WMC 038 Kanonierka GROZA

Groza is a Russian gunboat from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The total length of the ship at the time of launching was approx. 37 m, overall width approx. 9 m, with a draft of approx. 2 meters. On the other hand, the full displacement reached approx. 400-430 tons. The main armament was a single 280 mm cannon, and the secondary armament was two 87 mm cannons. Groza belonged to the "class" of ships at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which are most often called the Rendel gunboats. Rendel gunboats or flat-iron gunboats ). It was a gunboat type developed by engineer G. Rondel working for the British Armstrong plants. Units of this type, including the Groza, were relatively small in size, most often had no armor, but had a single large-caliber cannon (even up to 410 mm!) Placed motionless on board the unit. Aiming from the main armament was carried out by rotating the entire ship. It's worth mentioning that Rendel gunboats were also characterized by very poor seagoing performance and therefore they were predestined for coastal activities, including coastal defense. It is worth adding that the ships included in the Rendel type gunboats were built for many countries, including China, Denmark, Greece, Germany and Russia in various shipyards.