Small hunters type MO-IV. Small anti-submarine ships Small sea hunter

During the Great Patriotic War, the main combat load fell on the Soviet "mosquito" fleet - torpedo boats, armored boats, patrol boats and small hunters, smoke curtain boats, minesweeper boats, air defense boats. The most difficult was the work of small hunters, MO-4, who fought with enemy submarines in the Black Sea and the Baltic.

Patrol boat No. 026 in Sevastopol, July 1940. From March to September 1941, this boat was used as an experimental ship of the NIMTI Navy. The cruiser "Red Caucasus" is visible in the background.

Small hunters in the Soviet

Submarines became a real threat to surface ships during the First World War: German submariners were the "trendsetters", but their counterparts from other countries did not lag behind. Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, the tonnage of ships sunk by submarines exceeded losses from surface ships. "Got" from submarines and warships - the German "U-9" sank three British cruisers, and the "U-26" Russian armored cruiser "Pallada". Under these conditions, the fleets of all countries began to feverishly look for ways to deal with the underwater threat.

In the Russian Empire, they decided to use small high-speed boats to fight submarines. Several cannons and machine guns were mounted on them and used for escort service. These small boats proved to be a universal means of fighting at sea and, in addition to escorting, they were involved in other tasks. The most successful were the "fighter boats" of the "Greenport" type, built in the USA. They took an active part in the fighting during the First World War and on the fronts civil war. Some of them survived and became part of the Soviet fleet, but by the mid-20s they were all decommissioned.

Boats of the MO-4 type, moving at high speed, drew attention to themselves with their dynamic form, lightness and swiftness. They had high speed, maneuverability and seaworthiness.

In the interwar period, submarines were actively developed in all countries and it was necessary to look for effective ways combat the threat from under the water. In the USSR in 1931, the design of a small hunter for submarines of the MO-2 type began. Moreover, it was created as a single type of small warship; in Peaceful time he was supposed to fulfill the tasks of protecting the state border, and in the military to act as part of the fleets. Another condition was the possibility of transporting the hull of the boat along railway. About 30 boats were built, but during testing and operation, their numerous design flaws were revealed. Construction was stopped, and in 1936 work began on a new small hunter of the MO-4 type. It took into account the shortcomings of its predecessor, and the designers managed to create a successful ship, which during operation proved itself with better side. The hull of the boat was built from first-class pine and had good survivability. With a small size, he received powerful weapons, could be used for trawling (equipped with a snake trawl or a boat paravantrawl) and mine setting. Six mines of the R-1 type or four arr. 1908, or two arr. 1926, or four mine defenders were taken on board. To search for submarines, hunters installed the Poseidon noise direction finder, and since 1940, the Tamir hydroacoustic station. Three gasoline engines GAM-34BS (power 850 hp) each were simple and reliable in operation. They provided the boat high speed move, 30 seconds after receiving the order, he could give a low speed, and after 5 minutes full speed. The small hunter had good maneuverability and sufficient seaworthiness (up to 6 points). His appearance was distinguished by the dynamism of form, lightness and swiftness of the course. Habitability improved on MO-4: the entire crew received berths, all living quarters had ventilation and heating, a wardroom and a galley were placed on the boat. The tests that took place on the Black Sea in 1936-37 did not reveal any serious flaws in the design of the MO-4, and soon the construction of a large series for the Navy and the NKVD began. Serial construction of boats was deployed at the Leningrad plant of the NKVD No. 5. Before the start of the war, 187 boats were built on it: 75 MOs replenished the fleets and flotillas, 113 became part of the NKVD Sea Border Guard. Some of the small hunters who were part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (KBF) took part in the Soviet-Finnish "winter" war. The maritime border guards had to explore the maritime borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which became part of the USSR in 1940. After the start of the war with Germany, serial construction of the MO-4 type was carried out at several factories in the country: No. 5, No. 345, No. Moscow shipyard of the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet. Despite all the difficulties, 74 boats of the MO-4 type were built during the difficult war years.

Small hunters take the fight

By the beginning of World War II, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet included 15 small hunters and 18 patrol boats. The NKVD had 27 boats of the MO-4 type: 12 in Tallinn, 10 in Libava, 5 in Ust-Narva. In the first weeks of the war, it included boats from the NKVD Marine Guard, and new boats of Leningrad construction continued to arrive. As already noted, in Leningrad at plant No. 5, the construction of boats of the MO-4 type continued, in total about 50 boats were built. Part of the MO boats was transferred to Lake Ladoga, where a military flotilla was created.

Gun crews are ready to repel the enemy attack. The armament of the boat consisted of two 45-mm 21-K semi-automatic rifles, two DShK heavy machine guns. The stern bombers housed eight large BB-1 depth charges and 24 small BM-1s. And six checkers of neutral smoke MDSh

On the night of June 21-22, 1941, SKA No. 141 near Tallinn, SKA No. 212 and No. 214 near Kronstadt, SKA No. 223 and No. 224 were on duty in front of naval bases. They were the first to repel German air raids, which bombed ports and laid mines in the fairways. The mine danger became the main one in the Baltic in 1941, our fleet was not ready to deal with the mine danger and carried big losses. For example, on June 24-27, boats of the Ministry of Defense took part in the escort of the cruiser Maxim Gorkoy from Tallinn to Kronstadt. His nose was torn off by a mine explosion. Our fleet began to set up defensive minefields, and MO-4 boats also provided them. They themselves began to put mine banks in skerries off enemy shores. Every day, small hunters had to repel attacks by enemy aircraft, torpedo boats and submarines, to keep watch at bases and ports, to guard transports and convoys, to escort submarines and warships that went on combat operations.

Patrol boats "PK-239" (type MO-4) and "PK-237" (type MO-2). With the outbreak of war, they were included in the KBF and they took part in the defense of Hanko. Pay attention - both boats have two more masts. With the outbreak of war, the main mast was dismantled

Patrol boat in one of the island bases of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Pay attention to the accumulation of watercraft in the background - preparations are underway for the next landing operation at the base

Our troops were unable to repel the German offensive on the border, and soon the Wehrmacht approached Tallinn. Fierce battles unfolded on the outskirts of the main base of the Baltic Fleet, the marines and ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet took an active part in them. The fleet provided delivery from mainland marching reinforcements and ammunition. The wounded and civilians were taken back. The defense of Tallinn lasted 20 days, but by the morning of August 28, the city had to be abandoned. All the troops, their weapons and the most important cargoes were loaded onto numerous ships, transports and auxiliary vessels. These fleet forces, which were part of four convoys, began to break through the Gulf of Finland to Kronstadt. Among them were 22 boats of the MO-4 type: six in the detachment of the main forces, four in the detachment of cover, seven in the rear guard, two MOs each guarded convoys No. 1 and No. 3, one MO was part of the protection of convoy No. 2. They had to go 194 miles, both shores of the Gulf of Finland were already occupied by the enemy, who set up minefields, concentrated aviation and "mosquito" forces, and used coastal batteries. A few minesweepers of the KBF were able to mine only a small strip, the width of this fairway was only 50 m. Many slow-moving clumsy ships left it and were immediately blown up. The situation was aggravated by numerous floating mines that floated in the cleared area. They had to be literally pushed away from the sides. The boats immediately went to the place of death and rescued the survivors. The sailors of the boats raised frozen crippled people covered with a thick layer of fuel oil to the deck. They were warmed, dressed and provided first aid. One of the rescued himself saved the boat - a cadet of VVMU them. Frunze Vinogradov swam to the side of the MO-204, but saw a floating mine, took it away from the boat with his hands, and only after that grabbed the lifeline. During the transition, 15 warships and 31 transports were lost, 112 ships and 23 transports came to Kronstadt (there are other data on the number of ships). In addition to Tallinn, evacuation was carried out from Moonsund, the islands in the Vyborg and the Gulf of Finland. The Wehrmacht soon blockaded Leningrad. On August 30, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bIvanovsky rapids, repelling attacks German troops, "MO-173" and "MO-174" were killed. The fleet was concentrated in Leningrad and Kronstadt, the ships could now operate only within the limits of the Marquis Puddle. The boats carried patrols, escorted convoys, and conducted reconnaissance of the location of enemy large-caliber batteries that fired on ships and the city. They took part in the Peterhof landing. Fierce fighting went on Lake Ladoga. German and Finnish troops surrounded the city, aircraft attacked the ships of the flotilla, and enemy ships began to operate. MO-4 provided landings, evacuated troops, supported troops with fire, fought with enemy aircraft and ships. For example, "MO-206" distinguished itself during the battles for the island of Rah-mansaari on September 7-10, 1941, and "MO-261" took part in the laying of a marine armored cable in October 1941.

After the loss of Tallinn and the Moonsund Islands, the extreme western points of our defense were the islands of Gogland, Lavensaari and the naval base of Hanko. The light forces of the fleet were concentrated here. The defense of the Hanko naval base lasted 164 days - from June 22 to December 2. After that, a phased evacuation was carried out. The surviving boats of the MO-4 type became part of the Fighter Detachment of the Protection of the Kronstadt Water Region. Winter in 1941 was early and severe: ice bound the Neva, and navigation in the Gulf of Finland was also completed. Already in mid-November, the boats were raised to the wall and installed on cages, motors and mechanisms were unloaded and mothballed on the shore. The crews settled in the barracks, in addition to repairing hulls and mechanisms, they were engaged in combat training, patrolled the city and the Neva. The first military navigation is over.

Combat damage "midges". The hull made of three-layer first-class pine increased the survivability of the boat and allowed it to “survive” even with such holes

By the beginning of the war, there were 74 boats on the Black Sea: 28 as part of the Black Sea Fleet, 46 as part of the NKVD Marine Border Guard. On the morning of June 22, "MO-011", "MO-021" and "MO-031" went to sea, which carried out trawling of the outer roadstead of Sevastopol, but could not destroy a single magnetic mine. From the first days of the war, sailors began to track the places where German mines fell near Sevastopol, they were entered on the map and then "processed" with depth charges. For example, on September 1, "MO-011" destroyed three German mines in a similar way. "Moshki", as in the Baltic, carried patrols, escorted transports, covered minelaying, shot floating mines and conducted anti-submarine defense. They had to repel massive air attacks. For example, on September 22, in the Tendra area, MO-022 was attacked by ten Yu-87s, the boat commander was killed, many crew members were killed and wounded, the boat received many holes, and it had to be grounded. The boats took part in providing transportation for the defenders of Odessa, who defended the city for 73 days. On their account, they successfully escorted hundreds of ships and convoys: the transports made 911 voyages, of which 595 ships were escorted by small hunters, 86 battleships and 41 destroyers. On October 16-17, 34 patrol boats escorted the ships of the caravan, on which Odessa was evacuated. Only one transport was lost, which was in ballast. This is the most successful evacuation carried out by the Soviet fleet.

The small hunter of the Black Sea Fleet leaves the Streletskaya Bay of Sevastopol. In the background, the Vladimir Cathedral on Chersonese is clearly visible.

Patrol boat No. 1012 "Sea Soul". It was built during the war years at the expense of the marine painter L.A. Sobolev. He received the Stalin Prize for the book "Sea Soul" and spent it entirely on its construction

On October 30, the defense of the main base of the Black Sea Fleet begins. The ships and boats of the OVR, which were based in the Karantinnaya and Streletskaya bays, took an active part in it. Parts of the Wehrmacht broke into the Crimea, and the large ships of the Black Sea Fleet crossed to the Caucasus. The evacuation of the base began, the property of factories and arsenals was taken out. This evacuation was covered by boats and, unfortunately, they were not always able to repel all air attacks. For example, two MO-4s (according to other sources, "SKA-041") accompanied the ambulance transport "Armenia", which evacuated the personnel of the marine hospital from Sevastopol. On November 7, they were unable to repel the attack of a single Non-111. A torpedo hit the transport, and after a few minutes it sank. More than 5,000 people died. The security boats managed to save only eight people. And "MO-011" on November 8 for five hours successfully repelled enemy air raids. He managed to deliver without loss to Novorossiysk a floating dock, which was towed by the icebreaker "Toros". Part of MO-4 also moved to the Caucasus, only the T-27 minesweeper, floating battery No. 3, ten MO-type boats, nine KM-type boats, seventeen minesweeper boats and twelve TKA remained in Sevastopol. They trawled the Sevastopol fairways, met and escorted ships entering the port, covered them with smoke curtains, and conducted anti-submarine patrols. After the start of the winter assault, the situation near Sevastopol worsened: German batteries could now fire on our entire territory, and enemy aircraft began to operate more actively. To improve the situation, the Soviet command conducted a series of landings: in Kamysh-Burun, Feodosia, Sudak and Evpatoria. MO-4 took the most active part in them. We will tell you more about the preparation and conduct of the Yevpatoriya landing.

On the night of December 6, SKA No. 041 and No. 0141, which left Sevastopol, landed reconnaissance and sabotage groups in the port of Evpatoria. They successfully neutralized the sentries and captured the police headquarters. Having collected information and freed the prisoners, the scouts left the building. Another group carried out sabotage at the airfield. Panic broke out in the city, the Germans opened fire indiscriminately. Our scouts returned to the boats without loss. The information they collected made it possible to prepare the landing force. On the evening of January 4, the BTShch "Vzryvatel", the tug "SP-14" and seven boats of the MO-4 type (SKA No. 024, No. 041, No. 042, No. 062, No. 081, No. 0102, No. 0125) left Sevastopol. They placed 740 paratroopers, two T-37 tanks and three 45-mm guns. They were able to quietly enter the Evpatoria port and capture it. They managed to capture the city center, but then the Marines met stubborn resistance. The covering ships withdrew to the raid and began to support the paratroopers with fire. The Germans pulled up reserves, called in aircraft and tanks. The paratroopers did not receive reinforcements and ammunition and were forced to go on the defensive. The minesweeper was damaged by aircraft, lost its course and was thrown ashore. The boats were damaged and were forced to leave for Sevastopol. They were replaced by ships with replenishment, but because of the storm they could not enter the port. The surviving paratroopers went to the partisans.

The winter assault was repulsed and the situation near Sevastopol stabilized. The Germans continued to bomb and shell the city, but did not take active steps. The boats continued to serve. On March 25, 1942, in the Streletskaya Bay of Sevastopol, the senior Red Navy sailor Ivan Karpovich Golubets accomplished his feat. From artillery fire on SKA No. 0121, the engine room caught fire, the fire crept up to the racks with depth charges. Their explosion would destroy not only the boat, but also the neighboring boats. I.G. came running from patrol boat No. 0183 with a fire extinguisher. Dove and began to put out the fire. But due to spilled fuel, this could not be done. Then he began to drop depth charges overboard. He managed to throw out most of it, but at that moment there was an explosion. The sailor saved the rest of the boats at the cost of his life. For this feat, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Heavily damaged patrol boat No. 0141 returns to the base under its own power after the Novorossiysk landing operation, September 1943.

Having destroyed the Soviet troops on the Kerch Peninsula, the enemy began preparations for a new assault. Sevastopol was blocked from the sea and from the air. Torpedo and anti-submarine boats, mini-submarines, fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers took part in the blockade. German aviation dominated the air. Each ship now broke into the besieged fortress with a fight. After many days of massive artillery preparation and constant bombing, on June 7, the Wehrmacht went on the offensive. The forces and resources of the defenders of Sevastopol were dwindling every day. On June 19, the Germans reached the North Bay. Soon the agony of Sevastopol began. The surviving defenders gathered in the area of ​​​​the 35th battery at Cape Khersones. There were many wounded here and the command staff of the army was assembled, waiting for the evacuation. They did not have ammunition, they were sorely lacking water, food and medicines. But only a few submarines and base minesweepers reached Sevastopol, not a single large ship came to Sevastopol.

The main burden of the evacuation fell on the MO boats. On the evening of July 1, SKA No. 052 was the first to approach the pier at Cape Khersones. A crowd of people poured on him, and he hastily moved away from the pier. When returning to the Caucasus, he was attacked by a torpedo boat and enemy aircraft, but their attacks were repulsed. On the same night, the defenders of the city were taken on board MO-021 and MO-0101. During the breakthrough to the Caucasus, "MO-021" was heavily damaged by aircraft. Approaching boats removed the survivors from it, and the boat sank. SKA No. 046, No. 071 and No. 088 took people from Chersonese and left for the Caucasus. SKA No. 029 went to the Cossack Bay, took on board the party activists of Sevastopol and went to mainland. At the crossing, he was attacked by aircraft, inflicted heavy damage, but he was met by our boats and brought to Novorossiysk. SKA No. 028, No. 0112 and No. 0124 took people from the pier at the 35th battery and left for the Caucasus. On the way they were intercepted by four enemy torpedo boats and a fierce battle began. One of the TKA was damaged, SKA #0124 sank, and SKA #028 managed to break through. SKA №0112 during the battle received significant damage and lost its course. German boats approached him and everyone on board was captured by the enemy. The Germans flooded the boat, and the prisoners were taken to Yalta. 31 people were captured, including General Novikov. On the morning of July 2, five boats left Novorossiysk. By the morning of July 3, they approached Sevastopol and, despite enemy fire, took on board the defenders of Sevastopol: 79 people of SKA No. 019, 55 people were on SKA No. 038, 108 people were on SKA No. 082 and 90 people were taken out by SKA No. 0108 (data according to SKA No. 039 are absent). On the morning of July 6, the last detachment of six boats allocated for evacuation headed for Sevastopol. At Cape Khersones, they were fired upon by enemy artillery, they could not approach the shore and returned to Novorossiysk without those rescued. The remaining defenders of the fortress surrendered. Thus ended the 250-day defense of Sevastopol.

To eliminate damage, carry out repairs and upgrades, boats of the MO-4 type, as a rule, were lifted by a crane onto the wall. The pictures show the boat of the Black Sea Fleet, in the background the cruiser "Red Caucasus"

Campaigns of 1942 and 1943 in the Baltic

In the spring of 1942, all work on the boats that were part of the KBF was completed, and at the end of April they were launched. Soon they again began to be on duty in the fairways, conduct and guard trawling, escort convoys and repel attacks by enemy boats and aircraft. The Germans tried to cut off Soviet communications and concentrated significant "mosquito" forces in the Gulf of Finland. Fighting took place almost daily, with casualties on both sides. For example, on the evening of June 30, 1942, one of the SKA was attacked by 12 Me-109 fighters. Their attack lasted only three minutes, but the boat received significant damage. However, the skill of Soviet boatmen grew, they carefully studied combat experience, paid at a high price. The most important task for boats in 1942 was to escort our submarines, which broke through into the Baltic. In addition, the boats were involved in reconnaissance and landing sabotage groups.

There were two divisions of small hunters on Ladoga and they turned out to be simply irreplaceable - they drove caravans of barges with cargo for Leningrad, escorted convoys with evacuees, carried out sentinel service, landed scouts and saboteurs behind enemy lines. They took part in the battles with the ships of the enemy flotilla. August 25, 1942 "MO-206", "MO-213" and "MO-215" captured a Finnish boat off the island of Verkkosari. On the night of October 9, 1942, "MO-175" and "MO-214" took an unequal battle against 16 BDB and 7 SKA of the enemy, who planned to bombard Sukho Island. Actively using smoke screens, they managed to thwart the plans of the enemy. Unfortunately, in this battle, "MO-175" died with almost the entire crew. Three sailors were taken prisoner. "MO-171" distinguished himself on October 22, 1942 during the defense of Sukho Island from the landing. Two Soviet ships and a three-gun battery on the island were opposed by 23 enemy ships, but their attacks were repulsed, and the landing force was dropped into the waters of Ladoga. After that, the activity of the actions of the enemy flotilla dropped sharply. Our flotilla continued to increase the pace of transportation. This made it possible to accumulate reserves and in January 1943 break the blockade.

Winter 1942-43 KBF boats spent in Kronstadt. The situation was not as difficult as in the first blockade winter. This made it possible not only to “pat up” the hulls, repair all mechanisms and engines, but also to carry out a small modernization of a number of boats. They tried to strengthen their weapons - local craftsmen placed a second pair of DShK machine guns in front of the wheelhouse, increased ammunition, some boats received improvised structural protection (in the form of iron sheets 5-8 mm thick). New hydroacoustics were installed on some of the boats.

The ice drift had not yet ended, but the boats had already been launched and began to carry out sentinel service. The Germans reliably blocked our fleet in the "Marquis Puddle" - in 1943, not a single Soviet submarine managed to break through to the Baltic. The main burden of protecting our communications fell on the crews of torpedo boats, armored boats, minesweepers and small hunters. The battles took place daily and were fought with great ferocity: the enemy tried to attack our convoys with great forces, actively used aircraft and carried out mine laying on our fairways. For example, on May 23, 1943 MO-207 and MO-303 repelled an attack by thirteen Finnish boats. This fight was even mentioned in the summary of the Sovinformburo. A fierce battle took place on June 2 between five Finnish boats and six MO boats. On July 21, four Finnish TKAs attacked two MOs, but the enemy failed to sink any of them. The Finns were forced to retreat. The German historian J. Meister noted: “Thanks to the sufficient number and increased vigilance of the Soviet escort ships, only a relatively small number of attacks were carried out. For the same reason, it was necessary to abandon the mining on a large scale of Russian supply routes to Lavensaari and Seskar.

On the Black Sea

After the fall of Sevastopol, the situation on the Black Sea worsened: the Wehrmacht was eager for the Caucasus, our fleet lost most of its bases and was locked up in several small ports, it did not take active steps. The main burden of hostilities was on submarines and the "mosquito" fleet, which provided military transportation, landed saboteurs and reconnaissance groups, hunted enemy submarines, exposed mine banks and carried out minesweeping. In these operations, boats of the MO type were simply irreplaceable. Their crews tried by all means

to increase combat capabilities of their ships: they strengthened additional armament, permanent and removable armor 5-8 mm thick (on the navigation bridge, on the tank and on the sides in the area of ​​gas tanks). Four- and six-barrel rocket launchers RS-82TB, eight-barreled 8-M-8 were placed on several boats of the Ministry of Defense. They were actively used in the Black Sea both in battles with enemy boats and against targets on the coast during landing operations. For example, at the end of 1942 SKA No. 044 and No. 084 in the area of ​​Cape Zhelezny Rog fired at a German battery PC. After three eight-shot volleys, she was suppressed.

This made it possible to land a reconnaissance group ashore. In total in 1942-43. on the Black Sea, 2514 PCs were spent by boats.

"MO-215" in the open exposition of the Museum "Road of Life". Pictures from the late 80s.

The Black Sea Defense Ministry took the most active part in numerous landing operations - in South Ozereyka, on Malaya Zemlya, on the Taman Peninsula, the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation. The boats made the greatest contribution to the success of the Novorossiysk landing operation. Large ships were not involved in it, and everything had to be done by the boatmen of the "mosquito" fleet. Each of the 12 MO-4 boats was supposed to take 50-60 paratroopers on board and bring two or three motorboats or a longboat with paratroopers to the landing site in tow. For one flight, one such "coupling" delivered up to 160 paratroopers with ammunition. At 02.44 on September 10, 1943, boats, batteries and aircraft attacked the port with torpedoes, bombs, PCs and artillery fire. The port was well fortified, and the Germans opened hurricane aimed artillery and mortar fire on the boats, but the landing of three assault troops began. SKA No. 081 was damaged during a breakthrough into the port, but landed 53 paratroopers on the Elevator Pier. SKA #0141 was rammed into the port side of SKA #0108, which lost control, but landed 67 marines on the Staro-passenger pier. SKA No. 0111 broke into Novorossiysk without loss and landed 68 paratroopers at the pier No. 2. SKA No. 031, under enemy fire, broke through to pier No. 2 and landed 64 marines. SKA No. 0101 landed 64 paratroopers on the pier No. 5, and on the way back, the damaged SKA No. 0108 was towed out of the shelling. SKA No. 0812 "Sea Soul" failed to break into the port, was damaged by enemy artillery fire, a fire started on board, and the boat was forced to return to Gelendzhik. After the paratroopers landed, the surviving boats began delivering ammunition and reinforcements to the bridgehead, guarding communications. Navy historian B.C. Biryuk wrote about this landing: "The Novorossiysk operation became a model of courage and determination, courage and courage of sailors from small hunters who fought wholeheartedly and valiantly and showed outstanding military skill." It is no coincidence that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet issued an order to greet the small hunters returning to Poti after the completion of the Novorossiysk landing operation by lining up the crews of all ships of the squadron.

In our fleet there are many feats accomplished by crews of small hunters. Let's talk about one of them. On March 25, 1943, SKA No. 065 accompanied the Achilleon transport, which was heading to Tuapse. There was a strong storm at sea, the excitement reached 7 points. The transport was attacked by German aircraft, but the boat managed to repel all their attacks and did not allow the target to be attacked. Then the German aces decided to eliminate the interference and switched to the boat. They launched "star" attacks, but the commander of the boat, Senior Lieutenant P.P. Sivenko managed to dodge all the bombs and not get any direct hits. The boat received about 200 holes from fragments and shells, the stem was broken, the wheelhouse shifted, tanks and pipelines were pierced, the engines stalled, the bow trim reached 15 degrees. Losses amounted to 12 sailors. The planes used up their ammunition and flew away, and the motors were put into action on the boat and caught up with the transport. For this battle, the entire crew was awarded orders and medals, and the boat was converted into a Guards boat. This is the only boat of the USSR Navy, awarded such an honor.

In September 1944, the war on the Black Sea ended, but the MO-4 boats had to carry out two more honorable missions. In November 1944, the squadron returned to Sevastopol. At the transition to the main base of the fleet, she was accompanied by numerous MO-4 boats. In February 1945, boats of the MO-4 type were involved in the protection of the Livadia Palace from the sea, where the Yalta Conference of the Allies was held. For their contribution to the defeat of Germany, the Order of the Red Banner was awarded to the 1st and 4th Novorossiysk, 5th and 6th Kerch divisions of small hunters. Ten Heroes of the Soviet Union fought on the Black Sea Defense Ministry.

Final battles in the Baltic

In 1944-45, the situation on the Baltic Sea changed: our troops released the blockade of Leningrad, launched an offensive on all fronts, there were battles for the liberation of the Baltic states. Finland withdrew from the war, and the KBF ships began to actively use its bases. But the large ships of the KBF remained in Leningrad and Kronstadt, and only submarines and the "mosquito" fleet fought. Communications of the Baltic Fleet were stretched, the number of transported goods increased, the load on the boats of the Ministry of Defense increased. They were still entrusted with guarding convoys, escorting submarines, landing troops, providing trawling and combating Finnish and German submarines. The Germans began to actively use submarines for operations on our communications. On July 30, 1944, MO-105 was sunk by a German submarine in the Bjorkesund Strait. MO-YUZ, under the command of Senior Lieutenant A.P., went out to search for her from Koivisto. Kolenko. Upon arrival, he rescued 7 sailors from the crew of the sunken boat and began searching for the submarine. This area was shallow, but the boat could not be found. Only in the evening the boat-smoke curtain KM-910 reported the ascent of the boat. "MO-SW" attacked her and dropped several series of depth charges (8 large and 5 small) on the dive site. Under water there was a strong explosion, began to emerge various items, the surface of the water was covered with a layer of fuel. And soon six submariners surfaced. They were captured and taken to the base. During interrogation, the commander of the submarine "11-250" said that the boat was armed with the latest T-5 homing torpedoes. She was raised to the surface, transferred to Kronstadt, put in the dock and removed the torpedoes. Their design has been studied and Soviet designers devised means to neutralize them. January 9, 1945 near Tallinn "MOI24" sank the submarine "U-679".

For the contribution to the defeat of Germany, the 1st division of boats of the Moscow Region became Guards, and the 5th and 6th divisions were awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Three Heroes of the Soviet Union fought on the Baltic boats of the Moscow Region.

Memory

After the end of the war, the surviving boats of the MO-4 type were transferred to the border guard. In its composition, they continued to serve until the end of the 50s. Then they were all decommissioned and dismantled. In memory of them, only the color feature film "Sea Hunter", released in 1954, was left. A real "midge" was filmed in it. But the glorious deeds of the "midges" crews during the Great Patriotic War were not forgotten. This is a great merit of veterans who collected letters, memoirs, photographs and other relics of the war years. On a voluntary basis, they created rooms of military glory, small museums, published articles about the glorious deeds of boatmen.

Of particular note is the activity of Igor Petrovich Chernyshev, who spent the entire war on "midges" in the Baltic. At first he was a senior assistant, then he commanded a boat and a formation

boats. He took part in many battles, was repeatedly wounded. After the war, he collected materials on the participation of KBF boats in the war. His articles were published in the newspapers "Red Star", "Soviet Fleet" and "Red Banner Baltic Fleet", the magazines "Soviet Sailor", "Soviet Warrior" and "Model Designer". In 1961, his memoirs "On the "sea hunter" were published, in 1981 "On friends and comrades."

Vladimir Sergeevich Biryuk devoted his whole life to studying the combat activities of small hunters of the Black Sea Fleet. During the war years, he served on MO-022 and took part in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, the battles for the Caucasus, naval

landings. He published articles in the magazine "Boats and Yachts", the collection "Gangut". In 2005, it was released fundamental research"Always ahead. Small hunters in the war on the Black Sea. 1941-1944. He noted that historians paid undeservedly little attention to the actions of the Ministry of Defense and tried to fill this gap.

With the help of boat veterans, the USSR managed to save two small hunters of the MO-4 type. On the Malaya Zemlya in Novorossiysk, the Guards MO-065 of the Black Sea Fleet was installed. In the Museum "Road of Life" in the village of Osinovets, Leningrad Region, the "MO-125" of the Ladoga Flotilla was delivered. Unfortunately, time is ruthless, and now arose real threat loss of these unique relics of the Great Patriotic War. We must not allow this, the descendants will not forgive us for this.

In such a terrible state is the last surviving small hunter "MO-215" type MO-4 in the Museum "Road of Life", the village of Osinovets, Leningrad Region, November 2011. To date, all weapons have been dismantled from the boat, part of the deck has failed, the cabin has been destroyed. Of particular concern are the deflections of the hull in the felling area. This may lead to the loss of a unique relic from the Great Patriotic War.

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"Sea hunters" in battles

During the Great Patriotic War, patrol boats of the type MO-4 and MO-2 "sea hunters", built in the pre-war years and intended mainly to search for and destroy enemy submarines in the coastal areas of the sea, successfully fought in all fleets.

But the practice of hostilities has expanded the scope of the use of these boats. It can even be argued that there was not a single type of military action at sea in which “sea hunters” would not take part. They were involved in laying minefields, carrying out sentinel service, escorting transports, ensuring the exit and return of submarines to bases, shelling enemy positions on the coast, direct landing of troops and reconnaissance groups. Everywhere, in all fleets, in all naval bases in those years one could see these small maneuverable ships.

Interestingly, their body was wooden. During the construction, centuries-old experience accumulated by Russian craftsmen in shipbuilding was used. In order to ensure unsinkability, the hull was divided by eight watertight bulkheads. And there were cases when the "hunter" not only remained afloat, but also came to the base under its own power after the explosion of a mine or an air bomb tore off the first four compartments - almost half a boat.

MO-4 had significant seaworthiness. He could stay at sea even with an 8-point storm. Well-designed hull contours ensured the maintenance of full speed not only in calm weather, but also in sea waves up to 4 points. Three-layer sheathing made of first-class pine board had reinforcements in the form of frequently supplied stringers and steel frame frames every 1.5 ... 2 m.

The power plant of the “hunter” consisted of three GAM-34 aircraft engines with a capacity of 850 ... 870 liters each. With. each, which allowed the boat to reach speeds of up to 26 ... 27 knots. The stock of gasoline was 6 tons, which ensured a full cruising range of 376 miles, and a 17-knot speed of 1200 miles. The motors installed on the boat made it possible to develop full speed 5 minutes after launch.

The design autonomy of the “hunter” in terms of fresh water and products is 10 days, but these norms were significantly overlapped during the hostilities due to the endurance and dedication of the crews. There were cases when MO-4 was continuously at sea for up to 24 days.

With a displacement of only 56 tons, the MO had a fairly strong armament, consisting of two 45-mm guns and two heavy-caliber 12.7-mm machine guns. To combat enemy submarines, a noise direction finder, 8 large and 24 small depth bombs served. The boat could take on board 4 anchor mines.

Already during the war, in order to increase survivability, armored shields were installed on 45-mm guns in the Moscow Region, visors and plumb lines of the navigation bridge, as well as compartments of gas tanks, were armored.

But most importantly, small but heroic crews (23-30 sailors) sailed on the hunters, who really worked miracles, skillfully using all the combat capabilities of these small wooden ships.

In the early days of the Great Patriotic War, the entire Northern Fleet learned about the feat of the MO-121 crew. On June 30, 1941, in Motovsky Bay, he was attacked by 18 Nazi dive bombers. An unequal battle began.

Alternately diving into the ship, the fascist pilots literally hunted for it. The MO was commanded by Lieutenant M. Mironov, and during the battle, the commander of the "hunters" unit, Lieutenant I. Krol, was on it. Skillfully maneuvering among the explosions of bombs, the commander showed skill and composure. He abruptly changed speed, threw the ship from side to side, continuously dodging falling bombs. And not once the helmsman and minders did not let him down.

When the fragments of the bombs violated the steering, the commander continued to maneuver with the help of motors. But then one, and then the second motor failed. Motorists, having eliminated the damage in the fuel supply system, managed to ensure the operation of the third motor.

Despite numerous explosions next to the boat, gunners did not stop firing at enemy aircraft from cannons and machine guns for a minute. They did the unthinkable - a small ship, fighting with 18 aircraft, came out victorious, shooting down two of them.

The victory was not easy. The sailors selflessly patched up numerous fragmentation holes, fastened the damaged watertight bulkhead. Many were killed and wounded. Nevertheless, the combat mission was completed, and the damaged MO returned to base under its own power.

The Baltic "hunters" did not lag behind the Severomorians either.

In October 1941, the MO-311 boat, commanded by Lieutenant I. Bokov, who graduated from the naval school only in July 1941, provided two of our submarines with access to enemy communications in the Baltic Sea. The boat, which was also the commander of the "hunters" division, Lieutenant Commander I. Bochanov, boldly attacked five large enemy torpedo boats that were trying to break through to our submarines. Two of them were seriously damaged by cannon-machine-gun fire. The enemy put up a smokescreen and hid behind it. The victory came at a high price: two sailors were killed, two were seriously injured.

The "Hunter" lay down on the course of connection with the escort of submarines, but less than ten minutes had passed before a strong explosion was heard. The boat was blown up by an enemy mine. The blast wave threw the commander off the bridge. Falling, he hit a machine gun and lost consciousness. The bridge of his nose was broken, his mouth was torn, his face was covered with blood.

Waking up, Bokov saw that the bow of the boat, along with the gun, was completely torn off. The main magnetic compass went overboard, and the wheelhouse was smashed.

In the forward engine compartment, the boat mechanic and minders, standing knee-deep in the water, hammered wedges under the engines, caulked the gaps formed in the bulkheads with rags and tow.

In the aft engine compartment, the squad leader, using a crowbar, replaced the torn off auxiliary engine that rotated the electric generator.

The commissioning of this generator was urgently needed. After all, only when power was applied, it was possible to start a sump pump to drain the flooded compartments, give power to the radio station to inform the command about a mine explosion, and start the main engines.

The crew of the boat selflessly fought for survivability. Some sailors patched up holes in the hull and drained water from the compartments with buckets and hand pumps, while others built a life raft in case of emergency, on which they loaded food and weapons. Motorists made every effort to put the auxiliary and main engines into operation as soon as possible.

The flight mechanic's report has so far been disappointing. The shaft of the middle motor jammed, the onboard motors were flooded with water. True, the auxiliary engine has already been installed and fixed on the foundation. As soon as it works, it will be possible to start pumping water from the forward engine compartment.

Taking into account the duration of draining the compartment of 40 ... 60 minutes and about two hours to bring the onboard motors in order, the mechanic promised the commander to start moving in three hours. Bokov thought about it and replied: “Three hours is a lot. If we do not leave the area in two hours, then at dawn the enemy will find a damaged boat and destroy us. Pass it on to the mechanics. Now it's all up to them."

The mechanics continued to work with extraordinary energy. So we managed to start the engine, the sump pump started working, the drainage of the bow engine compartment began.

In the drained compartment, the sailors feverishly prepared the engines for launch. They changed the spark plugs, taking them from the middle stuck motor, washed the filters and reinstalled them. Finally, one motor rumbled, a second joined it. The commander turned the handles of the engine telegraph to "small back", and the boat moved in reverse to the east.

At four o'clock in the west, the noise of working diesel engines was heard, then the silhouettes of ships appeared, catching up with the damaged "hunter". Fortunately, these turned out to be our minesweepers, which, having completed the withdrawal of submarines, returned to the base. After the exchange of identifying ones, one of the minesweepers approached the "hunter" and gave him a towing line. The glorious crew honorably completed the combat mission of protecting the submarines and managed to save their ship, selflessly and skillfully fought for its survivability.

Captain 1st Rank Igor Petrovich Chernyshev, who fought throughout the Great Patriotic War on the Baltic "hunters", fascinatingly told in his books about the exploits of sailors sailing on the Moscow Region, about the struggle of boatmen for the survivability of ships.

He also recalled the fierce battles with enemy aircraft. Indeed, in the fiery year of 1942, hunting boats, being on patrol in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, “notified air defense Leningrad, Kronstadt and the islands about the appearance of enemy bombers coming towards them from the sea. The enemy immediately felt who was preventing him from inflicting sudden bombing strikes on Leningrad and Kronstadt. Therefore, fascist planes began to attack patrol boats” 13 . It was not easy for wooden boats to fend off dive-bombers and high-speed Messerschmitts.

On June 29, MO-308 and MO-302 were on patrol under the command of Lieutenants M. Amusin and I. Chernyshev. At MO-308 there was also a flight commander, senior lieutenant Yu. Azeev. The watch was attacked by several groups of Junkers. The "Hunters" not only repulsed the attacks, but also shot down two bombers.

The next day, the embittered Nazis threw against the "hunters" three columns of "Messerschmitts" of four aircraft each. The fighters attacked the boats at low level flight. They were met with dense fire from cannons and machine guns. One "Messer" crashed into the water behind the stern of MO-302, but the "hunters" were also damaged.

When attacking aircraft, the helmsman MO-302 A. Smirnov shielded the commander from machine-gun fire with his body. From the loss of blood, he slowly slid down to the deck of the bridge. The hero died saving the commander.

In general, the wooden sides and the deck of the "hunter" could not protect against bullets and shells. On the same “hunter”, a bullet wounded motorist V. Poluektov in the chest. The command "Full speed ahead" came from the bridge. The motorist, with a last dying effort, raised the throttle to the stop. The motor picked up speed, and the boat came out of the fire.

Motorist M. Yashelin had both legs broken. The collectors of the left engine were damaged by bullets, jets of hot water were beating from the holes with pressure. Yashelin understood that if the leak was not blocked, the motor would overheat and fail, which meant death. Ignoring the wounds and pain from the burns, he pulled himself up on his hands, laid his chest on the engine block and began to close up the holes in the collector. The foreman of the minders team, midshipman P. Belobok, replaced the wounded minders, managing to simultaneously transfer the levers of the reversible clutches of both motors and move the throttle handles in accordance with the commands of the engine telegraph. In the intervals between the execution of commands, he helped Yashelin close up holes in the collector.

Suddenly, one of the motors began to slow down. One glance cast by the midshipman on the dashboard was enough for a correct assessment of the situation. Belobok pointed out to Yashelin a manual pump for supplying gasoline, and the minder understood everything: there was not enough fuel.

The wounded sailor crawled up to the pump and began, lying down, to pump gasoline from the very bottom of the tank into the supply tank. The motors picked up speed, and from the still unsealed holes in the collectors, tight jets of hot water hit again. The midshipman tore off his overalls, tunic, T-shirt and plugged the holes with them.

At this time, enemy fighters launched a second attack. The bullet broke the antenna, the sight of the stern gun shattered to smithereens from a direct hit. The "Hunters" desperately fought back, and another "Messer" fell into the water behind the stern of MO-308.

On MO-302, the sailors tried to extinguish the blazing wooden deck. Thick black smoke poured from the hatch of the living quarters of the command staff. The commander of the radio operator department, V. Rybakov, grabbed a fire extinguisher and rushed into the hatch of the eighth compartment. Hydroacoustic N. Klimenko jumped behind him.

The battle with the planes lasted only three minutes and ended with the victory of the "hunters". But the situation remained difficult. On the MO-302, the forward engine compartment was flooded, flames blazed in the aft living compartment and in the forward cockpit. The commander of the engine mechanics department managed to switch the main line in such a way that the water from the engine compartment was not pumped overboard, but was pumped into the fire pipeline to extinguish fires.

Finally, the sailors managed to bring down the flames in the stern and bow. Rybakov climbed out of the aft hatch, covered in soot. He was supported by the same black, sooty hydroacoustic. The radio operator held an unexploded shell in his hands aircraft gun. Approaching the stern section, he threw it by the transom into the water. This time the fuse worked, and an explosion thundered in the wake of the boat.

The whole country learned about the feat of the “hunters” crews. On July 7, 1942, Pravda published: “The Red Banner Baltic Fleet ... Courage and courage in repelling enemy air raids was shown by the personnel of the boats, where Amusin and Chernyshev were commanders. The fire of these boats destroyed four enemy aircraft in two battles.

Many members of the MO-302 and MO-308 crews were awarded state awards. The British, having learned that the commander of the department of commandors MO-302 A. Frolov shot down a fascist ace who participated in the battles against them during the capture of the Nazis about. Crete, awarded him the Combat Services Medal, which few military personnel have been awarded in the UK itself.

The feat of the crew of the guards patrol boat 065 of the Black Sea Fleet has forever remained in the people's memory.

On March 25, 1943, three "hunters" 014, 065 and 0122 went from Tuapse to Gelendzhik, guarding the transport "Achilleon" in tow from the "Simeiz", and three schooners with ammunition. In the afternoon, when the convoy reached the traverse of Fake Gelendzhik, several groups of fascist Yu-88 and Yu-87 bombers with a total number of up to 30 vehicles, under the cover of four Messerschmitts, attacked transports and guard ships, dropping about 60 bombs.

The "Hunters" met the planes with strong barrage fire. Thanks to the skillful maneuvering of the commander of the boat 065, Senior Lieutenant P. Sivenko and the selfless work of the helmsman and mechanics, not a single bomb hit the ship. Several pieces exploded 10 ... 20 m from him.

From nearby explosions, the hull and cabin of the boat received significant damage. The blast wave tore off the lining of the left side, and in the bow of the right side. In the bow, the deck was simply crushed, the stem was destroyed, the wheelhouse and navigation bridge were almost completely demolished. Up to 1600 small holes were formed from the fragments, some of them below the waterline. Of the 46 windows, 17 were knocked out. Water flooded the forepeak, galley, 4- and 8-seater cockpits, bow engine compartment.

Two main engines were damaged, the third was dislodged from the foundation. The boat has lost speed. Fragments pierced the left fuel tank and lubricating oil tank, damaged compressed air pipelines and lubrication systems. The bow gun was torn off the trunnions and thrown onto the deck. From the flooding of the bow rooms, a trim of up to 15 ° was soon created on the bow. Smoke bombs lit up in the poop.

All 22 sailors of the crew, of which 17 were communists and three members of the Komsomol, showed heroism and selflessness in battle and in the struggle for the survivability of the boat. Even the seriously wounded did not leave their combat posts.

A great feat of courage and steadfastness was accomplished by the communist commander of the miners' department, foreman of the 2nd article G. Kuropyatnikov. In the midst of the battle, his left arm was torn off above elbow joint, several fragments hit the chest and head. From loss of blood, he at times lost consciousness, his strength left him, but the Chernomorets hero did not move away from the machine gun and continued to shoot with one hand.

Suddenly, he noticed that the smoke bombs, located in the stern next to the depth charges, ignited from the fragments of the bombs. There was a threat of explosion and destruction of the boat. The bleeding sailor crawled to the stern and tried with his good hand to throw the checkers overboard.

But they were unfastened by the ends in a stormy way. Then Kuropyatnikov, burning his face with his teeth and right hand he untied the knots of the storm fasteners of the burning smokers and threw them overboard, while he himself crawled to the machine gun. The death of the boat and the entire crew was prevented.

The remaining combat-ready sailors, including the lightly wounded, sealed up holes using wooden plugs, rags and uniforms. Damaged bulkheads were reinforced with supports. Water from the flooded compartments was pumped out with a hand pump and taken out in buckets. The ammunition from the hold of the 8-seater cockpit was moved to the stern, which somewhat reduced the trim.

40 minutes after the start of the battle, the minders put the right motor into operation, the fragmentation holes in its collector were sealed with plugs. Durites were placed on the damaged sections of the gas pipeline, the cracks were covered with rubber, securing it with wire wrapping. Eliminating damage to motors and sealing holes, they worked for a long time in cold water.

Immediately after the commissioning of one motor, the boat set in motion and continued to guard the transports. Soon, minders fixed the auxiliary engine that rotated the electric generator, and, having partially repaired the electrical wiring, gave lighting to the interior, launched an electric pump to drain the flooded premises.

The roughness of the sea increased to 6...7 points, and the water again began to penetrate into the interior. The struggle with her did not stop for a minute. At 16.20 the tugboat with the transport and the schooners arrived safely in Gelendzhik. The combat mission was completed. The damaged boat 065, having traveled more than 50 miles in a stormy sea, returned to Tuapse and began to be repaired, after which it again entered into service with the fleet's warships.

For the collective feat in the performance of a combat mission, for the successful struggle for survivability and saving the ship, the entire personnel of the boat was awarded state awards, and foreman of the 2nd article G.A. Union.

In the submission for the assignment of the guards rank, the combat affairs of the crew were listed. Even this simple list is surprising and admirable: “From June 22, 1941 to March 25, 1943, SKA-065 escorted 118 transports, carried out patrol service for 140 days, inspected and bombed fairways 32 times, ensuring the entry and exit of ships from bases, Placed smoke screens 32 times, conducted three combat sweeps, destroying 8 mines, landed sabotage groups (69 people) behind enemy lines 4 times, landed 1840 paratroopers, took part in reconnaissance five times off the coast occupied by the Nazis, took out 1028 wounded, participated in the search for underwater boats 15 times, in search of torpedo boats 6 times, repelled air raids 185 times, shot down 3 and knocked out 6 aircraft, 12 times fired at the enemy’s coast, 10 times assisted our ships and aircraft that received combat damage.

Indeed, how much a small ship's crew can do when they are united, strive to give all their strength to the best performance of a combat mission, and are infinitely faithful to their oath and Motherland.

In September 1943, the "hunters" participated in the landing operation during the liberation of the hero city of Novorossiysk. Along with other ships of the Black Sea Fleet, they boldly broke into the Tsemess Bay and landed troops directly on the berths of the Novorossiysk port. The fierce fire of the enemy's long-term firing points on the berths and piers caused serious damage to the ships. But the crews of the "hunters" showed examples of stamina, endurance and training, skillfully fighting for the survivability of their small ships.

"Sea Hunter" 0141 under the command of senior lieutenant S. Bazhenov with a landing party on board, when approaching the pier, was badly damaged by enemy fire. A leak formed on board, the cockpit and galley were flooded with outboard water. The ship received a large trim on the bow.

The commander ordered the paratroopers to move to the stern and leveled the landing of the ship. The "Hunter" broke through to the shore, landed troops and began to leave the Tsemess Bay in reverse, as the bow compartments were flooded. Maneuvering under enemy fire, with one engine running, the ship continued to move. The crew steadfastly struggled with the incoming water, fastened the bulkhead, pumped out the filtering water. Thanks to such decisive actions, the ship was saved and returned to Gelendzhik under its own power.

One of the detachments of ships that broke into the Tsemess Bay was led by Lieutenant Commander Dmitry Andreevich Glukhov (in January 1944, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for military exploits). He raised his braid pennant on the “hunter” 081, commanded by Senior Lieutenant S. Fleischer, who later recalled: “The last crossing target was left behind. The landing party lies on the deck. Hundreds of shells are rushing over our heads, our artillery is firing across the bay... Everything ahead is fiery crimson, as if the shore itself is melting and flowing into the bay in a fiery mass. Mines are plopping around, but I do not pay attention to them. All thoughts are about one thing see the entrance!”.

Despite the fierce fire of the Nazis, all 18 ships of the Glukhov detachment broke through to the inner roadstead without loss. But here a misfortune happened - a torpedo crashed into the side of the 081st: one of our torpedo boats, lagging behind, belatedly attacked the enemy's coastal fortified points at the very water's edge.

The torpedo, fortunately, did not explode - the fuse had not yet worked. But the "hunter" was badly damaged, water poured into the hole. Auxiliary mechanisms and aft medium motor failed. Under the pressure of the water, the bulkhead broke through, and the water began to flood the aft compartments.

The brave crew was not taken aback. The minders kept the bow motors running while plugging gaps in the bulkhead and pumping out leaking water. The semi-flooded boat was hardly brought to the nearest berth in the central part of the port. An enemy machine gun fired from the shore, but it was suppressed by a grenade thrown from the side.

37 paratroopers led by the illustrious commander of a separate battalion marines captain-lieutenant V. Botylev jumped out onto the pier. Combat mission was completed, but the struggle for the survivability of the ship continued. Standing chest-deep in the water, the sailors managed to repair the holes under enemy fire. The largest one was closed with the crew's cork mattresses. The boat was saved and damaged, on one motor, but returned to Gelendzhik with victory.

Again, the glory of the combat 081 thundered in November 1943 during the landing in the area of ​​​​the village of Eltinten on the Kerch Peninsula. On November 8, returning to the Taman coast from the next voyage to Eltingen, SKA-081 found itself alone in front of a detachment of fascist ships crossing its course, consisting of a large landing barge armed with two 88-mm guns and anti-aircraft guns, and six large torpedo boats.

There was nowhere to go. There was only one thing left - to boldly go forward and enter into an unequal battle. "Hunter" went across the enemy column. This allowed him to be the first to open fire from a distance of 300 ... 400 m.

Two enemy boats were set on fire and exploded. But our boat also suffered heavy losses. The commander of the flight, Lieutenant Commander Chesler, who was on board, and several other sailors were killed, and half of the rest, including the commander, were wounded. The radio room was destroyed, the hull of the boat received 15 through holes. The crew, acting confidently and energetically, quickly patched up the holes with improvised means. Fixed many other damages.

The hero of a short night battle was the commander of the minders department, foreman of the 1st article I. Samoletov. At the very beginning of the battle, a fragment of a shell that hit the engine compartment pierced the oil tank expander of the right engine and at the same time interrupted the lubrication line of the left engine. Oil began to flow through the holes formed. Another second and both bow engines, left without lubrication, will jam, and with one stern engine running, it will be difficult for the commander to maneuver in battle.

Without hesitation, Samoletov clamped his hands on the holes in the pipeline to the left engine and for about 20 minutes, while the battle was going on, did not let go of his hands, although the oil temperature was about 75 ° C. The commander was able to maneuver under two engines until other minders repaired the damage to the lubrication system of the right engine and closed the underwater holes in the engine compartment.

One can only be surprised and admire how the hero minder could endure hellish pain for 20 minutes. A developed sense of duty, the consciousness that the fate of the boat and the crew personally depends on him - that's what helped Samoletov endure all the suffering.

When the 081st crossed the wake of the fascist ships, the head and end ships of the column began to turn around for pursuit, but it was too late. They lost the "hunter" in the darkness of the night.

Soon, due to the detected malfunctions, the bow engines had to be stopped. The boat, moving on one barely working stern motor, had already passed the middle of the strait. But suddenly three fascist boats appeared again on the right and three on the left. At the MO prepared for the last battle. The wounded stood up to the guns and machine guns, and all the remaining ammunition was brought up from the cellar. Fleischer began to turn towards the left group, deciding to concentrate his fire on it.

From there they signaled with a lantern: dash dot dash ... The Nazis decided that their ship was approaching and asked for identification. The commander ordered the signalman to convey the same to the right group of enemy ships. And having received an answer from the right group, they immediately passed it on to the left. The resourcefulness of the commander and the quickness of the signalman saved the crew. Both groups of enemy boats, which had not yet discovered each other, considered our 081st as their own.

The hunter arrived safely at the base. On the pier, the wounded commander still managed to report to Rear Admiral G.N. Kholostyakov about the night battle and was immediately sent to the hospital. This heroic battle was dedicated to the poster "One against seven", which was distributed throughout the Black Sea Fleet. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the poster was included in the exposition of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Chernyshev I.P. About friends and comrades. L.: Lenizdat, 1981, p. 25.

Say, what is unique about the project of a submarine hunter, released in a good series and was nothing special? A ship is like a ship.

And here it is not. In order not to "keep the intrigue", I will immediately say what is unique in the ship.

1. Project 194 BMO was designed by a woman.
2. The ships were built in besieged Leningrad under her leadership.
3. The project turned out to be more than good, as proven by the fighting.

Now let's go in order.

It is probably worth starting with the destruction of one old marine postulate, which says that a woman on a ship is unfortunate. Maybe it is so, but in any business, even in the sea, there are exceptions.

Meet Alexandra Nikolaevna Donchenko (1910-1983).

Engineer-captain 1st rank, head of the group of designers of warships and submarines. Candidate of Technical Sciences. The only woman in the USSR who graduated from the Naval Academy.

Probably, it means a lot: to be born in the family of a shipbuilder, and even in Nikolaev. Having a grandfather, father and older brother of shipbuilding engineers, it’s hard to think of another way. And so it happened. Alexandra Nikolaevna graduated from the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Institute and started working on the construction of submarines.

Donchenko came to the academy after receiving gratitude from the People's Commissar Kliment Voroshilov, she turned to him with a personal request to enter the Naval Academy.

The well-known executioner and Stalinist fawn Voroshilov, who, according to the assurances of many "historians", did nothing for the country, this time frankly blundered. And instead of, as expected, to rot a talented shipbuilder in the dungeons, he not only helped with permission, but also drew attention smart people for a young professional.

Smart people are A. N. Krylov, Yu. A. Shimansky and P. F. Papkovich. In general, Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov, the luminary of shipbuilding, is enough. But Papkovich and Shimansky are names with a capital letter. It is to them that Donchenko owes the fact that her undoubted talent sparkled with all colors.

But 1941 came. The Great Patriotic War began. And then the saddest page in the history of Leningrad - the blockade.

In the summer of 1942, the command of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet set the city's shipbuilders the task of creating a high-speed, well-armed armored boat in the shortest possible time, capable of operating against enemy submarines, participating in landings and convoying ships.

Such a ship, in principle, was. Sea hunter MO-4. However, practice has shown that the ship lacks security, wooden hunters became easy prey for aircraft armed with machine guns.

Given the position in which the fleet was locked in the Gulf of Finland, many such ships were needed. It is no secret that large ships were blocked from going to sea by huge minefields, which were put by everyone who could: the Finns, the Kriegsmarine, the Luftwaffe.

Meanwhile, I repeat, the year is 1942. Designing and even more so, building a ship in conditions of shortage of everything is a risky task. Not enough metal, not enough equipment, not enough people, not enough energy. And yet, the task was completed. The armored sea hunter (BMO) project was developed in just 15 days by a group of designers led by Donchenko.

And here heroism is not only in the hearts, but also in the heads.

Lack of skilled workers and electricity? Nothing, the ship was designed with simplified straight lines, simplifying the entire structure as much as possible. At the same time, excluding hot bending of metal, which was simply impossible to carry out in besieged Leningrad.

Missing machines? Representatives of the city committee of the party went to the factories, collecting the necessary equipment.

The hunter's hull was divided into three blocks and welded. Armor plates intended for light tanks went to its middle (armored) part and conning tower. That is, the thickness of the armor ranged from 8 to 12 mm, but it was better than nothing.

Sea trials of the BMO took place in the Gulf of Finland at the end of November 1942. However, the bay was so clogged with ice that the program of state tests could not be completed by the end of 1942, they were completed in the spring of the following year.

So the ships of the BMO series began their combat path in 1943.

The Hunter turned out to be a very versatile and useful ship. The ships chased enemy submarines, met and escorted their submarines, laid mines, trawled enemy mines, landed and supported landings.

In general, in fact, the entire war on the water in the Baltic was fought by boats, small ships and submarines.

It will forever remain a secret for me how in 1943-45, under the conditions of the blockade, the Leningraders built (attention!) 66 (SIXTY SIX) ships. Yes, the unit was launched in 1945, after the blockade was lifted. Nonetheless, Here is another feat of people that is difficult to comprehend, let alone imagine.

To be honest, I can't really do it. Unheated and poorly lit workshops in which people falling from hunger collect ships. warships who then go out to sea and fight the enemy.

But with ships, as with aircraft, there are nuances. They, unlike tanks and other ground equipment, must operate in a different environment. Mistakes are often fatal.

Nevertheless, the ship turned out. Of the 66 hunters (yes, not all took part in the war), 9 died during the war. Moreover, we lost the lion's share of the BMO while sweeping minefields and escorting through minefields.

6 ships were lost on mines. Two were killed by enemy artillery fire during the landing on February 14, 1944 in the Mereküla area.

One ship (BMO-524 "Baltiets") provided trawling in the Narva Bay on August 4, 1944, was attacked by 24 Yu-87 and 8 FV-190. The crew shot down (reliably confirmed) 1 Yu-87 aircraft, but the ship received significant damage from bomb explosions and sank.

Now let's go to the ship.

TTX BMO project 194:

Displacement - 55.2 tons.
Length - 24.8 m.
Width - 4.2 m.
Draft - 1.6 m.

Engines: two Packard gasoline engines, 2400 hp, ZiS-5 gasoline engine, 68 hp.

Full speed - 26 knots.
Cruising range - 1330 miles.
Crew - 22 people.

Armament:
- 45-mm gun 21KM - piece;
- 37 mm anti-aircraft gun 70-K - 1 piece;
- 12.7 mm coaxial machine guns DShK - 2 pcs;
- two bombers, 16 depth charges "BB-1" or 10 mines of the "KB" type obstacles.

Noise direction finders of the Cepheus or Tamir types, the Dragon sonar.

Booking:
- board in the area of ​​​​the engine compartment - 10 mm;
- deck above the engine compartment - 8 mm; cutting wall - 12 mm;
- felling roof - 8 mm.

Cabin from the inside:

It did not work out very well, but this is a communication tube with the engine room. Oralo, so to speak.

Interesting design, right? Actually (I don't know what it's called in nautical slang) it's for signal flags. Which are raised on the mast.

Hatch on the roof of the cabin. There is a compass repeater and a second machine gun mount.

Luke to the engine room. There was no lantern, so they did not climb.

For the creation and construction of Project 194 ships, Alexandra Nikolaevna Donchenko was awarded the Order of the Red Star. A military order for a warship - I think it's fair. Although, given the conditions under which everything happened, then the Order of the Red Banner would be quite suitable.

Well, the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad." Sparsely, of course, but engineer-captain 1st rank Donchenko, I don’t think she was in the claims. At that time, people did not work for awards. After the war, she took part in many projects. The peak of her work was participation in the creation of the nuclear submarine K-27 as the chief observing specialist.

Alexandra Nikolaevna left us back in 1983.

But here in the museum military equipment The UMMC in Verkhnyaya Pyshma has a full-sized perfectly created model of the Project 194 BMO. It’s great that it exists, because even if the model is in the Urals, it is first of all a magnificent monument to both the wonderful woman shipbuilder Alexandra Nikolaevna Donchenko and the shipbuilders of besieged Leningrad.

Here's how, tell me, not to like going to the museum after that? Often there is a story behind each exhibit. And not easy.

As a response to the article by L. L. Yermash “How a small hunter was created”, a small excerpt from the memoirs of Vladimir Sergeevich Biryuk, who served on “hunters” during the war years, was published. Judging by the reviews, this excerpt, dedicated to the everyday life of brave boatmen, aroused great interest. We bring to the attention of readers a few more episodes of the combat activity of boats of the MO-4 type in the Black Sea.

The combat qualities of the MO-4 received a worthy assessment in the very first months of the war. If we talk about their official recognition, then in our Black Sea Fleet, perhaps, the first time document containing a brief but sufficient complete description"hunters", was the "Report on the landing operation to liberate the Kerch Peninsula and the cities of Kerch and Feodosia on December 26-31, 1941." Rear Admiral N. D. Eliseev, Chief of Staff of the Fleet, wrote: “In this operation, as in all the combat activities of the fleet, SKA of the MO-4 type showed their best side. They were an excellent means of landing, security, air defense and anti-aircraft defense.

Now, forty years later, thanks to the work of historians, it is possible to imagine in all details the course of the mentioned operation. At the same time, of course, we - the Red Navy - knew about what was happening only what could be seen from the deck of the MO. And the operation was truly grandiose: the landing forces included 42,000 fighters! For their landing at several points in the eastern part of the Crimea, 97 warships and a whole armada of fishing canoes, launches, boats, oaks, etc. were assembled at once.

The daring operation of landing troops from large ships right in Feodosia, occupied by the enemy, was unprecedented. It began with a powerful artillery preparation: on December 29, at 03.50, the cruisers and destroyers opened fire from all the barrels of the main caliber. "Zheleznyakov" and "Shaumyan" at the same time fired illuminating projectiles in order to illuminate the water area and the territory of the port. At the same time, our "hunters" of the Landing Craft Detachment |OVS), following in the darkness of the night right under the shore, began to move towards the entrance to the port.

At 04.03, green rockets were fired from the Krasny Kavkaz cruiser, meaning: “Stop the fire, break through the boats!” Just at this moment, thanks to the initiative of the commander of the Allied Forces, Captain-Lieutenant A.P. Ivanov, the boats not only approached the Feodosia lighthouse, but also found a narrow passage between the lighthouse and the booms of the barrier.

The first to burst into the harbor at full speed was SKA-0131, Lieutenant I. G. Chernyak. He landed an assault detachment (28 fighters) and a navigation support group on the protective pier. Despite the fiercest resistance of the German machine gunners, the sailors managed to capture the lighthouse and southern part they say, repel two enemy guns. The killed commander of the assault detachment was replaced by the Komsomol organizer of the boat - the commander of the miners' department N. F. Tumanov. During a breakthrough into the harbor, he skillfully suppressed enemy firing points with well-aimed fire from the DShK. He was the first to jump out with a rifle to the pier and, despite being wounded in the arm, led the paratroopers. Bosun of the boat S. P. Rokotov tore down the Nazi flag and raised our red flag over the Feodosiya lighthouse.

Another boat - "SKA-013" of Lieutenant A. V. Vlasov, having described the circulation, "combed" the moorings with fire and took up booms. The section of booms was taken aside and at 04.12 a signal was given: "The entrance to the harbor is free!" As the destroyers approached, the boatmen illuminated their passage with rockets. After that, SKA-013 landed a group of scouts and three Red Navy mooring men on the pier to receive the ends from the Krasny Kavkaz cruiser, which at that time was approaching the wall. Only on the third attempt - the strongest squeezing wind interfered with the maneuver - did the huge 160-meter ship manage to make ends meet and pull itself up to the pier. And the destroyer Nezamozhnik generally had to ram the wall on the move, and then land the paratroopers through the forecastle hanging over the pier. The cruiser "Red Crimea" anchored 2 cables from the pier and began to land soldiers on ship launches and "hunters" approaching one after another to the ladders ...

All this happened under heavy enemy fire. Guns of all calibers, hundreds of mortars and machine guns hit the stationary ships with direct fire. During the half hour that the unloading of the "Red Caucasus" lasted, fires were put out on it 8 times! A heavy projectile pierced the side armor and almost caused an explosion in the cellars: the cruiser was saved - at the cost of his life - by the Red Navy sailor Vasily Poputny, who managed to pull out a charge burning like a torch from the elevator.

SKA-013, which was transferring paratroopers from the side of the Red Crimea, received two direct hits: an underwater hole was formed, the motors were damaged. Only then did the boat leave - under its own power - for Novorossiysk.

11 SKA of the type "MO-4", ("013", "0131", "051", "052", "061", "063", "032", "97", "141" took part in the Feodosiya operation , "146" and "147"), they landed 266 people of the assault detachment, who occupied the berths, transported 4423 paratroopers to the shore from the cruisers. Let's not forget that the 140-mile night passage from Novorossiysk itself, with a 7-point northwest, was a difficult task for overloaded boats. In peacetime, in such weather, they simply would not have been released into the sea.

The brave crews of the "hunters", as a rule, far exceeded all and sundry norms, using the reserves laid down by the designers when developing the project of this wonderful boat.

So, on September 4, 1942, SKA-082, participating in the evacuation of our units from the Taman Peninsula, took on board 115 Red Army soldiers with all weapons and the printing house of the political department of the Azov Flotilla. At the crossing, the wind reached a force of 8 points. To maintain stability, the deck cargo had to be thrown overboard - depth charges weighing about 2 tons. The boat safely delivered people to Novorossiysk.

A few days later the situation deteriorated sharply. Already from some areas of Novorossiysk itself, it was necessary to evacuate the units that were surrounded. On September 10, SKA-022 was ordered to proceed to the Dynamo pier (fish-factory) in order to receive troops to transport them to the rear. At night, the boat under the command of senior lieutenant G.P. Pavlov, under enemy fire, at full speed, basement to the pier. Boatswain V. N. Lapin, with the help of commanders N. I. Chikin and P. A. Chernomorets, foremen of the 2nd article A. Ya. all types of weapons of the zone, with 125 fighters on board.

And 125 - this was not the limit, although according to the instructions it was supposed to take no more than 50 people with weapons (90 - without weapons and luggage (. Two hours later, SKA-022 returned to the same pier again. The enemy illuminated the area where our troops were concentrated with lighting shells, bombarded with mines.The boat received four holes, but did not stop loading people.In 7 minutes, under hurricane fire, 157 people with weapons were taken on board!

Such - more than three times - overload, at which the boat landed in the water almost to the very windows, significantly worsened its seaworthiness. Following to Gelendzhik with a wave of about 3 points and a wind of 4-5 points, SKA-022, with any change in course, scooped up water on board. Turning with the help of rudders alone was impossible, it was possible to turn only on a wave. In the narrowness, maneuvering was complicated by the fact that the circulation diameter with the rudder position "on board" exceeded the normal one by 6-8 times! Needless to say: at such crossings, and they were not rare, the whole crew got it, and especially the boat commander and helmsman.

Any of the combat exits required the full exertion of strength, dedication, and stamina. Here, for example, is a protocol record of 120 minutes from the life of the SKA-028 crew during the Novorossiysk landing operation on September 9-10, 1943, from which the legendary Malaya Zemlya began.

At 3.16 the boat was at the Western pier, dodging mines and enemy shells - maneuvering at a variable speed from 6 to 14 knots. Wind - north-east with a force of 3-4 points, visibility - from 1-2 kb to 50-30 m, the water area is smoky with fires. There is a landing party on board - 75 people. To make it clear what 75 people on a 26-meter boat are, let's decipher the word "placed". There were 4 people in the galley, 12 in the 4-seater cockpit, 32 in the 8-seater cabin, 3 in the wardroom corridor, 1 in the washbasin, 14 in the wardroom; two heavy machine guns with crews are mounted on the tank, a battalion mortar with a crew of 5 is on the poop. That's not all. The "Hunter" was towing two motorboats, each of which had 44 fighters.

In the area planned for the landing, there were a large number of firing points, including an armored train. When "023" turned to the shore, trying to stay in the dark part of the water area, the enemy not only fired from six-barreled mortars, 75-mm cannons and 20-mm machine guns, but also drank the boats with machine-gun fire.

At 03:17, an explosion occurred in the stern from a direct hit of a mine in boxes with ammunition. The boat was strongly shaken, but it remained on course and went without roll and trim. The bearing of the stock of the left rudder, the electrical wiring in the area of ​​sp. 74-80, fire pump; a hole of 1.5X1.0 m was formed in the decking; there was a fire in the saloon. After 2 minutes, the electrical wiring in the bow MO broke out. At 0323, the fender of the first shots of the bow gun caught fire from an incendiary projectile. At 3:25 a.m., the aft 45-mm cannon was disabled by shrapnel. A minute later, the deck caught fire in the area of ​​​​the 8-seater cockpit. The right tank was pierced, gasoline began to flow out of it. The radio antenna was killed, the KUB-4 receiver was disabled.

However, in spite of everything, at 3.20, having stuck his nose to the shore, SKA-028, engulfed in flames, began landing.

Since both pumps were not working, the poop fire was extinguished using fire extinguishers, mats, pea jackets, tarpaulins. The fire in the forward MO was quickly stopped by the Red Navy sailors Fomin and Idiatulin. Other, less dangerous fires were eliminated by the personnel without even reporting to the commander of the boat, who permanently stood on the bridge. The influx of water in the forepeak area was managed with a hand pump. The rudder control was transferred to the tiller-hoist.

Having completed its task of landing, the boat moved away from the coast, at 3.40 stopped firing, and by 6.50 with great difficulty, on one engine, reached Gelendzhik, having 10 dead and 27 wounded on board ...

Of course, it also happened that, as the command of the 2nd division of the SKA once noted, “the unreasonable use of boats made it impossible to complete the task assigned to them, since it was just right for the crews to take care only of their survivability and unsinkability.” I remember that already at the end of the war on the Black Sea, SKA-022 went to sea to escort the Moskva tanker. Stormy. I don't know how many points there were, but the inclinometer in the wheelhouse darted from side to side like crazy. The pitching was swift, sometimes it seemed that the boat that had boarded would not get up! Veyanoy tore off the fender of the first shots of the bow cannon, dragged it along the pigeon and pierced the wheelhouse with it. At the same time, the manhole cover was torn out. In an instant, the galley and the radio room were flooded. Radio and hydroacoustic stations are out of order. With a strong trim on the bow, the boat was forced to return to Odessa ...

Anything has happened, but one thing is certain. The security of our sea communications, and in the Black Sea they were, in fact, the only ways to supply our fronts, in the overwhelming majority of cases was provided by MO-4 boats. Round-the-clock surveillance of the sea and sky, repelling attacks by enemy submarines, torpedo bombers, and especially bomber and fighter aviation the enemy was considered a normal daily activity of the “hunters” personnel. The tactics of enemy operations, even in the most difficult days for us, were carefully studied, the experience of our best ships immediately became the property of the entire active fleet. But sometimes I had to deal with completely unforeseen circumstances that contradicted all the canons of maritime practice.

On the night of March 2, 1942, SKA-075 under the command of Lieutenant A. M. Vanin, having received a special assignment, left Novorossiysk for Kerch. On the beam of Cape Utrish, the boat overtook the steamer Fabritius, which was also heading to Kerch with troops and cargo necessary for the front.

This ship belonged to the category of "old men", as it was built in England back in 1906 and originally bore the mysterious name "Saida". Immediately after the last docking, carried out five or six years before the war, it developed a speed of up to 9 knots. This indicator was now, of course, already an anachronism: the overloaded Fabricius crawled like a turtle. The hunter, running under three motors at 25 knots, soon lost sight of him.

Suddenly, those standing on the bridge heard an explosion muffled by the distance behind the stern of the boat. There was no doubt that something had happened to the Fabricius. With the permission of the member of the Military Council of the front, who was on board, SKA-075, having described the circulation, lay down on the return course. Already from a distance everything became clear - torpedoed! The captain of the Fabricius, M. Grigor, said through a megaphone that the machine was disabled, water was entering one of the holds, there were dead and wounded.

From the commander of "SKA-075" an immediate decision was required. And Lieutenant Vanin found him. He made a restrictive bombing, which was supposed to drive the boat away from the target if it was going to finish off the steamer, and ordered ... to prepare a towing line!

Since the pedestal of the stern 45-mm gun could not stand it, the boatswain Fineman wound up a tow rope around the boat's hull - a braga. The ship was not a "leviathan", but by the then Black Sea standards it was a rather large vessel: its deadweight was 4277 tons, the draft in the load was 6.2 m. for towing operations. However, to everyone's joy, the "hunter" was still able to move the bulk from its place and dragged it at a speed that was only slightly different from the former speed of an undamaged steamer.

The guns and machine guns had stiffened their calculations: the enemy could attack a second time. Anxiously listened to the hysterical rumble of the engines, the foreman of the group of minders Kiselev: the engines had never experienced such a physical, and he had never experienced such a moral load. After some time, SKA-046 came to the rescue. The unusual operation lasted four hours. Approaching the shore, the boats gave up their towing lines, and the Fabritius, by inertia, slowly crawled out onto the shallows.

Thanks to the special order of the Military Council of the Transcaucasian Front, the personnel of SKA-075 were thanked for the rescue of the steamer Fabritius.

Here is another unusual case. On February 21, 1943, a convoy consisting of the Iursk steamer and three "hunters" left Poti. The route of 163 miles to Tuapse was supposed to be covered in such a way as to stand up for unloading at night, security boats, following in combat readiness No. 3, carefully monitored the sea and air. Somewhere on the beam of the New Athos Monastery we had supper with the change of watch. The day ended remarkably calm. Having carefully listened with hydroacoustics to the area favored by German submariners, where they most often took up positions for their attacks, they did not find anyone.

Sochi lurked somewhere in the dark. The Kursk was moving close to the shore and almost merging with it, the boats were moving more seaward. Passed Lazarevskoe. Time began counting a new day, the Black Sea fell. This time it was not exhausting with its rapid pitching, it did not pour over the lookouts. cold salty water: rare snowflakes silently fell on the deck. The flight ended successfully - everyone thought so, since Tuapse was a mere trifle - some 7 miles.

In the first hour, the signalmen discovered that the Kursk had lost speed. Steam engine of transport with a capacity of 3200 and. l. With. regularly rotated the propeller shaft, a huge propeller ridge tirelessly whipped the foam behind the stern, but no movement was observed. "Kursk", having a draft of about 8 m, obviously sat tightly on the bank.

The moon peeked through the clouds. Somewhere else far away, but with a perceptibly disturbing buzz, a single "Junker" made itself felt. The situation was changing before our eyes. We, the Red Navy, remembered the last political information before the campaign. The political instructor said that a transport like the Kursk could transport 2,000 fighters with weapons, 200 medium tanks, or food for two months for 4-5 divisions in one flight.

Boat commanders sorted through everything possible options salvage of the ship, but none of them were acceptable in this situation. The clock inexorably counted the night time. With the dawn, the Kursk will inevitably turn into an excellent immovable target for bombing!

On our "SKA-022" miner foreman of the 2nd article Alexander Yakovlevich Dmitrichev climbed onto the bridge and quietly said something to the commander. Senior Lieutenant Georgy Pavlovich Pavlov nodded his head, immediately went down to the deck and, opening the door to the radio room, ordered: “Call the SKA commanders and the captain of the Kursk by VHF!”

Pavlov - a participant in the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol - was one of the most courageous and decisive commanders of the SKA. He was well known in the Navy. The captains sighed with relief when a boat with the number "022" was assigned to guard their ships. The personnel of the “hunter” had boundless faith in their fearless commander, who had already been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of War in the first months of the war.

A few minutes later, having summarized the essence of his proposal, he gave the command to the transport - to work with the machine “full back”, and on the “hunters” the handles of the machine telegraphs of all three engines (850 hp each) should be switched to the “full forward” position.

The chimney of the steamer began to smoke: near the furnaces of three old boilers, the stokers, who seemed to be despondent, were chirping. With a roar of engines, three boats lined up in a wake column and at a speed of 25 knots began to describe circles around the motionless mass of the Kursk.

Dmitrichev recalled what Pavlov knew well himself. When a reckless driver passed along the Holi River, where the coastal bases of the MO and torpedo boats were then located, even at medium speed, the mooring lines of the boats standing by the lag were torn, and boats and other small watercraft ended up on the shore. And then the megaphones in the hands of sailors jumping out onto the decks of boats dancing wildly on the waves fully justified their unofficial name - swearers. At the same time, the expressions were not an empty phrase, but threatened the violator of maritime ethics with far-reaching consequences when he went ashore ...

Pavlov understood well that the Kursk was not a lifeboat or a cutter, but there was no other way out. And so the three SKA continued to spin, spreading an unimaginable crowd of waves. All of their personnel, except for the minders, peered intently at the outlines of the steamer with its characteristic high and thin chimney that appeared through the pre-morning haze. All the time it seemed * that the Kursk was beginning to move, but as soon as it "attached" to some landmark on the shore, the illusion disappeared.

The hour of an unparalleled carousel was ending when suddenly there was a cry: "Let's go!". The signalman Mikhail Eremin, who was the first to notice how the ship was moving, even lost his voice from the tension ...

Pavlov, turning off two engines, wearily sat down on a folding seat near the body kit of the bridge. Having chirped “stop” with a machine telegraph, the foreman of the 2nd article Aleksey Yakovlevich Chersky leaned out of the hatch of the bow MO and looked inquiringly at the commander.

It's all right, party organizer! They rocked the "old man", did not leave him to be torn to pieces. Thanks to your mechanics!

At dawn, the Kursk moored safely in Tuapse. And we had to go further north, to Gelendzhik, and from there to Myskhako - to support the heroically fighting landing of Caesar Kunikov and Fyodor Kotanov. The epic of Malaya Zemlya began, in which the “sea hunters” wrote more than one glorious page.

And the combat activity of the Black Sea "hunters" ended with participation in the implementation of an unusual and responsible task - ensuring the security of the Yalta Conference on February 4-11, 1945.

Before the New Year 1945, our SKA-022 returned to the Streletskaya Bay of Sevastopol with a tarpaulin plaster on the wheelhouse. MO-4 "and American corvettes. During a short vacation in Yalta, the SKA-022 personnel visited the Americans more than once, who invariably greeted Soviet sailors with great respect. Looking at the American corvettes, we involuntarily noted that overseas designers were the least they thought about those who would serve on the ships they designed.The impression was that it was like being on a submarine.The combat posts are crowded, like in a tank.

On February 9, the terribly preoccupied senior naval commander of Yalta, Captain 2nd Rank Leut, unexpectedly arrived at SKA-022. On the same day, the paint was brought, the boatswain immediately began to conjure over her color scheme. It became known that the next day the heads of governments of the three allied powers, who were in Yalta, could visit the ships.

It was necessary to have time not only to paint the boat, but, most importantly, to bring the wheelhouse into proper shape, masking the hole in its bow wall. Work boiled over. Late at night, the commander reported on the fulfillment of the order, and for a long time we could not fall asleep, checking the equipment and uniform of the first term to the smallest detail. The cook polished the galley and everything that was in it to a shine: who knows, what if distinguished guests want to taste naval borscht!

In the morning, all the binoculars were dismantled and directed to the highway leading towards Alupka. They also stirred on the neighboring corvette. After breakfast, which was swallowed with an eye on the shore, groups of people in civilian clothes were found on the corners of the streets overlooking the embankment, who were in no hurry to go anywhere. A few more hours later, a cavalcade of black limousines with drawn curtains on the windows slowly drove out onto the embankment. We froze in parade formation, peering at the cars that had stopped on the shore. Reminiscing about the rough years that have passed. Hearts were filled with pride for our people, for its glorious Navy.

It is not known what caused the revision of the agenda of the Conference participants, but the visit to the ships did not take place. The cars moved on and proceeded in the direction of Massandra. A few days later the whole world was informed about the Conference held in Crimea.

The Soviet government appreciated the heroism and courage of the sailors during the Great Patriotic War. Among the awarded were several formations of the Black Sea "sea hunters". The Order of the Red Banner was awarded to the 1st and 4th Novorossiysk, 5th and 6th Kerch divisions of SKA.

"Sea Hunter" "SKA-065" was awarded the title of Guards. On March 25, 1943, this boat, which was escorting transport, was attacked twice by enemy aircraft - in groups of 16 aircraft. The boat received over 500 large and small holes. Two engines failed, the third was damaged. The wheelhouse and navigation bridge were broken, the bow compartments were filled with water. More than half of the personnel were killed and wounded. Despite this, the boat continued to repel aircraft attacks and emerged victorious: the transport reached Gelendzhik. With flooded cockpits, with a strong trim on the nose, under one often stalled engine, the SKA-065, having covered over 50 miles, came to the base under its own power.

The submission for the title of Guards briefly listed the combat operations of SKA-065 from June 22, 1941 to March 25, 1943: escorted 118 transports; carried out sentinel service for 140 days; 32 times inspected and bombed the fairways, ensuring the entry and exit of ships from the bases; 32 times put smoke curtains; conducted 3 combat sweeps, destroying 8 mines; 4 times landed sabotage groups (69 people) behind enemy lines; landed 1840 paratroopers; 5 times participated in reconnaissance off the coast occupied by the enemy; took out 1028 wounded; participated in the search for enemy submarines 15 times, in the search for torpedo boats - 6 times; repelled air raids 185 times, and shot down 3 and knocked out 6 aircraft; 12 times fired on the enemy coast in raiding operations; 10 times provided assistance to our ships and aircraft that received combat damage.

Needless to say, glorious statistics!

Our youth, the current Komsomol members, have someone to take an example from. Studying the combat episodes of the Great Patriotic War will help them to always be ready, if the Motherland demands, to stand up with weapons in their hands to protect the sacred frontiers, to increase the glorious fighting traditions of the older generation.

The model from Kombrig was taken as a basis, but from the set itself, only the felling and pedestals of 45mm guns went into work. The hull and boat were made of plastic. Author of the model and article - Alexey Nikitin.

Description of the design of the boat

Small hunters of the MO-4 type are designed as a further development of the MO-2 type hunter. In contrast to the MO-2, the length and width were slightly increased, and the deck cut in the stern was removed, the side was reduced by 100 mm, and the boats received more powerful main engines, which contributed to an increase in full speed. In peacetime, hunters carried out guard duty as part of the NKVD naval border guard units, and in wartime they were used to fight enemy submarines as part of the Navy, as well as to protect the water area (OVR).

The hull of the boat is smooth-deck, wooden. The superstructure consisted of a conning tower and an open navigation bridge. Unsinkability was ensured by dividing the hull with watertight bulkheads into 9 compartments. The boat had amazing unsinkability, there were cases when the boats came to the base even with a torn off nose. Rescue equipment on boats is represented by one four-oar boat located in the stern on the deck and lifebuoys.
The power plant is mechanical, three-shaft with three GAM-34BS gasoline engines of 850 hp each, providing full speed up to 27 knots. Type of fuel gasoline brand B-70. On boats of military construction, motors of various brands and power were installed, on some boats there were two motors each, and the speed did not exceed 22-24 knots.
The electric power system included two DC dynamos PN-28.5 with a power of 2 kW, located in the aft engine room. A closed-type machine, with mixed excitation, created a voltage of 115 V, with a current strength of up to 17A.

The armament of the boats consisted of two single-barreled 45-mm semi-automatic 21-K, two single-barreled 12.7 mm
DShK machine guns, two depth charge bombers. Starting from 1944, 45mm 21-K cannons were replaced with the same caliber 21-KM with an increased barrel length, 20mm Oerlikon assault rifles and 25mm 84-KM assault rifles were additionally installed, in addition, machine guns were additionally installed various systems, and on some boats installations were installed rockets"Katyusha".

The boats were equipped with a compass, a Poseidon noise direction finding station and sea smoke bombs.
Boats were built at Primorsky Plant No. 5 in Leningrad, and during the war years also at Plants No. 640 and No. 638. The lead boat entered service with the fleet in 1936. In total, 261 boats were built in 1937-1945.

During the Great Patriotic War, the boats proved to be one of the most versatile and sought-after ships of the Soviet Navy.

Tactical and technical characteristics of boats type MO-4:

• Displacement: normal 53.5 tons, full 56.5 tons.
• Maximum length: 26.9 meters.
• Maximum width: 4.0 meters.
• Depth amidships: 2.9 meters.
• Hull draft: 1.5 meters.
• Travel speed: full 27 knots, economic 16 knots.
• Cruising range: 800 miles at 16 knots.
• Autonomy: 3 days.
• Armament: two 45-mm 21-K semi-automatic cannons, two 12.7-mm DShK machine guns, two bomb releasers, 8 large and 28 small depth bombs, 6 smoke bombs (MBDSh), Poseidon noise direction finder.

From the history of the SKA-065 service

Widespread not only in Black Sea Fleet, but also in the world received the battle "SKA-065" with Nazi aircraft on March 25, 1943 in the area of ​​False Gelendzhik. On that day, a boat under the command of Senior Lieutenant P.P. Sivenko followed as part of the guard of the American transport "Achilleon" from Gelenzhik to Tuapse. Sea waves reached seven points, which seriously hampered maneuvering and shooting. The pilots of the German planes attacking the convoy were outraged that some small boat resisted more than thirteen bombers. Leaving the transport alone, the Nazis attacked the SKA-065 with star raids. During the unequal fierce battle, the hunter received about 200 holes from fragments of bombs and air cannon shells. The wheelhouse shifted, the stem was broken, the navigation bridge fencing was torn off, tanks and pipelines were pierced, the left hull cheekbone was destroyed - this is an incomplete list of the damage received. But, nevertheless, the small hunter continued to fire and dodge the falling bombs. From the flooding of the bow rooms, a 15-degree trim was formed on the nose. The crew fought off the enemy and at the same time fought for the survival of the hunter. The surviving seven people, led by the commander, did everything to save their boat.

Having used up the entire supply of bombs and shells, the planes flew away. The stalled engines were put into operation after 40 minutes. The boat caught up with the Achilleon and independently covered the remaining 50 miles to the base.

After this battle, the SKA-065 boat became Guards.

Model

The model from Kombrig was taken as a basis, but from the set itself, only the felling and pedestals of 45mm guns went into work. The hull and boat were made of plastic. The mast, flagpoles, cannon barrels, machine guns and racks for them, fenders on the hull, spire, bitings, anchors, anchor chains, bollards, milestones, lifebuoys - from