Dnieper Metallurgical Plant

(full name, F. E. Dzerzhinskii Dnieper Metallurgical Plant), the largest metallurgical plant in the USSR, located in the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR.

Built between 1887 and 1889 by the Southern Russia Metallurgical Association, on the eve of World War I (1914-18) the Dnieper plant was the largest metallurgical works in Russia. At that time it was turning out 13-14 percent of the country’s total production of cast iron, steel, and rolled metal. Its workers were active in the revolutionary movement and went on strike several times. With weapons in their hands they defended the homeland during the Civil War and military intervention of 1918-20. In 1919 the workers of the Dnieper Metallurgical Plant built two large armored trains—the Soviet Russia and the Soviet Ukraine.

After a prolonged temporary shutdown, the Dnieper Metallurgical Plant was put into operation again in April 1925. Under the prewar five-year plans the plant was almost entirely overhauled. Three large, fully mechanized blast furnaces were built, as well as a sintering factory, a new openhearth plant, a heavy-duty bloom-producing steel mill, and a multipurpose mill. The old shops and units were considerably modernized. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) the plant was badly damaged by the fascist German invaders. After the Germans were driven out (1943), the plant was restored, and by 1951 it attained its prewar capacity. It was then enlarged and redesigned. Production output has steadily increased. The Dnieper Metallurgical Plant was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1966.