User:Seppiya/sandbox/Sokol-class Destroyer

Sokol leaving England in 1895
Class overview
Name	Sokol class
Builders	Yarrow Shipbuilders Wm. Crichton & Co. Izhora Shipyard Nevsky Zavod
Operators	Imperial Russian Navy Imperial Japanese Navy Soviet Navy Finnish Navy
Completed	27
Lost	4
Scrapped	23
General characteristics Sokol
Length	57.9–60.8 metres (190–199 ft)
Beam	5.6 m (18 ft)
Draught	2.24 m (7 ft 4 in) (full load)
Installed power	3,800 ihp (2,800 kW)
Propulsion	2 triple expansion steam engines 8 Yarrow boilers
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) (Sokol) 26.5–27.5 knots (49.1–50.9 km/h; 30.5–31.6 mph) (Russian-built ships)
Complement	48
Armament	1 × 75 mm (3.0 in) Canet Pattern 1892 3 × 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss 2 × 381 mm (15.0 in) torpedo tubes
General characteristics Steregushchiy
Beam	5.67 m (18.6 ft)
Draught	2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) (full load)
Complement	52
Armament	Similar to Sokol

The Sokol class (sometimes referred to as the Prytky class) was a class of torpedo boat destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy. Sokol was ordered from the British Yarrow Shipbuilders in 1894, and served as the prototype for a series of 26 ships built in Russian shipyards.

Members of the class saw action during the siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.

By the outbreak of the First World War, the remaining ships were outdated but continued to serve in secondary roles. The surviving members of the class were withdrawn from active service in the 1920s.

Background and Construction

In 1892, British Third Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher ordered the development of a new type of warship for the that became the torpedo boat destroyer. This resulted in six ships, including two Havock class destroyers built by Yarrow Shipbuilders. To quickly build up a force of destroyers, Fisher insisted that other shipyards be allowed to build destroyers using Yarrow's design. Alfred Yarrow, unhappy with this decision and no longer feeling any obligation to the Royal Navy, began looking for export customers. In January 1894, he sent a letter to Russian Admiral Pavel Tyrtov, head of the General Directorate of Shipbuilding and Supplies (Главное управление кораблестроения и снабжений, GUKiS), offering a destroyer with an unprecedented speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph). The Russian Naval Ministry was interested, and in April that year Yarrow arrived in Saint Petersburg to negotiate the contract for Sokol, which was signed on 11 June [O.S. 30 May] 1894 in London.

Sokol was launched on 22 August [O.S. 10 August] 1895, beginning trials on 29 August [O.S. 17 August] 1895. She outclassed the Russian Navy's earlier torpedo boats in armament, speed and operational range to such an extent that the Naval Ministry decided to stop building traditional torpedo boats in favour of the new type.

Russian-built Ships

Although Yarrow offered technical assistance, the GUKiS opted to rely entirely on the Russian Empire's domestic shipbuilding industry. The Russian-built ships were based on plans made of Sokol, incorporating modifications that included oil-fired boilers and stronger hull plating. The contract for the first pair (Korshun and Krechet) was signed 31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1896 with Wm. Crichton & Co. in Åbo. The order for the next pair (Yastreb and Nyrok) went to the state Izhora Shipyard in Kolpino.

Progress was slow and Korshun and Krechet were not launched until May 1898. Trials lasted from August 1898 to September 1899, with the oil-fired boilers proving unsatisfactory. They were returned to the shipyard to be converted to coal. Yastreb and Nyrok faced similar problems: launched in the autumn of 1898 they underwent unsuccessful trials from 1899-1900 and the conversion to coal delayed their entry into service until May 1902.

The next group of ships more closely followed the design of Sokol. Seven were ordered from the Izhora Shipyard as exact copies of Sokol, with coal-fired boilers, on 19 July [O.S. 7 July] 1897, with six intended for the Russian Far East. Once delays to Yastreb and Nyrok made the shortcomings of the Izhora Shipyard clear, the order was revised down to five ships (three for the Far East) built to a modified design which incorporated the thicker hull plating of the first group. In September 1898, 13 more destroyers were ordered from the Nevsky Zavod shipyard in Saint Petersburg, nine of which were destined for the Far East. These were copies of the Izhora ships, but with modified propulsion. The four ships remaining in the Baltic had four larger boilers of an improved design, capable of using both coal and oil as fuel. Those sent to the Far East continued to use eight smaller, easier to transport, coal-fired boilers.

Gorlitsa and another destroyer under assembly in 1901

Assembly in Port Arthur

12 Sokol class destroyers were sent to Port Arthur, as part of the naval buildup preceding the Russo-Japanese War. As it was impractical for the small ships to make the journey to the Far East, they were built in sections by the shipyards, before being transported to Port Arthur, where a shed with three slipways was built to assemble them. The first four disassembled destroyers arrived aboard the steamer Normaniya on 22 March [O.S. 9 March] 1900, but construction of the assembly shed had not yet begun. In April, an agreement was made with Nevsky Zavod to carry out the assembly process. All 12 disassembled Sokols had arrived by the end of the year, and the slipways were ready on 27 January [O.S. 14 January] 1901. The first Far Eastern Sokol to be launched was Baklan (renamed soon after to Kondor) on 3 August. By the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, nine ships had been completed.

Black Sea Sokols

To provide modern destroyers for the Black Sea Fleet, four ships were ordered from the Okhta shipyard on 24 November [O.S. 12 November] 1898. These were copies of the four built for the Baltic Fleet by Nevsky Zavod, but with eight coal/oil boilers. Trials in 1901–02 revealed these ships to be of poor quality and highly unreliable. Despite these problems, they had to sail for the Black Sea between September and October 1902 to pass through the Turkish Straits during the window agreed with the Ottoman government. In January 1903 they arrived at Sevastopol, where they received their armaments and entered service.

Further Development

Main article: Tverdy-class Destroyer

Three modified ships for the Far East were ordered from the Okhta Shipyard on 14 December [O.S. 1 December] 1903, followed by two more on 23 August [O.S. 10 August] 1905. They were assembled in Uliss Bay, Vladivostok after the loss of Port Arthur. They are usually considered a distinct class.

Design

HMS Hornet, the ship that formed the basis of the Sokol design

General Characteristics

The design of Sokol was based on HMS Hornet, the second Havock class destroyer built by Yarrow. She incorporated numerous modifications to fit the requirements of the Russian Navy. One visible difference was the use of a ram bow on Sokol. She was 58 metres (190 feet) long overall and 57.7 m (189 ft) long at the waterline, with a beam of 5.6 m (18 ft) and maximum draught of 2.24 m (7 ft 4 in) at full load. Normal displacement was 220 tonnes (220 long tons), increasing to 241.5 t (237.7 long tons) fully loaded. To reduce the weight of the ship and maximise speed, Sokol was very lightly built. Her hull plating had a maximum thickness of 5 millimetres (0.20 in), requiring the use of high-strength nickel steel for the first time in a destroyer.

The design of the Russian-built ships was based on plans made of Sokol with several modifications. Their dimensions were similar to Sokol, with the exception of Korshun and Krechet, where the hull was lengthened to 60.8 m (199 ft) to accomodate three tanks for fuel oil.

The thickness of the hull plating was increased to 7.5 mm (0.30 in), improving its strength. This increased the displacement of the ships to 240 t (240 long tons) normal and 258 t (254 long tons) fully loaded and resulted in a further reduced contract speed of 26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph).

Sokol had an official complement of 5 officers and 43 other ranks, while the Russian ships had 4 officers and 48 other ranks. In service, the crew of the ships could increase to as many as 55.

Machinery

Sokol had two three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, fed by eight Yarrow boilers. There were two boiler rooms, with the boilers arranged side-by-side in pairs that each shared a funnel. The machinery was designed to deliver 3,800 indicated horsepower (2,800 kW) at 400 rpm.

The Russian-built ships used copies of Sokol's engines, rated for the same power. These were found to be less reliable in service. The major difference between Sokol variants was the boilers. In the first four Russian ships, the coal-fired boilers were replaced by by oil-fired ones. However, disappointing performance led to these being returned to coal power.

total of 31 tonnes (31 long tons) of oil.

To accommodate the increased weight of the hull, the planned speed was reduced to 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph). For these ships, the length of the hull was not increased and remained at 58 m (190 ft).

In one test, she reached a speed of 30.3 knots (56.1 km/h), possibly becoming the first ship in the world to exceed 30 knots.

Armament

The gun armament was arranged similarly to the Havock class. A single 75 mm (3.0 in) Cannet Pattern 1892 was mounted on top of the conning tower, and three 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss were carried, one on each beam and one at the stern. In total, there were 160 rounds of 75 mm and 800 rounds of 47 mm ammunition.

Torpedo armament differed more significantly; the fixed bow torpedo tube was eliminated, and the double turntable mount was replaced by two single 381 mm (15.0 in) torpedo tubes. The torpedoes carried were 17-foot (5.2 m) long Whitehead M1898s, with two ready for action in the tubes and four more disassembled for storage.

Illustration of a Sokol class destroyer, with a second 75 mm gun fitted at the stern

Modifications

From 1908-1912, the remaining ships in Russian service were overhauled and modified based on the experiences of the Russo-Japanese War.

The 47 mm guns were removed and replaced by an additional 75 mm at the stern. Other improvements included the addition of radio equipment.

Service

Naming and Classification

Initially, all ships of the class were named after birds. On 22 March [O.S. 9 March] 1902 an order from the Naval Ministry assigned adjective names to all destroyers. The class as a whole continued to be known as the Sokols.

Until 1907, the Russian Navy did not use a separate classification for destroyers. Smaller destroyers were classified as torpedo boats (миноносец, minonosets), while the larger ones were classified as torpedo cruisers (минный крейсер, minny kreyser). The Sokols were officially torpedo boats, but a variety of unofficialy terms were used to distinguish them. These included istrebitel (истребитель, a literal translation of the English destroyer; now used to refer to fighter aircraft), kontrminonosets (контрминоносец, counter-torpedo boat) and eskadrenny minonosets (эскадренный миноносец, squadron torpedo boat). On 23 October [O.S. 10 October] 1907 eskadrenny minonosets (abbreviated to esminets, эсминец) was adopted to refer to all destroyer-type vessels in the Russian Navy.

Russo-Japanese War

Port Arthur

When Japan launched its surprise attack on Port Arthur on 8 February 1904, there were nine Sokol class destroyers in service there, with three more under assembly. Of these 12 ships, Steregushchy and Strashny were lost in surface actions, while Stroyny was mined and sunk. Additionally, Razyashchy, Silny and Storozhevoy were severely damaged and could not be repaired. Reshitelny and Rastoropny were sent on one-way trips as blockade runners, delivering messages to the Russian consul in Yantai. Japanese sailors illegaly seized the disarmed Reshitelny in the neutral port, and Rastoropny was scuttled shortly after arriving to avoid a similar incident. By the night of 1-2 January 1905, when the order to break out and head for neutral ports was given, only four remained operational. All of them managed to escape the Japanese blockade; Statny, Skory and Serdity were interned in Yantai, while Smely reached Qingdao. The damaged destroyers Silny, Storozhevoy and Razyashchy were scuttled to avoid capture.

Second Pacific Squadron

Prozorlivy, Pronzitelny and Rezvy joined the Second Pacific Squadron, sailing from the Baltic to releive Port Arthur. Neither reliable nor seaworthy enough to make the journey, all three ships were ordered to turn back.

Imperial Japanese Navy

Two members of the Sokol class were captured and used by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Reshitelny, seized at Yantai, was renamed to Akatsuki. She became the only Sokol class ship to fight at the Battle of Tsushima, where, during the night, she collided with and sank the Japanese Torpedo Boat No. 69. After the resulting damage was repaired, she was renamed again to Yamabiko and served until 1917. Silny was salvaged after the Japanese occupied Port Arthur, repaired in 1906 and renamed Fumutsuki, serving only briefly until 1913.

Later Service

Baltic

Outdated by the start of the First World War, the Baltic Sokols served mainly as dispatch ships and minesweepers.

Finland

See also: S-class torpedo boat

In the winter of 1917-18, all nine Sokols still in the Baltic found themselves trapped in Helsingfors. Only Prytky, Prochny and Retivy joined the Ice Cruise to Kronstadt; the other six ships remained and were captured by the White Finns. According to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, they were to be returned to the RSFSR, but only Porazhayushchy was. The other five were taken into Finnish service as S-class torpedo boats. The 1920 Treaty of Tartu required Finland to return the remaining ships; S3 and S4 were returned in 1922, but it became immediately clear that they were of little military value and both were scrapped. S1, S2 and S5 were instead sold to Finland for their scrap value, and continued to serve in the Finnish Navy. S2 was lost with all hands in a storm on 4 October 1925. Following this incident, S1 and S5 were withdrawn from active service and became target ships. S1 was sunk in 1930, while S5 survived until 1943–44, when she was scuttled in shallow waters as a decoy for Soviet bombers during the Continuation War.

Black Sea

Svirepy was seized by Pyotr Schmidt's mutineers in Sevastopol. on the night of 28 November [O.S. 15 November ] 1905. That morning, Schmidt used the destroyer to sail past the entire fleet, hoping to gather support for the rebel cause, before heading to the transport Prut and freeing the Potemkin mutineers imprisoned aboard. Later that day, when loyalist ships opened fire on the rebels, Svirepy attacked the battleship Rostislav and gunboat Terets and was run aground after taking severe damage.

At the outbreak of the First World War, the four Sokols formed the Black Sea Fleet's 6th Torpedo Boat Division. The weakness of the Ottoman Navy allowed them to play a more active role than their Baltic counterparts. Based in Batum due to their short range, they raided ports and coastal shipping and supported the Russian Army along the coast, including amphibious landings. Stremitelny was on hand to rescue survivors from the hospital ship Portugal, torpedoed by German submarine SM U 33 on 30 March [O.S. 17 March] 1916. On 4 April U 33 was spotted and attacked by Strogy in Sürmene Bay. Although the submarine submerged quickly enough to avoid being rammed and sunk, her periscope was damaged forcing her to return to the Bosphorus.

Following the October Revolution and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Smetlivy and Stremitelny joined the fleet in sailing to Tsemes Bay ahead of the German advance, where they were scuttled on 18 June 1918. Svirepy and Strogy remained in Sevastopol throughout the German occupation and Russian Civil War. In 1921–23 they were repaired and taken into service by the Soviet Navy, renamed Shmidt and Marti respectively to honour the mutineers Pyotr Schmidt and André Marty. Both were finally decommissioned in 1929.

Volga and Caspian Sea

Pronzitelny and Pylky from the Baltic via the Mariinsk Canal System and arrived in Baku on 24 October [O.S. 11 October] 1907. In 1908, they were converted to oil propulsion. There was no need for fast destroyers in the Caspian, and both ships were decommissioned in 1911, with Pylky converted to a refuelling barge for diesel gunboats.

Ships

Original Name	Name (from 1902)	Builder	Fleet	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Sokol (Сокол)	Prytky (Прыткий)	Yarrow Shipbuilders, London	Baltic	November 1894	22 August 1895 [O.S. 10 August 1895]	7 November 1895 [O.S. 26 October 1895]	Decommissioned, 16 August 1922
Korshun (Коршун)	Poslushny (Послушный)	Wm. Crichton & Co., Åbo		1897	May 1898	July 1900	To Finland as S3 1918 Returned to the RSFSR, 1922 and scrapped
Krechet (Кречет)	Pylky (Пылкий)			1897	28 May 1898 [O.S. 16 May 1898]	July 1900	Decommissioned, 1911
Yastreb (Ястреб)	Prochny (Прочный)	Izhora Shipyard, Kolpino		October 1896	1 October 1898 [O.S. 19 September 1898]	May 1902	Decommissioned, 16 August 1922
Nyrok (Нырок)	Porazhayushchy (Поражающий)			1896	15 November 1898 [O.S. 3 November 1898]	May 1902	Decommissioned, 21 November 1925
Berkut (Беркут)	Pronzitelny (Пронзительный)			July 1897	29 June 1899 [O.S. 17 June 1899]	May 1902	Decommissioned, 1911
Albatros (Альбатрос)	Podvizhny (Подвижный)			October 1899	3 June 1899 [O.S. 21 May 1899]	May 1902	To Finland as S5 1918 Scuttled, 1943-44
Drozd (Дрозд)	Razyashchy (Разящий)	Izhora Shipyard, Kolpino (Assembled in Port Arthur)	Far Eastern	25 February 1902 [O.S. 12 February 1902]	10 December 1902 [O.S. 27 November 1902]	13 October 1903 [O.S. 30 September 1903]	Scuttled at Port Arthur, 2 January 1905
Dyatel (Дятел)	Rastoropny (Расторопный)			March 1902	12 March 1903 [O.S. 27 February 1903]	3 December 1903 [O.S. 20 November 1903]	Scuttled at Yantai, 16 November 1904
Baklan (ex-Kondor) (Баклан)	Silny (Сильный)			July 1902	21 June 1903 [O.S. 8 June 1903]	12 January 1904 [O.S. 30 December 1903]	Scuttled at Port Arthur, 2 January 1905 Repaired by Japan and renamed Fumutsuki, 1906 Decommissioned, 1913
Gagara (Гагара)	Prozorlivy (Прозорливый)	Nevsky Zavod, St Petersburg	Baltic	1898	8 July 1899 [O.S. 26 June 1899]	May 1902	To Finland as S2 1918 Lost in storm, 4 October 1925
Voron (Ворон)	Rezvy (Резвый)			1899	31 August 1899 [O.S. 19 August 1899]	May 1902	To Finland as S4 1918 Returned to the RSFSR, 1922 and scrapped
Filin (Филин)	Retivy (Ретивый)			1899	23 June 1900 [O.S. 10 June 1900]	May 1902	Decommissioned, 16 August 1922
Sova (Сова)	Ryany (Рьяный)			1899	7 July 1900 [O.S. 24 June 1900]	May 1902	To Finland as S1 1918 Sunk as target, 1930
Kondor (ex-Baklan) (Кондор)	Reshitelny (Решительный)	Nevsky Zavod, St Petersburg (Assembled in Port Arthur)	Far Eastern	27 April 1901 [O.S. 14 April 1901]	26 July 1901 [O.S. 13 July 1901]	June 1903	Seized by Japan at Yantai Decommissioned, 1917
Bekas (Бекас)	Serdity (Сердитый)			1901	3 November 1901 [O.S. 21 October 1901]	June 1903	Scrapped, May 1923
Gorlitsa (Горлица)	Smely (Смелый)			1901	10 February 1902 [O.S. 28 January 1902]	15 September 1903 [O.S. 2 September 1903]	Scrapped, May 1923
Grach (Грач)	Storozhevoy (Сторожевой)			1901	31 March 1902 [O.S. 18 March 1902]	15 September 1903 [O.S. 2 September 1903]	Scuttled at Port Arthur, 2 January 1905
Kulik (Кулик)	Steregushchy (Стерегущий)			1901	22 June 1902 [O.S. 9 June 1902]	2 September 1903 [O.S. 20 August 1903]	Sunk in surface action, 10 March 1904
Perepel (Перепел)	Skory (Скорый)			February 1902	17 May 1903 [O.S. 4 May 1903]	December 1903	Scrapped, May 1923
Skvorets (Скворец)	Strashny (Страшный)			1902	1903	14 March 1904 [O.S. 1 March 1904]	Sunk in surface action, 13 April 1904
Strizh (Стриж)	Stroyny (Стройный)			1902	1903	14 March 1904 [O.S. 1 March 1904]	Mined and sunk, 13 November 1904
Shchegol (Щегол)	Statny (Статный)			1902	21 November 1903 [O.S. 8 November 1903]	28 July 1904 [O.S. 15 July 1904]	Scrapped, May 1923
Lebed (Лебедь)	Strogy (Строгий)	Wm. Crichton & Co., Okhta	Black Sea	August 1899	2 August 1901 [O.S. 20 July 1901]	September 1902	Renamed Marti (Марти) Decommissioned, 20 July 1929 and scrapped
Pelikan (Пеликан)	Smetlivy (Сметливый)			August 1899	2 August 1901 [O.S. 20 July 1901]	September 1902	Scuttled, 18 June 1918
Pavlin (Павлин)	Svirepy (Свирепый)			August 1899	7 September 1901 [O.S. 25 August 1901]	September 1902	Renamed Shmidt (Шмидт) Decommissioned, 29 April 1927 and scrapped
Fazan (Фазан)	Stremitelny (Стремительный)			August 1899	1 October 1901 [O.S. 18 September 1901]	September 1902	Scuttled, 18 June 1918

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