The

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Soviet submarine ''L-21'' belonged to the L-class or ''Leninets'' class of

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...

submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...

. She was part of the last series (Group 4) of her class, having some improvements including more torpedo tubes. The commander during the war was Sergey S. Mogilevskiy.

Service history

Before completion, ''L-21'' was sunk by German aircraft in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

on 24 May 1942. ''L-21'' was later raised, completed and commissioned, making both torpedo attacks and mine-laying. Among her victims was the ''Hansa'', a neutral Swedish passenger ship travering from Nynäshamn to Visby. ''L-21'' also managed to sink a number of German warships, including two torpedo boats and a submarine. One of her mines heavily damaged the German destroyer ''Z43''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:L21 1940 ships Ships built in the Soviet Union Leninets-class submarines Submarines sunk by aircraft World War II submarines of the Soviet Union Maritime incidents in May 1942 Ships sunk by German aircraft