 Kashalot during World War I
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Russian Empire and the Provisional Government | |
| Name | Kashalot |
| Builder | Nevsky Factory, Saint Petersburg[1] |
| Laid down | December 1911[2] |
| Launched | 22 August 1915[2] |
| Completed | 13 May 1916[2] |
| Fate | Captured by Germany and then Britain. Scuttled on 26 April 1919.[3] |
| General characteristics [3][1] | |
| Type | Submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 70.1 m (230.0 ft) |
| Beam | 6.5 m (21.3 ft) |
| Draught | 3.5 m (11.5 ft) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | 3,500 nmi (6,500 km) |
| Complement | 35 |
| Armament |
|
The Russian submarine Kashalot (Russian: Кит, lit. 'whale') was the third and last boat of the Narval-class of submarines of the Imperial Russian Navy. The submarine was laid down in December 1911 and launched in August 1915, though it was not completed until May 1916. Built for the Black Sea Fleet, Kashalot took part in raiding Ottoman merchant shipping along the Anatolian coast in 1916 and 1917, and was credited with sinking ships for a total of .
After the Russian Revolution, the submarine remained in Sevastopol, where it was first captured by the Germans in 1918 and then by the British and the White Army in the Russian Civil War. The British scuttled Kashalot and several other submarines near Sevastopol in April 1919 to prevent the Bolsheviks from acquiring them.
Design and construction
editAfter being defeated in the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Empire began rebuilding its Navy. Initially the main focus of the naval arms programs was on the Baltic and Pacific fleets, but as tensions increased with Austria-Hungary due to the Bosnian crisis in 1908 and with Ottoman Turkey after the expansion of its navy, the Black Sea Fleet was given more attention. The 1911 naval program approved by the State Duma included the order of six submarines for the Black Sea Fleet, which ended up being three Narval-class boats and three Morzh-class.[3][4] The Nevsky Factory in Saint Petersburg developed the Narval-class on the basis of a foreign design, the popular Holland type made by the American Holland Torpedo Boat Company.[3][5] But there was a dispute in the Imperial Russian Navy before 1911 on which submarine type to purchase, the Narval class or the Morzh-class that was designed by Ivan Bubnov, the chief submarine engineer of the Baltic Yard. Bubnov was supported by the Naval General Staff, while the foreign type was favored by members of the Naval Technological Committee, who argued that they needed to study foreign technological advancements. In the end, a conference led by Navy Minister Stepan Voevodskiy settled the matter by ordering three submarines of each class.[5][6]
The Narval-class submarines were the most advanced Russian submarines at the time because unlike the rest they had crash-diving tanks for faster diving, internal bulkheads that provided more protection for the crew, and used natural flow to fill the main ballast tanks instead of pumps.[3][5] A problem that arose during their construction was that the twin 1,140 horsepower (850 kW) diesel engines to power each boat had been ordered from Germany and were not delivered by the time World War I broke out, so they had to be replaced by four American-built engines that each provided 210 horsepower (160 kW).[3][1][5] This meant that the designed 16-knot (30 km/h; 18 mph) surface speed could not be attained, and neither could the 12-knot (22 km/h; 14 mph) underwater speed.[1][7] Kit had slightly different weaponry from the other boats in its class, being equipped with two deck guns, including one 75 mm (3 in) and one 57 mm (2 in), along with four 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes and four Dzhevetskiy torpedo-launching collars. The other boats were given eight of the external torpedo-launching collars, but it was decided when Kashalot was being built to reduce them to four. After modifications done in 1917, the submarine also had two 7.62 mm machine guns.[3][1]
Construction of all three Narval-class submarines began in Saint Petersburg, where they were laid down in December 1911, before being transferred to the shipyards in Nikolayev for the final assembly.[2][1] The engines were not delivered from the United States until January 1915.[1] Kashalot was launched in August 1915 and began its sea trials. Around this time, the other two boats of the Narval-class had experienced engine problems, and so its engines were modified in a similar way to what was done on the submarine Kit. In early 1916 advanced communications equipment was also installed. Kashalot was completed and entered service on 13 May 1916.[2]
Service history
editWorld War I
editAt the time when Kashalot entered service with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, it was focused on disrupting the Ottoman merchant convoys transporting coal from the area of Zonguldak to Constantinople, which was the main source of fuel for the Ottoman Navy. The new submarines that joined the fleet were tasked with patrolling the Anatolian coast and the entrance to the Bosporus.[8][9] Despite issues with their engines, Kashalot and the other boats of the Narval-class became popular with Russian submarine crews.[5][7] The three boats became the 2nd detachment of the Black Sea Submarine Brigade.[1]
After the February Revolution in 1917, the Black Sea Fleet and its submarines continued to be active as the Russian Provisional Government continued the war,[11] though in the autumn of 1917 all three of the Narval-class boats underwent repairs and were put into the reserve.[1]
Russian Civil War
edit
After the October Revolution, on 9 February 1918 the Central Powers recognized Ukraine's independence and the German Army took control of Crimea by May 1918. The Central Powers wanted to divide up the ships of the Black Sea Fleet among themselves,[12] and the submarine was then taken by the Germans until the end of the war, at which point the boat was acquired by the Allies and the White Russian forces.[2][3] The British scuttled all three submarines of the Narval-class near Sevastopol on 26 April 1919 to prevent them from being taken by the Bolsheviks.[3]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Submarines of "Narval" type – the best submarines of the Imperial Navy" [Подлодки типа "Нарвал" - лучшие субмарины императорского флота]. Zen News (in Russian). Yandex. 27 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Nikolayev, A. S. "Кит" [Kashalot]. Deepstorm.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Budzbon 1986, p. 315.
- ^ Budzbon 1986, p. 291.
- ^ a b c d e Westwood 1994, pp. 108–113.
- ^ Westwood 1994, p. 106.
- ^ a b Snook 1989, p. 352.
- ^ Halpern 1994, pp. 232–233.
- ^ Breemer 1989, pp. 35–36.
- ^ "Первая Мировая война. Действия на Черном море" [First World War. Actions on the Black Sea.]. Russian State Archive of the Navy (in Russian). Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ Halpern 1994, pp. 251–254.
- ^ Halpern 1994, pp. 256–257.
Works
edit- Breemer, Jan S. (1989). Soviet Submarines: Design, Development, and Tactics. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 978-0-7106-0526-9.
- Budzbon, Prezemyslav (1986). "Russia". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 295–321. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Dovzhenko, V. (2021). "Черноморский флот России в первой мировой войне" [Black Sea Fleet of Russia in the First World War]. Морской сборник [Naval Review] (in Russian) (3).
- Halpern, Paul G. (1994). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-172-6.
- Snook, David (1989). "British Naval Operations in the Black Sea 1918-1920: Part II". Warship International. 26 (4): 331–356. JSTOR 44895129.
- Westwood, J. N. (1994). Russian Naval Construction, 1905–45. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-349-12458-9.