Soviet Battleship "Sevastopol"

[medaldude]

Hello All,

I just received research on a Ushakov medal. The man received it for courage serving on the Battleship "Sevastopol". He also received the Sevastopol Defense medal. Checking the web it appears this ship was a pre WWI battleship. The award citation talks about damage to the ship during an artillery barrage. I wonder if the Sevastopol was used as a floating battery?

Interesting award to a Navy Sevastopol defender.

Tom

[Dave]

As far as I can glean from my references, the Sebastopol was used as a regular ship during WW2. It was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet.

Hope that helps!

--Dave

[Taz]

:confused:

That's strange,
Because the Germans captured the incomplete hull of the Sevastopol when they invaded the USSR in 1941, and scrapped it.
Also the incomplete Kronshtadt was broken up in the 1950's.
That is according to the article I am reading.

And during the Battle of Port Arthur 1904 (The Russo-Japanese War)
----------------------------------------
The duties of the Russian ships at Port Arthur consisted of laying mines at night and reconnaissance by day. Russian mines sank the Japanese cruiser Takasago, one destroyer and two coastal vessels. The new Commander of the Russian fleet, Rear Admiral Robert Viren, regarded sea battles with the Japanese as hopeless. On 19 September the latter's 280-mm guns upon opened fire on Port Arthur's inner roadstead. Having seized Vysokaya Mountain, the Japanese were able to fire on the Russian ships with greater accuracy. On 22 November a heavy-caliber shell detonated an ammunition magazine and destroyed the battleship Poltava. During the next four days the Retvisan, Peresvet, Pobeda and cruisers Pallada and Bayan sank under the fire of large-caliber Japanese guns. Due to the persistence of her commander, Captain Nikolay Essen, who had finally received permission from Admiral Viren to lead his ship into the outer roadstead, the Sevastopol was the only battleship to survive for six nights, together with the gunboat Otvazhny and seven destroyers, the Sevastopol fended off enemy mine attacks. Many Japanese destroyers were damaged and two-N-53 and N-42-sank to the bottom.
This time the Sevastopol was also damaged. She, nevertheless, fired back on the Japanese positions until the last day of the defense when she was scuttled by her commander.

Must have been quite a few ships called Sevastopol.

Eddie.

[Taz]

The operational life of the battleship began from the laying of her keel on June 3, 1909 to her scrapping in 1956/1957. During World War One the history of the four battleships had a great deal of commonality, since they were part of the same squadron. However, the history of each diverged in the Soviet era. As is true with all four battleships, Sevastopol was renamed by Soviet government in the 1920s to a more revolutionary name and then renamed to her former name during World War Two. On March 31, 1921 Sevastopol was renamed Parizhskaya Kommuna to recognize the revolutionary Paris Commune of the 19th Century. Since all members of the Imperatritsa Maria Class dreadnought had been lost as a result of the World War One or the Russian Civil War, with one winding up in French North Africa, Soviet Russia had no dreadnought on the Black Sea and yet Turkey still had the Yavuz Ex-Goeben. Parizhskaya Kommuna had received a refit, including a new bow design, so in 1929 it was decided to send her to the Black Sea. She left with cruiser Profintern but the force ran into a strong storm in the Bay of Biscay. The new bow created a well that kept water. As the Parizhskaya Kommuna took green seas over the bow, water was trapped in the bow, until it failed. Parizhskaya Kommuna had to put into Brest for emergency repairs. The Soviet government was embarrassed by the incident, so repairs were made solely by the crew. Threedays later Parizhskaya Kommuna left Brest to be greeted by 35 foot seas. The condition in the ship deteriorated to worse than before and again Parizhskaya Kommuna put into Brest for repairs but this time the Soviet government contracted with a French shipyard for repairs. On January 18, 1930 Parizhskaya Kommuna reached Sevastopol and spent the rest of her career in the Black Sea. When the Crimea fell to the Germans in 1942, Parizhskaya Kommuna had to move her base of operations to the ports of the Caucuses. Throughout World War Two she was very active in supporting the Red Army along the Black Sea Coasts. On May 31, 1943 she was renamed with her original name, Sevastopol. The Sevastopol was given the Order of the Red Banner in July 1945 for her war time record.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Taz

That's strange,
Because the Germans captured the incomplete hull of the Sevastopol when they invaded the USSR in 1941, and scrapped it.

Eddie-

You're right. The Sebastopol was captured by the Germans. The Parizhskaya Kommuna wasn't captured. ;) What was the Parizhskaya Kommuna? That was the Tsarist Sebastopol, under it's Communist name! The name was changed back on 31 May 1943 to the original Sebastopol.

--Dave :)

[Taz]

Hi Dave,

Looks like we were posting together :)

The ship in Toms question must be the renamed Parizhskaya Kommuna because as said in the above post throughout World War Two she was very active in supporting the Red Army along the Black Sea Coasts.
Which makes it very likely that she was used as a floating battery.



And here is the "Paris Commune" during target exercises in the 30's.

Eddie.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Taz

Must have been quite a few ships called Sevastopol.

Eddie-

Looks like we're replying at the same time! :p

To make life more fun, there was ALSO another ship named Sebastopol, ALSO in the Black Sea Fleet, but it was a small sized "gunboat". It was built in 1896, and was mobilized in August 1941 for war duty, and in May 1942 it was reclassified as a transport and was used for amphibious operations.

--Dave

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Taz

The ship in Toms question must be the renamed Parizhskaya Kommuna because as said in the above post throughout World War Two she was very active in supporting the Red Army along the Black Sea Coasts.

At the same time, now that you highlight the fact that the ship was involved in receiving an artillery barrage would make me think it was the latter Sebastopol, since she was used to support amphibious operations, and was thus close to shore each time - within perfect range of artillery!

--Dave

[Dave]

Curiouser and curiouser... Tom, can you post up the citation, and, PLEASE the name/rank/position of the recommending officers? That might help clear this all up...

--Dave

[Taz]

Originally Posted by Dave

At the same time, now that you highlight the fact that the ship was involved in receiving an artillery barrage would make me think it was the latter Sebastopol, since she was used to support amphibious operations, and was thus close to shore each time - within perfect range of artillery!

--Dave

Dave isn't that the same ship?

First Sevastopol then renamed Parizhskaya Kommuna 0n March 31, 1921 and then on May 31, 1943 the name was changed back to Sevastopol.

Eddie.