up on July 20, 1941....
on 8 August 1941 and spent much of the next month bombarding Romanian positions and coast defenses. During the Siege of Odessa she escorted a number of convoys to and from the besieged city. During the Crimean Campaign Komintern delivered supplies to the 44th Army at Feodosiya on 1 January 1942 and ferried troops and supplies to Sevastopol for the next several months.
She was badly damaged by a German air attack on 11 March, but was able to continue under her own power. She was damaged again in Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is the country's main port on the Black Sea and the leading Russian port for importing grain. It is one of the few cities honored with the title of the Hero City. Population: -History:...
by I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 76
Kampfgeschwader 76
Kampfgeschwader 76 was a Luftwaffe bomber Group during World War II .Its units participated on all of the fronts in the European Theatre throughout the conflict, and served until the last day of the war...
on 2 July 1942 and moved to Poti
Poti
Poti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also...
shortly afterwards. She was severely damaged again by another German air attack on 16 July at Poti that she was deemed non-repairable. She was disarmed in August—September 1942, her guns forming coast defense batteries at Tuapse
Tuapse
Tuapse is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the northeast shore of the Black Sea, south of Gelendzhik and north of Sochi. It serves as the administrative center of Tuapsinsky District, although administratively it is separate from it...
, and hulked
Hulk (ship)
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...
. At some point before October 1942 she was towed to the mouth of the Khobi river, just north of Poti, and sunk as a breakwater.