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130-mm gun B-13-3c in the pit of the former Battery No 511 |
A gun pit constructed on 1970-ties at the former Battery No 875. The 130-mm gun B-13-3s was scrapped by illegal scrappers in the summer of 1999 |
During WWII in Artemovsky Sector of the Harbor Defense of the Main Naval Base of the Pacific Fleet "Vladivostok" there were constructed about ten stationary coast artillery twin batteries armed with naval 130-mm guns B-13 and 100-mm guns B-24 in order to defend Vladivostok from the land approaches. The question is that in November, 1941, during the first storm of Sevastopol by Germans it was established that such twin batteries with 130-mm guns mounted in open circular reinforced concrete pits having enough resistibility could effective fired with 360o traverse when the same guns mounted in concrete casemates (gun semi capoiniers) could be very easy isolated and destroyed without strong infantry support. By this experience in 1944 the concrete circular gun pits, ammunition magazines and the plunged in the ground command posts with commander concrete turret having a hole at the roof for the periscopic vizier as a rule, and open pits for the range finder were constructed at the batteries of Artemovsky Sector in 26 - 40 km to the North from Vladivostok.
 A plan and cross section of the 130-mm gun B-13 pit of the WWII period at the Battery No 511 |
The newest design circular pits has enveloped circular gallery with the holes for ammunition transfer or circular cornice. Such gallery or cornice well protected gun personal against closed blasts of enemy shells or bombs or machine gun attacks from the airplanes. The underground closed access paths with special niñhes for current ammunition led from the pits to the rear. The distance between gun pits could achieved about 300 m and the distance between a command post and gun pits could be more that 1 km because the batteries very often located at the closed or semi closed positions. Ammunition magazines (two - three ones per the battery) were also dispersed from each other on enough big distance. Such dispersion of the objects at the landscape has provided increase of resistibility of the batteries, well configuration of their to the landscape and, correspondingly, made their determination from the air plane very difficult. The most closed to Vladivostok batteries are the Battery No 389, located at the mountain at the North side of the valley of Lyanchikhe River and to the South from the restaurant "Lesnaya Zaimka" and the Battery No 390 at the Ugolnaya Mountain to the North from this restaurant. Batteries No 511 and 510 located at the closed positions to the South from the central part of the city Artem and the Battery No 875 near Ambabousa Bay at the corner of Ussuriisky Gulf. All these batteries (except the last one) were armed with 130-mm guns B-13 of the second series. The 875-th Battery constructed also for 130-mm guns was armed with 152-mm Kanet guns because of deficiency of the modern artillery. Still one battery belonging to those period, the Battery No 878, equipped as previouse ones was located to South from railway statuion Maikhe (now Atem 2-nd) and was armed with 100-mm guns B-24. Moreover a serious of 100-mm batteries at wooden basements was constructed. One of these batterise, the Battery No 882 located at the Northern side of the valley of the Peschanka River near the modern cemetery has the concrete ammunition magazine and command post. After the war all these batteries were disarmed and their command posts were partially blown out.
 The data and emblem at the inner wall of the protective lobby of the ammunition magazine of the former Battery No 882 |
In 1960-ties after the exacerbation of Soviet-Chainese relationships it was desided to fortify the approaches to Vladivostok. During 1970-ies, mainly at the territory of the former Artemovsky Sector, there was dveloped construction of the new batteries of Vladivostok Defensive Region (VLDR). The guns B-13 of the third, afterwar series were installed at the old positions of the WWII period. 85-mm universal guns 90-K were installed into the pits of the former 100-mm battery. Moreover the gun number was increased from two to four, wherefore new simplified design circular concrete pits were constructed, compressed by this way the location of the guns. Moreover a lot of perfectly new batteries were constructed both at the former Artemovsky Sector and near and within Vladivostok near former Fort No 7 and No 6, near sattellite TV station "Orbita", near former Fort "Cont Murawiev-Amursky" and at the neck of Peschany Peninsula (Sandy Peninsula). Moreover the same guns were mounted at the former Coast Artillery Battery No 912 at the Western shore of the Russian Island.
 130-mm gun B-13-3s at the pit of the battery constructed in 1970-ies near the village Uglovoe |
As a kurious it may be noted that even old remained block for 57-mm Nordenfelt guns of the former Battery Sapernaya of the Vladivostok Fortress at the Egersheld was used for installation of 130-mm guns. This block was erroniously or lying presented by local fans of the revolutionary past as remains of the Battery Innokentjevskaya known by wounding of the Commandant of the Vladivostok Fortress General A. N. Selivanov with rifles of her artillerists during his conversations with the insurgents. Old 120-mm Krupp guns with wounded shields got from the Port-Arthur collection of the Museum of the Pacific Fleet and presented probably 6-inch Kanet guns were dismonted and replaced with 130-mm guns B-13 of the third series. The front of the pit was reinforced with the barricade of the concrete basement blocks which was decomposed after the improving of the Soviet/Russo-Chainese relationships. So, now these guns produced in the 1950-ies symbolized the events of the first Russian revolution, which have no any links with the guns and are very far from the their position!
Total more than 20 batteries were armed with ninety 130-mm guns! Such mass application of the naval guns at the stationary positions for purpose of the land defense in the last half of the XX century has no, probably, analogs in the world military history. After the VLOR abandoning in 1996 the guns remain without control. From 1989 illegal scrapers became to cut their for a scrap., This scrupping achived the largest scale in the summer, 1999 when under the full non-interference of the local authorities more than half guns were destroyed. During this period there is no such battery where all the guns are without faults made by illegal scrappers.
 The remains of a 130-mm gun B-13-3-s illegal scrapped in 1999 at the gun pit of the battery constructed on 1970-ies near former Battery No 878 |
Naval Guns in the Land Defense of Vladivostok
[Forts of 1899] [Russo-Japanese War] [Forts of 1910] [Technology of construction] [Coast artillery batteries of 1932] [Railway guns] ["Maginot Line"] [Naval Guns in the land defense]
