Overview
The Orfey-class destroyers were built for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. They were modified versions of the earlier destroyer and the s. These ships were larger, had triple torpedo tubes and an extra 102mm 60 caliber Pattern 1911 gun. One ship, Engels, was fitted with a recoilless rifle for testing in 1934. Eight ships were completed during World War I, one of which was sunk during the Battle of Kassar Wiek. One ship fought against the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Two ships were scrapped after the Russian Civil War; the five survivors participated in World War II.
Design and description
The Orfey-class ships were designed as an improved version of the . Orfey normally displaced and at full load. She measured long overall with a beam of , and a draft of . The Orfeys were propelled by two Curtis-AEG-Vulkan steam turbines, each driving one propeller using steam from four Normand boilers at a working pressure of . The turbines were designed to produce a total of for an intended maximum speed of using forced draft. During their sea trials, they only reached . The ships carried between of fuel oil which gave them a range of at . Their crew numbered 150. The Orfey-class ships were originally intended to have an armament of two 60-caliber 102-millimeter (four in) Pattern 1911 Obukhov guns, one gun each on the forecastle and stern, a pair of Maxim machine guns on single mounts, and a dozen torpedo tubes in six double mounts.
The Naval General Staff changed this to four triple mounts once they became available in 1914. Based on a battle between the destroyer and two German destroyers in August 1915, they decided to exchange the rearmost torpedo mount for two more 102 mm guns on the stern while the ships were still under construction. All of these guns were on the centerline and the stern guns interfered with each other's movements. It had a rate of fire of 12–15 rounds per minute. They fired shells out to a range of at an elevation of +30°. Each ship stowed 150 rounds per gun. The Orfey class could carry 80 M1912 naval mines or 50 larger ones. They were also fitted with a Barr and Stroud rangefinder and two searchlights. The "pom-pom" fired its shells at a rate of 300 rounds per minute out to at an elevation of +45°. The Lender gun's muzzle velocity of gave it a range of with its shell.
It had a practical rate of fire of 10–12 rounds per minute. The Pattern 1916 gun used a shell that was fired at a velocity of to a range of at an elevation of 20°.
Ships
Built at Metal Works, St Petersburg (Petrograd) Pobeditel'.jpg Pobeditel Stalin(EM).jpg Stalin, ex-Samson Uritskiy(EM).jpg Uruitskiy
Bibliography
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *