Soviet destroyer Sposobny (1940)

Sposobny (Способный) was one of 18 s (officially known as Project 7U) built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Although she began construction as a Project 7, Sposobny was completed in 1941 to the modified Project 7U design and assigned to the Black Sea Fleet.

During the Sieges of Odessa and Sevastopol, the ship escorted convoys to and from those cities and provided naval gunfire support to the defenders during 1941–1942. Sposobny struck a mine in early 1942 and had to be towed back to port for repairs. She was further damaged by bombs while still under repair in April 1942 and they were not completed until mid-1943. After a failed attempt to intercept German convoys off the Crimea, the ship and two other destroyers were attacked by German aircraft. After repeated attacks, the other two were sunk first and Sposobny was sunk while trying to rescue their survivors.

Design and description
Originally built as a Gnevny-class ship, Sposobny and her sister ships were completed to the modified Project 7U design after Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ordered that the latter be built with their boilers arranged en echelon, instead of linked as in the Gnevnys, so that a ship could still move with one or two boilers disabled.

Like the Gnevnys, the Project 7U destroyers had an overall length of 112.5 m and a beam of 10.2 m, but they had a reduced draft of 3.98 m at deep load. The ships were slightly overweight, displacing 1727 MT at standard load and 2279 MT at deep load. The crew complement of the Storozhevoy class numbered 207 in peacetime, but this increased to 271 in wartime, as more personnel were needed to operate additional equipment. Each ship had a pair of geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller, rated to produce 54000 shp using steam from four water-tube boilers, which the designers expected would exceed the 37 kn speed of the Project 7s because there was additional steam available. Sposobny herself only reached 36.8 kn during her sea trials in 1943. Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the Project 7Us varied from 1380 to 2700 nmi at 19 kn; Sposobny reached 1380 nmi at 20 kn.

The Project 7U-class ships mounted four 130 mm B-13 guns in two pairs of superfiring single mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a pair of 76.2 mm 34-K AA guns in single mounts and three 45 mm 21-K AA guns, as well as four 12.7 mm DK or DShK machine guns. They carried six 533 mm torpedo tubes in two rotating triple mounts amidships. The ships could also carry a maximum of 58 to 96 mines and 30 depth charges. They were fitted with a set of Mars hydrophones for anti-submarine work, although these were useless at speeds over 3 kn.

Construction and career
Sposobny was laid down in Shipyard No. 200 (named after 61 Communards) in Nikolayev as yard number 1076 on 7 July 1936 as a Gnevny-class destroyer with the name Podvizhny. She was relaid down as a Project 7U destroyer on 7 March 1938, and launched on 30 September 1939. The ship was renamed Sposobny on 25 September 1940 and was commissioned into the Black Sea Fleet on 24 June 1941, two days after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa).

On 21 August, the ship was one of those ships assigned to provide support for the defenders of Odessa. On 7 September, Sposobny and the destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Boyky escorted the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Filipp Oktyabrsky, aboard the destroyer leader SOVIET DESTROYER Kharkov to Odessa. While they were present, all three ships bombarded Romanian troops; Sposobny firing 28 shells from her main guns. Four days later, the ship fired 49 shells at Romanian targets. On 16–21 September the destroyer helped to escort transports ferrying the 157th Rifle Division to Odessa. At the beginning of November, Sposobny began escorting supply and troop convoys to and from encircled Sevastopol and supporting Soviet troops with her guns. Between 4 and 24 December, she fired 560 shells. On 28–30 December, she covered the amphibious landings at Kerch and Feodosia.

Sposobny ferried supplies from Novorossiysk to Sevastopol on 1 January 1942 and bombarded Axis troops near Feodosia two days later. On 4 January, the destroyer escorted the light cruiser SOVIET CRUISER Krasny Kavkaz to Tuapse after she had been badly damaged by German dive bombers. Sposobny helped to land the reinforced 226th Mountain Rifle Regiment at Sudak on 6 January and fired ninety-five 130 mm shells in support of the landing. While transporting troops to Feodosia on the 8th, she struck a mine that blew off her bow, killing 104 men, including 20 crewmen. The ship was able to proceed under her own steam stern-first for Novorossiysk, but was taken under by the destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Zheleznyakov the next day. While under repair in Novorossiysk on 10 April, Sposobny was badly damaged by bomb splinters that ignited some 130 mm rounds and started several fires, killing 41 and wounding 45 men. The ship was towed to Tuapse on 23 April by the destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Nezamozhnik to prevent her capture by advancing German troops.

Repairs on Sposobny were completed in mid-May 1943. Together with Boyky and the destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Besposhchadny, the ship made an unsuccessful attempt on 30 September to intercept German transports evacuating troops and equipment from the Kuban Bridgehead. During the night of 5/6 October, Kharkov and the destroyers Besposhchadny and Sposobny attempted to intercept German evacuation convoys off the Crimean coast, but were again unsuccessful. Kharkov bombarded Yalta and Alushta while the two smaller destroyers steamed to do the same to Feodosia. The latter pair were attacked by five S-boats of the 1st S-Boat Flotilla en route. The Germans failed to damage either destroyer and Sposobny claimed one hit by one of her 45 mm guns on S-45. On their way home the three ships were spotted by German reconnaissance aircraft and were attacked by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of III./StG 3. Kharkov was damaged by their first attack and had to be towed by Sposobny. The second attack damaged all three ships and Sposobny alternated towing Besposhchadny and Kharkov. The next attack sank both Kharkov and Besposhchadny. Sposobny was sunk by the fourth wave while trying to rescue survivors. This incident prompted Stalin to issue an order forbidding the use of ships destroyer-sized and larger without his express permission.