- HMS L55
HMS "L55" was a
British L class submarine built byFairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company ,Govan , Clyde. She was laid down on21 September 1917 and was commissioned on19 December 1918 .British Service
HMS "L55" was sunk in the Baltic in 1919. She was based at
Tallinn ,Estonia as part of the Baltic Battle Squadron. "L55" attacked two 1260 tonBolshevik minelaying destroyers - the "Gavril" and "Azard". HMS "L55" missed her targets and was forced into a British-laid minefield. Soviet sources stated that she was sunk by the gunfire of the destroyers, but triggering a mine is a more likely explanation. This happened on9 June 1919 inCaporsky Bay in theGulf of Finland . If she was sunk by gunfire, "L55" would be the only British submarine to be sunk by hostile Soviet vessels. [The Salvage of HM S/M L55 by the Soviet Navy: The Reason Why. Przemysław Budzbon and Boris Lemachko. Warship. Number 45 January 1988, p. 4. ]Salvage
The wreck was found by Soviet Minesweepers in 1927. The Soviets raised her on
11 August 1928 . The remains of 34 crew members were returned on the British merchantman "Truro" before transfer to HMS "Champion" because the Russians refused to allow any British warship into their waters. [A.S. Evans Beneath The Waves: a history of HM submarine losses 1904 - 1971] The crew was buried in a communal grave atHaslar Royal Naval Cemetery inPortsmouth on7 September 1928 . [ [http://www.veterans-uk.info/remembrance/royal_navy.html Remembrance - Service Casualty Branches ] ] .Soviet Service
The boat was rebuilt by Baltic Works Leningrad, the reconstruction cost of 1 million roubles being financed by a public fund 'an answer to Chamberlain'. She was recommissioned as a Soviet submarine with the same number (Л-55) on
7 August 1931 . She was later named "Bezbozhnik" (Atheist) and was used as the basis of design for the Soviet L class submarine. "L55" was used for training until the beginning ofWorld War II , when she was damaged in an accident in early 1941. She was scrapped in about 1953 or 1960.References
* "Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day", by Robert Hutchinson.
* [http://town.ural.ru/ship/ship/l_55.php3 Site in Russian Language]
* [http://submarine.id.ru/history/b31.shtml Site in Russian Language]
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