| Soviet frigate Storozhevoy | |
|---|---|
 A Burevestnik-class frigate at anchor. Storozhevoy would have looked identical in most respects to the vessel pictured here. | |
| Career (USSR) |  |
| Name: | Storozhevoy |
| Namesake: | Russian for Vigilant |
| Builder: | SY 190 Severnaya Verf |
| Commissioned: | 1972-73 |
| Struck: | 2004(?) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Project 1135 Burevestnik Frigate |
| Displacement: | 3,300 tons standard, 3,575 tons full load |
| Length: | 405.3 ft (123.5 m) |
| Beam: | 46.3 ft (14.1 m) |
| Draught: | 15.1 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft; COGAG; 2x M-8k gas-turbines, 40,000 shp; 2x M-62 gas-turbines (cruise), 14,950 shp |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,995 nmi (9,251 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 200 |
| Armament: |
1× 4 SS-N-14 'Silex' ASW missiles 2× SA-N-4'Gecko' SAM (40 missiles) 4× 76 mm guns (2×2) 2 x RBU-6000 Anti-Submarine rockets 2× 4 533 mm torpedo tubes |
| Notes: | (General class characteristics) |
Storozhevoy ([Сторожевой] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), "guard" or "sentry") was a Soviet Navy 1135 Burevestnik-class anti-submarine frigate (NATO reporting name Krivak). The ship was attached to the Soviet Baltic Fleet and based in Riga. It was involved in a mutiny in November 1975.
Mutiny[]
The mutiny was led by the ship's political commissar, Captain of the Third Rank Valery Sablin, who wished to protest against the rampant corruption of the Leonid Brezhnev era. His aim was to seize the ship and steer it out of the Bay of Riga, to Leningrad through the Neva River, moor by the decommissioned cruiser Aurora, a symbol of the Russian revolution, and broadcast a nationwide address to the people from there. In that address, he was going to say what he believed people publicly wanted to say, but could only be said in private: that socialism and the motherland were in danger; the ruling authorities were up to their necks in corruption, demagoguery, graft, and lies, leading the country into an abyss; communism had been discarded, and there was a need to revive the Leninist principles of justice.[citation needed]
On the evening of 9 November 1975, Sablin locked the captain in the forward sonar compartment and seized control of the ship. All of the ship's crew who did not wish to go along with the plan were locked in a compartment below the main deck.
When Soviet authorities learned of the mutiny, upon direct instructions from the Kremlin it was ordered that control must be regained. Thirteen gunboats were sent in pursuit and were later joined by three fighters. After warning shots, shellfire was directed at the Storozhevoy. The vessel's steering was damaged and she stopped and was boarded by Soviet marine commandos. All the crew were arrested and interrogated, but only Sablin and his second-in-command, Alexander Shein, a 26-year-old seaman, were tried and convicted. At his trial in July 1976, Sablin was convicted of high treason and shot on 3 August 1976, while Shein was sentenced to prison and was released after serving eight years. The rest of the mutineers were set free but dishonorably discharged from the Soviet Navy.
Fictional references with factual information[]
The mutiny was one of two incidents which inspired Tom Clancy to write The Hunt for Red October, set aboard the Typhoon-class submarine Red October. The other incident was a 1961 defection, in which a Soviet Navy submarine tender captain, Jonas Pleškys, a Lithuanian by birth, sailed his vessel from Klaipėda to Gotland in Sweden, not the planned destination of Tallinn.
Aftermath[]
Storozhevoy continued in service until the late 1990s. The crew was changed completely and the ship made extensive visits to foreign ports. She was transferred to the Russian Pacific Fleet and was sold to India for scrap.
References[]
- Braden, Nate (May 2006). "Reading the Signs of Threat Transformation". pp. 58–60. ISSN 0041-798X.
- Gregory Young and Nate Braden. The Last Sentry: The True Story that Inspired The Hunt For Red October (Naval Institute Press, May 2005) ISBN 1591149924
- David Hagberg and Boris Gindin, Mutiny: The Inside Story of the True Events That Inspired The Hunt for Red October - from the Soviet Naval Hero Who Was There. (Forge Books 2008) ISBN 0-7653-1350-2
- Young, Gregory. Mutiny on Storozhevoy: A Case Study of Dissent in the Soviet Navy March 1982.
External links[]
- http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2002-45-10 (archived version)
- A Leninist Hero of our Times - In Memory of Valery Sablin: The true story of Red October. Alan Woods, London, 12 September 2000.
- http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2004-08-20/6_bunt.html Russian detailed description of mutiny and Yak-28 attacks.
The original article can be found at Soviet frigate Storozhevoy and the edit history here.