Dolphin ( Greek Δελφίν ) is a Greek submarine (it was actually called a "diving" - Greek. Καταδυόμενον , repeating the French terminology of that era). Acted in the Balkan Wars and the First World War . Dolphin was the second submarine of the Greek fleet after Nordenfelt I (as part of the fleet 1886-1901), and was marked as the first submarine in the world to launch a torpedo attack (albeit without success) against a warship [1] [2] .
| Dolphin | |
|---|---|
| Δελφίν | |
 Submarine "Dolphin I" - Military Museum, Athens | |
| Ship history | |
| Flag state |  Greece |
| Launching | 1912 |
| Withdrawn from the fleet | 1920 |
| Current status | decommissioned in 1920 |
| Main characteristics | |
| Chief Designer | Schneider-Loboeuf |
| Speed (surface) | 12 knots |
| Speed (underwater) | 8.5 knots |
| Immersion depth | 36 m |
| Autonomy of swimming | 2 hours at 8 knots, 17.5 hours at 4.5 knots |
| Crew | 24 people |
| Dimensions | |
| Surface displacement | 360 t |
| Underwater displacement | 452 t |
| The length is the greatest (on design basis) | 49.5 m |
| Armament | |
| Torpedo mine weapons | 2 bow decks, 2 aft deck and 1 bow underdecks × 450 mm TA |
Content
- 1 Submarine History
- 2 Traditions
- 3 notes
- 4 References
Submarine History
Dolphin was ordered in 1910 at a French shipyard in Toulon , together with the same type Xythias (Swordfish). It was transferred to the Royal Naval Forces of Greece just before the start of the First Balkan War . Her first captain, Commander Stefanos Paparrigopoulos, together with a crew of 17 sailors, were sent to France to receive the necessary training [3] , which however was shortened due to the impending war. The War Department ordered them to withdraw to Greece, and Dolphin left France on September 29, arriving in Corfu (island) at the beginning of the war, on October 4 [3] . This 1,100-mile unaccompanied and non-stop trip was a world record and confirmed the crew's abilities, despite its limited training. However, this also meant that there was no trained reserve crew at the disposal, limiting the submarine's combat effectiveness due to crew fatigue [4] .
From Corfu, the submarine went to the naval base on the island of Salamis , Piraeus , where she stayed until October 19 and where the training of the crew and the submarine was completed. After leaving Piraeus, the Dolphin joined the fleet at its forward anchorage in the Mudros Gulf of Lemnos , but was not involved in hostilities until the end of November 1912. Instead, the submarine did immersion exercises. Despite the fact that the submarine had a number of mechanical problems, after November 20, she began patrolling at the entrance to the Dardanelles , returning to Tenedos Island by night [3] .
On the morning of December 9/22, 1912, the Ottoman light cruiser Mejidie left the Dardanelles with a reconnaissance mission. At 10:40, Dolphin fired a torpedo against Medzhidiye from a distance of 800 meters, but failed to sink it, since the torpedo did not find the target [2] [5] . In her attempt to go to Tenedos, the submarine ran aground north of the island, and was forced to drop its lead ballast to get aground. This meant that the submarine lost the ability to dive and returned to Piraeus. The dolphin , along with Xythias and other ships of the Greek fleet, were confiscated by the French in 1916, during the Greek National split . When the submarines were returned to the Greek fleet in 1919, they were in poor condition, and were decommissioned the following year [1] .
Traditions
The other two ships of the Greek fleet received the name Dolphin : the British Dolphin II (Υ-9) (as part of the fleet 1945-1957) and the German torpedo boat of class 149 Seemöwe (as part of the fleet 1968-1974).
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 (Greek) History of the Hellenic Navy Submarine Command Archived September 27, 2011 on the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 1 2 Langensiepen, Bernd. The Ottoman Steam Navy, 1828–1923 / Bernd Langensiepen, Ahmet Güleryüz. - Conway Maritime Press, 1995. - P. 22. - ISBN 0-85177-610-8 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Ελληνικά Υποβρύχια: 110 Χρόνια Ιστορίας (Greek) // Ptisi . - 1996. - May ( No. 135 ).
- ↑ Fotakis, Zisis. Greek naval strategy and policy, 1910–1919. - Routledge, 2005. - P. 46. - ISBN 978-0-415-35014-3 .
- ↑ Sondhaus, Lawrence. Naval Warfare, 1815-1914. - Routledge, 2001. - P. 220. - ISBN ISBN 0-415-21478-5 .