Soviet guard ship Metel
Metel was a Guards built for the Soviet Navy during the 1930s. Commissioned in 1935, she was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. During World War II the ship participated in operations during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. On 26 August Metel was awarded Guards status. Two months later she was converted into a training ship. Metel was struck from the navy list on 30 November 1954 and subsequently scrapped.
Design and description
The Russian Civil War had shut down design and construction of all ships, both naval and commercial from 1917 to 1924, thus Soviet naval architects and shipyards lacked experience when the Soviet Navy decided to replace the few old Tsarist torpedo boats still in service. The initial requirement was based on that of the later batches of the World War I-era German that could carry mines as necessary to serve as fleet escorts and conduct torpedo attacks. The Uragans were almost slower than designed due to this inexperience and, in their intended role, they "were complete failures – they were too slow for use as torpedo boats and of no value as ASW vessels because of their lack of depth-charge handling equipment and underwater detection devices".General characteristics
The Series II Uragan-class ships, officially known as Project 4, displaced at standard load and at full load. They were long overall, had a beam of and a draft of. The ships had 14 main watertight compartments and a double bottom only underneath the machinery and boiler rooms. The crew of Metels sister ship numbered 108 in 1943.The Uragan-class ships were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by a pair of three-drum boilers. The turbines of the Series II ships developed a total of which gave them a speed in service of. Metel carried of fuel oil that gave her a range of at.
Armament and fire control
The main armament of the Uragan-class guard ships consisted of a pair of Tsarist-era Pattern 1911 guns in single mounts, one each forward and aft of the superstructure. Anti-aircraft defense was intended to be provided by four single 11-K AA guns; these were modified versions of the British 2-pounder () guns, but deteriorating relations with the United Kingdom prevented the Soviets from buying any of these weapons. A pair of Maxim machine guns were fitted in their place.A rotating triple mount for torpedoes was fitted between the funnels. The Uragans were fitted with a pair of racks for 22 B-1 and 15 M-1 depth charges. Alternatively up to 20 KB mines could be carried using rails mounted on the main deck. No sonar was fitted so dropping depth charges was largely an act of futility. Two K-1 minesweeping paravanes were fitted on the main deck after the design was finalized. One DM-1 rangefinder was mounted above the open bridge and a searchlight was fitted on a small platform abaft the rear funnel.