Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112
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Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112 named after Andrei Zhdanov (Russian: Судостроительное предприятие "Кра́сное Со́рмово" имени А. А. Жданова) was one of the oldest shipbuilding factories in the Soviet Union, located in the Sormovsky City District of Nizhny Novgorod (the city was called Gorky in 1932–90).
The factory was established in 1849 by companies Nizhny Novgorod Machine Factory (Нижегородская машинная фабрика) and Volga Steam Navigation (Волжское пароходство). It was originally called the Nizhny Novgorod Machine Factory. In 1851, the factory began the construction of solid metal steamers. Three years later, it developed the production of screw schooners. In 1858, the Nizhny Novgorod Machine Factory produced the first Russian steam dredger. In 1870, the first Russian open hearth furnace was built at the factory, followed by a two-decked steamship Perevorot just a year later. In 1913, it produced a dry bulk cargo ship Danilikha. The factory built 489 ships between 1849 and 1918. It also produced steam engines, carriages, steam locomotives, tramcars, bridges, diesel engines, cannons, pontoons, and projectiles.
During the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920, the Nizhny Novgorod Machine Factory built armored trains, armored carriages, and weapons for the vessels of the Volga Military Flotilla. In 1920, the factory remanufactured fourteen burnt-out French Renault FT tanks for the Red Army, the Russkiy Renos, and assembled a single new copy, named 'Freedom Fighter Lenin'. In 1922, the factory changed its name to Krasnoye Sormovo Factory. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory produced T-34 medium tanks. The turret for the upgunned T-34-85 was designed here by V. Kerichev in 1943 (Zaloga 1984:166).
After the war, the factory switched to sectional and large-block construction of ships, sea and river tankers, suction dredgers, and dredgers. The Krasnoye Sormovo Factory was one of the most progressive and innovative factories in the USSR. They built the first Soviet industrial device for continuous pouring of steel, developed an automated process of pouring and cutting slabs with the use of radioisotope technology, produced the first Soviet hydrofoils (Raketa), designed and built passenger diesel-electric ships Lenin and Soviet Union for the Volga River Navigation company, the first high-speed passenger hovercraft Sormovich, a few diesel-electric railroad ferries for the Baku-Krasnovodsk route, and a unique 250-tonne double-hulled floating crane Kyor-Ogly.
The Krasnoye Sormovo Factory was awarded two Orders of Lenin (1943, 1949), Order of the October Revolution (1970), Order of the Patriotic War (1 Class, 1945), and Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1939). The factory exists to this day and is now a part of the United Machinebuilding Factories Corporation (Корпорация Объединенные Машиностроительные заводы)
[edit] References
- Zaloga, Steven J., James Grandsen (1984). Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-606-8.
