In early 1914, several months before the beginning of World War I, the construction of a third series of eight destroyers based on Novik for the Black Sea Fleet was proposed by the Naval Ministry in response to a perceived strengthening of the Ottoman Navy. This was approved by Nicholas II on 24 June after the destroyers had received names in honor of the victories of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov on 16 June. The Fidonisy-class ships were ultimately built as an improved version of the with an additional 102adj=onNaNadj=on gun. Naval historian Siegfried Breyer considered the class to be the least successful of Noviks successors.
The ships had an overall length of 92.51m-93.26mm (303.51feet-305.97feetm), had a beam of 9.05m-9.07mm (29.69feet-29.76feetm), and a draught of 3.2- at deep load.[1] They normally displaced 1326LT and 1745LT at full load.[2] Their crew consisted of 136 officers and ratings.
They were powered by two Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft,[3] using steam provided by five Thornycroft boilers that operated at a pressure of 17kg/cm2[4] and a temperature of .[5] The turbines, rated at 29000shp, were intended to give a maximum speed of 33kn, although they reportedly averaged about in service.[2] The destroyers carried a maximum of 330t of fuel oil although the ships varied widely in their endurance, ranging from 1560nmi at to at .
The Fidonisy class were armed with four 60-calibre 102 mm Pattern 1911 Obukhov guns, one on the forecastle and three aft; one of these latter guns was superfiring over the other two.[6] The guns had a rate of fire of 12–15 rounds per minute. They fired a 17.5kg (38.6lb) shell out to a range of 16095m (52,805feet) at an elevation of +30°.[7] Each ship stowed 150 rounds per gun.[4]
Anti-aircraft armament varied between ships. The first four were completed either with a pair of 39-calibre 401NaN1 "pom-pom" guns or 58-calibre 571NaN1 Hotchkiss guns. The second batch of four were fitted with a single 30-calibre 760NaN0 Lender gun.[8] The "pom-pom" fired its 2adj=onNaNadj=on shells at a rate of 300 rounds per minute, out to 6900abbr=onNaNabbr=on at an elevation of +45°. The 991m/s muzzle velocity of the Hotchkiss gun gave its 2.22kg (04.89lb) shells a range of 8520m (27,950feet) at an elevation of +21°. The Lender gun's muzzle velocity of 588m/s gave it a range of 6100m (20,000feet) with its 6.5kg (14.3lb) shell. It had a practical rate of fire of 10–12 rounds per minute.[9]
The ships were also armed with a dozen 450mm torpedo tubes in four triple mounts amidships.[10] They probably most often used the M1912 torpedo which had a 100kg (200lb) warhead. It had three speed/range settings: 6000m (20,000feet) at ; 5000m (16,000feet) at and 2000m (7,000feet) at .[11] The ships could also carry 80 mines.[4]
The ships were ordered on 17 March 1915[3] and all eight were built in the Russud Shipyard in Nikolaev.[2]
| Name in Soviet service | Laid down | Launched | Completed | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feodonisy (Russian: Феодониси) then (Russian: Фидониси) | Not applicable | 29 October 1915 | 31 May 1916 | 28 May 1917 | Scuttled, 16 June 1918 |
| (Russian: Гаджибей) | 2 February 1915 | 27 August 1916 | 11 September 1917 | ||
| Kaliakria (Russian: Калиакрия) | (Russian: Дзержинский) | 29 October 1915 | 14 August 1916[12] | 30 October 1917 | Scuttled, 18 June 1918 Salvaged, 4 October 1925 Sunk, 13 May 1942 |
| (Russian: Керчь) | Not applicable | 31 May 1916 | 27 June 1917 | Scuttled, 16 June 1918 | |
| Korfu (Russian: Корфу) | Petrovsky (Russian: Петровский) then (Russian: Железняков) then PKZ-62 (Russian: ПКЗ-62) | 23 June 1916[13] | 10 October 1917 | 10 June 1925 | Transferred to Bulgaria, 1947 Returned, 1949 Scrapped, 1957 |
| Levkas (Russian: Левкас) | (Russian: Шаумян) | 23 May 1916 | 10 December 1925 | Sunk, 10 April 1942 | |
| (Russian: Цериго) | Not applicable | 1915 | 21 March 1917[14] | 1918 | Interned in Bizerte, French Tunisia, with Wrangel's fleet and scrapped, 1924 |
| Zante (Russian: Занте) | Nezamozhny (Russian: Незаможный) then (Russian: Незаможник) | May 1916 | 7 November 1923[15] | Scuttled, February 1920 Salvaged, 7 September 1920 Sunk as a target, early 1950s |
Only Fidonisy was completed in time to participate in combat, helping to sink some Turkish sailing ships in October 1917, before the navy ceased offensive operations against the Central Powers in response to the Bolshevik Decree on Peace in early November before a formal Armistice was signed the next month.[16]