The death of the ship Armenia. Ship "Armenia" - ordered to forget

Everyone remembers the global catastrophe with the Titanic? Certainly…. But why do we remember and know so many details about this shipwreck, and do not know about more horrific and global disasters that occurred on the waters of the oceans? And because films were not made about these troubles, many books were not written, and because some of them are still under the heading of secrecy.

Motor ship "Armenia"

Armenia…. This is not only a beautiful and friendly little country, not only a city in sunny Colombia, but also the name of one of the motor ships built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1928. Together with this ship, the ships Abkhazia, Adzharia and Ukraine also went to the open sea. All ships were designed to carry passengers, goods and mail on the Crimean-Caucasian line.

With the outbreak of World War II, the countries involved in the confrontation with Germany used all possible resources, including passenger and cargo ships. They were rebuilt into ambulances to transport the wounded. During the war, the troika of ships of the Baltic shipyard was sunk, but big secret hides the loss motor ship "Armenia".

In 1941, the experienced 39-year-old captain Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky commanded the ship. It was he who received the order from the command of the Black Sea Fleet to save the military hospital and the inhabitants of the city of Sevastopol. For a complete picture of the ship, it is worth writing about the facts that played an important role in the fate of the ship. The ship could take on board 950 people plus a crew of 96 people, but took on board 4.5-7 thousand people, which many times exceeded its capabilities. Eyewitnesses who were in the port of Sevastopol say that every resident of the city was eager to board the ship, everyone was afraid to stay, since the German troops were already nearby. Let us clarify that such an overload threatened the ship with very strong instability on the waves of the Black Sea, it could roll over even with a small storm. The deck and holds of the ship were filled with doctors and residents of the city. After loading people, the ship left the port of Sevastopol at about 17:00 on November 6, 1941 and headed towards the Caucasus, in Tuapse.

But the ship had two more stops along the way. On one of them, in the port of the city of Yalta, the ship was supposed to evacuate political workers and several hundred civilians. But on the second one, take on board the NKVD officers and unknown wooden boxes. The second stop was not far from the shore of Balaklava, where the ship waited for a boat with cargo and NKVD officers. We had to wait about three hours. What was in such valuable boxes, because of which thousands of people were exposed to danger every second, remained unknown, we can only guess about their contents.

There are several guesses about what was transported in wooden boxes. The first is the documents of the NKVD, which could not be left to the advancing enemy. The second, in favor of which many facts speak, are paintings by famous Russian artists. At a distance of one and a half hours by car from Balaklava, there was Alushta, in which in the summer of that year, there was an exhibition of paintings by prominent Russian artists such as Bryullov, Kramskoy, Repin, Levitan and many others.

Upon arrival in Yalta, the ship took on board several hundred more people. The ship, which arrived at the port at 2:00 on November 7, received an order to wait for darkness and go to sea only at 19:00. But, taking responsibility, Captain Plaushevsky put the ship out to sea at 8 am on November 7. For such a violation of the order, the entire crew of the ship could be shot, but this was prevented by a more tragic circumstance.

Motor ship "Armenia" had on the sides the distinctive signs of ambulance transport in the form of red crosses. But the ship was also additionally armed with four 45-mm cannons, which made it possible to consider the ship a military object and, accordingly, attack it.

November 7, 1941 at 8:00 "Armenia" left the port of Yalta and headed straight for Tuapse, having on board several thousand passengers, including a military hospital and NKVD officers with an unknown, but valuable cargo. And, presumably, at 11 hours 25 minutes, the ship was attacked by the German Heinkel He-111 aircraft. The ship was hit by dropped torpedoes. The sinking of the ship took a matter of minutes, from which historians conclude that the damage from the torpedo hit was devastating and the ship most likely tore apart.

Memorial plaque in memory of "Armenia"

The bottom of the Black Sea even on this moment, with modern technology very little has been surveyed. And the remains of the ship "Armenia" have not yet been found. And no one knows what was in these ill-fated boxes, which became one of the reasons for the death of 4.5-7 thousand people, the death of first-class Soviet doctors who could save hundreds of soldiers' lives. The sinking of the ship "Armenia" remains one of the most mysterious secrets beginning of the Second World War.

BlackSeaNews

Motor ship "Armenia" belonged to a series of postal passenger ships type "Abkhazia", ​​which were the most comfortable and high-speed cargo-passenger ships of the Soviet construction of the 30s.

These vessels were among the first designed by the Central Marine Shipbuilding Bureau in Leningrad. Motor ships were intended for the Crimean-Caucasian line and were designed under the guidance of a shipbuilding engineer Ya. A. Koperzhinsky with the participation of captains and mechanics who worked on this route. By the name of the route, the ships were nicknamed "Krymchaks".

Construction of "Armenia"

Photo from the archive of Igor Alekseev, Neptune magazine

The project called for a two-deck architecture with an extended middle superstructure of 81.7 m. The riveted hull was divided into nine main compartments. To accommodate the cargo, there were six holds and two tweendecks.

The ship could take 60 first-class passengers, 190 second-class, 266 third-class, and 426 people were accommodated on deck. In total - 942 passengers.

The safety of numerous passengers for such a spaciousness was ensured by the presence of 16 lifeboats with 48 seats each. two-shaft power plant included two engines of the Russian Diesel plant.

"Armenia" on the set of the film "Treasures shipwreck» Vladimir Brown, 1935. Photo from sirjones.livejournal.com

Help sea.infoflot.ru:

Length: 112 m. Width: 15.55 m. Depth: 7.84. Loaded draft; 5.95 m. Full load displacement: 5770 tons. Deadweight: 1480. Registered tonnage: gross - 4727 tons, net - 2566 tons. Passenger capacity: cabin - 518 people; deck - 462 people; Type of power plant: diesel. GEM power: 2 x 1472; Propulsion type: VFSh. Type of stabilizers; side keels. Loaded speed: 12.6 knots. Bulk capacity: 2820 m3

"Armenia" (like "Abkhazia", ​​"Adzharia" and "Ukraine") belonged to the first series and was built at the Baltic Shipyard in 1928. The ships of the second series ("Georgia" and "Crimea") were built at the Krupp shipyard in Kiel. There were differences between the two series. For example, an additional superstructure on motor ships of the Baltic Shipyard increased the center of gravity, and 120 tons of ballast had to be loaded into the hold.

During the Second World War, the Krymchaks turned out to be almost the only ships on the Black Sea that could be effectively used as high-speed military and ambulance transports. Five out of six ships were lost in 1941-1942 , and m / v "Crimea" was damaged and disabled.

"Armenia" on the set of the film "Treasures of the Lost Ship" by Vladimir Brown, 1935. Photo from sirjones.livejournal.com

At the beginning of the war, "Armenia" and its brethren were modernized by the workers of the Odessa Shipyard. The partitions of the cabins were breaking - to expand the operating room and 4 dressing rooms for 11 tables each. It was believed that a maximum of 400 wounded would have to be taken on board. The crew now consisted of 96 people plus medical staff: 9 doctors, 29 nurses and 75 orderlies.

In less than five months of the "Armenia" war, of which he was captain Vladimir Plaushevsky, managed to make 15 flights to Odessa and back and transport about 16 thousand people during this time.

It is assumed that "Armenia" was marked with red crosses . This is stated in the book "Heroic Sevastopol" in 1979, one of the organizers of the defense of Sevastopol, Lieutenant General of Artillery P. A. Morgunov, who at that time was the commandant of the coastal defense of Crimea and the main base of the Black Sea Fleet:

"... although he had the distinctive marks of a medical ship, he was torpedoed by a fascist aircraft ...".

“At this point in the text,” the Sevastopol historian wrote in his studies “The death of“ Armenia ”: the number of dead is unknown. Evgeny Venikeev, - there is a footnote: "Department of the Central Naval Archive (TsVMA), fund 10, case 19, sheet 221."

It is worth noting that, as researchers who made a request to the Central Naval Archive say, this is the most Case No. 19 was destroyed in 1949 ... Furthermore. Through German veterans, they tried to find the crew of the torpedo bomber that attacked the "Armenia" in order to clarify the details and coordinates of the death of the ship, since the German archives are famous for the high safety of documents. The answer came unexpectedly: The archive of the Luftwaffe was taken to the USSR ».

"Armenia" on the set of the film "Treasures of the Lost Ship" by Vladimir Brown, 1935. Photo from sirjones.livejournal.com

At the same time, the scientific secretary of the military-scientific society of the Black Sea Fleet, captain of the II rank, retired Sergei Solovyov(unfortunately now deceased) believes that “Armenia” did not have a Red Cross sign , since she, along with other transports, except for sea evacuation, was engaged in the delivery of weapons, ammunition, manpower from the rear areas to the battlefields. "Armenia" was painted in military color with ball paint and even had machine guns. All this deprived transport of the right of inviolability.

E. Nikitin(Hospital Courts, St. Petersburg 1992) claims that after the stories with Chekhov and Kotovsky, from the end of July 1941, all the distinctive signs of the Red Cross were canceled and all sanitary TRs were painted with a ball, armed and transferred to the position of the VTR. So it is unlikely that "Armenia" was under the flag of the Red Cross.

Be that as it may, this is just one of the many mysteries associated with the last flight of "Armenia".

In the Museum of the Black Sea Fleet, it says:

“Ambulance transport of the Black Sea Fleet “Armenia”. Date and place of death - November 7, 1941, south of Yalta, 44° 17′ N. sh., 34° 10′ (depth 250 m - ed.) c. e. Went from Yalta to Tuapse with the wounded and cargo. Sunk by enemy aircraft. The death toll is unknown. 8 people were saved. (TsVMA, f. 10, d. 9096, l. 8)”.

Point 44° 17′ N. sh., 34° 10′

In the reference book "Ships of the Ministry of the Navy, who died during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", published in Moscow in 1989, the following entry:

"Armenia", cargo-passenger ship, 4727 tons, captain V. Ya. Plaushevsky(died). Date and place of the death of the ship - 11/07/1941, south of Yalta. Went from Yalta to Tuapse with wounded and cargo, sunk by enemy aircraft. The death toll is unknown, 8 people survived.

Not much. Since 1989, the few surviving documents, memoirs of the military and the memoirs of surviving civilians have formed a general picture of the tragedy.

On November 6, 1941, the motor ship "Armenia" stood on the inner roads of Sevastopol and quickly took on board the wounded and evacuated citizens.

A member of the defense of Sevastopol, a colonel of the medical service, testifies A. I. Vlasov:

“On November 5, the head of the Main Base department received an order ... to close hospitals and infirmaries. About 300 wounded were loaded onto the "Armenia", the medical and economic personnel of the Sevastopol naval hospital (the largest in the fleet), led by its chief physician, military doctor of the 1st rank S.M. Kagan. The heads of departments (with medical staff), X-ray technicians were also here ... The 2nd naval and Nikolaev base hospitals, sanitary warehouse No. 280, the sanitary and epidemiological laboratory, the 5th medical detachment, the hospital from the Yalta sanatorium were also located here . Part of the medical staff of the Primorsky and 51st armies, as well as the evacuated residents of Sevastopol, were taken on board the ship ... ".

Evacuation from Sevastopol. 1942 Photo from pliew.narod.ru

Sevastopol was not left completely without medical staff:

ORDER TO THE TROOPS OF THE SEVASTOPOL DEFENSE REGION No. 003

For the sanitary provision of parts of the Sevastopol defensive region in each sector, create one medical battalion and a hospital base for 2,000 beds at the rate of: a marine hospital for 900 beds and 1,300 beds based on BCPs No. 76 and No. 268.

Staffing to be made at the expense of the medical staff of the Primorsky and 51st armies, as well as the Sevastopol naval base. Evacuate all redundant personnel. Sansklad to leave in the amount of 4 people. To understaff the 39th separate autosanrote at the expense of the personnel and materiel of the 105th autosanrote and the 51st army. Transfer all excess staff to the staffing and personnel department.

Commander of the Sevastopol defensive region Major General Petrov
Member of the Military Council Brigadier Commissar Kuznetsov
Chief of staff Colonel Krylov

Captain of "Armenia" Vladimir Plaushevsky got order to leave Sevastopol on November 6 at 19 o'clock and proceed to Tuapse . Only one small sea hunter No. 041 under the command of a senior lieutenant was allocated for escort by the fleet. Kulashova.

It is curious that even in the secret Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War Soviet Union at the Black Sea Theatre, it is impossible to find out exactly when the ship set off, although the time of departure and entry into the port of even the smallest ships is indicated there with an accuracy of up to a minute. Exact time based on eyewitness accounts.

But, despite the fact that in the absence of protection, only night can ensure stealth navigation and prevent the enemy from attacking the transport, the captain of the "Armenia" receives an order from the Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet leave Sevastopol not at evening twilight, but 2 hours earlier , that is, at 17:00, during daylight hours.

However, Armenia went not to Tuapse, but to Yalta . Colonel testifies I. M. Velichenko, a former secret communications specialist under the commander of the Black Sea Fleet:

“On that day, over an unsatisfactory wired connection from Yalta, Rear Admiral N. M. Kulakov that gathered in the city large group leading workers and party activists, who have nothing to evacuate ... the choice fell on "Armenia", and she went to her death ... ".

Photo from world-archaeology-news.blogspot.com

Already at sea, “Armenia” was ordered to approach Balaklava, where NKVD boats moored to it off the coast, from which wooden boxes were overloaded. The attendants also boarded.

“Judging by the documents found in the archives, the NKVD was carrying some very valuable cargo,” says the head of the Department of Maritime Heritage of Ukraine of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences Sergei Voronov. - The day before, November 6, Stalin signed an order for an urgent evacuation from Crimean peninsula all the most valuable to the Caucasus. But what exactly they loaded is unknown.”

Another mystery of "Armenia". There could also be papers in the boxes. And in the plot “The death of “Armenia”. Ordered to Forget” from the “Seekers” retransmission cycle, they suggested that the boxes contained exhibits of the traveling exhibition “The Main Stages in the Development of Russian Painting” from the Russian state museum, which the war found in Alupka. Although it is believed that most of the paintings were taken to Germany. Of the 183 exhibits, 60 works were returned for permanent storage to the funds of the State Russian Museum. One work has replenished the exposition of the Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time. The search continues.

Meanwhile, by two o'clock in the morning "Armenia" moored in Yalta . Volunteer testifies E. S. Nikulin:

“Since the evening, we still did not know anything about the ship “Armenia”. At night, about two o'clock we were awakened and led almost in formation along the middle of the street to the port. There was a huge ship in the port.

The whole marina and pier are filled with people. We joined this crowd. Boarding the ship was slow; in two hours we moved from the pier to the pier. The pressure is incredible! Loading went from about two o'clock until seven in the morning . Across the pier stood NKVD soldiers with rifles and let only women with children through. Sometimes men broke through the cordon. The weather was inclement, it often rained. The full moon peeped through the gaps in the black, rapidly rushing clouds. Waves rolled over the pier. A fuel depot began to burn in the city, and huge black clouds of smoke were carried by the wind towards the city. Dawn is coming..."

Yalta. Photo from poltora-bobra.livejournal.com

Vera Chistova, who was then 9 years old:

“Dad bought tickets, and my grandmother and I had to leave Yalta on the ship “Armenia”. On the night of November 6, the pier was full of people. First, the wounded were loaded, then the civilians were let in. Nobody checked the tickets, and a stampede began on the gangway. The brave climbed onto the ship along the shrouds. In the bustle, suitcases and things were thrown off the board. By dawn, the loading was completed. But we never got to Armenia. Hundreds of people remained on the pier. My grandmother and I went to my father's workshop on the embankment. I fell asleep there."

How many people were on board when the "Armenia" left Yalta is unknown. Media reports about 5-7 thousand people . Some even dare to 13 thousand .

In "Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945" authorship Jurgen Rohwer and Gerhard Hummelchen(Publisher - Library modern history. Stuttgart, 2007) there is a mention of the number of people taken away. But how reliable the data is, and what sources the authors rely on, we do not know:

"..."Armenia" takes from the besieged Sevastopol about 4000 wounded and medical personnel with equipment from 11 hospitals and sent to Yalta, where he recruited another 800 people according to official data, in order to evacuate to Novorossiysk ... "

Historian Vitaly Prudnikov in the program "The death of" Armenia ". Ordered to forget" suggests that the ship was no more 4 500 people- otherwise, given its size, it would roll over.

We also note that on November 7, 1941, an order was issued by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command "Do not surrender Sevastopol in any case and defend it with all your might."

Anatoly Ivanovich Burmistrov, son of a captain of the first rank and senior naval commander of Feodosia, Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Alekseevich Burmistrov, who broke through to Yalta, kept his father's memories of these tragic events in his book "Flagman":

“Yalta was also doomed,” says A. Burmistrov. - Father arrived there on November 3rd. As he said, the city was shrouded in smoke, there were explosions, there was a shootout. On November 6, almost at night, the ship "Armenia" entered the port.

The morning of November 7 came. Father was next to the captain of "Armenia" Lieutenant Commander Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky. He advised him to hold out for a day in the port and go out in the dark: it is dangerous during the day.

“I can’t,” he replied, “I received a radiogram from headquarters: to unmoor immediately after loading is completed. I'm already loaded. And besides, you yourself know very well that the Germans are about to be in the city. So let's go out. We are designated as a medical ship.”

What could one say to this who knew well about fascism since the Spanish events! But he had no right to order. Sighing, he blessed the captain for good luck. Saying goodbye, he moved to one of the boats that accompanied the ship.

The morning was stormy. It gave me hope that everything would work out. Didn't work out... Two hours later, after "Armenia" moved away from the mooring wall, it was spotted by fascist torpedo bombers. The deadly projectiles dropped from them hit right on target. "Armenia" lasted no more than four minutes afloat.

I. Burmistrov managed to pick up only a few people on his boat ... V. Plaushevsky also shared the fate of the ship.

"Armenia" on the set of the film "Treasures of the Lost Ship" by Vladimir Brown, 1935. Photo from sirjones.livejournal.com

At the same time, from the notes of the admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky:

“When it became known to me that the transport “Armenia” was going to leave Yalta in the afternoon (at 8 am - ed.), I myself personally gave the order to the commander in no case to leave Yalta until 19:00, that is, until dark. We did not have the means to provide good air and sea cover for transport. Communication worked reliably, the commander received the order and, despite this, left Yalta. At 11:00, she was attacked by torpedo bombers and sunk. After being hit by a torpedo, "Armenia" was afloat for four minutes.

Was getting Plaushevsky command or not at 8:00 "Armenia" left the port of Yalta . Despite the danger of traveling by day, there were reasons for this decision. The air defense battery and the 17th anti-boat battery, which at the same time covered port , filmed on the same night. The port was defenseless.

From "Never Fades" Krylova N.I.(M.: Voenizdat, 1984):

“... The rest of the troops in Livadia had to be limited to a few hours. Around noon on November 7, they were alerted to continue their march. By this time, two regiments of our 421st division, which for three days, together with the border guards, held back the enemy near Alushta, took up defense already near Yalta, and the Germans were in Gurzuf ... "

November 7, 1941. It was stormy in the Black Sea, low cloudiness in the sky, 2 escort boats are already on the guard of the “Armenia” ambulance transport, 2 I-153 “Chaika” cover fighters have appeared in the sky, which are patrolling at an altitude of 500 m.

Katernnik from sea hunter MO-04 M. M. Yakovlev:

"November 7, at about 10 a.m., in the area of ​​​​Cape Sarych, a German reconnaissance aircraft flew over us , and after a short time over the water, at low level, almost touching the crests of the waves (the weather was stormy, and we were chatting thoroughly), two enemy torpedo bombers entered our area. One of them began to make a turn for a torpedo attack, and the second went towards Yalta . We could not open fire, as the roll of the boat reached 45 degrees. The torpedo bomber dropped two torpedoes, but missed, and they exploded in the coastal rocks of Cape Aya. We were struck by the force of the explosion - we had not seen a more powerful one before, and almost everyone said at once that if the second torpedo bomber got "Armenia", then she would be unhappy ... And so it happened.

The German He-111 torpedo bomber came unexpectedly from the shore and dropped 2 torpedoes at low level from a distance of 600 m, after which it went into the clouds and disappeared. The cover fighters did not even have time to react to what was happening.

The death of "Armenia". Artist Andrey Lubyanov. From the documentary film by N. Braiko “Photograph from family album(ship "Armenia")"

At 11:25 one of the dropped torpedoes hit bow ship. After torpedoing, the ship was afloat for only 4 minutes. At 11:29 she sank. Only 8 people survived.

But there is more evidence - in the "Chronicles of the Regiment of Gerasim Rubtsov" Lezinsky M. L. Remembers the former commander of a platoon of machine gunners of the Consolidated Regiment of the NKVD troops, lieutenant N. P. Malyavkin:

“Our barrage detachment of the 184th rifle division of the border troops of the NKVD, performing a combat mission to cover the Primorsky army, retreating from the Ishun positions, itself was surrounded in the Yalta region.

With mountain heights- Yalta at a glance. We saw how 6november("Armenia" left Yalta on November 7 - ed.), in the afternoon, the motor ship departed from the pier of the Yalta port"Armenia" with the wounded. The ship had not yet managed to go out to the open sea, when a group of enemy aircraft flew in and, despite the fact that sanitary crosses were clearly visible on the sides of the ship, they began targeted bombing at the floating hospital ... We heard not only bomb explosions, but also the voices of people. I still hear these cries, one has only to close my eyes and remember the terrible days of retreat. I still feel guilty, and my comrades feel that they could not help them in any way. Could not. But we took revenge for their death - the Nazis pressed on us and we brought down all the rage on them.

View of Yalta from mountain heights... Photo from story.travel.mail.ru;

From a diary Deshkin Nikolai Andreevich who lived in Yalta during the occupation. Published by his great-grandson:

“5/XI ... A ship is standing in the port and loading. People are rushing about, but it is not known whether he will leave. Then on the night of 6/XI, they say, he went out, but very many people say that he was sunk. At home at 4 1/2 o'clock.
6/XI ... Captain Yevseev and some other major nervously walk back and forth at the railing of the embankment opposite the street. Litkens. They look all the time through binoculars and so towards Gurzuf. It is obvious that they are nervous. ... About 10 o'clock. or earlier ... I ran to Kalinin Square. The maritime station is on fire, a large ship is at the pier, things are burning on the pier ... Even later I walked: the flames at the seaport and the ship are intensifying. The wind is not strong from the mountains to the sea.
7/XI Slept for several hours. I ran back to the park. The station is on fire everywhere. The ship burns brightly, as if even the sea is burning all around ...
8 / XI ... The ship that was burning in the port finally sank ... "

On the forum sevastopol.ws where is the great-grandson Deshkin under a nickname gavreluk publishes excerpts from his great-grandfather's diary, he even suggested:

“In general, having delved into this topic, it seems to me that not only “Armenia” died near the coast of Yalta (by the way, its described death and the inconsistency of evidence suggests that people saw various ships damaged by the bombing, and only later agreed that it was "Armenia"), but also some other ships (1 or 2).

Vergasov Ilya Zakharovich, "Crimean Notebooks":

“The road goes steeply into the mountains, behind Yalta, “Armenia” is still on the pier ... The forest suddenly ended, in front of us is the bare Nikitskaya Yayla ... We all saw “Armenia” at the same time. The ship was heading east, leaving a trail of foam behind it. Two tiny watchmen accompanied the ship. This is last transport from an abandoned city, it has eleven hospitals, Soviet and party activists Big Yalta, doctors, many families of partisans. Boris Ivanovich and his family are there ... And suddenly Zakhar Amelinov shouts: “They are coming !!!”

They, the bastards, walked with a crash, howling, swept over our heads two hundred or three hundred meters. We saw the faces of the pilots. The bombers instantly appeared over the ship, lined up, and the carousel began with impunity. Anti-aircraft machine guns hit from the guards, but can you really break a butt with a whip? The Nazis swooped down, as if in training.

The ship broke in half and literally disappeared in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a black hole, which immediately closed under the pressure of thousands of tons of waves. The watchmen are forlornly plowing the water, but apparently there is no one to pick up ...

1966 Autumn ... At the top of the Gurzuf saddle, above the village itself, a white gazebo flaunts. "Wind rose" - that's what tourists call it. I'm standing in the gazebo. Nearby are two schoolgirl daughters. Below us is the sea. I am looking for the place where "Armenia" died. But how to find it! Only one water surface ... ".

Pavilion "Rose of the Winds" (right). Photo from multisport.kh.ua

And the already mentioned "Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945":

“When the fighting approaches Yalta, the ship leaves the port without sufficient escort. Before Gurzuf , a few nautical miles behind Yalta, the ship - despite the clearly visible Red Cross (Vitaly Kostrichenko), was attacked by He 111 DT KG.28 (KTB SKL, part, volume 27, p. 139). The ship sinks in minutes, only 8 people are saved.

So where did the transport sink?
Why, instead of going to the Caucasus, "Armenia" is sent to Yalta?
Why are all hospitals in Sevastopol shut down before a long siege?
What does “Armenia” pick up in Balaaklava?
How many people are on board at the time of departure from Yalta?
What order did Plaushevsky receive on the morning of November 7?
Where did "Armenia" go from Yalta?
How "Armenia" was sunk?
Why was case No. 19 destroyed, who needed it?...

There are many questions and only one way to find answers is to discover "Armenia".

To be continued...

The film "Treasures of the lost ship" by Vladimir Brown with the participation of "Armenia", 1935. Part 1

Documentary films dedicated to "Armenia":

Materials used: sevastopol.ws/Forums, stapravda.ru, militera.lib.ru, Nepomniachtchi N.N. - Military disasters at sea, 2001, telegrafua.com, tsushima4.borda.ru, sea.infoflot.ru, reibert.info, lostart.ru, svpressa.ru, nvo.ng.ru, sobytiya.com.ua, pantikapei.ru, kp.crimea.ua, ru.wikipedia.org

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Vladimir 20:53 01/29/2015

Voronov knows where Armenia is found, I participated in this process in 2005. Only Yushchenko made money on this. Two halves of the ship lie at a depth of 182 meters against the head of Ayu-Dag in a pit and these two parts of the ship rolled down the silt, like Bismork. Latitude and the longitude of this object, I personally recorded and later sent Voronov an SMS to his phone. I am writing from another computer if you have any questions, here is my e-mail [email protected]

On November 7, 1941, the Soviet ship "Armenia" was lost in the Black Sea, on board of which there were over 5,000 people.

"White spot" of the war

The death of the passenger liner Titanic, which in April 1912 claimed the lives of about 1,500 people, became a symbol of large-scale disasters at sea. In fact, the Titanic is not even included in the top thirty maritime disasters since the largest number victims. Most terrible tragedies of this kind occurred during the Second World War, when transports with thousands of people went to the bottom, not only military personnel, but also women, the elderly and children. On November 7, 1941, the Soviet ship "Armenia" was lost in the Black Sea, on board of which there were several thousand people. The tragedy of "Armenia" to this day remains one of the "blank spots" of the Great Patriotic War, since many questions in this story have not been answered.

In the mid-1920s, when the country had somewhat recovered from the shock civil war, the government thought about the development of civil shipbuilding. In 1927, at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad, the construction of the Adzharia motor ship, the lead ship of the series of the first Soviet ships, was completed. passenger liners. In 1928, at the same Baltic Shipyard, work was completed on five more ships of this project: Crimea, Georgia, Abkhazia, Ukraine and Armenia.
"Armenia" was a vessel 107.7 meters long, 15.5 meters wide, with a side height of 7.84 meters and a displacement of 5770 tons. The ship was served by a crew of 96 people. The ship could simultaneously take on board up to 950 passengers. "Armenia", like other ships of the project, was intended for transportation between the ports of the Crimea and the Caucasus. The ships coped with their task perfectly, having a very decent speed of 14.5 knots for their dimensions.

floating hospital

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, "Armenia" was "called up" for military service. At the Odessa Shipyard, she was urgently converted into a floating hospital, designed to transport and provide emergency care to 400 wounded. On August 10, 1941, "Armenia" began to fulfill her new duties. The captain of the vessel was Vladimir Plaushevsky, the chief doctor of the floating hospital was appointed military doctor of the 2nd rank, Peter Dmitrievsky. Until recently, the head physician was a civilian and worked in one of the hospitals in Odessa. The situation at the front was depressing. Five days before the "Armenia" officially became a medical ship, the enemy came close to Odessa. The ship had to evacuate from the besieged city not only the wounded, but also civilian refugees. Then "Armenia" began to take out the wounded from Sevastopol. By the beginning of October, the ship had transported to mainland about 15 thousand people.

By the end of October 1941, a catastrophic situation had developed in the Crimea. Manstein's eleventh army, sweeping away the Soviet lines of defense, occupied one city after another. The threat of the fall of Sevastopol for several days was more than real.
Under these conditions, on November 4, 1941, "Armenia" left the port of Tuapse in the direction of Sevastopol. On board was a replenishment for the garrison of the main base of the fleet. “Armenia” reached Sevastopol safely. On November 5, Captain Plaushevsky receives an order: to take on board not only the wounded, but also the personnel of all hospitals and medical institutions of the Black Sea Fleet, as well as part of the medical staff of the Primorsky Army.

Thousands of refugees and secret cargo

Taking into account the fact that at that moment the battles for Sevastopol were just unfolding, the order looked somewhat strange. Who will save the lives of the wounded? Historians who have studied this issue believe that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky, considered the fate of the city a foregone conclusion and decided to start evacuating. in any case, defend it with all your might. ”However, until November 7, there were no orders from Moscow yet, because“ Armenia ”accepted evacuated doctors and not only them. The actors of the local theater named after Lunacharsky, the leadership and employees of the pioneer camp "Artek" and many others went on board. There were no exact lists of those who boarded the "Armenia". Captain Plaushevsky received another order: after loading in Sevastopol, go to Yalta, where to take on board refugees and local party activists. Already after the departure from Sevastopol, an additional order came: to go to Balaklava and pick up a special cargo. The boxes were brought on board accompanied by NKVD officers. Perhaps it was gold or valuables from the Crimean museums.

"The brave climbed onto the ship along the shrouds"

“Armenia” left Sevastopol at 17:00 on November 6, and arrived in Yalta at 2:00 on November 7. Here, crowds of refugees were waiting for the ship. Here is what Vera Chistova, who was 9 years old in 1941, recalled about this: “Dad bought tickets, and my grandmother and I had to leave Yalta on the ship Armenia. On the night of November 6, the pier was full of people. First, the wounded were loaded, then the civilians were let in. Nobody checked the tickets, and a stampede began on the gangway. The brave climbed onto the ship along the shrouds. In the bustle, suitcases and things were thrown off the board. By dawn, the loading was completed. But we never got to Armenia. Hundreds of people remained on the pier. My grandmother and I went to my father's workshop on the embankment. I fell asleep there.” At that moment, those who remained on board the “Armenia” seemed lucky. In fact, everything was exactly the opposite.
How many people by that time were on "Armenia"? According to the most conservative estimates, about 3,000 people. The upper limit is 10,000 people. Most likely, the truth is somewhere in between, and there were between 5,500 and 7,000 people on board. And this despite the fact that even in its "passenger" version, the ship was designed for only 950 people.

In fact, "Armenia" could have successfully evacuated a similar number of people if it had departed from Yalta at night. But the loading was completed at about 7 o'clock in the morning. Going out to sea during the day with virtually no cover was tantamount to suicide. Admiral Oktyabrsky later wrote that the captain of the "Armenia" received a strict order to stay in port until the evening, but violated it. But the captain Plaushevsky, in fact, had no choice. The port of Yalta, unlike Sevastopol, did not have a powerful air defense system, which means that ships here became an excellent target for aviation. In addition, German motorized units were already on their way to the city and occupied it in just a few hours. Therefore, at 8 am on November 7, "Armenia" went to sea. The ship sank in 4 minutes

Before talking about what happened next, it should be noted that historians have not yet decided whether “Armenia” can be considered a legitimate military target. According to the laws of war, a medical ship bearing the appropriate identification marks does not apply to those. Some argue that "Armenia" was marked with a red cross, which means that the attack on the ship is another crime of the Nazis. Others object: “Armenia” violated its status by the presence of four 45-mm anti-aircraft guns on board. Still others are completely sure that the ship, which was engaged not only in transporting the wounded and refugees, but also military cargo, did not have signs of a sanitary ship. As a cover, "Armenia" was accompanied by two patrol boats, and in the sky there were two Soviet fighter I-153.

The circumstances of the fatal attack on the ship are also contradictory. For a long time it was believed that "Armenia" was the victim of an attack by several dozen bombers. One of the surviving passengers, a resident of Yalta, Anastasia Popova, spoke about this: “Going out to sea, the ship was attacked by enemy aircraft. A living hell has begun. Explosions of bombs, panic, screams of people - everything was mixed up in an indescribable nightmare. People rushed about the deck, not knowing where to hide from the fire. I jumped into the sea and swam to the shore, losing consciousness. I don’t even remember how I ended up on the shore.” However, today the version that there was only one aircraft seems more reliable: the German He-111 torpedo bomber, which belonged to the first squadron of the I / KG28 air group. It was not a targeted attack on "Armenia": the torpedo bomber was looking for any of the Soviet transport ships on the Crimea-Caucasus line. Having entered from the coast, the Non-111 dropped two torpedoes. One passed by, and the second at 11:25 hit the bow of the ship. "Armenia" sank in just four minutes. Only eight of those on board were saved. The bottom of the Black Sea became the grave for thousands.

Could not be found

The riddles of "Armenia" do not end there. 75 years after the tragedy, the exact place of the death of the ship was never found. The official report on the death of the “Armenia” reads: “At 11.25 am (November 7, 1941) TR“ Armenia ”, which was guarding two patrol boats from Yalta in Tuapse with the wounded and passengers, was attacked by an enemy torpedo bomber. One of the two torpedoes dropped hit the bow of the ship and at 1129 hours she sank at w = 44 degrees 15 minutes. 5 sec., d = 34 gr. 17 min. Eight people were saved, about 5,000 people died. ”The alleged place of the death of the ship was studied repeatedly. In 2006, Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic, joined the search. In Ukraine, it was reported that "Armenia" was about to be found, but this did not happen. No traces of the wrecked ship were found. There is an assumption that the real place of the death of the "Armenia" is not where indicated in the documents. According to this version, Captain Plaushevsky sent the ship not to Tuapse, but to Sevastopol, under the protection of the air defense of the fleet base, but was attacked by a torpedo bomber along the way.

This, however, is only an assumption, like much else in the history of the death of "Armenia".
It will be possible to reveal all the secrets only when last resort the ship will still be found.
The crash, which surpassed the "Armenia" in the number of victims, occurred at the end of the war. On the night of April 16, 1945, the Soviet submarine L-3 under the command of Vladimir Konovalov torpedoed the Nazi transport "Goya" at the exit from the Danzig Bay. Of the more than 7,000 people on board, less than 200 escaped.

Andrey Sidorchik

On November 7, 1941, the Soviet ship "Armenia" was lost in the Black Sea, on board of which there were several thousand people. The tragedy of "Armenia" to this day remains one of the "blank spots" of the Great Patriotic War, since many questions in this story have not been answered.

Motor ship "Armenia". ©

The ship "Armenia" was launched in Leningrad in 1928 and is designed to carry 980 passengers and 1000 tons of cargo. He was one of the six best passenger ships of the Black Sea. These beautiful high-speed vessels were called "trotters". They served the line Odessa - Batumi - Odessa and regularly transported thousands of passengers until 1941. On the last flight "Armenia" led Captain Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky.
Paradoxical in this tragedy is that "Armenia" had every opportunity to make this transition at night and with a 100% guarantee safe and sound to arrive in Tuapse. In 1941, not a single of our ships on the Black Sea was attacked by enemy surface ships or submarines, and German aviation did not then have radar sights for delivering night attacks on ships at sea. However, due to completely incomprehensible and inexplicable orders from the command of the Black Sea Fleet, the ship went to sea on the morning of November 7th.

Several thousand wounded soldiers and evacuated citizens were on the ship. The personnel of the main hospital of the Black Sea Fleet and a number of other military and civilian hospitals (23 hospitals in total), as well as the leadership and employees of the Artek pioneer camp, their families and part of the Crimean party leadership were also loaded onto the ship. The loading of the evacuees was in a hurry, their exact number is unknown.

The port of Yalta, unlike Sevastopol, did not have a powerful air defense system, which means that ships here became an excellent target for aviation.
Immediately after leaving Sevastopol, a new order followed - to go to Balaklava. There, several boats approached the "Armenia", and the NKVD officers loaded wooden boxes onto the ship. There is an assumption that the boxes contained gold and valuables from the Crimean museums.

At 11:25 a.m., the ship was attacked by a single German torpedo bomber "Heinkel He-111", which belonged to the 1st squadron of the I / KG28 air group ( Commander Oberst Ernst-August Roth). The aircraft approached from the shore and dropped two torpedoes from a distance of 600 m. One of them hit the bow of the ship.
It should be noted that this catastrophe could not be remembered or spoken about.
Later, according to official data, in Soviet times it was recognized that about 5 thousand people died. At the beginning of the 21st century, estimates were increased to 7-10 thousand people, as a large number of "unrecorded" refugees were taken on board. Only eight people were saved.

The catastrophe of "Armenia" in terms of the number of victims is one of the largest in world history.

For over half a century, documents relating to the sinking of the "Armenia" were kept under the heading "Top Secret". No attempts were made to raise the ship or its cargo in Soviet times. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Department of Maritime Heritage of Ukraine conducted search operations in the area of ​​the sinking of the "Armenia".
"Armenia" sank in just four minutes.
Only eight of those on board were saved. The bottom of the Black Sea became the grave for thousands.
The transport had the hallmarks of a medical ship, however, according to some military historians, "Armenia" violated this status, as it was armed with four 21-K anti-aircraft guns. In addition to the wounded and refugees, there were military personnel and NKVD officers on board.

45-mm semi-automatic universal gun 21-K

The ship was escorted by two armed boats and two I-153 fighters. In this regard, “Armenia” was a “legitimate” military target from the point of view of international law.

The captain's decision was justified, since Yalta did not have any means of air defense, in addition, at any moment it could be captured by the advancing German units; in this case, "Armenia" would simply be shot by German field artillery. At sea, the ship had the ability to evade attacks by maneuvering. However, the congestion of transport by refugees and the lack of combat experience of the team did not allow timely detection of the enemy. And since the alleged attack by dive bombers was considered the main danger, the fighters patrolled at an altitude of about three thousand meters and did not notice the low-going torpedo bomber.
Patrol boats kept ahead of the transport and also "missed" the attack.

Everyone remembers the global catastrophe with the Titanic? Certainly…. But why do we remember and know so many details about this shipwreck, and do not know about more horrific and global disasters that occurred on the waters of the oceans? And because films were not made about these troubles, many books were not written, and because some of them are still under the heading of secrecy.

Motor ship "Armenia"

Armenia…. This is not only a beautiful and friendly little country, not only a city in sunny Colombia, but also the name of one of the motor ships built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1928. Together with this ship, the ships Abkhazia, Adzharia and Ukraine also went to the open sea. All ships were designed to carry passengers, goods and mail on the Crimean-Caucasian line.

With the outbreak of World War II, the countries involved in the confrontation with Germany used all possible resources, including passenger and cargo ships. They were rebuilt into ambulances to transport the wounded. During the war, three ships of the Baltic Shipbuilding Plant were sunk, but the biggest secret is hidden by the loss motor ship "Armenia".

In 1941, the experienced 39-year-old captain Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky commanded the ship. It was he who received the order from the command of the Black Sea Fleet to save the military hospital and the inhabitants of the city of Sevastopol. For a complete picture of the ship, it is worth writing about the facts that played an important role in the fate of the ship. The ship could take on board 950 people plus a crew of 96 people, but took on board 4.5-7 thousand people, which many times exceeded its capabilities. Eyewitnesses who were in the port of Sevastopol say that every resident of the city was eager to board the ship, everyone was afraid to stay, since the German troops were already nearby. Let us clarify that such an overload threatened the ship with very strong instability on the waves of the Black Sea, it could roll over even with a small storm. The deck and holds of the ship were filled with doctors and residents of the city. After loading people, the ship left the port of Sevastopol at about 17:00 on November 6, 1941 and headed towards the Caucasus, in Tuapse.

But the ship had two more stops along the way. On one of them, in the port of the city of Yalta, the ship was supposed to evacuate political workers and several hundred civilians. But on the second one, take on board the NKVD officers and unknown wooden boxes. The second stop was not far from the shore of Balaklava, where the ship waited for a boat with cargo and NKVD officers. We had to wait about three hours. What was in such valuable boxes, because of which thousands of people were exposed to danger every second, remained unknown, we can only guess about their contents.

There are several guesses about what was transported in wooden boxes. The first is the documents of the NKVD, which could not be left to the advancing enemy. The second, in favor of which many facts speak, are paintings by famous Russian artists. At a distance of one and a half hours by car from Balaklava, there was Alushta, in which in the summer of that year, there was an exhibition of paintings by prominent Russian artists such as Bryullov, Kramskoy, Repin, Levitan and many others.

Upon arrival in Yalta, the ship took on board several hundred more people. The ship, which arrived at the port at 2:00 on November 7, received an order to wait for darkness and go to sea only at 19:00. But, taking responsibility, Captain Plaushevsky put the ship out to sea at 8 am on November 7. For such a violation of the order, the entire crew of the ship could be shot, but this was prevented by a more tragic circumstance.

Motor ship "Armenia" had on the sides the distinctive signs of ambulance transport in the form of red crosses. But the ship was also additionally armed with four 45-mm cannons, which made it possible to consider the ship a military object and, accordingly, attack it.

November 7, 1941 at 8:00 "Armenia" left the port of Yalta and headed straight for Tuapse, having on board several thousand passengers, including a military hospital and NKVD officers with an unknown, but valuable cargo. And, presumably, at 11 hours 25 minutes, the ship was attacked by the German Heinkel He-111 aircraft. The ship was hit by dropped torpedoes. The sinking of the ship took a matter of minutes, from which historians conclude that the damage from the torpedo hit was devastating and the ship most likely tore apart.

Memorial plaque in memory of "Armenia"

The bottom of the Black Sea, even at the moment, with modern technologies, is very little explored. And the remains of the ship "Armenia" have not yet been found. And no one knows what was in these ill-fated boxes, which became one of the reasons for the death of 4.5-7 thousand people, the death of first-class Soviet doctors who could save hundreds of soldiers' lives. The death of the ship "Armenia" remained one of the most mysterious mysteries of the beginning of the Second World War.