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 Derzky-class destroyer with an additional 102 mm gun. Naval historian Siegfried Breyer considered the class to be the least successful of Novik's successors. The ships had an overall length of 92.51 - 93.26 m, had a beam of 9.05 - 9.07 m, and a draught of 3.2 - 4.04 m at deep load. They normally displaced 1326 LT and 1745 LT 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 17 kg/cm2 and a temperature of 205 °C. The turbines, rated at 29000 shp, were intended to give a maximum speed of 33 kn, although they reportedly averaged about 27 kn in service. The destroyers carried a maximum of 330 t of fuel oil although the ships varied widely in their endurance, ranging from 1560 nmi at 18.5 kn (SOVIET DESTROYER Nezamozhnik) to 2050 nmi at 19 kn (SOVIET DESTROYER Zheleznyakov).

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 17.5 kg shell out to a range of 16095 m 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 40 mm "pom-pom" guns or 58-calibre 57 mm Hotchkiss guns. The second batch of four were fitted with a single 30-calibre 76 mm Lender gun. The "pom-pom" fired its 2 lb shells at a rate of 300 rounds per minute, out to 6900 yd at an elevation of +45°. The 991 m/s muzzle velocity of the Hotchkiss gun gave its 2.22 kg shells a range of 8520 m at an elevation of +21°. The Lender gun's muzzle velocity of 588 m/s gave it a range of 6100 m with its 6.5 kg shell. It had a practical rate of fire of 10–12 rounds per minute. The ships were also armed with a dozen 450 mm torpedo tubes in four triple mounts amidships. They probably most often used the M1912 torpedo which had a 100 kg warhead. It had three speed/range settings: 6000 m at 28 kn; 5000 m at 30 kn and 2000 m at 43 kn. 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.

Service

Only Fidonisy was completed in time to participate in combat, helping to sink some Turkish sailing ships in October 1917, before the navy ceased offensive operations against the Central Powers in response to the Bolshevik Decree on Peace in early November before a formal Armistice was signed the next month.