Soviet destroyer Bezuprechny (1937)

Bezuprechny was one of 29 Gnevny-class destroyers (officially known as Project 7) built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, the ship laid minefields and participated in the Siege of Odessa, ferrying men and supplies to the beleaguered city and providing naval gunfire support. Bezuprechny was damaged by German aircraft in September and was under repair for most of the rest of the year. During the Siege of Sevastopol, the ship resumed her duties in late December, only with a different destination. She was sunk by German aircraft while transporting supplies and troops on 26 June 1942 with the loss of approximately 300 crewmen and 320 passengers.

Design and description
Having decided to build the large and expensive 40 kn Leningrad-class destroyer destroyer leaders, the Soviet Navy sought Italian assistance in designing smaller and cheaper destroyers. They licensed the plans for the Folgore-class destroyer and, in modifying it for their purposes, overloaded a design that was already somewhat marginally stable.

The Gnevnys had an overall length of 112.8 m, a beam of 10.2 m, and a draft of 4.8 m at deep load. The ships were significantly overweight, almost 200 MT heavier than designed, displacing 1612 MT at standard load and 2039 MT at deep load. Their crew numbered 197 officers and sailors in peacetime and 236 in wartime. The ships had a pair of geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, rated to produce 48000 shp using steam from three water-tube boilers which was intended to give them a maximum speed of 37 kn. The designers had been conservative in rating the turbines and many, but not all, of the ships handily exceeded their designed speed during their sea trials. Others fell considerably short of it. Bezuprechny reached 38.7 kn during her trials in 1939. Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the Gnevnys varied between 1670 to 3145 nmi at 19 kn. Bezuprechny herself demonstrated a range of 3145 nmi at that speed.

As built, the Gnevny-class ships mounted four 130 mm B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 76.2 mm 34-K AA guns in single mounts and a pair of 45 mm 21-K AA guns as well as two 12.7 mm DK or DShK machine guns. They carried six 533 mm torpedo tubes in two rotating triple mounts; each tube was provided with a reload. The ships could also carry a maximum of either 60 or 95 mines and 25 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Mars hydrophones for anti-submarine work, although they were useless at speeds over 3 kn. The ships were equipped with two K-1 paravanes intended to destroy mines and a pair of depth-charge throwers.

Construction and service
Built in Nikolayev's Shipyard No. 200 (named after 61 Communards) as yard number 1069, Bezuprechny was laid down on 23 August 1936, launched on 25 June 1937, and was completed on 2 October 1939. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the ship was assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Division of the Black Sea Fleet. On 23–25 June Bezuprechny laid 291 defensive mines off Sevastopol. On 9 July, the 2nd Destroyer Division, including the destroyer leader SOVIET DESTROYER Kharkov, Bezuprechny and her sister ships SOVIET DESTROYER Bodry, SOVIET DESTROYER Boyky and SOVIET DESTROYER Besposhchadny made an unsuccessful attempt to interdict Axis shipping near Fidonisi. On 14–17 August, Bezuprechny escorted the incomplete ships being evacuated from the shipyards at Nikolayev. She bombarded Axis positions with 52 shells from her 130 mm guns on 19 August. The destroyer helped to escort transports ferrying the 157th Rifle Division to Odessa on 16–21 September. Bezuprechny landed a company of naval infantry at Grigorievka on 22 September. While providing fire support during the operation, the ship was attacked by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of StG 77. Although she was not hit, splinters from numerous near misses knocked out her power and Besposhchadny had to tow her to Odessa for emergency repairs. On 28 September the destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Shaumyan towed her to Sevastopol for temporary repairs.

Bezuprechny steamed under her own power to Poti, Georgia, on 3 November for further repairs which were completed by the end of the month. On 8 December she accidentally collided with the steamer SS Mestkom and the resulting hole in her hull required 10 days to repair. The ship began transporting men and supplies to Sevastopol on 23 December, in addition to fire support duties. Between 25 December and 2 January 1942, Bezuprechny fired 304 shells from her main guns and she continued these types of missions through March. The ship was refitted in May and, together with the light cruiser SOVIET CRUISER Molotov, bombarded Axis positions surrounding Sevastopol with 240 shells on 16 June. Bezuprechny was loaded with 320 soldiers of the 142nd Rifle Brigade, 20 tons of ammunition, 15 tons of food and 2 tons of aircraft equipment, bound for Sevastopol, when she was attacked and sunk by dive bombers from II./StG 77. Rescue efforts by the destroyer leader SOVIET DESTROYER Tashkent were unsuccessful as she was driven off by more aerial attacks. Only 3 survivors were rescued the following day by the submarines SOVIET SUBMARINE M-112 and SOVIET SUBMARINE M-118; all of the soldiers and approximately 300 crewmen were lost.