- Yes
- No
Marat in 1939
TL;DR:
Bluewater vessel, scuffed Parizhskaya Kommuna with more outdated secondaries.
History:
The 3rd of the Sevastopol (Gangut) class battleships to be built, and originally named Petropavlovsk. It served in the Baltic Fleet in WW1 and participated in the February Revolution of 1917 and the Ice Cruise from Helsinki to Kronshtadt. Of the 4 ships it was the only one to remain in service after crew shortages during the Civil War and participated in actions against British ships and White and Rebel forces. It played a leading role in the 1921 Kronshtadt Rebellion, with the initial demands being drafted on the ship. After the rebellion was suppressed, the ship was renamed Marat, after the French revolutionary.
In 1925 reconstruction plans for the battleships were started, and in 1928 work started on Marat, the first one to be modernized (though Parizhskaya Kommuna had been refitted earlier). The forward superstructure was rebuilt to fit new fire control gear and other equipment. Additionally a hoist for a KR-1 seaplane was mounted at the rear, with the seaplane stored on the third turret (albeit it lacked a catapult and had to lower the plane on water to deploy it). The main guns and various turret machinery and electrical systems were replaced, and 76mm Lender guns installed on the turrets as AA guns. The boilers were converted to only burn oil and the greater efficiency allowed 3 boilers to be replaced with anti-aircraft ammunition magazines, a steering post, a fire control room, and a damage control centre. The armour was re-riveted, chemical defences added, and a false bow added. The ship finished modernization in 1931, and was trialled to decent results, with the ship having increased stability and longer firing range. It appeared at King George VI’s Coronation Naval Review in 1937 and participated in the Winter War shelling a Finnish coastal battery.
As the modernizations for Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya and Parizhskaya Kommuna were completed, it became increasingly apparent that Marat’s modernization was unsatisfactory, and in 1940-1941 Marat was due to be modernized a second time. Unfortunately by Operation Barbarossa, Marat only had its AA battery improved and turret roof armour increased, and more extensive plans were shelved. Naval operations in the Baltic were impossible due to a shortage of fuel and extensive minelaying by Axis forces, so Marat was mainly used to bombard German forces during the siege of Leningrad. In September of 1941 Marat was attacked by dive bombers and hit by 2 1000kg bombs, detonating the forward magazine, blowing off the bow, and sinking the ship. However it was refloated from the shallow port waters soon after and used as a floating battery with only 9 of its 12 guns remaining. In 1943 it reverted to its original name and by the lifting of the siege had fired 1971 rounds.
It remained as a floating battery at the end of the war, and there were plans to reconstruct the ship using the bow of the laid up battleship Frunze, known as Project 27. The plan involved the movement of the third turret to replace the destroyed first, with the remaining space to be filled with secondary turrets. Additionally the FCS was to be refitted with modern ones and the machinery changed. In 1946 Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov recommended the project be cancelled, and all work was ended by 1948. Petropavlovsk instead become a stationary school ship, was renamed Volkhov in 1950, and stricken in 1953 and scrapped.
Specifications: (1941)
Armament:
4x3 12"/52 (305mm) Pattern 1907 (1200 rounds)
14x1 120mm Pattern 1905 (3500 or 4200 rounds)
2x2 76mm 81-K, on the 2 indents at stern
6x1 76mm 34-K, 3 each on the front and rear turrets
6x1 37mm 70-K, on the superstructure
13x1 12.7mm DShK, on superstructure
4x1 450mm Underwater Torpedo TubesArmour: (Krupp cemented steel, same layout as Poltava but turret roofs are strengthened to 152mm)
225mm Centreline Belt
125mm Waterline Front and Rear
125mm Upper Belt
75mm Upper Waterline Front
100mm Belt Ends
50mm Belt Bulkhead (Krupp non-cemented steel)
37.5mm Upper Belt Bulkhead (Krupp non-cemented steel)
100-125mm Rudder Armour
37.5mm Upper Deck (nickel-chrome steel)
19-25mm Deck
12mm Lower Deck (mild steel)
254mm Conning Tower Sides
100mm Conning Tower Roofs
76mm Conning Tower Floors
127mm Upper Conning Tower Tubes
76mm Lower Conning Tower Tubes
22mm Funnel Uptakes
76.2mm Casemate Guns
203mm Turret Front and Sides
152mm Turret Roofs
305mm Turret Backs
76mm Gun Embrasures
150mm Upper Barbettes
75mm Lower BarbettesDisplacement:
24 230 tons standard
26 700 tons fullLength: 184.0m
Beam: 26.9m
Draft: 9.3m
Propulsion: 4 Geared Steams Turbines with 22 Yarrow Oil Boilers, 61 000hp, driving 4 shafts
Speed: 22.9 knots (42.4 km/h)
Range: 2310nmi (at 14 kts)
Crew: 1286
Systems:
KDP-6 fire director with 2 Zeiss rangefinders + master sight
3 rangefinders on fore tower below KDP-6
1 rangefinder on aft tower
4 8m Zeiss or Galileo rangefinders, 1 on each turret (might have been changed sometime after refit)
2 1.5m rangefinders on superstructure
MSA FCS
Images:
Sources:
Budzbon, P. Radziemski, J. Twardowski, M. (2022) Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945 (Kindle, pp. 69-71). Pen and Sword.
Gogin, I. (2021) Fighting ships of World War Two 1937 - 1945. Volume VII. Soviet Union. (pp. 17-19). Kindle Edition.
McLaughlin, S., Apalʹkov, Yu. V., & Burns, T. A. (2021). The Sevastopol (Gangut) Class. In Russian & Soviet battleships (pp. 221–227). Naval Institute Press.
McLaughlin, S., Apalʹkov, Yu. V., & Burns, T. A. (2021). Modernizing the Marat (ex-Sevastopol) Class. In Russian & Soviet battleships (pp. 338–342). Naval Institute Press.
McLaughlin, S., Apalʹkov, Yu. V., & Burns, T. A. (2021). War and Its Aftermath. In Russian & Soviet battleships (pp. 401–405). Naval Institute Press.
McLaughlin, S., Apalʹkov, Yu. V., & Burns, T. A. (2021). Leftovers. In Russian & Soviet battleships (pp. 413–414). Naval Institute Press.
http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/01/035/index.html
https://northstarmodels.com/2017/05/1350-marat-battleship-1941-zvezda-northstarmodels-sets/ (very cool model images here)
