Project SB-12 River Monitor, Udarniy - The Pancake Battleship

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Project SB-12 River Monitor, Udarniy

TL;DR:
Coastal vessel, really slow and flat river monitor with 2 frontally mounted destroyer guns.

History:
The first Soviet river monitor, Udarniy was the only ship of Project SB-12 built. Project SB-12 was originally designed in 1930 as a floating battery for use on the Dnieper before being reclassified during construction. Its hull was based on the Russian Shkval-class river gunboats, featuring a modern structure with superfiring turrets and turreted secondary guns. Because the hull was meant to be extremely shallow, ammo was stored inside the turret barbettes, which were lightly armoured. Despite the attempts to save weight, miscalculations led to the actual draft being about half a metre more than designed, and the ship proved to be too large for the Dnieper.

Udarniy was completed in 1934, originally with German engines. In 1939 it underwent a major modernization, with its engines replaced with stronger domestic ones, and soon after was transferred from the Dneiper Flotilla to the Danube Flotilla, becoming its flagship. By the German Invasion, it was based at Odessa. Unfortunately it still had the same obsolete anti-aircraft weaponry it was designed with, which meant its doom when it was sunk by German bombers off the Tendra Spit defending the coast from amphibious landings. In 1983 its wreck was salvaged, with parts taken and placed into memorials or museums.

Specifications:

Armament:
2x1 130mm/55 B-7 (304 rounds. 40° elevation)
2x2 45mm/46 21-K in 41-K mount (2000 rounds)
4x4 7.62mm Maxim’s in M-4 mount

Armour:

8mm Turret
5mm Turret roofs
7.2mm Barbettes
6mm MG positions
7.2mm Belt
6-12mm Deck
7.2mm Conning tower sides
4.7mm Conning tower roof

Displacement:
367 tons standard
387 tons full

Length: 53.65m

Beam: 11.1m

Draft: 0.8m

Propulsion: 2 38-KR-8 diesel engines, 1600 hp, driving 2 shafts

Speed: 11.6 knots (21.5 km/h)

Range: 1600 nmi (at 8.2 knots)

Crew: 86

Systems:
Fire director with 2.4m Barr and Stroud rangefinder
1.5m AA rangefinder
Geisler FCS

Images:





image
Udarniy’s wreck
Drawings:


Sources:
Budzbon, P. Radziemski, J. Twardowski, M. (2022). Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945 (Kindle Edition. pp. 208). Pen and Sword.
Platonov, Alexei (2004). Sovetskiye Monitory, Kanonerskiye Lodki i Bronekatera (pp. 33-36, 42-43). Vol. I. Sankt-Petrburg.

Images:
https://forums.airbase.ru/2018/11/t105709--monitor-udarnyj.htm

3 Likes

This was on my suggestion list for after I finished my current project, but I’m glad it was suggested anyhow! +1

Yes! It would be great to have something another tree as useless and the German flakbarges! I mean, it would be an interesting challenge to play.

It may be really slow, but those guns would be absolutely LETHAL. The 45mm guns would be decent for defense against torpedo boats, and the quadruple Maxims could actually do pretty qell against planes. Plus it has LOTS of armor.

Personally big ups for this. I think it would go great in the rightmost tech line after all the river gunboats.