Orfey-class destroyer

Engels (ex-Desna)
Class overview
Operators	Russian Navy Soviet Navy Estonian Navy Peruvian Navy
Preceded by	Novik
Succeeded by	Izyaslav class
In commission	1914–1956
Planned	23
Completed	16
Lost	9
Retired	7
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	1,260 tons (standard) 1,440 tons (full load)
Length	98 m (321 ft 6 in)
Beam	9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Draught	3 m (9 ft 10 in)
Installed power	4 boilers 30,500 shp (22,700 kW)
Propulsion	2 shaft; 2 steam turbines
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement	150
Armament	4 × 102 mm (4 in) Pattern 1911 guns 1 × 40 mm AA gun 2 × machine guns 9 × 457 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes 50 mines

The Orfey-class destroyers were built for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. They were modified versions of the earlier destroyer Novik and the Derzky-class destroyers. These ships were larger, had triple torpedo tubes and an extra 102 mm (4 in) gun. One ship, Engels, was fitted with a 305 mm (12 in) recoilless rifle for testing in 1934. Fourteen ships were completed in 1914–1917 and fought in World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The survivors fought in World War II.

Ships

Built at the Putilov yard, St Petersburg

Ship	Launched	Fate
Kapitan Belli renamed Karl Liebknecht	29 Oct 1915	Transferred to the Soviet Northern Fleet. Broken up 1950s
Kapitan Izylmetev renamed Lenin	4 Nov 1914	Scuttled 24 June 1941 at Liepāja, Latvia while under repair
Kapitan Kern renamed Rykov	27 Aug 1915	Transferred to the Soviet Northern Fleet. Broken up 1950s
Kapitan Konon-Zotov	23 Oct 1915	Broken up incomplete 1923
Kapitan Kroun	5 Aug 1916	Broken up incomplete 1923
Kapitan I ranga Miklucha Maklai renamed Spartak (1917) renamed Vambola renamed Almirante Villar	27 Aug 1915	Captured by the British in 1918, given to the Estonian Navy and sold by the Estonians to Peru in 1933. Scrapped in 1954
Lieutenant Dubasov	9 Sep 1916	Broken up incomplete 1923
Lieutenant Ilin renamed Voikov	28 Nov 1914	transferred to the Soviet Pacific Fleet. Broken up 1950s

Built at Metal Works, St Petersburg (Petrograd)

Ship	Launched	Fate
Orfey	5 Jun 1916	Broken up 1929, after sustaining irreparable mine damage in 1917
Azard renamed Zinoviev in 1922 renamed Artem in 1928	5 Jun 1916	Sank British submarine L55 during the Russian Civil War, sunk 28 August 1941 by mines
Desna renamed Engels	4 Nov 1915	Sunk 25 Aug 1941 by mines
Grom	5 Jun 1915	Sunk 14 Oct 1917, during the Battle of Moon Sound
Letun	4 Nov 1915	Broken up 1925, after sustaining irreparable mine damage in 1916, Mine was laid by SM UC-27
Pobiditel renamed Volodarski	5 Nov 1914	Sunk 28 August 1941
Samson renamed Stalin	5 Jun 1915	transferred to the Soviet Pacific fleet via the Arctic in 1936, Broken up 1953
Zabiyaka renamed Uritski	5 Nov 1914	transferred to the Northern Fleet, Sunk as a target during nuclear test in 1953

Built by Russo Baltic Yard, Reval

Ship	Launched	Fate
Gavriil	5 Jan 1915	Helped sink British submarine L55 and three British motor boats. Sunk by mines 21 October 1919 together with sister ships Konstantin and Svoboda during an attempted sortie to support Red Army forces defending Petrograd against the advance of Yudenich's White forces. The accompanying Azard managed to manoeuvre out of the minefield but 485 men were lost.
Konstantin	12 Jun 1915	Sunk by mines 21 October 1919 in the same operation as Gavril.
Vladimir renamed Svoboda	18 Aug 1915	Sunk by mines 21 October 1919 in the same operation as Gavril.
Mikhail	1916	towed to Petrograd but broken up incomplete 1923
Mechislav	1916	towed to Petrograd but broken up incomplete 1923
Sokol	1917	towed to Petrograd but broken up incomplete 1923

• 
  Lenin
• 
  Pobeditel
• 
  Stalin ex-Samson
• 
  Uruitskiy

Bibliography

• Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Soviet Warship Development: Volume 1: 1917–1937. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-604-3.
• Budzbon, Przemysław (1985). "Russia". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 291–325. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Budzbon, Przemysław (1980). "Soviet Union". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 318–346. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• Budzbon, Przemysław; Radziemski, Jan & Twardowski, Marek (2022). Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945. Vol. I: Major Combatants. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-877-6.
• Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
• Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations: An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
• Hill, Alexander (2018). Soviet Destroyers of World War II. New Vanguard. Vol. 256. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2256-7.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.

External links

Media related to Orfey class destroyer at Wikimedia Commons