Coastal battery Maxim Gorki I
The coastal battery (also called anti-tank battery) Maxim Gorky I (Максим Горький I) was part of the defenses of the fortress -developed city Sevastopol on the peninsula of Crimea . It was built between 1914 and 1934 on a narrow ridge about five kilometers north of the port of Sevastopol.
description
Turrets
There were two turrets , the design of which essentially corresponded to those on the Russian battleships of the time, each with two barrels of the 305 mm L / 52 cannon M1907 . They were built in 1914 and each weighed around 50 tons. The maximum firing range was 44 km. Although the battery was primarily designed for anti-naval combat, the 360 ° rotatable towers with auxiliary observation could also be used against land. The towers consisted of twelve 2.5 m high, arched side parts made of armored steel, which were held together with dovetail grooves and tongues. The tower ceiling consisted of six sections, connected with angle iron and profile frame girders. The thickness of the ceiling panels was 203 mm, that of the side walls 300 mm and that of the front 406 mm. The towers, each weighing around 1000 to 1300 t, rested on ball bearings that were attached to the armored armor . The ammunition was supplied via conveyor belts and ammunition lifts, and loading arms were attached to the tower ceilings. The piecing was driven by electric motors. All movements of the towers and auxiliary equipment were carried out electrically, but in emergencies it was possible to switch to manual operation. Each turret had its own entrance, which initially led through the two existing entrance gates into a cross passage equipped as a gas lock, in which there were shower and changing rooms.
Battery pack
The battery block stretched between the two towers and covered an area of around 5000 m², the ceiling thickness was four meters made of different layers of concrete. 30 cm of granite gravel concrete was laid on top of 3.40 m of reinforced concrete as a crushing layer. The reinforced concrete ceiling rested on a 30 cm thick layer of asphalt, which served as insulation against moisture. In addition, 30 cm thick U-profile girders were placed close to each other as the bottom layer. Since the one-story battery block was not built horizontally, but followed the course of the ridge, it was necessary to use stairs and ramps to compensate for the differences in height. Individual rooms had a basement to hold supplies, and there was also a second corridor under the central corridor in which telephone, electricity and pipelines were laid. This corridor measured 90 × 190 cm and was 10.5 m below the central corridor. Below were the sewer pipes that led south and after 600 m reached a concrete drainage tunnel that ended in the valley. (Today there is a sewage treatment plant at the end of the sewer tunnel, back then probably not.) In the immediate vicinity of the gun turrets there were two bullet and cartridge chambers. Each of the chambers had the dimensions of 4.5 × 20 m and was equipped with electromechanical transport aids for the transport of ammunition. The cartridge chambers also contained self-writing measurement displays for temperature and humidity. The battery block had a standard gauge rail connection.
The entire system was secured against advancing infantry by a network of smaller fortifications (mostly machine gun nests) on the land side.
Fire control station
The fire control station with the distance measuring system was set back on a slightly higher crest of the ridge about 37 m below the surface of the earth. The battery block and the fire control system were connected to one another by a postern about 500 m long . When the defensive battles against the German troops began, the technology of this system was state-of-the-art.
In the left area (seen to the west) there were rooms with a unit for emergency power supply (output 26 kW), for heating, ventilation and air filtering. Opposite were the rooms for the commander , the computing device and the planning room. A shaft with a ladder and an elevator led into the up to 40 cm thick armored dome of the observation post. There was also a radio station in a reinforced concrete bunker with a ceiling thickness of 3.50 m near the observation dome. A postern led from the exit of the observation dome, which was equipped with a gas lock, to the distance measuring system.
Power supply
In peacetime, the high power consumption of the battery was covered by the normal power grid, using its own power plant.
In the transformer building outside the battery block there was a transformer for converting the three - phase current obtained from the overland network from 6000 V to 400 V with 180 kW. There was also a motor generator that converted this 400 V three-phase current into 220 V direct current. In the transformer construction there was still a diesel generator with an output of 50 kW.
There was another power system in the battery block itself, which converted an overland feed of 35,000 V into 400 V three-phase current. Here, too, two motor-generators were installed to convert the three-phase current to 200 V direct current. If necessary, two diesel generators together generate 220 V direct current with 370 kW.
If all systems failed, a supply from accumulators for the secondary circuit (light, fresh air) was available for a limited period of time.
War events
As part of the Battle of Sevastopol , the German attack on the fortress began on June 7, 1942. For this purpose the mortars "Thor" and "Odin" were used. The north tower of the battery was destroyed by fire from a Karl device on June 16 (whether it was the “Thor” or “Odin” mortar is unknown) and by Stuka attacks, the south tower was destroyed the following day by a direct hit a 21 cm mortar firing tank shell of the 1st battery of the heavy artillery division (motorized) 857 was put out of action. The battery block was not penetrated at any point, only the external power supply failed almost immediately, as it was not secured against artillery fire.
Overall, the "Maxim Gorki I" battery fired around 600 grenades and the attacks of the German LIV through well-fitting fire . Army corps seriously disturbed. The battery was manned by soldiers from the Russian 35th Coast Battalion.
Reconstruction and whereabouts
In 1954, the reconstruction of the facility, which was by no means decisively destroyed, began. Instead of the former twin towers of the type MB-2-12, the two remaining triple towers of the battleship Poltava of the type MK-3-12, which was due to be demolished in Leningrad , were built and the concrete coverings were increased from three to four meters to five to six meters. As a result, the gun well had to be raised in order to bring the upper edge of the armor back to the surrounding level. The last sharp shot is said to have been fired in 1958. Certainly the battery was ready for use until at least 1993.
It may have been set up to fire nuclear shells. In the meantime, the facility called “Battery No. 30” has been abandoned.
Two of the tubes of tower 1 came from the Marat , the third from the Krasnaya Gorka fortress west of St. Petersburg ( Russian Красная горка ). The pipes of tower 2 came from a total of three ships: from the Volkhov ( Волхов ), the Oktjabrskaja Rewoljuzija ( Октябрьская революция ) and the Swobodnaja Rossija ( Свободная Россия ).
- Coordinate: 44 ° 39 ′ 50 ″ N , 33 ° 33 ′ 33 ″ E
Maxim Gorky II
The sister battery "Maxim Gorki II" is located south of the ancient city of Chersonese directly above the steep coast and covered the southern entrances of Sevastopol. It was not rebuilt after the destruction, the steel parts were removed. The work was in a ruinous condition for a long time, but has been used again as a museum and memorial since 2009. Some of the underground facilities can be visited on guided tours.
Coordinates: 44 ° 33 ′ 32 ″ N , 33 ° 24 ′ 23 ″ E
comment
The source situation on this topic is extremely difficult, as there is a variety of different information. The weight of the towers varies between 300, 1000 and 1300 tons. One explanation for this may be that one source only gives the weight of the gun platform with the mounts and the tubes, another only the weight of the turret hulls and a third the total weight.
literature
- Gerhard Taube: Sevastopol fortress . Mittler, Bonn et al. 1995, ISBN 3-8132-0485-5 .
- Hans-Rudolf Neumann (arrangement): Sevastopol / Crimea. - Documents, sources, materials, quotations: A workbook (3 parts) : S. Roderer Verlag, Regensburg 1998 (especially volume 1, page 528 ff), ISBN 3-89073-220-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ There are different details here
- ↑ The statement Leningrad has not been proven with certainty
- ↑ In 1925, the ship was Mikhail Frunze renamed
