EML Lembit
Stern quarter view of EML Lembit, underway while in service.
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History | |
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Estonia | |
Name | Lembit |
Namesake | Lembitu |
Ordered | 12 December 1934 |
Builder | Vickers-Armstrongs |
Laid down | 19 June 1935 |
Launched | 7 July 1936 13:07 |
Commissioned | 14 May 1937 |
In service | 1937 - 1940 |
Homeport | Tallinn |
Motto | "Vääri oma nime" ("Be worthy of your name") |
Captured | Soviet Union in 1940 |
Soviet Union | |
Name | Lembit |
In service | 1940 - 1979 |
Out of service | 1979 |
Homeport | Leningrad |
Nickname(s) | "Immortal submarine" |
Honours and awards | Order of Red Banner (1945) |
Captured | From Estonia in 1940 |
Fate | Museum ship from 1979 - Estonian Maritime Museum, but still guarded by the Soviet Navy |
Estonia | |
Name | Lembit |
Operator | Estonian Maritime Museum |
Acquired | From the Soviet Navy, on 27 April 1992 |
Recommissioned | (Honorary) "Estonian Navy vessel nr.1" as of 2 August 1994 |
Decommissioned | 19 May 2011 |
Homeport | Tallinn |
Honours and awards | Estonian Navy vessel nr.1 (1994) |
Fate | Pulled out of water on 21 May 2011, restored and now in a museum building. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Kalev-class submarine |
Tonnage | 570 (in its current condition) |
Displacement |
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Length | 59.5 m (195 ft 3 in) |
Beam | 7.5 m (25 ft) 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) |
Draught | 3.6 m (12 ft) 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Test depth | 120 m (390 ft) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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EML Lembit is one of two
History
Lembit is the only surviving warship of the pre-war
In the course of building and testing the two submarines, the Estonian crews received training in Great Britain between 1935-1937. Throughout 1937–1940, Lembit and her
World War II
In Spring 1937, Lembit joined the Estonian Navy, where she operated until the Soviet occupation in mid-1940. The submarine carried out one training torpedo attack in her three years of service in the Estonian Navy, but was never used in the
The submarine was formally taken over by the Soviet Navy on 18 September 1940, by which time only five men of the submarine's Estonian crew remained on board. They were needed to assist the Soviet crew in learning unfamiliar machinery.
After the
Patrols
1941
- War patrol 10–21 August. She laid twenty mines near Cape Arcona. Some ships which were damaged in November 1941, due to British and German mines,[citation needed] were described in Soviet literature as Lembit 'successes'.
- War patrol 19–26 October.
- 4–5 November. In battle conditions and through a broken icefield, transferred from Leningrad.
1942
- War patrol 17 August - 22 September. On 13 September, Lembit was ordered to return to base. Her commander decided to stay in position for one more day to charge batteries. On 14 September, she attacked a convoy and badly damaged the transport ship Finnland (5,281 GRT), which sank on 15 September, at 59°36'8 N/21°14'5 E (the ship was subsequently raised and re-commissioned on 1 July 1943). During a counterattack which involved the dropping of some fifty depth charges, the submarine sustained serious damage, including a fire in the second group of batteries; six men were wounded. After some repairs Lembit returned to base. This episode earned her the nickname "Immortal submarine".
1944
- Awarded the Order of the Red Banner, 6 March.
- War patrol 2–18 October. Laid twenty mines. Destroyed the Dutch merchant ship Hilma Lau (2,414 GRT) on 13 October.
- War patrol 24 November - 15 December.
1945
- War patrol 23 March - 14 April.
Date | Ship | Flag | Tonnage | Notes |
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14 September 1942 | Finnland | 5,281 GRT | merchant (torpedo, later salvaged) | |
13 October 1944 | Hilma Lau | 2,414 GRT | merchant (torpedo) | |
15 October 1944 | M 3619 / Crabeels | 150 GRT | auxiliary minesweeper (mine) | |
23 October 1944 | Pionier 5 | ? | harbour tug (mine, most likely) | |
24 November 1944 | Spreeufer | 216 GRT | fishing vessel (mine) | |
13 February 1945 | M 421 | 543 GRT | minesweeper (mine) | |
25 April 1945 | Vs 343 | ? | auxiliary patrol vessel (mine) | |
Total: | 8,604 GRT |
Also on Lembit's mines was damaged on 24 November 1944 the German auxiliary patrol vessel V 305 / Halbertstadt.
After World War II
On 18 June 1946, Lembit was renamed U-1; on 9 June 1949 S-85; on 30 January 1956; STZh-24 on 27 December 1956
Lembit was presented with the Order of The Red Banner on 6 March 1945 for her victories earlier in the German-Soviet war. She was withdrawn from active duty on 17 January 1946 and become a training boat. On 12 January 1949 Lembit was included among medium submarines. She was stricken (disarmed) on 10 June 1955. She was transferred to the
On 28 August 1979 exactly 38 years after she had left
After regaining independence
After the collapse of the
Lembit is one of two surviving pre-war
Preservation
In late 2002 Lembit caught fire. One person was killed in the blaze, but nothing of historic value was lost. The inside was filled with flammable wood and rubber. Nobody knew how or why it caught fire but through 2003 it was not viewable by the public.
The submarine was missing its external torpedo tube covers. They used one original, that was stored somewhere else and the drawings (obtained from England), to construct three replicas. Most of the external paint was also removed, for minor de-rusting and the removal of some small dents. It was anticipated that the total restoration, would cost over 360,000 Euros.[11] The submarine was "parked" next to the Lennusadam building, until the night of 6/7 July 2011, when they began to tow it into the Lennusadam. The towing was done the same way as when it was pulled out of water and it took until 10 July.[12] The Lennusadam opened to visitors in May 2012, with Lembit now undercover for visitors to explore, both inside and out.[13]
References
- ^ "Meremuuseum". Meremuuseum.ee. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
- ^ Гринкевич (Grinkevich), Владимир Иванович (Vladimir Ivanovich) (1986). Под советским флагом [Under the soviet flag] (KOI8-R / Windows-1251) (in Russian). Russia: ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА [Техника и вооружение] / militera.lib.ru. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Гринкевич (Grinkevich), Владимир Иванович (Vladimir Ivanovich) (1986). Судьбы лембитовцев [The fates of the Lembit crew] (KOI8-R / Windows-1251) (in Russian). Russia: ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА [Техника и вооружение] / militera.lib.ru. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ [1] Archived 13 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Orlov Alex; Dmitriy Metelev; Evgeniy Chirva. "Великая Отечественная - под водой" (in Russian). Russia: Town.ural.ru. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
- ^ "Lembit of the Soviet Navy - Soviet Submarine of the Kalev class - Allied Warships of WWII". Uboat.net. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
- ^ "Allveelaeva Lembit tulekahjus hukkus inimene" [Person killed in 'Lembit' fire]. Ärileht (in Estonian). Estonia: Ekspress Grupp. 8 December 2002. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
- ^ "Inglismaalt leiti allveelaeva "Kalev" kadunud joonised" [The lost drawings of the submarine "Kalev" were found in England] (in Estonian).
- ^ "Meremuuseum". Meremuuseum.ee. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
- ^ "Allveelaev Lembit jõudis lõpuks kaldale" [The submarine Lembit finally made it to the shore] (in Estonian).
- ^ The news, on Eesti Televisioon, on 28 June 2011.
- ^ "Allveelaeva Lembit angaaridesse toimetamine on graafikus" [Transporting the Lembit into the hangars is on schedule] (in Estonian).
- ^ The news show "Reporter", on Kanal 2, on 6 May 2011.
External links
- Official website of the Estonian Navy
- http://www.online.ee/~peeprada (in Estonian)
- EML Lembit on Estonian stamp and first-day cover (1996)
- One of the scanned drawings published by Eesti Ekspress
- Pictures and video of the operation
- Pictures of Lembit at Lennusadam; link to an Estonian news site, with a gallery.