Capable (destroyer, 1939)

The ships of this project were developed by the design bureau of the Northern Shipyard under the general guidance of the chief designer N. A. Lebedev and the supervision of the representative of the Navy A. E. Tsukshverdt.

The ship was laid down as "Movable" on July 17, 1936 in Nikolaev at plant No. 200 (named after 61 Communards) under project 7 with serial number 1075. On March 7, 1939, the destroyer was reloaded under project 7U , and launched on September 30, 1939 ^{[ 1]} . September 25, 1940 the ship was renamed "Capable." The destroyer underwent mooring trials in January 1941, while it was damaged by ice (the starboard lining between the 76th and 170th frames was dented), and when towed by an icebreaker it was aground. After repairs in Odessa, only on March 1, the ship arrived in Sevastopol to conduct factory tests. On April 13, the state acceptance tests of the "Capable" began, ending on June 22 ^[2] .

1941

On June 22, 1941, "Capable" met under the command of Captain 3 ranks Evgeny Andrianovich Kozlov ^[1] on completion near the wall of plant No. 201 in Sevastopol . June 24, "Capable" became part of the Black Sea Fleet . On September 4, the destroyer joined the defense of Odessa, escorting transports, transporting goods and people, and on September 7-11, it supported the defending troops with fire. In particular, on September 7, he used up 28 shells, and on September 11 - 49 shells. In total, during the participation in the defense of Odessa, the destroyer fired 77 130-mm, 64 76-mm, 135 45-mm shells and 357 12.7-mm bullets ^on enemy troops and aircraft ^[2] .

Since November, "Capable" joined the defense of Sevastopol, escorting transports, transporting goods and people, supporting the defending troops with fire. So, for this purpose, spent on December 4 - 56 shells, December 5 - 63, December 6 - December 17, 7 - 94, December 8 - 59, December 23 - December 80 and 24 - 191. November 27 in an 8-point storm " The capable one ”received a number of injuries (cracks appeared on the boiler cover and in the flooring of the upper deck in the region of the 180th frame, the finishing squares of the riveted seams burst, the pipes of the ship's ventilation crushed, etc.) ^[3] . In December, "Capable" actively participated in the shelling of German positions near Sevastopol. So, from December 4 to 8, he fired 292 130-mm shells, from December 23-24 - 329. On December 29–31, he was part of the guard unit of the second transport detachment during the Kerch-Feodosia landing operation ^[1] .

1942

On January 6, 1942, from 5.40 to 8.00, the destroyer landed a reinforced battalion of the 226th mountain rifle regiment (217 people) ^[3] at Cape Chekanny in the Sudak raid, after which it fired on Sudak from 9.21 to 9.50, using 95 shells (see Sudak landing ).

On January 8, the ship took on board 300 paratroopers and at 18.10 left Novorossiysk to Feodosia . In 19.07, on the traverse of Cape Myskhako, the destroyer was blown up on a Soviet defensive minefield. Up to the 41st frame, the bow of the destroyer lifted up about 70 degrees, then came off and sank. Together with her, 106 people died - 20 crew members and 86 paratroopers. The “capable”, walking in a 24-knot course, continued to move by inertia; the water pressure destroyed the waterproof bulkhead on the 41st frame, and all compartments before the 58th frame were flooded. The light went out on the ship. Although the boilers and turbines of the destroyer remained intact, the wind and waves made it difficult to move the stern forward. Only after midnight, the damaged “Capable” was towed by the destroyer “Nezavozhnik” and brought to Novorossiysk. The damage inspection results were disappointing. The bow, along with the first 130-mm gun, was lost; the hull set up to the 48th frame was completely destroyed. In the area of ​​the 179-181st and 190-191st frames, large corrugations formed on all decks. A lot of cracks appeared in the case. The alignment of the propeller shafts is broken. The left screw caught on the sinking nose and lost two blades. On April 10, at 12.35, while parking in Novorossiysk near artillery bombs, artillery mounts and torpedo tubes were damaged, many holes were breached on the port side, 4 shrapnel shells in the fenders of the first shots detonated at 130 mm guns, and a fire broke out. Almost all the instruments and radio equipment were broken, the pipelines broke, the diesel generator failed, 34 people were killed and 67 injured. April 23, in tow with the destroyer “Independent”, “Capable” was transferred to Tuapse . Towing was carried out stern forward at a speed of 8 - 9 knots. Plant No. 201, evacuated from Sevastopol, began work on repairs of the Capable. On June 24, they began to manufacture a new bow. On July 17, captain of the 3rd rank Arkady Nikolayevich Gorshenin is appointed as the commander of the ship. But the German offensive in the Caucasus prevented the completion of work. The plant again had to be urgently relocated, and on August 12 the destroyer was towed by the rescue ship Mercury to Poti .

On September 7, the manufactured bow was delivered on the Altai ship in Poti. The docking of the “Capable” case with a new tip was completed by the end of the year. December 29, the ship was withdrawn from the dock. Completely renovated in May 1943. In the process of restoration, the anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons of the destroyer were significantly modernized. 45-mm semi-automatic 21-K replaced by 37-mm automatic guns 70-K ; two more 70-K cannons were additionally installed on the middle superstructure. Two coaxial Colt-Browning machine guns were deployed on the aft superstructure, and two BMB-1 bombers were on utah. Instead of noise finders mounted the English sonar "Asdik" ("Dragon-128C"); a sonar operator’s cabin was installed on the upper bridge to the left of the command and rangefinding post. According to the drawings of TsKB-17, reinforcements of the hull were carried out in the nose, in the region of the 175th - 187th frames and at the transom. In addition, in the area of ​​the 26th – 27th frames on the port side, a hatch was made for an emergency exit from the officer’s cabin ^{[1] [3]} .

1943

In mid-May 1943, it went into operation after restoration. In the summer and autumn of 1943, "Capable" provided interbase transitions of transports and warships, was accompanied by the cruiser "Red Caucasus" , on August 26, together with the destroyers "Soobrazitelny" and "Boyky" left Batumi for a mine setting near the enemy’s coast, but was discovered at sea German reconnaissance aircraft, after which they decided to cancel the operation, and the ships returned to base.

October 5, 1943 came out together with the leader of Kharkov and the destroyer Ruthless , the task of the detachment was to strike at the port facilities of Feodosia and Yalta , as well as the destruction of the landing ships located there. The detachment was led by the commander of the 1st division of destroyers, captain of the 2nd rank G.P. Negoda . The destroyers were timely detected by enemy reconnaissance aircraft and refused to perform a combat mission, starting to return to base. On the approach to Feodosia, at 5.30 on October 6, the detachment was attacked by torpedo boats S-28, S-42 and S-45. At the same time, during the reflection of the attack of German torpedo boats, one of them - S-45 - hit a 37-mm shell. Realizing that it was not possible to covertly carry out the operation, Negoda decided to abandon the shelling of Theodosia, limiting himself to the bombing of Yalta, where Kharkov was sent. Turning south, "Capable" and "Ruthless" in the area of ​​Cape Meganom met with two more German torpedo boats - S-51 and S-52. Opponents discovered each other quite unexpectedly; the Germans faked an attack and went ashore, did not pursue their destroyers. At 7.15, Kharkiv returned after the Yalta shelling, and the full squad went to the opposite course ^[4] .

From 8.37, the ships were subjected to a series of successive strikes by diving bombers, as a result of which the leader, and then at 11.50 “Ruthless” lost their course. "Capable" began alternately towing "Merciless" and "Kharkov." At 14.25 during the third attack of the enemy’s aircraft, the “Capable” manages to move away from the sinking “Merciless”, who received four direct hits, but loses speed from close bomb explosions for 30-40 minutes. After the leader’s drowning at 15.37, the “Capable” drifts and starts to pick up the personnel of Kharkov, and then returns to the place of death of the “Merciless”, but only has time to lift two people out of the water. The attack by the dive bombers interrupted the rescue operation, the "Capable" received 3 direct hits of 250-kg air bombs: in the 1st engine room and in the cubicles of personnel in the area of ​​the 18th and 41st frames. 20 minutes after the start of the raid, at 18.35, "Capable" sank with trim on the nose and a roll of 3 degrees to starboard. The loss of three ships led to the fact that all the large ships of the Black Sea Fleet were transferred to the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander. They did not participate in the hostilities anymore ^{[4] [5]} .

During the war years, “Capable” was commanded by Captain 3 ranks Evgeny Andrianovich Kozlov (until July 14, 1942) and Captain 3 ranks Arkady Nikolayevich Gorshenin (until October 6, 1943).

• Platonov A.V. Encyclopedia of Soviet surface ships, 1941-1945 / A.V. Platonov. - SPb. : LLC Polygon Publishing House, 2002. - 640 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89173-178-9 .
• Balakin S.A. The "smart" and other destroyers of the 7U project. - M .: Model designer, 1997. - 32 p. - (Maritime collection, 1997, No. 6).

• Destroyer destroyer "Capable" on the site of the Black Sea Fleet
• Destroyer destroyer "Capable" on the website of the USSR Navy