NMS Delfinul
NMS Delfinul in June 1936
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| History | |
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 Romania
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| Name: | NMS Delfinul |
| Builder: | Italian naval base and shipyard, Fiume |
| Completed: | 1931 |
| Commissioned: | 1936 |
| Out of service: | 1944 |
| Refit: | Galați shipyard, starting late 1942 |
| Reinstated: | 1951 |
| Fate: | Stricken 1957 |
 Soviet Union
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| Name: | TS-3 |
| Commissioned: | 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 1945 |
| Fate: | Returned to Romania in 1951 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 68 m (223 ft) |
| Beam: | 5.9 m (19 ft) |
| Draught: | 3.6 m (12 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Krupp diesel engine |
| Speed: |
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| Range: | 2,000 nautical miles (3,704 km; 2,302 mi) |
| Complement: | 40 |
| Armament: |
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NMS Delfinul (The Dolphin) was a Romanian submarine that served in the Black Sea during the Second World War. It was the first submarine of the Romanian Navy, built in Italy under Romanian supervision.
Delfinul was ordered in 1927 from the Italian naval base and shipyard at Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia). It was completed in 1931, but was accepted by Romania as the country's first submarine only in 1936, after the many corrections required by the Romanians were completed.
Delfinul played an important role in the Black Sea war against the Soviet Union in World War II. Its home base was the Constanța Naval Base, from where the submarine completed nine war time patrols. When Romania entered the war (22 June 1941), the navy had only one submarine, but that presence meant that the Soviet Black Sea Fleet had to secure an anti-submarine service for its convoys and near its naval bases. As a fleet in being, the Delfinul had only to exist rather than taking part in the battles. It was kept under shelter in Constanța and rarely got out to do a reconnaissance mission. That changed when two modern submarines were built at the Galați shipyard in Eastern Romania (Rechinul-The Shark and Marsuinul-The Porpoise).
Căpitan (USN rank - lieutenant) Constantin Costăchescu commanded Delfinul on its first war patrol which lasted 22–27 June 1941. A simple reconnaissance mission 60 nautical miles (111 km; 69 mi) from shore. On 26 June at 00:30, Costăchescu reported back to Constanța that a large Soviet war group was approaching Constanța. Because they lost their element of surprise, the Soviets lost a destroyer (Moskva) and the lead ship Kharkov and the cruiser Voroshilov were damaged in the following battle.
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Wikipedia