Soviet WWII minelayers
The minelayer is a naval ship used for deploying sea mines.
The Russian minelayer «Marti» and the battleship «October Revolution».
“Marti” was former Czarist imperial yacht “Shtandart” and become the biggest and most effective Soviet minelayer in Baltic.
Confirmed victories of minelayer Marti achieved with mines: 1 October 1941 : sunk German submarine chaser UJ-117 close Hanko. 21 November 1941 : sunk German tug Fohn (303 GRT) on convoy to Tallin. 11 June 1942 : sunk German support-ship MRS-11 Osnabruck close Tallin. Ship was later recovered but the temporary loss caused distress among the Germans because were lost 84 men and the mine-field was actually known, but captain did not received the proper chart in time.
Ural was the second largest and most notable minelayer in Baltic Fleet, after Marti. Often sailed together Marti on mission, but her best successes were scored laying fields close Malyj Tjuters and Bolshoy Tyuters alongside the old destroyer Kalinin in July 1941: one year later these mines sunk German submarine-chasers UJ-1211 on 7/Aug/42 and UJ-1204 on 26/Oct/42.
45mm gun 21-K of the Soviet minelayer «Marti». USSR navy WWII photo.
Minelayer «Komintern» of Red navy in combat near Odessa, 1941.
“Komintern” was a former WWI-era “Bogatyr” class protected cruiser and become the biggest Soviet minelayer in Black Sea, differently from “Marti” no victory can be assigned and she was hard damaged by German aircraft in summer 1942, disarmed and scuttled at Tuapse in October as a breakwater.
Okean class survey vessels / minelayers of 201 project