Soobrazitelny
Contents
Description
The Pr.7U, Soobrazitelny, 1943 was a Soviet Storozhevoy-class destroyer built for the Soviet Navy in the 1930s. Originally laid down as Gnevny-class destroyer Prozorlivny on 15th October 1936, she was later relaid as a Storozhevoy-class destroyer on 3rd March 1939. Renamed Soobrazitelny on 25th September 1940, she was commissioned on 7th June 1941. The Project 7U was a modified version of the Project 7 class of destroyers. The difference between Pr.7 and 7U was the separately arranged machinery, as on Pr.7 a single hit could completely immobilize the ship, leaving it dead in the water. During her short but eventful WWII career, she participated in a raid on Constanta, provided fire support to defenders of Odessa together with other ships of Soviet Navy, transported troops to besieged Sevastopol, and bombarded the Romanian coast during raids on the ports. In early 1943, she received the title of Guards and underwent repairs, seeing no further action for the rest of the war. In the late 1950s, she was converted to a rescue ship, shortly after that in 1960s she became a target ship before being scrapped between 1966 and 1968. She was the last surviving ship of her class. During her war career, she steamed 63,875 nautical miles, while conducting 52 shore bombardments during 218 sorties.
The Soobrazitelny was introduced during Update 1.79 "Project X". As the main armament of all Project 7U destroyers is manually driven, the turrets suffer from poor traverse speed rendering these difficult when switching targets. The guns themselves are also protected only by 8 mm thick antifragmentation armour covering sides, front and top side. As with most destroyers from other navies as well, the Storozhevoy class features unarmoured magazines above waterline leading to fatal explosion when hit. Her boilers and transmission also take up nearly the entire length of the ship past the bridge.
General info
Survivability and armour
Overall the armour on the Soobrazitelny is mediocre, and not worth relying on. As already seen in other Russian destroyers, armour is thin and will be penetrated like a hot knife through butter if not careful. Compared to other destroyers at the battle rating, the Soobrazitelny lacks armour (barely enough to stop .50 cals) and will not be enough to protect it from enemy fire. However, once installing the anti-fragmentation armour, the odds will change a little bit. It will not stop high-calibre explosive shells but it will reduce the chances of each hit killing a lot of crew. Compared to other ships in the line (Ognevoy or Tashkent for example), the compensation of firepower for armour is not quite impressive. The Soobrazitelny has really slow traverse speed and low fire rate, making it impossible to suppress enemy ships with dual B-13 cannon mounts so compensating the lack of armour and increase survivability with firepower is not something to expect from this ship.
Mobility
Mobility wise, the Soobrazitelny is nothing we have not seen before, ~65 km/h top speed with really wide and slow turning radius. Soviet destroyers (until the Pr.56) are not known for being fast and should not use speed as primary advantage.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | Turn Time (s) | Turn Radius (m) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||||
| AB | Stock | 60 | 23 | ~126.78 | ~235.41 |
| Upgraded | 82 | 31 | ___ | ___ | |
| RB/SB | |||||
| Upgraded | 67 | 25 | ___ | ___ | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The Soobrazitelny carries four B-13 guns in single mounts, with two ahead of the superstructure and two behind. The B-13 cannon is shared by most WWII-era destroyers of the Soviet fleet, and is a very potent weapon. However, the main flaw with this weapon is its absolutely horrid turret rotation speed of 4.2 degrees / second vertically and horizontally. This means that you have to turn the turrets very early to be able to engage effectively. The guns themselves shoot accurately and have a high initial velocity (870 m/s compared to 790 m/s for the American 5"/38 guns). However, this comes at the expense of reload speed, as the manually-loaded weapons can only fire at 10 rounds per minute (RPM) with a spaded crew, compared to 22 RPM for the American 5"/38. In fact, this fire rate is slower than everything except for the Japanese and Italian 5" guns, which have a similar fire rate.
The guns themselves have access to three shell types: the OF-46 high-explosive (HE) shell, the PB-46A semi armour-piercing (SAPBC) shell, and the ZS-46R proximity-fused (HE-VT) shell. Of these weapons, the HE shell is usually the best against enemy destroyers and ships as it packs the most explosive filler, 3.58 kg of it to be exact. The SAPBC shell works better against the occasional cruiser you may encounter, as it packs more penetration capacity (up to 179 mm compared to 36 mm for the HE shell). Finally, the HE-VT shell is good against aircraft as it will explode when close enough to the enemy aircraft, meaning that it doesn't require a direct hit. However, it actually packs less explosive filler than the normal HE shell, which is unusual for any HE-VT shell. Combined with the horrible traverse rate, this means the guns aren't particularly suited for anti-aircraft duties.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| 130 mm OF-46 HE | HE | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| 130 mm PB-46A SAPBC | SAPCBC | 181 | 156 | 122 | 96 | 77 | 56 |
| 130 mm ZS-46R HE-VT | HE-VT | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| 130 mm OF-46 HE | HE | 870 | 33.4 | 0 | 0.1 | 3.58 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| 130 mm PB-46A SAPBC | SAPCBC | 870 | 33.5 | 0.01 | 6 | 2.35 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| Proximity-fused shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| 130 mm ZS-46R HE-VT | HE-VT | 870 | 33.8 | 0 | 0.1 | 240 | 16 | 2.06 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |
Secondary armament
The Soobrazitelny carries two 34-K 3-inch (76 mm) guns mounted in the rear. The 34-K is also shared by most WWII-era Soviet ships, and gives you a potent secondary weapon that is of a relatively high calibre. This gun has a high fire rate of 27 rounds per minute (2.2-second reload), which can be decreased to 1.1 seconds with a full crew. The weapon itself is decent at closer ranges, but isn't a particularly effective anti-aircraft weapon as it inherits the extremely weak Soviet traverse rate. The single mountings themselves are only capable of traversing at 10 degrees per second, marginally faster than guns of cruiser calibre (6 inch+) of other nations.
The gun itself has access to three main shell types - the O-361K high-explosive (HE) shell, the O-361D time-fused (HE-TF) shell, and the BR-361 armour-piercing (APHEBC) shell. Of these rounds, the HE is almost always the best against enemy boats as it has the most explosive filler, and consequently, does the most damage. The HE-TF round is slightly worse as it detonates on a timed fuse, meaning the accuracy of the shell depends on crew skills. Finally, the APHEBC shells are rarely usable due to their low damage potential. For good measure, bring mostly HE, and a bit of HE-TF and APHEBC just in case the situation arises.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 100 m | 1,000 m | 2,000 m | 3,000 m | 4,000 m | 5,000 m | ||
| O-361K | HE | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| O-361D | HE-TF | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| BR-361 | APHEBC | 121 | 100 | 81 | 65 | 53 | 43 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| O-361K | HE | 845 | 6.95 | 0 | 0.1 | 483 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| O-361D | HE-TF | 810 | 6.61 | 0 | 0.1 | 182 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| BR-361 | APHEBC | 816 | 6.5 | 1.6 | 4 | 119 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Anti-aircraft armament
The Soobrazitelny has a very decent anti-aircraft armament of 13 guns, split between cannons and smaller-calibre machine guns.
The ship's main AA armament consists of seven 37 mm 70-K anti-aircraft guns. The 70-K is the standard Soviet anti-aircraft gun and serves as a reliable counterpart to the 40 mm Bofors gun used by the allied nations. This gun is extremely similar to the Bofors as it features a similar design, and fires continuously rather than needing to reload. The guns will eventually jam, but the time it takes to jam the weapons is very long so jamming is not a great issue. The weapon does not get access to belts, but the default one is very suited for ripping small ships or aircraft into shreds.
The Soobrazitelny also carries four DShK machine guns in single mounts. The 12.7 mm DShK machine gun is a heavy machine gun, similar to the M2 Browning used by the Americans and the Vickers guns used by the British. This gun fires from a fixed 50-round magazine and will need to be reloaded after the magazine is expended. The gun itself is rather mediocre, and will struggle to hit targets reliably at ranges exceeding 1.5 km. As well, the weapon doesn't do damage particularly well, considering that it is of a lower calibre. As well, the Soobrazitelny gets two American-made AN/M2 Browning machine guns - these weapons fire slightly slower but have a larger magazine capacity. Otherwise, they are extremely similar in performance to the DShK. The Soobrazitelny does not get access to any ammunition belt upgrades for the DShK or AN/M2 - the default one is the only belt available.
Additional armament
The Soobrazitelny gets access to six 53-38 torpedoes in two triple launchers, with no reloads. The 53-38 torpedo is also found on most other Soviet WWII-era destroyers, and is relatively mediocre as far as torpedoes go. In terms of damage-dealing capabilities, the torpedo is decidedly mediocre, having more explosive filler (300 kg of TNT) than the American torpedoes but less than the British and Japanese ones. However, the main drawback of the torpedo is it's range - without the "torpedo mode" modification, the 53-38s are restricted to a range of just 4 km, meaning that they are tied for the shortest-range bluewater-ship mounted torpedoes along with the Italian destroyer torpedoes. The torpedo mode modification is necessary for hitting longer-ranged targets, but reduces the torpedo's speed to just 56 km/h. In general, these torpedoes are a potent weapon against enemy bluewater ships, but lack the range to do significant damage without the "torpedo mode" modification.
The Soobrazitelny can bring two BB-1 large depth charges, but these weapons are almost entirely useless as you will never get close enough to the enemy to be able to use them. Thus, they essentially serve as extra explosive content on deck, and provide little extra armament in exchange for an increased chance of ammunition (depth charge) detonation. In general, it is not recommended to bring them.
Usage in battles
Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Great auxiliary armament that can be a menace for coastal ships and aircraft
- Very fast torpedoes that do good damage, can sink a destroyer in one hit
- 130 mm guns have good shell velocity and penetration on SAP shells, making them competitive against cruisers
Cons:
- Mediocre speed, needs to be upgraded to keep up with the pack
- Guns have a fairly slow rate of fire compared to other destroyers
- Torpedoes have a very short distance prior to upgrades
- Poor traverse speed on turrets makes close quarters combat risky
History
Due to the Novik-class destroyers becoming obsolete during the interwar period, and the Soviet needed a new destroyer to rival the new generation of destroyers in the world. Soviet engineers designed the Gnevny-class destroyer to be equipped with a cruiser-set of armaments with 130 mm calibre guns. As with other interwar destroyers, the anti-air defence on the was wholly inadequate, though was constantly improved in shipyards.
The initial set of Gnevny-class destroyers, built as Project 7, experienced problems involving the engine. As such, the design was modified into the Project 7U to signify the modernization. The Gnevny-class destroyers would go on to be the backbone of Soviet Navy during World War II.
After World War II, some of the destroyers were transferred to China, where one is still on display and it is possible to see it.
Media
- Skins
See also
- Related development
External links
| Shipyard named after 61 Communards (Судостроительный завод имени 61 коммунара) | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers | |
| Project 7U | Soobrazitelny |
| Project 30 | Ognevoy |
| Project 30-bis | Bezuprechny |
| Project 56 | Blagorodnyy · Bravy |
| Light Cruisers | |
| Svetlana-class | Krasny Kavkaz* |
| Battleships | |
| Imperatritsa Mariya-class | Imperatritsa Mariya* |
| *Previously Russud Shipyard | |
| USSR destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Imperial Russia | |
| Derzky-class | Frunze |
| Fidonisy-class | Kerch |
| Soviet Union | |
| Pr. 1 | Leningrad · Moskva |
| Pr. 45 | Opytny |
| Pr. 7 | Besposhchadny · Ryany |
| Pr. 7U | Soobrazitelny · Stroyny |
| Pr. 20 | Tashkent |
| Pr. 30 | Ognevoy |
| Pr. 30-bis | Smelyi · Bezuprechny |
| Pr. 41 | Neustrashimy |
| Pr. 56 | Spokoinyy · Blagorodnyy · Bravy |
| Trophies | Romania |
| Regele Ferdinand-class | Letuchiy |
