Sovetskaja Ukraina - Battleship

[Karl234]

Somebody know something about this ship, may be pictures. What is it, the result fom stolen blue-prints of Bismarck and USS Iowa?

Sovetskaja Ukraina Laid down: Nikolaev, 28.11.1938
Launched: 31.08.1932
Commissioned:
Fate: destroyed March 1944

Size: 65150 t
Length: 259 m
Beam: 36,0 m
Draft: 9,98 m
Armament: 9 x 40,6 cm; 12 x 15,2 cm; 24 x 10 cm; 48 x 3,7 cm;
24 x 1,27 cm
Performance: 210000 shp, 29 kn

"The Sovetskaja Ukraina was laid down in 1938 in Nikolaev at the Black Sea. When German troops captured Nikolaev on 18.08.1941, the ship was completed up to the main deck. It was only slightly damaged by the retreating Russian troops. As all of the ships plans were missing, it was not planned to continue the construction of the ship, instead some of the armor and secondary artillery was used for the fortification of Sevastopol. In 1943 the construction was continued with a low priority and when the Germans were forced out of Nikilaev in March of 1944, they destroyed the incomplete ship by explosives."

[Aufklarung]

Hi

4 ships from Sovietsky Soyuz Class or Project 23:

Sovietsky Soyuz
Sovietskaya Ukraina
Sovietskaya Rossiya
Sovietskaya Bielorossiya



Sovietskaya Ukraina photographed by the Germans in 1941.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aj.cashmore/r ... dread.html

and from the bureau that designed the class:

http://www.ksri.ru/eng1/ins/history/history23.htm


In this Forum a member states that there were two "transporters" (?) built from her by the Germans; "Totila" and "Teja".


regards
A

[Tiornu]

Teja and Totila were Hungarian vessels (built at Danubius) that became Black Sea transports. I'm not aware of any connection with SovUk, but that doesn't mean there is none. The person who mentions them also mentions a ship named Tretji Internacional, which never existed in fact but was reported in sources like Jane's.
The SoSo class has no relation to Bismarck or Iowa. Its closest relative would be Littorio. Ansaldo sold an early draft of their treaty battleship to the Soviets, and this had some influence on Soviet design work. For example, the ships were built to house a Pugliese torpedo defense system.
The Soviets were having all sorts of trouble manufacturing guns. SoSo's 16in main battery was very powerful on paper, but there had been performance problems with the similarly ambitious 180mm and 130/50 guns.
The armor scheme was largely all-or-nothing with some additions to bow protection. The belt had its maximum thickness only alongside A barbette, thinning quickly as it extended aft. I know no other dreadnought with a similar feature. Armor production was a huge headache. The Soviets eventually gave up on cemented plates; all plates of 200mm or thicker would have been face-hardened but uncemented. This would not have resulted in high quality protection.

[varjag]

I seem to recall that a bunch of high-ranking German admirals, incl. Raeder himself - took a plane to Nikolaiev - to have a look at what the Soviets were planning to launch.
Can anyone enlighten me on the type of float-plane on the catapult - in the 'artists impression' of the finished ship? I thought they only had the KOR-1's. Varjag

[BIGpanzer]

Russians used KOR-1 (13 were produced) and KOR-2 (44 were produced) serial catapult reconnaissance planes during WWII, also American lend-lease catapult planes Vought OS2U-3 Kingfisher (2 or 20 planes, different sources), AFAIK.

As for the "Soviet Union" class battleship ("Soviet Union", "Soviet Ukraine", "Soviet Byelorussia" and "Soviet Russia") - they should carry 4 hydroplanes (2 on catapult, 2 in hangars).

[varjag]

Thanks BIGpanzer for your illuminating post about the KOR-2 (Be-4) and nice picture.Whatever our artist drew on top of the catapult in his 'impression' - it surely ain't a KOR-2. Perhaps just a dreamoplane - to satisfy his audience.....Varjag

[Aufklarung]

Hi

At first glance I thought the mystery floatplane looked like a Curtiss SC-1. Maybe the drawing of the ship included a bit of lend-lease hopefulness!!

After all it was the designated replacement for the Vought.

BIGPanzer

Are you sure the class had a hangar? I see x4 a/c in the specs but under "hangar" the entry is "N/A"

regards
A

[Tiornu]

The ship had two hangars, one directly ahead of each catapult in the space just forward of the break on the forecastle deck. These could accommodate one aircraft each. The other two planes could be stowed on deck or on the catapult. However, it's unlikely these two would have been carried in service due to their fouling the arcs of the aft DP guns. The planned aircraft was the KOR-2.
Keep in mind that the ship was never complete, and artists used various versions of the design as models for their work--as well as fancy.

[BIGpanzer]

Yes, the info I have is in completely agreement with Tiornu's post.
But the design of a catapult reconnaissance plane on the picture is unclear, probably that was just a catapult plane