NMS Amiral Murgescu was a minelayer and convoy escort of the Romanian Navy, the first sea-going warship built in Romania and the largest Romanian-built warship of World War II. She laid numerous minefields, from the Bulgarian port of Burgas to the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which inflicted significant losses to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. She also carried out numerous convoy escort missions and took part in the Axis evacuation of the Crimea in May 1944. Due to her success in combat, she was decorated twice by May 1944. She was captured by the Soviet Union in September 1944 and served until 1988, when she was scrapped.
Description
Amiral Murgescu was laid down on 1 August 1938 and launched on 14 June 1939.Robert Gardiner, Warship 1991, Conway Maritime Press, 1991, p. 147 Her full-load displacement amounted to 1,068 tons while her standard displacement was of 812 tons.The Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-builder, Volume 46, Shipbuilder Press, 1939, p. 449 She measured 76.9 meters in length, with a beam of 9.1 meters and a draught of 2.5 meters. She was armed with two 105 mm SK C/32 dual-purpose naval/AA guns, two Rheinmetall 37 mm guns, four Oerlikon 20 mm guns and two twin 13 mm machine guns. She was also fitted with two depth charge throwers and could carry up to 200 mines and depth charges (135 mines and 65 depth charges).Robert Gardiner, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, Naval Institute Press, 1980, p. 362Janusz Piekałkiewicz, Sea War, 1939-1945, Historical Times, 1987, p. 350John Campbell, Naval Weapons of World War Two, Conway Maritime Press, 2002, p. 389Frederick Thomas Jane, Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Oscar Parkes, Jane's Fighting Ships, Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1961, p. 198Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940-1945, Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, p. 255 (in Romanian) Her two main guns were initially protected by gun shields, however these were removed in July 1941 in order to facilitate anti-aircraft fire.Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, p. 72 Amiral Murgescu had a crew of up to 135 and was powered by two Krupp diesel engines generating each, giving her a top speed of Robert Gardiner, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, Naval Institute Press, 1980, p. 362 and a range of .The Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-builder, Volume 46, Shipbuilder Press, 1939, p. 449
Motor launch Amiral Murgescu was also able to carry and operate one minesweeping motor launch. This launch was part of a class of four 9-ton vessels armed each with one 20 mm anti-aircraft gun, one 8 mm machine gun and 6 depth charges.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1941-1942, Făt-Frumos, 1996, p. 183Earl Thomas Allnutt Brassey, Brassey's Annual: The Armed Forces Year-book, Volume 58, Praeger Publishers, 1947, p. 259Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940-1945, Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, p. 259
Operational history
Romanian service She had four captains across the war: Alexandru Dumbravă (1941–1942), Ovidiu Mărgineanu (1942–1943), Gheorghe Harting (1943) and Anton Foca (1943–1944).Constantin Cumpănă, Corina Apostoleanu, Amintiri despre o flota pierduta – vol. II – Voiaje neterminate, 2011, Telegraf Advertising
Amiral Murgescu was commissioned on 2 March 1941.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1941-1942, Făt-Frumos, 1996, p. 72 Her first mission was between 16 and 19 June 1941, when she and two other Romanian minelayers, Regele Carol I and Aurora, laid a barrage of 1,000 mines between Cape Midia and Tuzla, to protect the main Romanian port of Constanța. When the Soviet Black Sea Fleet attacked the port on 26 June, she helped repel the attack, together with the flotilla leader Mărăști and the destroyer Regina Maria and the German coastal battery Tirpitz. The Soviet destroyer leader Moskva was sunk by Romanian mines and the cruiser Voroshilov was damaged. Amiral Murgescu also shot down two Soviet aircraft on that same day.Jonathan Trigg, Death on the Don: The Destruction of Germany's Allies on the Eastern Front, Chapter 3Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, pp. 70 and 71 Later, the Soviet submarine Shch-213 and 3 more Soviet submarines (M-58, M-34 and Shch-208) were sunk by Romanian mines near Constanța.Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935–1953, pp. 265–266 The German R-boat R-36 was also sunk by Romanian mines near Constanța in 1943.Gordon Smith, Don Kindell, Donald A. Bertke, World War II Sea War, Vol 9: Wolfpacks Muzzled, p. 203
During a Soviet air raid on 23 June 1941, two of her crewmen were wounded. On a subsequent raid which took place the following day, she shot down two Soviet aircraft, her first aerial kills.Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940–1945, Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, pp. 45–46
On 25 June, Amiral Murgescu shot down three Soviet aircraft in 15 minutes.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1941-1942, Făt-Frumos, 1996, p. 105
During a Soviet air attack on Constanța on 5 August, she shot down three more aircraft.Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, p. 72
Her next mission was between 7 and 16 October 1941. Together with the Romanian minelayers Regele Carol I and Dacia and escorted by the Romanian 250t-class torpedo boats Năluca, Sborul and Smeul, Romanian gunboats Sublocotenent Ghiculescu and Căpitan Dumitrescu and Bulgarian torpedo boats Drazki, Smeli and Hrabri, she laid four full minefields and one partial minefield along the Bulgarian coast.Donald A Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell, World War II Sea War, Volume 4: Germany Sends Russia to the Allies, p. 323 These mines later sank 4 Soviet submarines (S-34, L-24, Shch-210 and Shch-211).Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935–1953, pp. 265–266
In February 1942, she participated in a minelaying operation near Sulina, at the mouth of the Danube.Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, p. 76
On 24 June 1942, she laid mines near Odessa along with Dacia, while being escorted by the Romanian destroyers Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria, the flotilla leader Mărășești, the Romanian gunboats Ghiculescu, Stihi and Dumitrescu and the Romanian torpedo boat Smeul as well as motor minesweepers of the Donau Flotilla.Donald A. Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell World War II Sea War, Volume 6: The Allies Halt the Axis Advance, p. 268 The mines laid near Odessa later sank the Soviet submarines M-33 and M-60Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935–1953, p. 266 and the motor gunboats YA-26 and YA-27.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1944–1945, p. 365 (in Romanian)
On 29–30 October and 5 November 1942, she along with Dacia and the Romanian destroyers Regina Maria and Regele Ferdinand, the Romanian leader Mărăști, the Romanian gunboat Stihi and four German R-boats laid two mine barrages to protect Snake Island.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1942–1944, pp. 53–54 (in Romanian) These mines sank the Soviet submarine Shch-212 on 11 December that same year.Donald A Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell,World War II Sea War, Vol 8: Guadalcanal Secured, p. 77Shch-212 on uboat.netShch-212 on wrecksite.eu The Soviet submarine M-31 was either sunk as well by the Romanian mine barrages near the island on 17 December, or sunk with depth charges by the Romanian leader Mărășești on 7 July 1943.M. J. Whitley, Destroyers of World War Two, p. 224 On 1 December 1942, while the Soviet cruiser Voroshilov together with the destroyer Soobrazitelny were bombarding the island with forty-six 180 mm and fifty-seven 100 mm shells, the cruiser was damaged by Romanian mines, but she managed to return to Poti for repairs under her own power. During the brief bombardment, she struck the radio station, barracks and lighthouse on the island, but failed to inflict significant losses.Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940–1945, Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, pp. 93–94Timothy C. Dowling, Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond, p. 128Spencer C. Tucker, World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia,. p. 114Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1942–1944, p. 56 (in Romanian)Yakubov, Vladimir; Worth, Richard (2009). The Soviet Light Cruisers of the Kirov Class. In Jordan, John. Warship 2009, p. 92
On the night of 13–14 September 1943, Amiral Murgescu, escorted by two Romanian destroyers, laid mines off Sevastopol.Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, p. 81 On 15 September, she along with two German auxiliary minelayers, escorted by six R-boats and the German armed ship Xanten, laid a barrage of mines that closed the mouth of the Gulf of Kherson.Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940–1945, Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, p. 120
When not used as minelayer, Amiral Murgescu was employed as an escort ship.Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, p. 80Robert Gardiner, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, Naval Institute Press, 1980, p. 362 She participated in a total of 16 escort missions, mainly between Constanța and Sevastopol, between November 1942 and September 1943. One of these missions, on 19–20 July 1943, was carried out solely by her.Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940-1945, Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, pp. 267-272 On 15 April 1944, a convoy she was escorting during the evacuation of the Crimea was attacked five times by Soviet bombers. She shot down two of them, but one of her main guns and one 20 mm gun were damaged.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1942–1944 (in Romanian)Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940–1945 (in Romanian), p. 138
On 12 May 1944, she was the last Romanian warship to leave Crimea during the evacuation of the peninsula by the Axis. Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Anton Foca, she evacuated about 1,000 troops, including the highly decorated German General Walter Hartmann.Robert Forczyk, Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941–44, Chapter 9
On 25–26 May, she and Dacia, escorted by the destroyer Regina Maria, the leader Mărășești, the torpedo boats Sborul and Smeul and the motor torpedo boats Vedenia and Viscolul, laid another barrage of mines off Sulina to reinforce the existing one.Antony Preston, Warship 2001–2002, Conway Maritime Press, 2001, p. 84 The mines laid off Sulina sank the German S-boat S-148 on 22 August 1944.Lawrence Paterson, Schnellboote: A Complete Operational History, p. 261
On 29 May 1944, she was decorated with the Order of the Star of Romania. She was also decorated with the Order of the Romanian Crown.Amiral Murgescu (in Romanian)Constantin Cumpănă, Corina Apostoleanu, Amintiri despre o flota pierduta – vol. II – Voiaje neterminate, 2011, Telegraf Advertising
Soviet service After the 23 August 1944 coup, she was captured by Soviet forces and commissioned as Don.Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935–1953, p. 167 She was converted to training ship on 2 April 1945, to depot ship on 18 January 1947, to command ship on 9 February 1948, to disarmed barracks ship on 7 May 1956 (renamed PKZ-107) and finally to repair ship on 4 January 1958 (renamed PM-76, PMR-76 from 8 June 1966), being finally taken out of service on 27 May 1988 and sold for scrap on 4 July 1988.Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet, Routledge, 2017, p. 271
Cetatea Albă