Delfin ("Dolphin") was the first Russian battle submarine.
She was designed by Naval architect Senior Assistant Ivan Grigoryevich
Bubnov, Lieutenant M.N. Beklemishev and Lieutenant I.S. Goryunov of the
Construction Commission for Submarines (later the Rubin Design Bureau),
laid down by Baltic plant at St. Petersburg, launched in 1902, and entered
service in 1903, training officers and sailors.
On 29 June 1904 the submarine sank in the Neva River by the wall of
the Baltic shipyard during a test dive. The captain and 24 crewmen were
killed, and 12 men were rescued.
Delfin was salvaged and transferred to the Siberian flotilla, arriving
in Vladivostok in late 1904. She served until 1917, seeing action in the
Russo-Japanese War.
During World War I Delfin was transferred to Murmansk and served in
Northern flotillia. In 1917 she was stricken and scrapped in 1920.
The centenary of Delfin’s sinking - the first Russian submarine accident
- was marked by the St. Petersburg Submariners Club with wreath-laying,
a mourning service, and by guards of honor and an orchestra marching at
the Smolenskoye Orthodox cemetery. |
Delfin
Builder: |
Baltic Plant |
Commisioned: |
1903 |
Displacement: |
113 tons |
Length: |
19.6 m |
Beam: |
3.3 m |
Speed: |
9 knots surfaced
4.5 knots submerged |
Complement: |
22 |
Propulsion: |
petrol /electric 300hp |
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