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NMS Amiral Murgescu: Romania’s Greatest!
History:
By the late 1930s, the Kingdom of Romania was well-known for their powerful Danube River Fleet. Consisting of powerful monitors, torpedo boats, and gunboats, it could take on any enemy force and win handily, having done so in several previous conflicts, including the First World War. Their seagoing fleet, however, is much less often discussed. Romania has always had to protect their Black Sea coastal waters, and after the First World War it was recognized that the Romanian Navy needed modernization. As such, the 1937 Naval Program was introduced, calling for the construction of a cruiser, four destroyers, three submarines, two minelayers, and ten torpedo boats, all to be built at the new Galați shipyard. The Amiral Murgescu was one of those two minelayers.
Laid down in August 1938, launched in June 1939, and commissioned in early 1941, NMS Amiral Murgescu would go on to be the largest of the warships built as part of the 1937 plan, as Romania didn’t have the capacity to construct a full-sized cruiser or even the proposed small destroyers. This gave it the distinction of being the largest warship built by Romania during the WWII period. She had a sister ship, NMS Cetatea Albă, who was laid down in 1939, but due to a variety of reasons the construction was abandoned. The partially-finished vessel was transferred to the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany and completed, though not to the original specification. It is likely that she was armed with a pair of 102mm guns, two 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and mine rails, but she was never put into service.
Her service with Romania was long and storied, having taken part in essentially every major action on the Black Sea between 1941-1944. These battles were all against the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, pitting two of the most powerful navies in the region against each other. She had four captains during her Romanian service: Alexandru Dumbravă (1941–1942), Ovidiu Mărgineanu (1942–1943), Gheorghe Harting (1943) and Anton Foca (1943–1944).
Click to read her Romanian service record
Her first mission involved laying a thousand mines between June 16-19, 1941 to cover the port of Constanța. This was done alongside two other, older minelayers, NMS Aurora and NMS Regele Carol I. From June 23-25 she took part in activities around Constanța, shooting down 5 aircraft, including 3 in fifteen minutes on the 25th. She then took part in the defense of Constanța when the USSR attacked it, shooting down two Soviet aircraft, and sinking four submarines (Shch-213, Shch-203, M-34, and M-58), and one destroyer leader (Moskva). The cruiser Voroshilov was also damaged. Three more aircraft were shot down on August 5th. The mines laid around Constanța also sank the R-boat R-36 in 1943.
Her next mission came in October of 1941. From the 7th to the 16th, a massive fleet of Romanian and Bulgarian ships laid multiple large minefields along the Bulgarian coast, eventually sinking four more Soviet submarines ( S-34, L-24, Shch-210 and Shch-211).
In February of 1942, she laid mines near the town of Sulina at the mouth of the Danube River.
On June 24, 1942, she and another large Romanian fleet laid mines around Odessa which would eventually sink two more Soviet submarines ( M-33 and M-60) and two gunboats ( Ya-26 and Ya-27).
Between October 29-30 and on November 5th, more mines were laid around Snake Island in the Black Sea, sinking the submarine Shch-212 on December 11th. Submarine M-31 may have been sunk by these mines as well. On December 1st, these mines damaged Voroshilov once again, forcing it and the destroyer Soobrazitelny to retreat from shelling Snake Island.
Overnight from September 13-14, she laid mines off the coast of Sevastopol. The next day, she laid a minefield which closed the Gulf of Kherson.
Her last minelaying operation would be on the 25-26th of May, 1944. She and NMS Dacia, escorted by a number of other Romanian vessels, laid an additional minefield around Sulina. These mines would eventually be responsible for sinking the German S-boat S-148.She also performed numerous escort missions, some all on her own. She participated in 16 escort missions, with the most dangerous being on April 15th, 1944. Escorting a convoy during the evacuation of Crimea, she was set upon by Soviet bombers five separate times. She managed to down two, but she took damage to one main gun and one anti-aircraft gun. On May 12th, 194, she was the last Romanian warship to leave Crimea, being responsible for evacuating over 1,000 troops and holding out to the very end. For her service, she was awarded both the Order of the Star of Romania and the Order of the Romanian Crown. In all, she was responsible for the destruction of 1 destroyer leader, 1 R-boat, 1 S-boat, 2 motor gun boats, up to 12 submarines, and 12 aircraft, along with twice damaging a cruiser.
Her career took a turn following the August Coup. Upon capitulating to the USSR, NMS Amiral Murgescu was recommissioned as Don. She saw little action after this, being converted several times over the rest of her life with the Soviets, first to a training ship, then to a depot ship, then to a command ship. She was disarmed and converted to a barracks ship in 1956, being renamed PKZ-107. In 1958 she was again renamed to PM-76 (later altered to PMR-76 in 1966) and converted to a repair ship, a role she would serve until May 27th, 1988 when she would finally be taken out of service for good. Her fate would be the scrapyard, being sold on July 4th, 1988 – an ignominious end to a once mighty ship.
Description:
The NMS Amiral Murgescu was, as previously mentioned, the largest ship built by Romania in WWII. Measuring 76.9m (252 ft 3.5 in) long, 9.1m (29 ft 10 in) wide, and 2.5m (8 ft 2.4 in) deep and weighing 815 tons standard (maximum 1,068 tons), she was a fairly standard-sized minesweeper, a little larger than the German M-class. Her propulsion consisted of a pair of 1,050 hp Krupp diesel engines driving two propeller shafts, generating a total power of 2,100 hp and a top speed of 16 kts (18 mph). While slow, her main purpose was minelaying, so this was not seen as much of an issue. She had a crew of 78-135, depending on the situation (and source). Ideally she would receive her maximum crew in-game.
When it came to armament, NMS Amiral Murgescu was no slouch. Her main armament consisted of a pair of German 10.5cm SK C/32 dual-purpose naval guns, one on the bow and one towards the stern. Initially covered by armored gun shields, these were removed after a short while to allow for anti-aircraft fire; not that this was needed. Her anti-aircraft battery was extensive and significant, including two 37mm M1939 anti-aircraft guns (license-built FlaK 38/39s), four 20mm Oerlikon guns, and four 13.2mm Hotchkiss M1939 heavy machine guns in two twin mounts. These provided a comprehensive and layered defense against almost any kind of aircraft seeking to attack her, while also being able to fend off smaller torpedo and motor gun boats. Her final armament came in the form of 65 depth charges which were fired from two launchers and 135 naval mines on four rails at the rear. This enormous amount of mines helped contribute to her success, allowing her to lay minefields all on her own which might ordinarily require two or three ships. In War Thunder, a skilled player could cover two or possibly even all three capture zones in a single spawn, completely controlling the map through careful deployment of mines.
Specifications:
Spoiler
General Specifications:
Displacement: 815 tons
Length: 76.9m
Beam: 9.1m
Draft: 2.5m
Armor: None/Unknown
Engines: 2 diesel, 2 shafts
Speed: 16 kts (18 mph)
Complement: 135
Armament:
Primary: 2x1 10.5cm SK C/32 Naval guns (one fore, one aft)
Secondary/Anti-air: 2x1 37mm M1939 Anti-aircraft guns, 4x1 20mm Oerlikon Autocannons, 2x2 13.2mm Hotchkiss M1939 Heavy anti-aircraft machine gun twin mounts
Additional Weapons: 2x Depth charge launchers with 65x depth charges, 4x Mine rails with 135x mines
