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During the Second World War, the Soviet Navy met with the enemy face to face in the first days of the fighting.

In the Arctics, the Germans had to recognize that the conduct of the war was fully dependent on marine communications. Due to the absence of railways in Northern Finland and Northern Norway, the only way in which the enemy could deliver weapons and food to such a remote theatre of war, was by sea.

Germans were mining and transporting nickel ore from Kirkenes to Petsamo. Therefore, fascist command was forced to bring into its operations a large number of transport vessels.

On a monthly basis, between the ports of Northern Finland and Northern Norway was an average of 25 convoys with a total of up to 150 transports and 300 warships .

The first fight ever held by a Soviet torpedo boat was held on July 13, 1941 with its convoy, which had 48 pennants. Several transport and motor barges, loaded with troops and equipment, became surrounded by a large escort of mine ships, patrol ships, and minesweepers. Four torpedo boats, commanded by Lieutenant Senior VP Gumanenko, launched an aggressive attack on the enemy vessels and succeeded in sinking two of the transports, and a torpedo Boat landing barge.

This battle, where small boats faced far more powerful ships, and in larger numbers, made it all too clear the offensive capabilities the torpedo boats had. It was a serious test of the crews combat training, as well as a test of tactical training for their commanders. And the Soviet navy passed this critical test with honor.

G-5 Torpedo Boat

A distinctive feature of the Soviet boats was their small size, and consequently, they had a small displacement and weak armor. But at the same time, they were able to develop high speed and good maneuverability. Basically this series of boats were the G-5 and Komsomolets. Based on these features, their methods of attack were developed. Observers could conclude that the Soviet boat actions could seem like madness at times, but they acted on the basis of the characteristics of their boats and on a correct assessment of enemy action.

Komsomolets Torpedo Boat. Photo: Wikipedia.org (article on PT-Boats in russian)

One night in 1943, fascist transports left from the port of Petsamo under the cover of six patrol vessels. To intercept the convoy, two torpedo boats, the TKA-13 and TKA-14 were dispatched. Despite the enemies superiority in numbers, outnumbering them three to one, the Soviet navy decided to attack.

However, neither the first attempt, nor the second lead to success: each time before firing, the boats had to stand as solid as a steal curtain. Meanwhile, both transports reversed their courses. Guard ships, surrounding the Soviet boats on one side, started to bomb them into a retreat back toward the shore, allowing no break into the sea.

The battle initiative started to move in favor of the enemy. TKA-13 committed a rapid maneuver: fired it’s machine guns toward one of guard ships and hid itself in its own smoke screen. A few minutes later, the boat appeared from the smoke attacking other ship escorts and then again hid inside the smoke. Repeating this trick several times, TKA-13 then focused on the fascists. Under the cover of smokescreen, TKA-14 began to gain momentum and surprise its enemies, rapidly squeezing between the enemy guard ships. When the distance to transport dropped to two or three cables, the torpedo launches followed …

The sudden attack of TKA-14, and the sinking transport all happened to be completely unexpected by the enemy, so the guard ships were unable to make any response in the next few minutes. Also, the captain of TKA-13 took advantage of this fact. Swifltly evaluating the situation, he broke into the fiord and attacked a second ship. All six ships guards blocked the exit from the fiord, and moved towards the boat.

The situation seemed hopeless, but the senior lieutenant found a solution. The only correct one possible in such a situation. He sent his boat toward the shore, where the enemy batteries were shooting from.

Under the hurricane of artillery fire and shrapnel raining down upon them, TKA-13 burst out of the gulf. Changing it’s course every minute, the captain was not giving the enemy gunners a chance to adjust their fire and find their range. At the same time, German guard ships feared entering into a hot military zone of their own batteries. Thus, the “thirteenth” had escaped from the fiord, surrounded by the fountains of tears from enemy shelling.

Below: Komsomolets torpedo boat model from PT-Boats: Knight of the Sea

PT-Boats: Knights of the Sea official site, PT-Boats page on Akella.com, History of Russian PT-Boats Part 1