Soviet destroyer Svobodny (1940)

Svobodny (Свободный) 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, Svobodny was completed in early 1942 to the modified Project 7U design.

Still incomplete when Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began in June 1941, she had to be evacuated twice to prevent her capture by the Germans. Once completed, the destroyer began to transport supplies and troops into besieged Sevastopol and to provide naval gunfire support for the defenders. While unloading in early June, Svobodny sank after being struck by German bombs with the loss of 67 crewmen. Her wreck was refloated and scrapped in 1953.

Design and description
Originally built as a Gnevny-class ship, Svobodny 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. Some fell short of it, although specific figures for most individual ships have not survived. Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the Project 7Us varied from 1380 to 2700 nmi at 19 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
Svobodny was laid down at Shipyard No. 200 (named after 61 Communards) in Nikolayev with the yard number 1074 on 23 August 1936 as a Gnevny-class destroyer with the name Besshumny. She was relaid down as a Project 7U destroyer in 1938 at Shipyard No. 201 (Sergo Ordzhonikidze) in Sevastopol as yard number 246 and launched on 25 February 1939. The ship was renamed Svobodny on 25 September 1940 and was 83.8% complete when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. To prevent her capture by the advancing German forces, the still-incomplete destroyer was towed to Sevastopol on 9 August and then to Poti, Georgia, on 2 November. Svobodny was accepted on 2 January 1942, and joined the Black Sea Fleet a week later.

She began ferrying supplies and personnel into besieged Sevastopol shortly afterwards, in addition to service as a convoy escort. The ship also bombarded German positions with 22 shells from her main guns on 18 January before beginning a brief refit in February. Svobodny resumed her previous duties and fired 90 shells at German troops near Feodosia on 20 March and a total of 82 more shells on 2 and 10 April. She towed the old destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Zheleznyakov, disabled by an accident, to Tuapse on 22 March. The ship was refitted again through early May. While unloading in Sevastopol on 10 June, she was struck by eight bombs that started massive fires that caused an ammunition explosion and killed 67 crewmen. Svobodny sank with a 50° list and was salvaged for scrap in 1953.