Tuman (Soviet patrol boat)

The Tuman (Туман, meaning Mist) was a Soviet patrol boat that achieved lasting fame in a battle fought in Arctic waters of the Barents Sea in 1941.

Ship history
The Tuman was built in 1931 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk) as a seagoing fishing trawler, with a displacement of 1,218 tons, a length of 55 m and width of 9 m, a speed of 9 knots, and a range of 4,500 miles.

On October 19, 1939, just before the commencement of the Soviet-Finnish War, the trawler was called into the navy as DC-10 (Patrol Ship Number 10). In a list dated March 4, 1940, it is listed in the category of escort ships. It was provided with an armament of two dual purpose 45 mm guns, two light 7.62 mm caliber machine guns, and depth charges.

Sinking
On August 4, 1941, the ship was on patrol under the command of Lieutenant L. Shestakov on the line Tsyp-Navolok—Kildin Island when it encountered three German destroyers (GERMAN DESTROYER Z4 Richard Beitzen, GERMAN DESTROYER Z10 Hans Lody, and GERMAN DESTROYER Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt ). The ship reported this sighting to Northern Fleet Command, which fulfilled its mission instructions.

The Tuman then laid down a smoke screen and began evasive action. The German destroyers, which had a massive superiority in armament, closed to within 5 nmi and begin hitting the craft. The Tuman sustained eleven direct hits from 5 in shells and the captain and commissar were killed. Damage to the aft gun prevented the Tuman from returning fire. The German fire shot the ship's flag from the mast, but a wounded sailor (K. D. Semenov) and the senior radio operator (V. K. Blinov) raised it again.

Opening late due to poor interoperability, fire from Soviet shore batteries drove off the German destroyers. Together with the smoke screen, this allowed the lives of 37 of the 52 crew members to be saved from the Tuman, which sank. That evening, surviving crewmen were presented with tributes from the workers of Murmansk.

To this day, Russian naval vessels passing Kildin Island dip their flags and sound a long blast on their horns in tribute when passing over the site where the Tuman sank, at position 69.55167°N, 33.67222°W, about 15 miles northwest of Kildin. A capsule of seawater from this point was embedded in the giant statue Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War.