Russian destroyer Azard

Artem between 1928 and 1941
History
Russian Empire
NameAzard
BuilderMetal Works, St. Petersburg
Laid downJuly 1915
Launched23 May 1916
Completed10 October 1916
FateJoined the Bolsheviks, November 1917
Soviet Union
Name
  • Zinoviev, 31 December 1922
  • Artem, 27 November 1928
AcquiredNovember 1917
FateMined and sunk, 28 August 1941
General characteristics (as built)
Class & typeOrfey-class destroyer
Displacement1,260 long tons (1,280 t)
Length98 m (321 ft 6 in)
Beam9.34 m (30 ft 8 in)
Draught2.98 m (9 ft 9 in)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 steam turbines
Speed31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)
Range1,680 nmi (3,110 km; 1,930 mi) at 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement150
Armament

Azard (Азард) was one of eight Orfey-class destroyers built for the Russian Imperial Navy during World War I. Completed in 1916, she served with the Baltic Fleet and joined the Bolshevik Red Fleet after the October Revolution of 1917. The ship had to be towed from Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, to Kronstadt in early 1918 during the "Ice Cruise". She was active during the Russian Civil War, taking part in several engagements against British ships during the British campaign in the Baltic. The destroyer was renamed Zinoviev (Зиновьев) in 1922 and Artem (Aртём) in 1928. She was still in service with the Soviet Baltic Fleet when the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), and participated in the Gulf of Riga campaign. The ship was sunk by a mine on 28 August during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn, Estonia.