NMS Amiral Murgescu
 Amiral Murgescu in the port of Constanța | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Romania | |
| Name: | Amiral Murgescu |
| Namesake: | Admiral Ioan Murgescu |
| Builder: | Galați shipyard, Romania |
| Laid down: | August 1938 |
| Launched: | 14 June 1939 |
| Captured: | By the Soviet Union, 1944 |
 Soviet Union | |
| Name: | Don |
| Namesake: | River Don |
| Acquired: | 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 1944 |
| Struck: | 1967 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1967 or later |
| Service record | |
| Commanders: | Anton Foca (1944) |
| Operations: | Black Sea campaigns (1941–44) |
| Victories: |
|
| Awards: | Order of the Star of Romania |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Minelayer |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 77 m (252 ft 7 in) |
| Beam: | 9.1 m (29 ft 10 in) |
| Draught: | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 Krupp diesel engines 1,600 kW (2,200 hp) |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Range: | 3,400 nautical miles (6,300 km; 3,900 mi) |
| Complement: | 135 |
| Armament: |
|
NMS Amiral Murgescu was a minelayer of the Romanian Navy, the first sea-going warship built in Romania. She was laid down at the Galați shipyard in August 1938 and launched on 14 June 1939.[1][2][3][4]
Description
She had a crew of up to 135, a standard displacement of 812 tons and a maximum displacement of 1,068 tons, a length of 77 meters, a beam of 9.1 meters and a draught of 2.5 meters. She was powered by two Krupp diesel engines generating 1,100 horse power each, had a top speed of 16 knots and a range of 3,400 nautical miles. Her armament consisted of two 102 mm Bofors dual purpose naval/anti-aircraft guns, two 37 mm Rheinmetall anti-aircraft guns, four 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns and two 13.2 mm machine guns. She was able to carry up to 135 mines.[5][6]
Service
Her first mission was between 16 and 19 June 1941, when she and two other Romanian minelayers, Regele Carol I and Aurora, laid a barrage of 1,000 mines between Cape Midia and Tuzla, to protect the main Romanian port of Constanța. When the Soviet Black Sea Fleet attacked the port on 26 June, she helped repel the attack, together with the destroyers Mărăști and Regina Maria and the German coastal battery Tirpitz. The Soviet destroyer leader Moskva was sunk by Romanian mines and Amiral Murgescu also shot down two Soviet aircraft on that same day.[7][8] Later, the Soviet submarine Shch-213 and 3 more Soviet submarines (M-58, M-34 and Shch-208) were sunk by Romanian mines near Constanța.[9] The German minesweeper R-36 was also sunk by Romanian mines near Constanța in 1942.[10]
During a Soviet air attack on Constanța on 5 August, she shot down three more aircraft.[11] In total, she shot down 12 Soviet aircraft.
Her next mission was between 7 and 16 October 1941. Together with the Romanian minelayers Regele Carol I and Dacia and escorted by the Romanian 250t-class torpedo boats Năluca, Sborul and Smeul, Romanian gunboats Sublocotenent Ghiculescu and Căpitan Dumitrescu and Bulgarian torpedo boats Drazki, Smeli and Hrabri, she laid four full minefields and one partial minefield along the Bulgarian coast.[12] These mines later sank 4 Soviet submarines (S-34, L-24, Shch-210 and Shch-211).[13]
In February 1942, she participated in a minelaying operation near Sulina, at the mouth of the Danube.[14] When she was not used as a minelayer, she was employed as a convoy escort.[15]
On 24 June 1942, she laid mines near Odessa along with Dacia, while being escorted by the Romanian destroyers Regele Ferdinand, Regina Maria and Mărășești, Romanian gunboats Ghiculescu, Stihi and Dumitrescu and Romanian torpedo boat Smeul as well as motor minesweepers of the Donau Flotilla.[16] The mines laid near Odessa later sank the Soviet submarines M-33 and M-60.[17]
In May 1944, she was the last Romanian warship to leave Crimea during the evacuation of the peninsula by the Axis. Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Anton Foca, she evacuated about 1,000 troops, including the highly-decorated German General Walter Hartmann.[18] On 29 May 1944, she was decorated with the Order of the Star of Romania.
After the 23 August 1944 coup, she was captured by Soviet forces and commissioned as Don.[19] She was deleted in 1967, as she was considered worn out and not worth refitting.[20] She was then used as a repair and depot ship for two more decades before being sold for scrap in 1988.
Notes
- ↑ Shipbuilding & Shipping Record: A Journal of Shipbuilding, Marine Engineering, Dock, Harbours & Shipping, Volume 53, p. 827
- ↑ The Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-builder, Volume 46, p. 449
- ↑ Marine Engineering and Shipbuilding Abstracts, Volumes 1-5, p. 182
- ↑ United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 65, p. 1364
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p 362
- ↑ United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 65, p. 1364
- ↑ Jonathan Trigg, Death on the Don: The Destruction of Germany's Allies on the Eastern Front, Chapter 3
- ↑ Antony Preston, Warship 2001-2002, pp. 70 and 71
- ↑ Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953, pp. 265-266
- ↑ Gordon Smith, Don Kindell, Donald A. Bertke, World War II Sea War, Vol 9: Wolfpacks Muzzled, p. 203
- ↑ Antony Preston, Warship 2001-2002, p. 72
- ↑ John Smillie, World War II Sea War, Volume 4: Germany Sends Russia to the Allies, p. 323
- ↑ Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953, pp. 265-266
- ↑ Antony Preston, Warship 2001-2002, p. 76
- ↑ Antony Preston, Warship 2001-2002, p. 80
- ↑ Donald A. Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell World War II Sea War, Volume 6: The Allies Halt the Axis Advance, p. 268
- ↑ Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953, p. 266
- ↑ Robert Forczyk, Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941–44, Chapter 9
- ↑ Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953, p. 167
- ↑ Frederick Thomas Jane, Jane's Fighting Ships, Volume 75, p. 277