EML Kalev
EML Kalev
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 Estonia
|
|
| Name: | Kalev |
| Operator: | Estonian Navy |
| Ordered: | 12 December 1934 |
| Builder: | Vickers and Armstrongs Ltd., United Kingdom |
| Laid down: | May 1935 |
| Launched: | 7 July 1936 13:20 |
| Commissioned: | 12 March 1937 |
| In service: | 1937–1940 |
| Out of service: | 1940 |
| Homeport: | Tallinn |
| Nickname(s): | Kalev |
| Captured: | by USSR in 1940 |
 Soviet Union
|
|
| Name: | Kalev |
| Operator: | Soviet Navy |
| In service: | 1940 - 1941 |
| Out of service: | 1941 |
| Homeport: | Tallinn, Leningrad |
| Captured: | from Estonia in 1940 |
| Fate: | missing after 29 October 1941 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Kalev-class submarine |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 59.5 m (195 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 7.5 m (25 ft) 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) |
| Draught: | 3.6 m (12 ft) 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: |
|
| Test depth: | 120 m (390 ft) |
| Complement: | 4 officers + 28 sailors |
| Armament: |
|
EML Kalev was one of two submarines of the Republic of Estonia launched in 1936 at Vickers and Armstrongs Ltd. in England. Her sister, Lembit, survived the Second World War.
Kalev was a second pre-war Estonian Navy submarine. Estonia is a maritime nation and, like every country with a long coastline, had to defend its territorial waters. Based on the experiences of World War I, the submarines found their proper application in the pre-Second World War Estonian Navy. The collection organised by the Submarine Fleet Foundation in May 1933 developed into one of the most successful undertakings among similar events nationwide.
In the course of building and testing two submarines, the Estonian crews got a top-level naval training of the time in England in 1935–1937. In the period of 1937–1940 the submarines Lembit and Kalev were the most imposing naval vessels of the Estonian Navy. Their non-interference upon the annexation of Estonia by the USSR was a political decision made irrespective of the will of the navy.
The submarine Kalev joined the Estonian Navy in spring 1937, where she operated until the Soviet takeover in 1940. (On 24 February 1940, The Third Reich had expressed its interest in obtaining the submarine, if Estonia would sell it, but this offer was turned down.)
The submarine was formally taken over by the Soviet Navy on 18 September 1940, by which time only five men of the submarine crew remained in place to instruct the new Soviet crews. After the outbreak of the German-Russian war in June 1941, Kalev was re-complemented, having a totally Russian-speaking crew, although the original name Kalev was retained. During the Second World War Kalev participated in military operations as part of the Soviet Baltic Fleet. Kalev did not return from her second patrol and was reported as missing since 29 October 1941.
...
Wikipedia