View source for Russian battleship Gangut (1911)

{{Short description|Russian lead ship of Gangut-class}}
{{Other ships|Gangut (ship)}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Gangut battleship.jpg
| Ship caption = ''Gangut'' at anchor in Helsinki, 1915
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship country = [[Russian Empire]]
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Russian Empire|naval}}
| Ship name = ''Gangut''
| Ship namesake = [[Battle of Gangut]]
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = [[Admiralty Shipyard|Admiralty Works]], [[Saint Petersburg]]
| Ship laid down = 16 June 1909<ref group=Note>All dates used in this article are [[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|New Style]]</ref>
| Ship launched = 20 October 1911
| Ship commissioned = 11 January 1915
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = title
| Ship country = [[Soviet Union]]
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Soviet Union|naval}}
| Ship name = ''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya''
| Ship namesake = [[October Revolution]]
| Ship renamed = 27 June 1925
| Ship acquired = November 1917
| Ship reclassified = 24 July 1954
| Ship struck = 17 February 1956
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honors = [[Order of the Red Banner]] 22 July 1944
| Ship nickname = ''Oktyabrina''
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = (as built)
| Ship class = {{sclass|Gangut|battleship}}
| Ship displacement = {{convert|24800|t|ton}}
| Ship length = {{convert|181.2|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam = {{convert|26.9|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| Ship draft = {{convert|8.99|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| Ship propulsion = *4-shaft [[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company|Parsons]] [[steam turbine]]s
*25 [[Yarrow boiler]]s
*{{convert|52000|shp|kW|0|abbr=on}} (on trials)
| Ship speed = {{convert|24.1|kn|lk=in}} (on trials)
| Ship range = {{convert|3200|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}}
| Ship complement = 1,149
| Ship armament = *4 × triple [[Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun|{{convert|12|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} guns]]
*16 × single [[120 mm 50 caliber Pattern 1905|4.7&nbsp;in (120&nbsp;mm)]] guns
*1 × single [[76 mm air-defense gun M1914/15|{{convert|3|in|abbr=on|0}}]] [[AA gun]]
*4 × {{convert|17.7|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} [[torpedo tube]]s
| Ship armor = *[[Belt armor|Waterline belt]]: {{convert|125|-|225|mm|in|abbr=on}}
*[[Deck (ship)|Deck]]: {{convert|12|-|50|mm|in|abbr=on}}
*[[Gun turret|Turrets]]: {{convert|76|-|203|mm|in|abbr=on}}
*[[Barbette]]s: {{convert|75|-|150|mm|in|abbr=on}}
*[[Conning tower]]: {{convert|100|-|254|mm|in|abbr=on}}
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}
'''''Gangut''''' ({{langx|ru|Гангут}}) was both the [[lead ship]] of the {{sclass|Gangut|battleship|0}} [[dreadnought]]s of the [[Imperial Russian Navy]] built before [[World War I]] and the last of her [[ship class|class]] to be completed. She was named after the Russian victory over the [[Swedish Navy]] in the [[Battle of Gangut]] in 1714. She was completed during the winter of 1914–1915, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the [[Gulf of Finland]] against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general [[mutiny]] of the [[Baltic Fleet]] after the [[February Revolution]] and joined the Bolsheviks in 1918. She was laid up in 1918 for lack of manpower and not recommissioned until 1925, by which time she had been renamed '''''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya''''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Октябрьская революция}}: ''October Revolution'').

She was reconstructed between 1931 and 1934 with new [[boiler (steam generator)|boiler]]s, fire-control systems and greatly enlarged superstructures. During the [[Winter War]] she bombarded [[Finland|Finnish]] [[coastal artillery]] positions once. Her [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] armament was greatly reinforced in early 1941, just before [[Operation Barbarossa]]. She provided gunfire support against the Germans during the [[Siege of Leningrad]] despite being bombed three times and under repair for a year. Retained on active duty after the war she became a training ship in 1954 before being struck off the Navy List in 1956 and slowly scrapped.

==Design and description==
[[File:Gangut class diagrams Brasseys 1912.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Plan view of the ''Gangut'' class]]
''Gangut'' was {{convert|180|m|ft|sp=us}} [[length at the waterline|long at the waterline]] and {{convert|181.2|m|ft|sp=us}} long [[length overall|overall]]. She had a [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|26.9|m|ft|sp=us}} and a [[Draft (hull)|draft]] of {{convert|8.99|m|ft|sp=us}}, {{convert|49|cm|ft|sp=us}} more than designed. Her displacement was {{convert|24800|t|ton|lk=on}} at load, over {{convert|1500|t|ton|abbr=on}} more than her designed displacement of {{convert|23288|t|ton|abbr=on}}.<ref>McLaughlin, p. 207</ref>

''Gangut''{{'}}s machinery was built by the Franco-Russian Works. Four [[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company|Parsons]]-type [[steam turbine]]s drove the four propellers. The engine rooms were located between [[gun turret|turrets]] three and four in three transverse compartments. The outer compartments each had a high-pressure ahead and reverse turbine for each wing propeller shaft. The central engine room had two each low-pressure ahead and astern turbines as well as two cruising turbines driving the two center shafts. The engines had a total designed output of {{convert|42000|shp|0|lk=on}}, but they produced {{convert|52000|shp|0|abbr=on}} during her [[sister ship|sister]] {{ship|Russian battleship|Poltava|1911|2}}{{'}}s full-speed trials on 21 November 1915 and gave a top speed of {{convert|24.1|knots}}. Twenty-five [[Yarrow boiler]]s provided steam to the engines at a designed working pressure of {{convert|17.5|atm|kPa psi}}. Each boiler was fitted with [[John I. Thornycroft & Company|Thornycroft]] oil sprayers for mixed oil/coal burning. They were arranged in two groups. The forward group consisted of two boiler rooms in front of the second turret, the foremost of which had three boilers while the second one had six. The rear group was between the second and third turrets and comprised two compartments, each with eight boilers. At full load she carried {{convert|1847.5|LT|MT}} of coal and {{convert|700|LT|MT}} of [[fuel oil]] and that provided her a range of {{convert|3500|nmi|km}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn|km/h}}.<ref>McLaughlin, pp. 208, 224–225</ref>

[[File:Gangutlayboard1909.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|left|Silver plaque of ''Gangut'']]
The main armament of the ''Gangut''s consisted of a dozen 52-[[Caliber#Caliber as measurement of length|caliber]] [[Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun|Obukhovskii {{convert|12|in|mm|0|adj=on}} Pattern 1907]] guns mounted in four triple turrets distributed the length of the ship. The Russians did not believe that [[Superfire|superfiring]] turrets offered any advantage, discounting the value of axial fire and believing that superfiring turrets could not fire while over the lower turret because of [[Muzzle flash|muzzle blast]] problems. They also believed that distributing the turrets, and their associated [[magazine (artillery)|magazine]]s, over the length of the ship improved the survivability of the ship. Sixteen 50-caliber [[120 mm 50 caliber Pattern 1905|{{convert|4.7|in|mm|0|adj=on}} Pattern 1905]] guns were mounted in [[casemate]]s as the secondary battery intended to defend the ship against [[torpedo boat]]s. The ships were completed with only a single 30-caliber [[76 mm air-defense gun M1914/15|{{convert|3|in|adj=on|0}} ''Lender'']] [[anti-aircraft gun|anti-aircraft (AA) gun]] mounted on the quarterdeck. Other AA guns were probably added during the course of World War I, but details are lacking.<ref name=m01>McLaughlin, pp. 220–221</ref> Budzbon says that four [[75mm 50 caliber Pattern 1892|{{convert|75|mm|adj=on|sp=us}}]] were added to the roofs of the end turrets during the war.<ref>Budzbon, p. 303</ref> Four {{convert|17.7|in|mm|0|adj=on}} submerged [[torpedo tube]]s were mounted with three [[torpedo]]es for each tube.<ref name=m01/>

==Service==
''Gangut'' was built by the [[Admiralty Shipyard|Admiralty Works]] in [[Saint Petersburg]]. Her keel was laid down on 16 June 1909 and she was launched on 22 September 1911. At the end of October 1914, she collided with her sister ''Poltava'' which  delayed her trials, scheduled for 9 November 1914,  to late December 1914.<ref>{{cite book|last=Цветков|first=И.Ф.|script-title=ru:Линкор Октябрьская Революция|publisher=Ленинград "Судостроение"|page=107|location=Leningrad|language=Russian}}</ref> She entered service on 11 January 1915 when she reached [[Helsinki]] and was assigned to the First Battleship Brigade of the [[Baltic Fleet]]. ''Gangut'' and her [[sister ship|sister]] {{ship|Russian battleship|Sevastopol|1911|2}} provided distant cover for [[Minelayer|minelaying]] operations south of [[Liepāja]] on 27 August, the furthest that any Russian dreadnought ventured out of the [[Gulf of Finland]] during World War I. She ran aground on 10 September, but suffered only minor damage. A minor [[mutiny]] broke out on 1 November when the executive officer refused to feed the crew the traditional meal of meat and [[macaroni]] after coaling.<ref>McLaughlin, p. 299</ref> The return of the captain and the issue of a dinner of tinned meat restored order on the ship. On 10–11 November and 6 December ''Gangut'' and her sister {{ship|Russian battleship|Petropavlovsk|1911|2}} again provided distant cover for minelaying operations. She saw no action of any kind during 1916. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet on 16 March 1917, after the idle sailors received word of the [[February Revolution]] in Saint Petersburg. The [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] required the Soviets to evacuate their base at Helsinki in March 1918 or have them interned by newly independent [[Finland]] even though the [[Gulf of Finland]] was still frozen over. ''Gangut'' and her sisters led the first group of ships on 12 March and reached [[Kronstadt]] five days later in what became known as the [[Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet|'Ice Voyage']].<ref>McLaughlin, pp. 207, 299–303</ref>

[[File:Oktyabr'skayaRevolyutsiya1934.jpg|''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' in 1934, after her modernization|left|thumb|250px|alt=]]
''Gangut'' was [[Reserve fleet|laid up]] on 9 November 1918 for lack of manpower and was renamed ''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' on 27 June 1925 while she was being refitted. She was recommissioned on 23 March 1926 and began a partial reconstruction on 12 October 1931,<ref name=m25>McLaughlin, p. 225</ref> incorporating the lessons from the earlier modernizations of her sisters [[Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1911)|''Marat'']] and [[Russian battleship Sevastopol (1911)|''Parizhskaya Kommuna'']]. The tubular tower-mast was replaced by a larger and sturdier structure with a KDP-6 [[Fire-control system#Naval fire control|fire control director]], equipped with two {{convert|6|m|adj=on|sp=us|0}} [[Carl Zeiss AG|Zeiss]] [[Rangefinding telemeter|rangefinder]]s positioned on top. The aft superstructure was enlarged and a new structure was built just forward of it, with another KDP-6 director surmounting it, which required the repositioning of the mainmast {{convert|9|m|sp=us}} forward. This did not leave enough room for a [[derrick]], as was used on ''Marat'', so two large boat cranes were mounted on each side of the mainmast. Her funnel was curved to the rear rather than angled like ''Marat''. Each turret received Italian {{convert|8|m|adj=on|sp=us|0}} rangefinders and their roof armor was increased to {{convert|152|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} in thickness. A new forecastle, much like that of ''Marat'', was fitted to improve seakeeping. Six [[76 mm air defense gun M1938|{{convert|76.2|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} 34-K]] [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] (AA) guns were added, three on the roofs of the fore and aft turrets. All twenty-five of her old [[boiler (steam generator)|boiler]]s were replaced by a dozen oil-fired boilers originally intended for the {{sclass|Borodino|battlecruiser}} ''Izmail''. The space saved was used to add another inboard longitudinal watertight bulkhead that greatly improved her underwater protection.<ref>McLaughlin, pp. 342–44</ref> Her original Pollen Argo Clock mechanical fire-control computer was upgraded with a copy of a [[Vickers Ltd]] fire-control computer, designated AKUR by the Soviets, as well as a copy of a [[Sperry Corporation|Sperry]] stable vertical [[gyroscope]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, MD|date=2008|page=278|isbn=978-1-59114-555-4}}</ref> These changes increased her displacement to {{convert|26690|t|ton}} at full load and her overall length to {{convert|184.9|m|sp=us}}. Her [[metacentric height]] decreased to {{convert|1.67|m|sp=us}} from her designed {{convert|1.76|m|sp=us}} as a result of her enlarged superstructures.<ref>McLaughlin, pp. 341, 344</ref>

She finished her reconstruction on 4 August 1934.<ref name=m25/> Her participation in the [[Naval warfare in the Winter War|Winter War]] was limited to a bombardment of Finnish {{convert|10|in|adj=on|0}} coast defense guns on 18 December 1939 at [[Saarenpää]] in the [[Beryozovye Islands]] before the Gulf of Finland iced over. She failed to inflict any permanent damage before she was driven off by near misses.<ref name=m1>McLaughlin, p. 401</ref> ''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' sailed to [[Tallinn]] shortly after the Soviets [[Occupation of the Baltic states|occupied Estonia]], but she was refitted in February–March 1941 in Kronstadt and her anti-aircraft armament was reinforced. Two twin-gun [[76.2 mm anti-aircraft gun Model 1935 (34-K)|{{cvt|76.2|mm|0}} 81-K mounts]] were mounted on her quarterdeck. The magazines for these guns were probably situated in the rearmost casemates on each beam, which lost their 120-mm guns and twelve automatic [[37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K)|{{convert|37|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} ''70-K'']] guns were also added, three guns each on the middle turrets and the other six in the fore and aft superstructures. Four twin and four single {{convert|12.7|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} [[DShK]] [[machine gun]]s and two AA directors were also fitted. The large cranes were replaced by smaller ones taken from the ex-German [[heavy cruiser]] [[German cruiser Lützow (1939)|''Petropavlovsk'']] to make room for the anti-aircraft guns.<ref name=m06>McLaughlin, p. 406</ref>

[[File:OktRevDamaged.jpg|thumb|''Luftwaffe'' aerial photograph of the damaged ''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' in Kronstadt, 23 September 1941]]
[[File:AMN33752 4 Линкор Балтийского флота «Октябрьская революция».tif|thumb|Sailors gather by a main turret gun during a naval parade in the Tallinn roadstead, 1946]]
[[File:AMN33752 5 Линкор Балтийского флота «Октябрьская революция».tif|thumb|Sailors on the bow of ''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' during  anaval parade in the Tallinn roadstead, 1946]]
On 22 June 1941 ''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' was in [[Tallinn]] when the Germans [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]], but she was forced to sail for [[Kronstadt]] by the advancing Germans. She opened fire on troop positions of the German [[18th Army (Wehrmacht)|18th Army]] on 8 September from the channel between [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] and Kronstadt,<ref>Rohwer, p. 98</ref> and probably landed four {{convert|120|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} guns on the following day for use ashore.<ref name=m06/> She was badly damaged on 21 September by three bomb hits on her bow that knocked out two turrets and she was sent to the [[Baltic Shipyard|Ordzhonikidze Yard]] on 23 October for repairs. The Soviets took advantage of this time to add four more 37-mm 70-K AA guns and another twin 76.2-mm K-81 gun mount between February and April 1942.<ref name=m46>McLaughlin, pp. 402, 406</ref> She was hit again by one heavy and three medium bombs dropped by [[Heinkel He 111]]s of [[Kampfgeschwader 4|KG 4]] during the night of 4–5 April.<ref>Rohwer, p. 157</ref> and again by three bombs on 24 April. Her repairs were completed in November 1942, although a quadruple 37-mm 46-K gun mount was added in September. She supported Soviet forces during the [[Siege of Leningrad]], the [[Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive]] in January 1944 and the [[Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive]] in June 1944. She received a [[Lend-Lease]] British [[Type 279 radar|Type 279]] air-warning radar sometime during 1944. On 22 July 1944 she was awarded the [[Order of the Red Banner]].<ref name=m46/>
She was reclassified as a 'school battleship' on 24 July 1954 and stricken on 17 February 1956. She was slowly scrapped and her hulk still survived in May 1958.<ref name="m25" />[[File:AMN33754 Линкор Балтийского флота «Октябрьская революция» (cropped).tif|thumb|''Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya'' during a naval parade off Tallinn, 1946]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==

* {{cite book|editor1-last=Gray|editor1-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1985 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-85177-245-5 |last=Budzbon|first=Przemysław |pages=291–325|chapter=Russia}}
*{{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor-last=Chesneau |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7 |last=Budzbon|first=Przemysław|pages=318–346|chapter=Soviet Union|editor-first=Roger}}
*{{cite book |last1=Budzbon |first1=Przemysław |last2=Radziemski |first2=Jan |last3=Twardowski |first3=Marek |title=Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945 |date=2022 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=978-1-68247-877-6|volume=I: Major Combatants|name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite book|last=McLaughlin|first=Stephen|title=Russian & Soviet Battleships|publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland|date=2003|isbn=1-55750-481-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|date=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2 |author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Gangut (ship, 1909)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071016042711/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aj.cashmore/russia/battleships/gangut2/gangut.html Specifications]
* [http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/01/034/index.html Short article plus photo gallery] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://www.d-pils.lv/news/44438 A detailed account of the 1915 mutiny on Gangut] {{in lang|ru}}

{{Gangut class battleship}}
{{August 1915 shipwrecks}}
{{April 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{Good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gangut (1911)}}
[[Category:Gangut-class battleships]]
[[Category:1911 ships]]
[[Category:World War I battleships of Russia]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1915]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in April 1942]]