It is a generally accepted historical fact that the first submarine was built and tested in 1620 on the Thames by a Dutch mechanic and physicist Cornelius van Drebbel. His wooden submarine, covered with oiled leather from the outside, could sail underwater for short distances and was set in motion with oars. Her crew numbered 12 oars-men and 3 officers. According to the chronicles of that time, King Jacob I personally was present at the submarine submergence ceremony. Scientists do not exclude a possibility that van Drebbel had used compressed air or, perhaps, even oxygen. They wrote exactly the following: “This vessel could stay underwater for several hours at the depth of 4-5 meters. Unfortunately, van Drebbel’s death stopped further experiments”. In the year of his death, i.e., 1634, Sarrain Mersenne, a French scientist, mathematician and philosopher, published a book which provided the following generations of submarine constructors with valuable practical recommendations and technical advice. Mersenne, for example, advised them to build such submarines that would resemble fish in their forms and to make both ends of their hulls equally sharp. Mersenne, believed copper, rather than wood, to be the most suitable construction material for those underwater vessels, and he also advised against increasing the size of them.
In 1718, our compatriot Efim Nikonov, a carpenter from a village Pokrovskoye near Moscow, submitted a petition addressed to Peter the Great where he suggested building a “secret vessel” that “would sail the seas and destroy all enemy ships with cannons secretly”. Curious and interested, the Russian tsar ordered to bring this talented self-taught man to Saint-Petersburg and immediately get down to her construction. It is also known that in 1721 this vessel was put to the tests in Peter’s presence after which the author was proposed to start construction of a “bigger secret vessel”. In August, 1724, Nikonov asked to provide him with armoury for his underwater ship which he described as “fire tubes”. Apparently, these were the primitive gun-powder flame-throwers. After Peter’s death, however, further development of this “secret vessel” was terminated while the submarine built by this talented and skilled craftsman went completely rotten and decayed in a deserted wood-shed.
In 1775, an analogous project was presented by an American inventor Bushnell who, rather wrongly, is often thought to be the designer of the first military submarine.
Submarine made by K.A. Schilder (1834) Submarine made by K.A. Schilder (1834)
In 1834, at the Alexandrovsky foundry in Petersburg, following the project elaborated by naval engineer K.A. Schilder, a submarine equipped with missile launchers (three from each board) was built. The ship was set in motion with four special oars designed on the principle of a duck’s leg and fixed in pairs on each side of the ship. They were set in motion by oars-men, but, despite tremendous efforts of the crew, the speed submerged did not exceed 0.5 km per hour. Schilder hoped to replace the oars with electric runners. Unfortunately, back in those days, the scientific progress in electrical engineering was very slow, and, in 1841, the submarine modification activity stopped.
Submarine made by I.F. Alexandrovsky (1866) Submarine made by I.F. Alexandrovsky (1866)
Russian inventor I.F. Alexandrovsky made a conclusion that the solution to the existing underwater navigation problem could not be found without a mechanical engine. Having examined all the engines known at that time, he focused his attention and efforts on the engine that operated on compressed air. Though in 1866 the submarine under Alexandrovsky’s project was finished, the engine installed in her was capable of generating a speed of only 1.5 knots and her endurance did not exceed 3 miles.
It was not until 1884 that another Russian inventor S.K. Dzhevetskiy achieved successful results after having equipped the submarine built following his project with an electric engine of 1 horse-power with an innovative electric energy source – accumulator battery. Being put to the tests, the submarine developed a speed of 4 knots going underwater against the Neva River stream. It was the world’s first electric motor submarine.
Submarines in the Russian Imperial Navy
Dzhevetskiy was also the project author of a submarine the Pochtovy that went down in history as the world’s first underwater vessel with an integrated engine. This submarine was laid down on the stocks of the Saint-Petersburg Metallic factory in 1906, with the length of 36.0 m and width of 3.2 m, had an underwater displacement of 146 tons. She was equipped with two petrol engines of 130 horsepower. operating on a toothed gearing to the propeller shaft. With both two engines active, her speed submerged reached 11.5 knots. She also had 45 compressed-air flasks with a total pressure of 200 atmospheres. Coming through her complex air supply system, the air acted on one of the engines, thus securing a submerged speed of more than 6 knots. Exhaust fumes were accumulated in the water-proof enclosure in her superstructure from where they were pumped overboard. Her submerged endurance was 28 miles. During the tests she showed good results but her major drawback – bubble trace in a submerged position – decamouflaged the ship making her of little use for military purposes.
Submarine built by S.K. Dzhevetskiy (1881) Submarine built by S.K. Dzhevetskiy (1881)
The technical problem of submarine electric power installation was eventually solved with invention of high-capacity accumulator batteries and relatively reliable internal combustion engines. This helped create the following scheme which is well-known nowadays: internal combustion engine, electric engine-generator, accumulator battery. At that, internal combustion engine secured both submarine surface motion and her accumulator battery re-charge from the generator (dynamo-machine). In a submerged position, the submarine moved with a help of electrical engine powered by her accumulator battery.
Submarine the Dolphin (1904) Submarine the Dolphin (1904)
Simultaneously with electric power installations improvement, they continued to modernize submarines armament. In 1865, I.F. Alexandrovskiy constructed the first self-propelled mine-torpedo, and some time later S.K. Dzhevetskiy designed torpedo-tubes which were to be fixed outside on submarine hulls. For many years they were at the armoury of our submarines along with tubular torpedo-tubes placed inside the pressure hull. Though Russian inventors K.A. Schilder, I.F. Alexandrovskiy, S.K. Dzhevetskiy and many others greatly contributed to the submarine construction science, they failed to design a military submarine in the XIX century due to a very low level of electrical engineering and heat-engines development.
Mikhail Nikolaevich Beklemishev (1858-1913) Mikhail Nikolaevich Beklemishev (1858-1913)
The Russian first military submarine the Dolphin was built in 1904 at the Baltic Shipyards in Petersburg following the project worked out by a prominent shipbuilding engineer I.G. Bubnov in collaboration with Captain M.N. Beklemishev and mechanical engineer I.S. Goryunov.
Ivan Grigorievich Bubnov (1872-1919) Ivan Grigorievich Bubnov (1872-1919)
Petrol engine and electric motor which could operate in a generator-mode were installed in her. The Dolphin’s tactical-technical and performance characteristics excelled those of her American analogue built the same year in the USA by a firm “Fulton” under the leadership of engineer Holland. The Dolphin had a displacement of 113/135.5 tons; her main dimensions were 25,9 õ 3,4 õ 3,0 m and she could submerge at a depth of 55 m. her petrol engine secured 9.0 knots of surface speed and endurance of 243 miles. The speed submerged, developed by her electric engine, reached 4.5 knots while her endurance in a submerged position totaled 28 miles. The submarine was armed with two Dzhevetskiy torpedo-tubes with two 45-mm torpedoes. Her complement consisted of 2 officers and 20 sailors. It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the XX century Russia already had well-trained specialists-submariners including 100 officers. Year by year, submarines started to become one of the most reliable arms of the Russian Navy. As if to confirm this tendency, a Naval Order ¹ 19 of 26 January, 1909 was issued which required all the naval submarine officers to wear a distinctive silver breastplate. Its introduction was meant to enhance the submariners’ authority among the other naval officers and become some sort of a stimulus for those wishing to serve on submarines.
Underwater mine-layer the Crab (1915) Underwater mine-layer the Crab (1915)
(1915)
A special place in the Russian shipbuilding belongs to the famous underwater mine-layer the Krab (“Crab”) built in accordance with the project worked out by engineer M.P. Naletov. The Crab could take on board up to 60 anchored mines. This ship joined the Black Sea Fleet in 1915. And right in the next year she successfully carried out three world’s first underwater mine-laying operations in the districts of the Bosporus and Varna. The mines laid near the Bosporus blew up the German cruiser “Breslau”.
In 1912, the Baltic Shipyards laid down the first diesel submarine of “Bars” type. She proved to be one of the most technically-perfect and reliable submarines of her time. Displacement of those submarines was 650 tons surfaced and 780 tons submerged. All the submarines of Bars type were equipped with two diesel engines which could develop a surface speed of 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h). Her speed submerged, reaching 8.5 knots, was secured by two electric motors. The armament consisted of twelve 450-mm torpedo-tubes (eight of them were Dzhevetskiy lattice systems and four tubular ones), two artillery guns (57-mm and 37-mm) and one machine-gun. Those submarines could submerge 90 meters deep.
Submarines U-19 and U-34, which were built in Germany during this very period, had only four torpedo-tubes (two forward and two aft) and one 88-mm gun.
The main drawback of Bars-type submarines was the absence of water-proof bulkheads which decreased their vitality and floodability parameters. Commission of these submarines in 1915-1917 significantly enhanced the Baltic Sea Fleet operational capabilities.
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