EML Kalev

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Career
EML Kalev which did not survive the Second World War.
Class and type:	Kalev class S-type submarine
Name:	EML Kalev
Operator:	Estonian Navy
Ordered:	12 December 1934
Builder:	Vickers and Armstrongs Ltd., United Kingdom
Laid down:	May 1935
Launched:	7 July 1936 13:20
Commissioned:	12 March 1937
In service:	1937 - 1941
Out of service:	1941
Homeport:	Tallinn
Motto:	"Vääri oma nime" ("Be worth of Your name")
Nickname:	Kalev
Captured:	by USSR in 1940
Fate:	missing after 29 October 1941
Badge:	Image:.jpg
General characteristics
Displacement:	665 tons surfaced 853 tons submerged
Length:	59.5 m
Beam:	7.5 m
Draught:	3.6 m
Propulsion:	Twin diesel/electric 2 diesel engines: Vickers and Armstrongs Ltd. – 1200 hp 2 Electric engines: Metropolitan-Vickers – 790 hp
Speed:	surface - 13.5 knots submerged - 8.5 knots
Test depth:	90 m operational 120 m tested
Complement:	4 officers + 28 sailors
Armament:	4 × bow torpedo tubes (8 21" torpedoes) 1 × 40 mm AA gun "Bofors" 1 × 7.7 mm AA gun "Lewis" 24 mines
Armor:	thickness of hull steel 12 mm

EML Kalev was one of two submarines of the Republic of Estonia launched in 1936 at Vickers and Armstrongs Ltd. in England. Her twin sister Lembit survived the Second World War and is the oldest submarine still afloat in the world today.

1 History
2 Kalev in World War II
- 2.1 During the Soviet occupation
3 Interesting facts
- 3.1 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The Kalev was the second pre-war Estonian Navy submarine. Estonia is a maritime nation and as every country with a long coastline has to defend and safeguard its territorial waters. With due regard to the experiences of World War I the submarines found their proper application in the pre-Second World War Estonian Navy. The collection organised by the Submarine Fleet Foundation in May 1933 developed into a one of the most successful undertakings among the similar events demonstrating a nation-wide determination to defend one’s country.

In the course of building and testing two submarines the Estonian crews got a top level naval training of the time in England in 1935-1937. In the period of 1937-1940 the submarines Lembit and Kalev were the most imposing naval vessels of the Estonian Navy. Their non-interference upon annexation of Estonia by the USSR was a political decision made irrespective of the will of the navy.^[1]

[edit] Kalev in World War II

The submarine Kalev joined the Estonian Navy in spring 1937 where she operated until the Soviet take over in 1940. (On 24 February 1940, The Third Reich had expressed its interest in obtaining the submarine, if Estonia would sell it, but this offer was turned down.)

[edit] During the Soviet occupation

The submarine was formally taken over by the Soviet Navy on 18 September, 1940, by which only five men of the submarine crew remained in place, to instruct the new Soviet crews. After the outbreak of the German-Russian war in June 1941, Kalev was re-complemented, having a totally Russian-speaking crew, although the original name Kalev was retained. During the Second World War the Kalev participated in military operations among the vessels of the Soviet Baltic Fleet. Kalev did not return from her second patrol and was reported as missing since 29 October 1941).^[2]

[edit] Interesting facts

Kalev’s ultimate fate or the location of the wreck is still unknown (it is usually assumed that she hit a mine and sunk off Keri in the Gulf of Finland between Tallinn and Helsinki, but she could be anywhere between Kronstadt and Hanko; some sources suggest she was scuttled in the Bay of Tallinn during the Soviet evacuation on 28 August 1941).