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2021-07-30 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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The sinking of the Armenia, October, 1941
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[RedStar] Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Background via this link:
In southern Ukraine, Soviet troops set off explosive charges to destroy port facilities and defensive structures at Odessa in preparation of the evacuation of 35,000 Soviet troops from Odessa to Sevastopol in Russia, which would commence after sundown.
Continued from Page 4
16 Oct 1941 The final Soviet evacuation ships departed Odessa, Ukraine at 0510 hours. In the past two weeks, 121,000 troops and civilians were evacuated from the city, along with 1,000 trucks and 20,000 tons of ammunition. Romanian troops entered the city later on this date, capturing the city.
Additional information about the Armenia can be found here:
Myth. Some people say that no one survived. According to other sources, from 8 to 82 people survived. The media widely spread the story of a certain Anastasia Popova, who, despite the terrible cold and being pregnant, swam to the shore.
"Having gone to sea, the ship was attacked by enemy's aircraft. All hell broke loose. Bomb explosions, panic, people screaming – 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 remember how I ended up on the shore."
Alexey Spasenkov: "To establish the truth, it is necessary to provide a weather report for November 7, 1941: a strong northeast wind of 6–7 points, waves of up to 6 points, the lower edge of cloud cover is 500 meters, cloud density is 2–3 points (archives of the Black Sea Shipping Company, Russian State Archive of the Navy, German Federal Military Archive).
Of course, sometimes a person can do the impossible, and you want to believe the words of this woman, as well as dozens of "stories" on this subject. But all the same, with a strong offshore wind, waves, low temperature and wet winter clothes, it was almost impossible to do.
In the archive transcript on this subject, there is the following:
"When it was going under, boats were dropped from the ship. Six people were saved, there were up to 300 people in the water." Six hours later in the disaster area "two suitcases are floating on the left side... A large box is floating on the right side." So, according to the documents, six were saved. "
by Nastya Sviridova
The underwater research expedition of the Russian Defense Ministry and the Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society has been completed.
The circumstances of the sinking of the hospital ship "Armenia", on which, according to various estimates, there were 4,500 to 10,000 people during the attack of the Nazi aviation on November 7, 1941, it became possible to study in detail only after three expedition trips to the crash site.
The ship itself was discovered and identified in 2020 15 nautical miles from Yalta at a depth of 1,500 meters. The survey was carried out by a remotely controlled unmanned underwater vehicle.
With its help, the first video frames of the sunken object were obtained, and most importantly, a ship bell was found in the bow of the ship under its standard support, on which the name of the ship was clearly read, which is an irrefutable confirmation of the identification of the sunken ship.
During the initial survey, the entire perimeter of the vessel was examined and the version about the attack of the ship by German bombers, and not by torpedo bombers, as previously written in many sources, was confirmed. However, the capabilities of the standard camera of the underwater robot did not allow the object to be examined in detail, and many essential facts still remained undisclosed. It was decided to continue the study of the ship that sank during the attack by German aviation. The Russian Ministry of Defense has found opportunities for a repeated expeditionary exit.
The Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society launched the social project dubbed "Motor ship Armenia."
During the second exit, the researchers saw an artillery gun 21-K on the stern of the starboard side. In addition, it was discovered that there were no boats on the starboard side of the "Armenia" and the reason for this was not destruction. All starboard davits were turned overboard and the ropes were chopped off. An important explanation is the fact that on each deck the boats were placed in two rows: the lower row on keelblocks stood directly on the deck, and the upper one - on the davits' suspensions.
In addition to this, during the second expedition, it was possible to inspect the loading hatches (bow and stern). They were wide open. The totality of these observations sharply cast doubt on the widespread archival information that "Armenia" went under water in four minutes. Based on practice, launching two rows of boats with people on board cannot take less than 20 minutes.
What happened to the people who got into the boats, and what is their fate? Expeditionary exits will not give an answer to these questions.
The purpose of the project is to conduct underwater research to study true historical events, large-scale archival research; compilation of the most complete list of those killed on the ship and the publication of the "Memory Book" with their names, extensive information coverage of the true version of the loss of the ship.
The Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society appeals to all people whose families keep information about relatives who died on the motor ship "Armenia" or who did not get on the ill-fated voyage by coincidence, with a request to pass on their stories to the researchers. To collect the people's list of the dead, the teplohodarmenia.ru portal functions, where you can upload existing photographs, documents and write everything that is known about the fate of the ship's passengers.
In the second expeditionary exit to the place of the sinking of the motor ship "Armenia", in April 2021, the inspection of the entire hull of the vessel using a high-precision camera could not be completed due to weather conditions. To complete the work, another, third, expeditionary trip was undertaken, which took place in May 2021.
During the final stage of field research, the experience gained during previous dives was taken into account as much as possible. As a result, two more 21-K guns were discovered - one on the stern on the left side, the second on the bow on the port side. We also managed to find the frame of the starboard bow gun, but the gun itself could not be found. When inspecting the port side, not a single boat was also found, which confirms the conclusions drawn during the previous exits.
The port side loading hatches are also open. It was possible to examine and analyze in detail the damage to the ship's superstructure due to the hit of aerial bombs, which will allow, based on the results of the analysis of the material, to reconstruct the course of the attack with high accuracy. The final chord of the work was the successful operation of lifting the ship's bell from the bow of the "Armenia" motor ship. After the successful completion of the operation, the bell was subjected to primary conservation procedures, and a little later it was handed over to the specialists of the Center for Contemporary Arts of the Russian Geographical Society for the final restoration, which is currently being carried out.
The bell has a mass of about 32 kg and a diameter of 380 mm with a height of 390 mm. Analysis of the bell material showed that it was made of tin bronze. The object has a classic church shape, like all ship bells of that time. The tongue was lost over time, as it was made of black metal. The inscription is engraved on the bell: "ARMENIA". It is assumed that the object will become the central part of the monument to those who died in the shipwreck 80 years ago.
Irina PAVLYUTKINA 
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Posted by badanov 2021-07-30 00:00||
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