Shaumyan () was one of eight Fidonisy-class destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy during World War I. She was originally named Levkas () before she was renamed Shaumyan in 1925. Left unfinished during the Russian Revolution in 1917 and later captured by Ukrainian and White forces, the destroyer was completed by the Soviets in 1925 following their victory in the Russian Civil War.
Serving with the Black Sea Fleet, she made several international port visits and was refitted twice during the interwar period. The destroyer served in the Black Sea during the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941 and covered the evacuation of the Danube Flotilla to Odessa the following month. Later she helped to evacuate Odessa, supply besieged Soviet forces in Sevastopol, and supported the Kerch–Feodosiya Amphibious Operation. She was wrecked when she ran aground near Gelendzhik in April 1942. The ship was later disarmed, with her guns used for a coastal artillery battery. The remains of her hull were salvaged for scrap postwar.
Design and description
The Fidonisy-class ships were designed as improved version of the with an additional gun. Levkas displaced at full load with an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of at full load. She was propelled by two Parsons steam turbines, each driving one propeller, designed to produce a total of using steam from five 3-drum Thorneycroft boilers for an intended maximum speed of . During her sea trials, the ship reached a speed of from . Her crew numbered 136 or 137. Levkas carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of at .
The Fidonisy-class ships mounted a main armament of four single 102 mm Pattern 1911 Obukhov guns, one on the forecastle and three aft; one of these latter guns was superfiring over the other two. Anti-aircraft defense for Levkas and her sisters that were completed after the war was provided by a single Lender gun on the stern, a Maxim cannon, and four M-1 machine guns. The destroyers mounted four triple torpedo tube mounts amidships with a pair of reload torpedoes and could carry 80 M1908 naval mines. They were also fitted with a Barr and Stroud rangefinder and two searchlights.
Modifications
A second 76.2 mm gun on the stern was added during her 1928–1930 refit, as was a Maxim cannon, and she was equipped to carry 60 M1926 mines. During her 1935 refit, the destroyer received four DShK machine guns on the forward and aft bridges, replacing the 7.62 mm machine guns, in addition to an AM-3 rangefinder. During the 1930s she was also fitted with 42 depth charges and two K-1 paravanes. A pair of depth-charge throwers were added later.
Construction and service
The eight Fidonisy-class destroyers were ordered on 17 March 1915 at a cost of 2.2 million rubles each. All of the ships received names in honor of the victories of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. Among these was Levkas, an alternate name for Lefkada, commemorating Ushakov's victory there during his 1798–1799 campaign in the Ionian Islands. After being added to the Black Sea Fleet ship list on 2 July 1915, Levkas was laid down in the Russud Shipyard in Nikolayev on 23 May 1916 and launched on 10 October 1917. Construction halted after the Russian Revolution and on 17 March 1918 the shipyard was captured by German troops, followed by the Ukrainian People's Army and the White Armed Forces of South Russia. When a White commission examined her, they found that the hull was completed, the propeller shafts and screws were installed, and that the boilers and some machinery were ready for installation. In early 1920 the shipyard was captured by the Red Army. The Council of Labor and Defense ordered the completion of Levkas and her sister ship Korfu on 2 September 1924 without modification. By early 1925 the installation of machinery and armament was completed. Renamed Shaumyan on 5 February 1925 in honor of the martyred Armenian Bolshevik Stepan Shaumian, the contract for her completion was signed on 13 August. Ready for trials by 19 October 1925, she entered service with the Black Sea Naval Forces on 10 December of that year when the navy officially accepted her.