'Ronis' ja 'Spidola' Tallinna sadamas 1927

The ''Ronis''-class submarines were built for the

Latvian Navy Latvian Naval Forces ( lv, Latvijas Jūras spēki) is the naval warfare branch of the National Armed Forces. It is tasked with conducting military, search and rescue operations, mine and explosive sweeping on the Baltic Sea, as well as ecological ...

in France in 1925. They were acquired by the Soviets in 1940 following the annexation of Latvia by the Soviet Union. They were scuttled in Liepāja in June 1941 as the Germans were about to capture the port. The hulls were raised in 1942 and

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

Design

The boats were small coastal submarines built to a French design. Ronis means " seal" in the Latvian language, Spīdola is a character from the Latvian language poem ''

Lāčplēsis ''Lāčplēsis'' ("The Bear-Slayer") is an epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs, a Latvian poet, who wrote it between 1872 and 1887 based on local legends. It's set during the Livonian Crusades telling the story of the mythical hero Lāčplēsis "th ...

''. The submarines were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . The vessels of the class displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines had a dived depth of . They had a complement of 27 officers and ratings. The ''Ronis''-class submarines were propelled by two shafts driven by two Sulzer diesel engines for travel on the surface, rated at and two electric motors for subsurface movement. The submarines had a maximum speed of surfaced and submerged. They were armed with six torpedo tubes with two located in the bow, and four situated in two twin external turnable mounts. The ''Ronis'' class was also armed with one main deck gun and two machine guns.

Ships

Service history

The two submarines were ordered in 1925 as part of the expansion of the nascent

which was first suggested in 1923. Constructed in France, the submarines were part of the navy's plan to guard Latvia's coastlines. With the onset of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Latvian Navy comprised just the two submarines and two minesweepers acquired in the 1920s, although Latvia had planned to buy two more submarines of higher tonnage. In 1940 Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union and the Latvian Navy was incorporated into the Soviet Navy's

Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

in August 1940, retaining their original names. During World War II, the ''Ronis''-class submarines participated in operations in the Baltic Sea. Both submarines were sent to Liepāja in 1941 where they were scheduled to overhaul in July. However, with the Germans approaching the city, the Soviets were forced to blow up and scuttle the ''Ronis''-class submarines on 24 June 1941 to prevent their capture. Liepāja was captured on 29 June by the Germans.

Citations

References

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External links