Dekabrist class submarine

D-3 "Krasnogvardyeyets" at soviet stamp
Class overview
Name:	Dekabrist
Builders:	3 at Ordzhonikidze Shipyard, Leningrad 3 at Marti Yard, Nikolayev
Operators:	Soviet Navy
Built:	1927-1929
In service:	1928-1958
Completed:	6
Lost:	4
Preserved:	1
General characteristics
Type:	diesel/electric-powered attack submarine
Displacement:	933 tons surfaced 1,354 tons submerged
Length:	76.00 m (249 feet 4 inches)
Beam:	6.5 m (21 ft)
Draught:	3.80 m (12.5 ft)
Propulsion:	2 shafts, three-bladed propellers - Two 1,100hp MAN/Kolomna diesels - Two 525hp PG-20 electric motors - Two electric creeping motors 50hp - 60 DK storage batteries
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h) surfaced 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged
Range:	3,600 nmi (6,700 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h) surfaced 7,500 nmi (13,900 km) at 9 kn (17 km/h) surfaced 132 nmi (244 km) at 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged
Test depth:	295 ft (90 m)
Complement:	53 officers and crew
Armament:	8 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern), 14 torpedoes carried 1 x 100mm/51 cal. Main deck gun 1 x 45mm/46 cal. K-21 AA gun 1 x 7.62 machine-gun

The Dekabrist'-class were the first class of submarines built for the Soviet Navy after the October Revolution. They were authorized in the Soviet Naval Shipbuilding Program of 1926.

Operational-tactical requirements and design concepts were formulated in 1923. In 1925 A Soviet naval mission obtained blueprints for the Balilla class submarine from the Italians and used concepts from that design together with Soviet ideas. The boats were constructed by the Ordzhonikidze Shipyard and the principal designer was B.M. Malinin. The first boat in the class was laid down on March 5, 1927; launched on November 3, 1928, and commissioned on November 18, 1930. This first boat, the Dekabrist, was later designated D-1, September 15, 1934.[1]

The class was of a double–hull design with 7 compartments and constructed using riveting. These boats were of Soviet design and had numerous technical shortcomings and construction defects. The most serious problems were their slow diving time and poor stability during diving.

In May 1933, the Dekabrist was shifted to the Northern Fleet via the White Sea-Baltic Canal. She remained in service until 1940. She showed high seaworthiness in polar circumstances. The boat was lost with entire crew in a diving accident on November 13, 1940 in Molotovskiy Bay.

Ships

Ship	English Translation	Builder	Launched	Fate
D-1 Dekabrist Декабрист	A member of the Decembrist revolt	Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad	3 November 1928	Lost in accident November 1940 in Motovsky Gulf near Murmansk during training mission.
D-2 Narodovolets Народоволец	A member of Narodnaya Volya	Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad	1929	Decommissioned 1958 but from 1956 to 1987 was based in Kronstadt and served as a training ship. Finally, in 1989 on completion of the reconstruction was installed on shore as a memorial museum in St Petersburg.[2]
D-3 Krasnogvardyeyets Красногвардеец	Red Guardsman	Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad	12 July 1929	Sunk July 1942 off Norway
D-4 Revolutsioner Революционер	Revolutionary	Marti Yard, Nikolayev	1929	Sunk by German armed trawlers UJ 102 and UJ 103 off Yevpatoria, Crimea
D-5 Spartakovets Спартаковец	Follower of Spartacus	Marti Yard, Nikolayev	1929	Decommissioned 1950s
D-6 Yakobinets Якобинец	Jacobin	Marti Yard, Nikolayev	1929	Destroyed by bombing in Sevastopol dockyard, 12 November 1941

The Nrodovolets (D-2) on display in St Petersburg

See also

• Russian ship naming conventions

References

• Conway's All the World's Fighting ships 1922-1946
• Vladimir Yakubov and Richard Worth, Raising the Red Banner -2008 Spellmount ISBN 978-1-86227-450-1
• (English) Steel Navy
• (English) Info from Russian Museums
• (English) Narodovolets D-2, submarine memorial complex, Article, Saint Petersburg Encyclopedia,
• (Russian) Article on Morflot website
• (English) Uboat.net Website