Fidonisy-class destroyer
The Fidonisy class, also known as the Kerch class, were a group of eight destroyers built for the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy during World War I. They participated in World War I, the Russian Civil War, and World War II.
Design and description
In early 1914, several months before the beginning of World War I, the construction of a third series of eight destroyers based on Novik for the Black Sea Fleet was proposed by the Naval Ministry in response to a perceived strengthening of the Ottoman Navy. This was approved by Nicholas II on 24 June after the destroyers had received names in honor of the victories of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov on 16 June. The Fidonisy-class ships were ultimately built as an improved version of the with an additional gun. Naval historian Siegfried Breyer considered the class to be the least successful of Noviks successors.The ships had an overall length of, had a beam of, and a draught of at deep load. They normally displaced and at full load. Their crew consisted of 136 officers and ratings.
They were powered by two Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by five Thornycroft boilers that operated at a pressure of and a temperature of. The turbines, rated at, were intended to give a maximum speed of, although they reportedly averaged about in service. The destroyers carried a maximum of of fuel oil although the ships varied widely in their endurance, ranging from at to at .
Armament
The Fidonisy class were armed with four 60-calibre 102 mm Pattern 1911 Obukhov guns, one on the forecastle and three aft; one of these latter guns was superfiring over the other two. The guns had a rate of fire of 12–15 rounds per minute. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of, which gave them a range of at an elevation of +30°. Each ship stowed 150 rounds per gun.Anti-aircraft armament varied between ships. The first four were completed either with a pair of 39-calibre "pom-pom" guns or 58-calibre QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss| Hotchkiss guns. The second batch of four were fitted with a single 30-calibre Lender gun. The "pom-pom" fired its shells at a rate of 300 rounds per minute. Its muzzle velocity of gave the weapon a range of at an elevation of +45°. The muzzle velocity of the Hotchkiss gun gave its shells a range of at an elevation of +21°. 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 ships were also armed with a dozen torpedo tubes in four triple mounts amidships. They probably most often used the M1912 torpedo which had a warhead. It had three speed/range settings: at ; at and at. The ships could also carry 80 mines.
Ships
The ships were ordered on 17 March 1915 and all eight were built in the Russud Shipyard in Nikolaev.| Ship | Name in Soviet service | Laid down | Launched | Completed | Fate |
| Feodonisy then | Not applicable | 29 October 1915 | 31 May 1916 | 28 May 1917 | Scuttled, 16 June 1918 |
| Not applicable | 2 February 1915 | 27 August 1916 | 11 September 1917 | Scuttled, 16 June 1918 | |
| Kaliakria | 29 October 1915 | 14 August 1916 | 30 October 1917 | Scuttled, 18 June 1918 Salvaged, 4 October 1925 Sunk, 13 May 1942 | |
| Not applicable | 29 October 1915 | 31 May 1916 | 27 June 1917 | Scuttled, 16 June 1918 | |
| Korfu | Petrovsky then then PKZ-62 | 23 June 1916 | 10 October 1917 | 10 June 1925 | Transferred to Bulgaria, 1947 Returned, 1949 Scrapped, 1957 |
| Levkas | 23 May 1916 | 10 October 1917 | 10 December 1925 | Sunk, 10 April 1942 | |
| Not applicable | 1915 | 21 March 1917 | 1918 | Interned in Bizerte, French Tunisia, with Wrangel's fleet and scrapped, 1924 | |
| Zante | Nezamozhny then | May 1916 | 21 March 1917 | 7 November 1923 | Scuttled, February 1920 Salvaged, 7 September 1920 Sunk as a target, early 1950s |