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Leninets-class submarine

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Soviet WW2-era submarine class
Submarine L-4 GaribaldetsSubmarine L-4 Garibaldets
Class overview
Preceded byDekabrist class
Succeeded byShchuka class
Built1931–1941
In commission1931–1971
Completed25
Lost4
Preserved1 (partially)
General characteristics
Displacement
  • Group 1+2:
  • 1,051 tons surfaced
  • 1,327 tons submerged
  • Group 3+4:
  • 1,123 tons surfaced
  • 1,416 tons submerged
Length
  • Group 1+2: 81 m (265 ft 9 in)
  • Group 3+4: 83.3 m (273 ft 4 in)
Beam
  • Group 1+2: 6.6 m (21 ft 8 in)
  • Group 3+4: 7 m (23 ft 0 in)
DraftAll Groups: 4.08 m (13 ft 5 in)
Propulsion
  • Diesel-electric, 2 shafts
  • Group 1+2:
  • 2,200 hp (1,600 kW) diesels
  • 1,450 hp (1,080 kW) electric motors
  • Group 3+4:
  • 4,200 hp (3,100 kW) diesels
  • 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) electric motors
Speed
  • Group 1+2:
  • 14 knots (26 km/h) surfaced
  • 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged
  • Group 3+4:
  • 18 knots (33 km/h) surfaced
  • 10 knots (19 km/h) submerged
Complement53
Armament
  • 1 × 100 mm gun
  • 1 × 45 mm gun
  • 6 × 21-inch (533 mm) bow torpedo tubes
  • 12 × torpedoes
  • 20 × mines
  • 2 stern mounted torpedo tubes added in Groups 3 and 4

The Leninets or L class were the second class of submarines to be built for the Soviet Navy. Twenty-five were built in four groups between 1931 and 1941. They were minelaying submarines and were based on the British L-class submarine, HMS L55, which was sunk during the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. Some experience from the previous Dekabrist-class submarines was also utilised. The boats were of the saddle tank type and mines were carried in two stern galleries as pioneered on the pre-war Russian submarine Krab (1912). These boats were considered successful by the Soviets. Groups 3 and 4 had more powerful engines and a higher top speed.

Ships

Further information: Submarine warfare in the Black Sea campaigns (1941–42)

Group 1

Series II. (Group 1)

Six ships were built (L-1 to L-6), all launched in 1931. Three were assigned to the Baltic Fleet and three to the Black Sea Fleet, including Soviet submarine L-3.

Number Name Meaning Fleet Launched Fate
L-1 Leninets (Ленинец) Follower of Lenin Baltic 28 February 1931 Sunk by German artillery October 1941, salvaged 1944, scrapped 1949
L-2 Stalinets (Сталинец) Follower of Stalin Baltic 21 May 1931 Sunk 14 November 1941 by mine off Keri Island
L-3 Frunzenets (Фрунзенец) Follower of Frunze Baltic 8 August 1931 Renamed B-3 in 1949; decommissioned 15 February 1971, conning tower preserved as a memorial
L-4 Garibaldets (Гарибальдиец) Follower of Garibaldi Black Sea 31 August 1931 Renamed B-34 in 1949; decommissioned 2 November 1954 and scrapped on 17 February 1956
L-5 Chartist (Чартист) An adherent of Chartism Black Sea 5 June 1932 Decommissioned 25 December 1955 and scrapped in 1956
L-6 Carbonari (Карбонарий) Carbonari Black Sea 3 November 1932 Sunk with depth charges near Sevastopol on 18 April 1944 by the German submarine chaser UJ-104

Group 2

Series XI. (Group 2)

Six ships were built (L-7 to L-12) and launched between 1935 and 1936. All were built for the Pacific Fleet by plant 202 "Dalzavod" Vladivostok and plant 199 Komsomolsk-na-Amure.

Number Name Meaning Fleet Launched Fate
L-7 Voroshilovets Follower of Kliment Voroshilov Pacific 15 May 1935 Stricken 1958 and later scrapped
L-8 Dzerzhinets Follower of Dzerzhinsky Pacific 10 September 1935 Decommissioned 1959, served as a training vessel until 1970; dismantled in 1973; conning tower preserved as a memorial to L-19
L-9 Kirovets Follower of Kirov Pacific 25 August 1935 Renamed L-19 in 1945 in honor of the sunken L-19, renamed B-19 in 1949; stricken in 1958 and later scrapped
L-10 Menzhinets Follower of Menzhinski Pacific 18 December 1936 Renamed B-10 in 1949, decommissioned in 1959; served as floating charging station ZAS-18 (later PZS-20), stricken in 1967 and scrapped
L-11 Sverdlovets Follower of Sverdlov Pacific 4 December 1936 Renamed B-11 in 1949; decommissioned and stricken in 1959 and later scrapped; conning tower preserved as a memorial to L-16
L-12 Molotovets Follower of Molotov Pacific 7 November 1936 Renamed B-12 in 1949, decommissioned in 1959; stricken in 1983; hull entombed in a stone pier in Magadan in 1986

Group 3

Series XIII. (Group 3)

Seven ships were built (L-13 to L-19) and launched from 1937 to 1938. All were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Considered a new project, the hull was based on the Srednyaya class. They carried 18 mines.

Ship Fleet Launched Fate
L-13 Pacific 2 August 1936 Renamed B-13 in 1949, decommissioned 1956; stricken in 1958
L-14 Pacific 20 December 1936 Renamed B-14 in 1949, decommissioned 1956, stricken in 1984 and scrapped
L-15 Pacific 26 December 1936 Transferred to the Northern Fleet via the Panama Canal in late 1942; stricken in 1958 and scrapped
L-16 Pacific 9 July 1937 Torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-25 on 11 October 1942 near the coast of Oregon while being transferred to the Soviet Northern Fleet
L-17 Pacific 5 November 1937 Renamed B-17 in 1949, decommissioned 1959; served as training ship UTS-84 into the 2000s
L-18 Pacific 12 May 1938 Renamed B-18 in 1949, decommissioned 1958; served as training ship UTS-85 into the 2000s
L-19 Pacific 25 May 1938 Lost on or after 24 August 1945 to unknown cause; probably mined in or off the Le Pérouse Strait

Group 4

Series XIII-38. (Group 4)

6 ships were built (L-20 to L-25) and launched from 1940 to 1941. 3 were assigned to the Baltic Fleet and 3 to the Black Sea Fleet. This group added stern torpedo tubes and new, more powerful diesel engines.

Ship Fleet Launched Fate
L-20 Baltic 14 April 1940 Renamed B-20 in 1949, decommissioned 1956; sank on 10 October 1957 in Chernaya Bay during nuclear testing
L-21 Baltic 17 July 1940 Renamed B-21 in 1949, stricken 1955 and scrapped in 1958
L-22 Baltic 23 September 1939 Transferred to Northern Fleet 1941; renamed B-22 in 1949, decommissioned 1955; participated in nuclear testing in 1957–1958; stricken in 1959 and scrapped
L-23 Black Sea 29 April 1940 Missing after 1 January 1944; likely sunk 17 January 1944 off Cape Tarchakut by German sub-chaser UJ106
L-24 Black Sea 17 December 1940 Sunk between 15 and 29 December 1942 off Cape Shabla by a mine of the Romanian flanking barrage S-15, laid by the Romanian minelayers Amiral Murgescu, Regele Carol I and Dacia; wreck found in 1991
L-25 Black Sea 26 February 1941 Never finished; sunk while being towed from Tuapse to Sevastopol on 18 December 1944

References

  1. L-6 (Карбонарий) (+1944) on wrecksite
  2. "L-6 of the Soviet Navy - Soviet Submarine of the L (Leninec) class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  3. "Великая Отечественная - под водой". www.sovboat.ru. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. "Researcher @ Large - Soviet submarine L16 and its loss". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  5. "Researcher@Large - The Death of Chief Photographer Sergei Mihailoff, USNR and the Soviet submarine L16". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  6. Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953, p. 266
  7. Donald A Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell, World War II Sea War, Volume 4: Germany Sends Russia to the Allies, p. 323

Sources

  • Budzbon, Przemysław & Radziemski, Jan (2020). "The Beginnings of Soviet Naval Power". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford, UK: Osprey. pp. 82–101. ISBN 978-1-4728-4071-4.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Yakubov, Vladimir and Worth, Richard. (2008) Raising the Red Banner: The Pictorial History of Stalin's Fleet 1920-1945. Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-450-1

External links

Soviet naval ship classes of World War II
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