Gromky

Gromky was one of 29 Gnevny-class destroyers built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1938, the ship was initially assigned to the Baltic Fleet before being transferred to the Northern Fleet in mid-1939 where she played a minor role in the 1939–1940 Winter War against the Finns. After the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, Gromky covered an amphibious landing along the Arctic coast and laid several minefields. The ship spent most of her service escorting the Arctic Convoys, run by the British to provide weapons and supplies to the Soviets, or providing naval gunfire support to Soviet troops along the Arctic coast. She ran out of fuel during one escort mission in early 1942 and had to be rescued. A few months later a storm nearly ripped her bow off. Later that year Gromky helped to rescue crewmen from one of her sister ships after it had broken in half during heavy weather in 1942. She also was badly damaged by the storm and spent several months under repair. The ship resumed her convoy escort duties until October 1944 when she provided fire support during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive. Gromky was mostly inactive after that until the end of the war. After a lengthy modernization that lasted from 1948 to 1954, she was reclassified as a test ship in 1956 and was expended in a nuclear test the following year.