"Lutzow" is the fifth heavy cruiser of the "Admiral Hipper" class, planned for adoption by the German Kriegsmarine. Laid down in 1937, launched in 1939. In February 1940, sold to the Soviet Union,

received the name "Petropavlovsk", in August 1941, in a conditionally combat-ready state, it was included in the USSR Navy, and participated in the defense of Leningrad from Nazi troops.

In September 1944 it was renamed “Tallinn”, in 1953 - “Dnepr”, in 1956 - “PKZ-12”. Its completion was not completed; in 1958 the ship was excluded from the lists Soviet fleet, and in 1959 - 1960 it was dismantled for scrap metal.

History of creation and design features

In June 1936, approval was given to begin the construction of two additional large cruisers, similar to the first three units of the Admiral Hipper class, but armed with 12 150 mm guns.
This was a political step designed to demonstrate Germany's desire to remain within the legal framework of international maritime treaties. In July, an order followed both for the ships themselves and for the turrets and guns for them.

The base structures of the main battery turrets were designed according to a special requirement with a diameter similar to that of the 203 mm gun mounts of the first three Hipper-class ships.
A special requirement was to design the bases of the turrets in such a way that they would have the same diameter as the twin 203 mm mounts of heavy cruisers.
This was done in order to quickly re-equip with 203 mm guns if necessary. But already in 1937, it was decided to build the cruisers, which received the letter designations “K” and “L,” as heavy ones, initially with 203 mm artillery.

Construction

Fifth, and the last cruiser The Admiral Hipper type was laid down on August 2, 1937 at the DeSchiMAG shipyard in Bremen, where its sister Seydlitz was already under construction. During construction, the ship had the letter designation “L”; when launched on July 1, 1939, it received the name “Lutzow”.
Prior to this, the same name in the German fleet was borne by the Derflinger-class battlecruiser, which was lost during the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916. Both ships were named after Adolf von Lützow, a German national hero, baron who led guerrilla warfare in the rear of Napoleon's troops who occupied Germany.

After the ship was launched, its completion slowed down, due to a lack of labor and some disruptions in German industry. In particular, turbine blades arrived with long delays, which slowed down the installation of all main mechanisms.

After the conclusion of the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR on August 23, 1939, military-technical cooperation between the two countries intensified. The USSR supplied Germany with a lot of raw materials and food, and in exchange wanted to receive samples of the latest military equipment.
On February 11, 1940, the cruiser "Lutzow", being in an unfinished state (the ship was completed up to the upper deck, had part of the superstructure and bridge, as well as two lower main-caliber turrets with guns installed only in the bow of them), was sold to the Soviet Union for 104 million Reichsmarks.
The cruiser, designated Project 53, was towed to Leningrad, to the Baltic Shipyard, from April 15 to May 31. An engineering delegation from Germany arrived with the cruiser to continue the work.
However, in connection with the planned war with the USSR, Germany did not want to strengthen its future enemy and therefore delayed in every possible way the supply of basic components. To the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the ship was 70% ready.

Great Patriotic War

On August 15, 1941, the naval flag was raised on the Petropavlovsk and it joined the Soviet fleet (in a conditionally combat-ready state, in fact the ship continued to remain unfinished). Commander - Captain 2nd Rank A. G. Vanifatiev.

During the war, the cruiser used the 4,203 mm guns mounted on it against coastal targets. In September 1941, it was seriously damaged by numerous shell hits. On September 1, 1944, Petropavlovsk was renamed Tallinn.

After the war

After the end of World War II, the cruiser Tallinn was never completed. For some time it was used as a non-self-propelled training vessel, and then as a floating barracks (on March 11, 1953, it was renamed “Dnepr”, and on December 27, 1956 it received the designation “PKZ-112”).
On April 3, 1958, it was excluded from the lists of the fleet and dismantled for scrap during 1959 - 1960.

Key Features:

Standard displacement is 14,240 tons, full displacement is 19,800 tons.
Length 199.5 m (at the waterline), 212.5 m (between perpendiculars).
Width 21.8 m.
Draft 5.9 - 7.2 m.
Reservation board - 40…80…70 mm,
traverses - 80 mm,
deck - 30 + 30 mm (bevels 50),
towers - 160…50 mm,
cutting - 150…50 mm,
barbettes - 80 mm.
Engines 3 TZA, 9 steam boilers.
Power 132,000 l. With.
Speed ​​32 knots.
Cruising range 6800 nautical miles at a speed of 16 knots.
Crew 1400 - 1600 people.

Weapons:

Artillery 4 × 2 - 203 mm/60 SK C/34.
Anti-aircraft artillery 6 × 2 - 105 mm/65, 6 × 2 - 37 mm/83, 10 × 1 - 20 mm/65.
Mine and torpedo armament: 4 three-tube 533 mm torpedo tubes.
Aviation group 1 catapult, 3 - 4 seaplanes.

On September 17, 1942, Soviet sailors and workers of the Baltic Shipyard carried out a unique operation to covertly raise the heavy cruiser Petropavlovsk, which was sunk by German artillery exactly a year ago, on September 17, 1941, during the first assault on Leningrad.

Right under the noses of the Nazis, the Petropavlovsk was raised and towed up the Neva to a safe place. Using caissons, ship repair workers welded together the ship's hull, which had received holes from 53 direct hits from 210-mm shells, and restored the main and auxiliary mechanisms, fire, drainage and drainage systems of the cruiser. At the same time, the ship's artillery was put into operation. Already at the end of December 1942, Petropavlovsk, under the command of Captain II Rank S. Glukhovtsev, again opened fire on Nazi fortifications.

The heavy cruiser Petropavlovsk, originally named Lützow, was laid down on August 2, 1937 at the Deshimag AG Wesser shipyard in Berlin and launched on July 1, 1939. At the end of 1939, the ship was only 70% ready and was sold to the USSR for 106.5 million gold marks. On May 31, 1940, German tugs brought the ship to the Baltic Shipyard shipyard, which began its completion. Despite the fact that the Germans, not wanting to strengthen their future enemy, delayed in every possible way the supply of mechanisms and weapons for the cruiser, and then completely recalled the engineering and technical personnel who installed the equipment, by the summer of 1941 the ship was almost finished, although not a single one none of its premises were finally completed. Of the ship's armament, only the 1st and 4th 203 mm gun turrets and 1x2 - 37 mm and 8 - 20 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed. The cruiser had no speed, but even in this state it could already fire. On August 15, 1941, the Soviet naval flag was raised on the Petropavlovsk. By this time its crew numbered 408 people. On September 7, 1941, when Nazi troops approached Leningrad, Petropavlovsk, like all ships of the Red Banner Baltic, began to provide artillery assistance ground forces.

German heavy cruiser Lützow during its inspection by the Soviet selection committee

On September 11, 1941, during live firing on the 22nd round, a shell explosion in the channel tore off the barrel of the left gun of turret No. 1. The intensity of the fighting increased every day. On the night of September 17, "Petropavlovsk" fired continuously at enemy troops who came close to Leningrad. On the morning of September 17, Nazi artillery began to shoot at the stationary cruiser with direct fire from a distance of three kilometers. Unable to maneuver, the ship received 53 direct hits from 210-mm shells that day. Through holes with an area of ​​up to 30 square meters Water began to penetrate inside the housing. Slowly flooding, “Petropavlovsk” was fastened to the left side and after 6 hours, trimmed to the bow, it lay on the ground.

After the rise, the cruiser returned to the Baltic Navy. In 1944, the cruiser took part in lifting the siege of Leningrad, when she crushed the enemy’s defenses for 10 days in a row. They carried out 31 artillery fires and fired 1,036 203-mm shells.

On March 11, 1953, the cruiser was reclassified as a non-self-propelled training ship and renamed "Dnepr", and at the end of the 50s it was scrapped.

Floating barracks "Dnepr" (former cruiser "Petropavlovsk/Tallinn") in the mid-50s.

If you have additional information or photographs related to this event, please post them in the comments of this post.

Information about photographs.

On one weekday in April 1958, port tugs turned the huge hull of a decommissioned cruiser with its bow towards the Sea Canal and slowly led it to the last berth - to the Kronstadt Ship Cemetery. The bright spring sun gently warmed the sides, was reflected in numerous portholes, the remains of the dismantled superstructures cast bizarre shadows on the deck, where, from under the torn off ball paint, in places the armor of the “Wotan” brand gleamed dimly. The combat service of one of the most unusual ships of the Soviet Navy has ended.

In the early 30s, most of the leading naval powers entered the so-called “cruising race” - the construction of well-armored cruisers that did not fall under the restrictions of the “Washington Agreements”. On March 16, 1935, Adolf Hitler announced the denunciation of the peace treaty signed by defeated Germany after the end of the First World War, and began hastily arming the Third Reich. The Kriegsmarine leadership was clearly aware that it would not be possible to catch up with the main potential enemy at sea - Great Britain in terms of the number and power of surface combat ships. Therefore, instead of building monstrously expensive and resource-intensive dreadnoughts, the Germans developed the concept of building heavy cruisers and “pocket battleships” capable of long voyages and operations as single raiders. Officially, Germany was not constrained by the framework of the “Washington Treaty” in the tonnage of ships and the caliber of artillery, however, in order not to irritate the leading Western states, the Fuhrer and the head of the Kriegsmarine, Grossadmiral Erich Roeder, officially announced plans to build 5 cruisers of the “Admiral Hipper” type with a displacement of 10,000 tons with main caliber guns of 150 mm. The development of this type of vessel began in the fall of 1934, but when the plan was implemented, it became clear that it was not possible to keep within the stated framework. The installation of lighter “one hundred and fifty millimeters” did not lead to a large reduction in tonnage, but it significantly reduced armor penetration parameters; questions also periodically arose regarding the choice of the type and methods of mounting the main power plant; a lot of other minor, but no less significant, technical problems remained unresolved. Completely disregarding various agreements and restrictions, the Reich leadership made a Solomonic decision to build ships with a displacement of 15-20 thousand tons, to return to the classic caliber of 203 mm with an arrangement of two guns in 4 gun turrets, the minimum thickness of the main belt armor being 80 mm. The lead ship of this project (symbol "cruiser N") was laid down in July 1935 at the Bloom and Voss shipyard in Hamburg; in August, Deutsche Werke in Kiel began construction of the second ship from the same series (cruiser G), The third order (cruiser J) was taken over by the Germania company, owned by the Krupp family. The fourth (K) and fifth (L) cruisers began to be assembled at Deshimag AG Wesser in Bremen in December 1936 and August 1937, respectively.

With Hitler's rise to power, close cooperation in economic and military sphere, which existed between the young Soviet state and the Weimar Republic, began to decline. In order to defuse the tension between the two powers, the USSR began to look for ways of rapprochement with Germany by concluding a number of trade and economic contracts. As a result of the efforts made, on April 9, 1935, the “Agreement between the government of the USSR and the government of Germany on additional orders of the USSR in Germany and the financing of these orders by Germany” was signed. In accordance with it, the Soviet side received the right to place orders to German industrialists for 200 million marks under the guarantee of the Reich government. These orders were supposed to be equipment for factories, machines, apparatus, electrical products, equipment for the oil and chemical industries, vehicles, laboratory equipment, etc. This also included technical assistance. In reality, with this loan, the USSR received from Germany factory equipment and other goods worth 151.2 million marks. Deliveries of Soviet goods to cover the loan were to begin at the end of 1940 and end in 1943.

On August 19, 1939, a few days before Joachim von Ribbentrop’s visit to Moscow to sign the famous “Non-Aggression Pact,” the Soviet government received an agreement in principle from the German side to allocate another loan in the amount of about 200 million marks, providing, among other things, , the possibility of purchasing the most modern weapons in Germany. At the end of September to get acquainted with the latest designs German military equipment, a representative delegation of 48 people arrived in Berlin, which included not only diplomats, but also many leading experts in the field of tank building, aircraft manufacturing and other industries. The delegation was headed by People's Commissar I.F. Tevosyan. Following Stalin's very reasonable decision that "A ship purchased from a supposed enemy is equal to two: one more from us and one less from the enemy," special attention was paid to attempts to acquire large warships. Many options were considered, however German side was reluctant to make concessions and after lengthy negotiations, Germany gave up only one ship - the heavy cruiser Lützow, being built at the Bremen shipyard. As a result, the Soviet Union received, albeit at 50% readiness, a completely modern combat unit. And so on February 11, 1940, an agreement was signed to purchase “Luttsov”, which received the name “Project 53” from the Soviet side, for 104 million marks. On April 15, the “purchase,” accompanied by two sea tugs, slowly rolled away from the outfitting wall of the Deshimag company and on May 31 moored in Leningrad at the berth of the Baltic Shipyard No. 189. Together with the cruiser, a team of German engineers and technicians arrived, numbering about 70 people under the leadership of Rear Admiral Otto Feige.

According to German-Soviet plans, the final commissioning of the cruiser was scheduled for 1942, however, the planned work schedules suddenly began to be violated due to the disruption of supplies of equipment and materials by the German side, as well as facts of direct failure to fulfill their duties and deliberate red tape of German technical specialists. Soviet and Russian historiography has repeatedly stated that the Germans deliberately agreed to cheat. War with Soviet Russia was practically decided, and Germany clearly had no intention of helping arm the future enemy. Numerous witnesses and eyewitnesses point to deliberate sabotage on the part of the Germans. Deputy shop manager of the Baltic Shipyard B.P. Favorov, in his book of memoirs “On the stocks under fire,” writes the following: “So, gradually, day after day, the work on the ship was delayed, the planned deadlines were missed. Such tactics of representatives of German companies, naturally, led us to believe that all this was being done with a certain intent, in order to delay the completion and commissioning of the cruiser as much as possible. The calculation was this: without the Germans, we ourselves, they say, would not be able to cope with the completion of the Lyuttsov. He is echoed by former petty officer S.Ya Prikot, who served on the ship as a boiler operator until July 1941: “The Germans under-delivered a number of important details. For example, the joints on pipelines are corrugated. And the steam pressure there was 52 kg. At our factories we produce such joints in short terms it was impossible. And don’t give steam! This means the ship is unable to move. One pump for feeding the boilers was not supplied, the pump was from an old cruiser, we discovered this, and the pump was sent back to Germany. The new one was never installed. So they did it deliberately." Documentary evidence from the German side suggests the opposite. For example, who oversaw the Soviet-German economic ties, German Foreign Ministry official Karl Julius Schnure, in a memorandum dated May 15, 1941, prepared for his superiors, reported the following: “The construction of the cruiser “L” in Leningrad continues according to plan, German deliveries are arriving on schedule” (USSR State Security Bodies in the Great Patriotic War.) T.1. The day before. Book 2. “January 1 - June 21, 1941.” The Germans quite rightly explained the interruptions in supply that occurred by objective reasons: the ongoing war with England, which caused difficulties with materials, the flow of which was urgently redirected to the needs of the front, and the shortage of qualified labor due to the massive conscription of industrial workers into the army.

However, work to commission the ship continued. In the bow and stern turrets, 203 mm guns were installed in standard places, 20 and 37 mm anti-aircraft guns arrived from Germany, and the necessary power equipment was gradually put into operation. Despite the massive departure of German specialists and the lack of necessary parts, the plant workers and team, led by Captain 2nd Rank A.G. Vonifatiev, made every effort to bring the cruiser into combat-ready condition. By June 22, 1941, the cruiser was 70% ready; by this time, the first level of the superstructure, the bow and stern lower towers, the base of the navigation bridge, the chimney and the lower part of the main mast rose above the hull. Sea trials were scheduled for August. "Petropavlovsk" was staffed 100% by officers and 60-70% by foremen and sailors, the total crew number was about 1000 people.

On the night of June 21-22, the ship's crew was alerted: it was announced that it was necessary to receive and place on the cruiser 50 people from the sunken destroyer "Gnevny". Exhausted people began to descend from the arriving trucks, many half-naked, some could not walk on their own, and their comrades led them by the arms. In response to questions from the alarmed sailors about what happened, one of the new arrivals briefly exhaled: “War...”.

From the first days, the Baltic Fleet was actively involved in the fight against the invaders. In Leningrad, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy N.G. Kuznetsov, on July 5, 1941, the headquarters of the Naval Defense of Leningrad and the Ozerny region was organized, Rear Admiral F.I. Chelpanov was appointed commander. Energetic measures were taken to equip additional coastal battery positions, accelerate the commissioning of warships undergoing repairs, and form detachments Marine Corps. Two companies of Petropavlovsk soldiers joined the ranks of the Marines. Petty Officer S.Ya. Prikot recalled it this way: “So, we decided to mothball the cruiser. Prepare the main caliber for firing; electromechanical specialists will go to the front. And immediately in the courtyard they read out: “...List of the battalion of the cruiser “Petropavlovsk”. The battalion commander is Lieutenant Commander Socheykin. Three steps out of formation! First company: company commander, senior engineer-lieutenant Schaefer. Three steps out of formation! First platoon. Platoon commander Lieutenant Ershov!...” This is literally how the order was read to us, and this is how everyone left. "First squad, platoon commander - Sergeant Major Prikot!" He went out and stood up. My sailors and subordinates were also read out. Twelve people under my command. Everyone knew each other, so they stuck together. Co next day we went to the factory, preserved the cruiser, filled everything with oil, and attached tags. And in the evening - with training rifles to the Kirov Palace, to the place where they went to dances - for land training. This lasted until July, about twenty days. And after that they issued: 2 light machine guns for 12 people in the squad, everyone else, except the squad commander, received SVT rifles plus grenades. As a squad commander, my PPD is the same as the Finnish one.” Of course, sending highly qualified specialists, on whose training the fleet had spent many years, as privates into the infantry was the height of wastefulness, but the Soviet command had no choice: the enemy was rushing towards Leningrad. Only the gunners and a few sailors from the various ship services necessary to maintain the life support of the ship remained on the cruiser. The ship's power plant was hastily installed, the completion of the projectile feeding mechanisms and others continued necessary work to conduct successful artillery fire. On August 15, 1941, the naval flag of the RKKF was raised on the cruiser, which received the name “Petropavlovsk”, and, in accordance with its condition, the ship was included in the detachment of Red Banner Baltic Fleet ships under construction along with the destroyers “Opytny”, “Strogiy” and “Stroyny”.

Rice. The destroyer "Experienced" fires at the enemy

The city defense headquarters decided to transfer the Petropavlovsk to a firing position in the Coal Harbor area. Since the cruiser did not have high superstructures, it was possible to camouflage it relatively well: the ship’s hull was “lost” among various coastal structures. The ship was brought to the pier and connected to the coastal power plant, because by the beginning of the active phase of the battles for the city, the ship’s reduced crew had managed to fully commission only one diesel generator station.

When the Germans approached Leningrad in early September, work was found for the cruiser's 203 mm guns. Artillery observers were sent ashore in advance, and on September 7 the cruiser received its first target designation: a large concentration of German troops and equipment was noted in front of the front of the 21st NKVD division. The Petropavlovsk guns opened fire for the first time, sending 122 kilogram shells at the enemy. The Germans rushed about and began to retreat in panic. New goal: a train with troops is unloading in the area of ​​the Uritsk station. The cruiser's Krupp guns roared again. Within a few minutes the train was destroyed. Probably, the soldiers of the 36th motorized division of the Wehrmacht would be quite surprised to learn that they were being destroyed by the former German cruiser Lützow using German guns and German shells. In just the first week of fighting, the cruiser fired 676 shells, causing significant damage to the troops of the 18th German Army, in particular, Petropavlovsk was very effective in counter-battery warfare; several attempts were thwarted by its fire German troops break through the defenses in the area railway to Leningrad and take the shortest route to enter the city. As Fleet Admiral N.G. recalled in his book “On the Course to Victory” Kuznetsov: “The unfinished cruiser Petropavlovsk greatly annoyed the Nazis with its artillery fire.” On September 11, an accident occurred on the ship: during live firing, on the 22nd shot, a shell explosion in the barrel bore tore the barrel of the left gun of turret No. 1. When inspecting the scene of the incident, a defect was discovered: a shell on the barrel that had been carefully repaired and painted over by the Germans. Deliberate sabotage or manufacturing defect? An exact answer is unlikely to ever be obtained. On September 10, the troops of Army Group North reached the shore of the Gulf of Finland, which gave them the opportunity to more carefully adjust the fire of their long-range artillery, and field guns to shoot right through the main waterway between Kronstadt and Leningrad - the Sea Canal. Enraged by the successful actions of the Petropavlovsk sailors, the Germans decided to destroy the cruiser at any cost. A series of air raids followed, which were successfully repelled by the ship's anti-aircraft gunners. However, from the dropped bombs, which, although they did not cause “ex-Lutzov” any harm, the port buildings covering him from enemy eyes caught fire, and the supplying coastal power substation was disabled. The position of the cruiser, deprived of power and now in direct visibility of the enemy, became threatening. The ship's commander, Captain 3rd Rank A.K. Pavlovsky, urgently called tugboats, but in the meantime the cruiser continued to fire all night.

On September 17, the heavy 210 mm howitzers of the 768th motorized division of the Wehrmacht rained down the first shells on the stationary ship. The Petropavlovsk gunners tried to respond, but the Germans saw the target perfectly and shot very accurately. Almost one of the first shells knocked out generator room No. 3 - the last remaining source of energy and the ship was completely de-energized. The cruiser turned into a defenseless target, which enemy artillery began to mercilessly beat. During the day, Petropavlovsk received more than 50 hits from shells of various calibers, mostly 210 mm, which is quite enough to sink almost any ship. A fire broke out on the cruiser, which was impossible to put out due to numerous damages in the fire mains. Sea water began to flow through the holes. The team hastily left the sinking ship, having previously evacuated all the wounded. On September 19, having taken on a huge mass of water, the warship sat on the ground, leaning heavily on the side of the quay wall. The crew lost 10 people killed and 30 wounded. However, the cruiser did not give up. At night, observing all precautions, the remaining crew members boarded the ship along with the arriving specialists from ship repair plant No. 189. They secretly dismantled the anti-aircraft weapons, which were extremely necessary for equipping the ships of the Ladoga military flotilla.

The difficult situation at the front forced the Soviet command to further reduce the crew; another company of marines was formed from Petropavlovsk sailors and hastily sent to the front line, to land on Peterhof.

The city defense headquarters decided not to abandon the shot cruiser to the mercy of fate; it was decided to carry out work to lift and tow it to a safe place. A small crew and EPRON specialists fought for a year to save the ship. It was especially difficult for people in the winter: cold, hunger, and even the front line of the German troops was only three kilometers away. Noticing the slightest movement in the area where the ship was forced to stay, the Germans opened massive artillery and mortar fire. While maintaining all measures of light and noise masking, an unprecedented struggle was going on in the flooded rooms of the cruiser. Baltic sailors pumped out water from the compartments with weak portable pumps, divers sealed holes outside the hull, mechanics restored pipelines and electrical wiring. Things went faster when ship specialists managed to “revive” part of the ship’s pumps. And on September 10, 1942, an iron colossus 212 meters long and 22 meters wide finally surfaced. It became possible to repair the damage in the part of the hull that abutted the pier; by morning a patch had been put in place, and cement boxes were installed over the holes. It was beginning to dawn, the Germans could notice that the warship had come to life and bombard it with shells again, so the order was given to open the kingstons and sink the cruiser again.

The next attempt was repeated a few days later. Powerful ship pumps quickly pumped out almost 1,600 tons of water; a tug quietly creeping up picked up the steel giant and quickly dragged it into the Neva. However, here too, failure awaited the Red Navy: within a year the fairway had changed greatly and the cruiser ran aground. The refloating work continued until dawn, and in the morning the familiar picture was again before the eyes of German observers: the tilted cruiser stood calmly in its original place. On the moonless night of September 17, 1942, another attempt to save the ship was successful. In the morning, the dumbfounded Germans saw an empty pier, and the securely moored Petropavlovsk was already standing at the pier of the Baltic Shipyard.

In December 1942, repairs on the ship were completed, and the day before the new year, 1943, the cruiser was towed to the iron wall of the Trade Port, from where it again opened fire on the enemy. "Petropavlovsk" was included in the 2nd artillery group of the fleet, which also included the battleship " October Revolution", the cruisers "Kirov", and "Maxim Gorky", as well as several destroyers. The cruiser's artillery was commanded by Senior Lieutenant Y.K. Grace. The guns of the warship continued to smash the enemy, providing assistance to the ground forces. German technology did not let us down; the fire was extremely accurate. “Enemy CP at height 112 (east of Krasnoe Selo). Two direct hits on a concrete pillbox. The corner of the pillbox was demolished and the top ceiling was destroyed. There are 31 craters within a radius of 100 meters. The shooting of the cruiser "Petropavlovsk" - testifies in the book "Soviet surface ships in the Great Patriotic War" by G.I. Khorkov. "Petropavlovsk" took part in the Krasnoselsko-Ropshinskaya offensive operation, firing 250 shells on the first day, January 15, 1944. From January 15 to 20, this number increased to 800 with a factory guarantee of barrel “survivability” of 300 shots. And in just 31 shellings, 1036 shells were fired at the enemy. The guns of the crippled ship were not too spared: it accounted for about a third of the firing carried out and the shells fired by the 2nd artillery group of the fleet, especially since the Germans, for some reason, supplied almost double ammunition before the war. “According to reports from coastal observation groups and our troops, the actions of the Petropavlovsk artillery turned out to be very effective. On January 19 alone, the cruiser-battery was credited with 3 guns, 29 vehicles, 68 wagons and 300 killed enemy soldiers and officers,” V. Kofman quotes the KBF report in the book “Princes of the Kriegsmarine.” But gradually the front moved away, and firing became more and more difficult. The ship fired its last salvos on January 24, 1944. On this combat service"Petropavlovsk" is over. On September 19, 1944, the cruiser was renamed Tallinn.

Rice. Heavy cruiser Seydlitz in Pillau

After the war, several options for completing the ship were considered, one of which was very original. In 1945 in Pillau Bay (now Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation) Soviet troops The cruiser Seydlitz, which was blown up by the Germans, was captured by the Germans. An opportunity has arisen, using one ship as a “spare parts warehouse” to bring the job started 5 years ago to its logical conclusion. However, having considered all the options, the Navy command considered the costs of restoring a foreign and already obsolete cruiser excessive. Moreover, it is hybrid power point, which was installed on this type of ship, turned out to be difficult to operate and repair, and did not meet the requirements of post-war domestic shipbuilding.

After the war, the Tallinn began to be used as a non-propelled training vessel until March 11, 1953, when it was once again renamed the Dnepr. The cruiser was turned into a floating barracks, in which the crews of warships being repaired at the Leningrad docks lived. The next wave of renamings was not long in coming; on December 27, 1956, the former combat ship received the name PKZ-112.
On April 3, 1958, the former "Lutzow" was excluded from the lists of the fleet.

In some works of modern authors on this topic, one often encounters censure of the USSR government for the purchase of an unfinished cruiser, saying that the price is too high, and the money spent could have bought or built something more necessary. This judgment shows only one thing: their superficial knowledge of the realities of the outbreak of the war. In the 30s, out of malice or incompetence, now listed as an “innocent victim of Stalin’s repressions,” Marshal Tukhachevsky, who was directly responsible for weapons, by a strong-willed decision concentrated the efforts of the design bureau and directed the funds and capacity of weapons factories to the implementation of various fantastic ideas such as “universal anti-tank anti-aircraft guns" or air guns with a caliber of 250 mm. He stopped the development of long-range artillery, and by the beginning of the war the USSR approached with only a few field guns firing at a distance of over 30 km. The artillery systems that were then part of the Leningrad Front had a maximum firing range of 20-25 km, standard German guns of infantry and motorized divisions confidently hit targets at 25-30 km. It turned out that the Germans could raze the city to the ground with complete impunity using artillery alone. However, it turned out that the fleet blocked in the Marquis Puddle in September 1941 turned out to be the savior of Leningrad: for example, the guns of pre-revolutionary battleships could send a heavy projectile at a distance of up to 44 km. Eight-inch "Luttsova" fired at 33.5 km, which made it possible to effectively conduct counter-battery combat against any type of German guns. During the war, the cruiser fired more shells at the enemy than any other ship of the Baltic Fleet, thereby saving many thousands of lives that had no monetary equivalent. Soviet soldiers and civilians of the heroic city on the Neva.

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Unlike Seydlitz, no attempt was made during the night to increase speed. 157 killed and 26 wounded were the price to pay for the ship remaining afloat. For his tenacity in battle, the British sailors were nicknamed “Derflinger” iron dog" By the end of the battle, four 305 mm and four 150 mm guns on the cruiser were completely out of action.

Von Haase: “At the end of the column of German ships, only Derflinger and Von der Tann connected by night.” It cannot be said that we represented a very formidable cover. On the starboard side, however, everything was fine and all six 150 mm guns were intact, but on the left side only two were operational. One spotlight was also not enough. The sky was overcast and the night was dark.”

The "Darflinger" hull in the dock during cutting for metal

After 2:30 on June 1, the German fleet was discovered by the 13th British flotilla destroyers, from which a torpedo was fired, narrowly missing the Derflinger.

Von Haase: “The sun has risen. Hundreds of binoculars and telescopes searched the horizon, but nowhere could they discover the enemy. Our fleet continued to sail south, and on the afternoon of June 1, 1916, we entered Wilhelmshaven. “Derflinger” was badly beaten, many rooms were a heap of broken iron. But the vital parts were not damaged: the machines, boilers, steering wiring, propeller shafts and almost all auxiliary mechanisms survived thanks to armor protection. Thousands of fragments covered the ship, among them were two almost intact warheads of 381-mm shells.”

To carry out temporary repairs, the Derflinger docked in a floating dock in Wilhelmshaven, where the Seydlitz had previously been located. After temporary repairs, she moved to the Howald shipyard in Kiel, where major repairs were carried out on her in a floating dock after the dreadnought König from June 22 to October 15, 1916 (76 days). By the end of November, after six months of general repairs and combat training in the Baltic Sea, Derflinger had fully restored its combat capability.

Of the tasks in which the main efforts were directed to guard duty, ensuring clear routes of movement and escorting German submarines, only the diversionary maneuver of the German mixed task force in early November 1917 during the laying of a minefield west of Horns Roar and north of -west of Heligoland, and a mine-free passage was left here, while there were dense minefields on the way from Horns Roar to the north and northwest.

In 1918, on April 20, “Derflinger” covered the laying of a minefield in the area of ​​the Terschelling Bank and on April 23/24 took part in a large military campaign of the High Seas Fleet to the latitude of Bergen.

After the armistice was concluded on November 19, 1918, the ship was transferred to Scapa Flow, where she arrived on November 24 and where she was scuttled by her own crew on June 21, 1919. At 14:45, the cruiser lay on the bottom at a depth of 27-30 m, turning over on its keel with a list of 20° on board.

In 1938, she was the last of the large ships raised in Scapa Flow. It would have been dismantled in a year, but the outbreak of war prevented the start of cutting it into scrap metal. Therefore, the Derflinger was anchored in the keel-up position near Riesa Island. Only in 1946 was it transferred to the port of Fasline on the River Clyde, where it remained in a floating dock until 1948. There, within 15 months, it was dismantled for metal, yielding about 20,000 tons of scrap.

As a sign of mutual reconciliation and respect between the British and German fleets, the English company, which dismantled the ship for scrap metal, handed over the raised ship bells of the flagship to the German naval attaché. battleship“Friedrich der Grosse” and “Derflinger”, and subsequently the official seal of this battle cruiser. The Bundesmarine training frigate “Scheer” brought these unique exhibits to Germany.

Ludwig von Lützow (May 18, 1782 – December 6, 1834). Prussian major general, distinguished himself during the War of Independence. The ship was in the fleet from August 8, 1915 to June 1, 1916.

Above: Battlecruiser Lützow

“Lützow” was built according to the program (budget year) 1911 at the Schichau shipyard in Danzig (building number 885). The ship was laid down under the name “Ersatz Kaiserin Augusta”. There are discrepancies regarding the date of laying the keel of the ship in literary sources: Campbell and Groner call May 1912, Hildebrand – July 1912.

The battlecruiser Lützow was built according to the same design and had the same tactical and technical data as the Derflinger, but they had some design differences. According to Conway, her normal displacement was 26,180 tons. The hull was divided by watertight bulkheads into seventeen main compartments. “Lutzow” differed in appearance from “Derflinger” with a wider front chimney.

According to the project, the medium-caliber artillery consisted of 14 rapid-firing 150 mm guns with a barrel length of 45 calibers (6,750 mm) with a total ammunition load of 2,240 shells (probably due to the fact that Framm's stilling tanks were not installed on it). Of the auxiliary artillery, only eight 88-mm anti-aircraft guns with a barrel length of 45 calibers (3,960 mm) with a maximum elevation angle of + 70° and 225 rounds of ammunition per gun were installed. The total ammunition load was 1800 rounds.

The torpedo armament was the same in quantity and arrangement as on the Derflinger. “Lützow” was the first in the German Navy to have an increased caliber of torpedoes - 600 mm (ammunition load of 12 torpedoes).

On November 29, 1913, after a solemn ceremony at the Schichau shipyard in Danzig, the second battle cruiser of the Derflinger class, named Lützow, was launched. godfather who became the marshal Count von Pieper. “Lützow” was provisionally commissioned into the fleet on August 8, 1915 and in the same month moved to Kiel, where its equipment and armament continued. The slipway period for building the ship was 16 months, completion afloat was 20 months. In total, construction lasted 36 months. Conducting tests and eliminating the accident that occurred during sea trials took another 7 months.

When tested at a measured mile in the same area as the Derflinger, Lützow, with the same design power and with a draft of 0.3 m less than the design, developed a forced power of 80,990 hp (an increase of 29%), which, with a propeller shaft rotation speed of 277 rpm, provided it with a speed of 26.4 knots. This speed corresponded to 28.3 knots at normal draft in deep water. On October 25, 1915, during sea trials, the left low-pressure turbine failed. board, and only on March 20, 1916, with a great delay, as part of the 1st reconnaissance group was able to leave Kiel for exercises. The cost of construction was higher than that of the Derflinger and amounted to 58,000 thousand marks or 29,000 thousand rubles. .gold. The crew numbered 1,112 people (1,182 in the Battle of Jutland).

On March 24, 1916, the Lützow, together with the Seydlitz and Moltke, went out into the North Sea and took part in a campaign to the area east of the Amrum Bank, as a report arrived about cruising English destroyers. But the enemy was not found there. During the passage, he was attacked by an English submarine to no avail.

After the hike, from March 29 to! On April 1, 1916, the deputy commander of the 1st reconnaissance group, Rear Admiral Boediker, raised his flag aboard the Lützow. On April 21/22, 1916, Lützow took part in the next campaign of the High Seas Fleet, the purpose of which was to bombard the east coast of Great Britain.

Yesterday, Dmitry Nagiyev "loaded" us a little with his participation in a film about a state security officer crawling through the forest... This is over, a very important moment in the history of the Great Patriotic War... but still, I propose to pay attention to another topic.
Here are two selections in Yandex for the Petropavlovsk cruiser.

First source:

(before purchase - “Luttsov”, until 10/2/1940 cruiser “L”), from 09/19/1944 “Tallinn”, from 03/11/1953 “Dnepr”

Laid down on August 2, 1937 at the Deshimag AG Wesser shipyard in Berlin. Launched on July 1, 1939. The unfinished cruiser was purchased by the USSR at the end of 1939 for 106.5 million marks in gold. Initially, in Soviet documents it appeared under the name cruiser “L”.

On May 31, 1940, German tugs brought the Kyrgyz Republic to the concrete wall of plant No. 189 in Leningrad. The plant began completing construction of the cruiser, which on September 25, 1940, by order People's Commissar Navy was given the name "Petropavlovsk".

Despite the fact that the Germans in every possible way delayed the supply of machinery and weapons for the cruiser, and then completely recalled the engineering and technical personnel who installed the equipment, by the summer of 1941 the ship was already 70 percent ready. However, none of its premises were finally completed. Of the ship's weapons, only the 1st and 4th 203 mm turrets and 1x2 - 37 mm and 8 - 20 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed. The cruiser had no speed, but even in this state the cruiser could already fire. On August 15, 1941, the Soviet naval flag was raised on the Petropavlovsk. By this time the crew numbered 408 people. On September 7, 1941, when Nazi troops approached Leningrad, Petropavlovsk, like all ships of the Red Banner Baltic, began to provide artillery assistance to the ground forces. He opened artillery fire for the first time and did not stop it for eleven days.

On September 11, 1941, during live firing on the 22nd round, a shell explosion in the channel tore off the barrel of the left gun of turret No. 1.

Every day the intensity of the fighting increased. On the night of September 17, "Petropavlovsk" fired continuously at enemy troops. But, despite heavy losses, enemy units came close to Leningrad. On the morning of September 17, Nazi artillery began to shoot at the stationary cruiser at a distance of three kilometers with direct fire. Unable to maneuver, the ship that day received 53 direct hits from 210-mm shells. Through holes up to 30 square meters in area, water began to penetrate into the hull. Slowly flooding, “Petropavlovsk” was fastened to the left side and after 6 hours, trimmed to the bow, it lay on the ground.

A year later, on September 17, 1942, the cruiser was raised and towed to the wall of plant No. 189. With the help of caissons, the workers of the Baltic plant repaired the holes, restored the main and auxiliary mechanisms, fire, drainage and drainage systems of the cruiser. At the same time, the ship's artillery was put into operation. In December 1942, the Petropavlovsk again entered service as a floating battery and was towed to the iron wall of the Trade Port, from where it opened fire on German troops on December 30, 1942.

In 1944, the cruiser took part in lifting the siege of Leningrad. On January 15, 1944, both turrets of the cruiser, in the first hours of the offensive, fired 250 shots at the positions and fortifications of the Nazis on Voronya Gora, in Dudergof, communications centers at Krasnoe Selo and Novye Vilozi, and enemy observation and command posts in Kirgof. For ten days in a row the heavy cruiser crushed the enemy's defenses. They carried out 31 artillery fires and fired 1,036 203-mm shells.

After the war, several options for completing the cruiser were considered, but none of them were implemented. The cruiser was returned to the Baltic Shipyard, in January 1949 it was reclassified as a light cruiser, and on March 11, 1953 - as a non-propelled training ship and renamed Dnepr " In December 1956, it was reorganized into the floating barracks "PKZ-112". By order of April 4, 1958, it was excluded from the lists of the Navy and during 1959-1961 it was cut into metal at the Vtorchermeta plant.

Second source: “Another warship bore the name Petropavlovsk. It was the German cruiser Lützow, laid down in 1936 at the Deutschland shipyard in Bremen. In February 1940, the USSR signed an agreement on its acquisition. In the spring of 1940, Lützow "without weapons was delivered from Germany to Leningrad. Here at the Baltic Shipyard it was being completed on September 25, 1940, the ship was renamed "Petropavlovsk" By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the work was not completed, and it was decided to use it as a floating battery. On September 7, 1941, the cruiser opened fire on German troops, approached Leningrad. On September 17, after heavy damage inflicted by German artillery, Petropavlovsk lay down on the ground. During the year, rescue work was carried out on the damaged cruiser, and in September 1942 the ship was delivered to the dock of the Baltic Shipyard. In January 1944, the cruiser took part in breaking the siege of Leningrad.

Since the battleship Marat was returned to its previous name Petropavlovsk in 1943, the cruiser received the name Tallinn. The ship was not completed, its hull was used as a training ship, then as a floating barracks, and in 1958 it was expelled from the fleet."

I would like to draw your attention to the following points:

a) the dates and place of laying (construction) are different, but in both cases - 1936 or 1937!!! Maybe the cruiser "Luttsev" was an old project - no, the best cruiser in the world!

b) February-March 1940, just the time when the decision was made to shoot Polish soldiers; in March 1940, the Finnish company ended (Germany and Finland were allies), the goal of the Finnish company was to “knock out” Sweden, the factory of the German military-industrial complex, from the game, with this is an official ally Soviet Union Great Britain is in a critical situation - completely blocked from the sea by the German fleet and begs Stalin for help and is ready to take off its “last shirt” just to persuade Koba to join the war against Germany. Moreover, the first convoys from Britain to Arkhangelsk began to arrive even before the start of the war in 1941 - this is when vandalism began there - they sent park fences to be melted down...

c) traditional leapfrog with renaming “Petropavlovsk” (until 1921*) - “Marat” (until 1943) - “Petropavlovsk”, respectively, this “Petropavlovsk”, which is “Luttsov”, became “Tallinn” because that previous name was already taken , ... swept through all the ships (first rank)* in the Baltic and Black Sea Fleet- Why rename dozens of ships in the middle of a war?

*) In connection with the uprising of sailors dissatisfied with the policies of the Bolsheviks.

Please note that in many sources, home-grown military historians substitute photographs of a different type LIGHT CRUISER like "Mikhail Kutuzov" (see below), like the photo of "Petropavlovsk" (aka Lyuttsov - HEAVY cruiser).

And now I’m openly “turning on the fool” and in the next post I publish excerpts from foreign economic agreements between the USSR and Germany. That's where the "berries" will be.

*) Corrected following a clarification question from a reader.