Underwater minelayer crab. Submarine (minelayer) “Crab. Tactical and technical data of the submarine "Crab"

Submarine (minelayer) "Crab"

From book
"Thirteen submarines,
sunk in the roadstead of Sevastopol"

The underwater minelayer project was developed by communications technician M.P. Naletov. In December 1906, it was reviewed by the Marine Technical Committee. Naletov took into account the comments of the Marine Technical Committee and compiled 3 versions of an improved project, one of which later became the project of the Crab submarine.

Its final development was carried out by specialists from the Naval plant. In the summer of 1909, after testing submarine models in the Experimental Pool, the plant presented the final drawings of an underwater minelayer, which, together with the specifications, were approved on July 11, 1909. By the end of 1909, assembly of the hull began. M.P. Naletov was appointed as a consultant during the construction of the submarine.

The Crab was the world's first underwater minelayer. The mines were located in a permeable superstructure in two rows in corridors occupying approximately 2/3 of the length of the ship. There were guide rails on the side walls of each corridor, and a conveyor chain running at the bottom. A number of shortcomings were discovered in the submarine design, the main one being the excessive volume of the aft ballast tank. Adjustments to the project continued until 1912, when a new contract was signed for the construction of one underwater minelayer with a displacement of about 500 tons during surface navigation.

The submarine "Crab" was laid down at the end of 1909 at the Naval shipyard in Nikolaev, and launched on August 25, 1912. On August 23, 1912, she was included in the list of ships of the Black Sea Fleet. In June 1913, factory testing of the “Crab” began, and on June 22 the first test dive took place. During acceptance tests, insufficient stability of the submarine was discovered, which required the installation of a lead keel weighing 28 tons and the installation of boules (on-board “displacers”) to compensate for its weight. The alterations were completed in the fall of 1914, the tests ended only in the summer of 1915. The submarine "Crab" entered service on July 8, 1915.

During the First World War, the "Crab" took part in mine-laying operations in the Bosphorus Strait and near the port of Varna, and carried out positional and patrol services off the coast of Crimea.

The underwater minelayer "Crab" made its first combat mission on June 25, 1915. With 58 mines and 4 torpedoes, the “Crab”, accompanied by the submarines “Walrus”, “Nerpa” and “Seal”, went to the Bosphorus. On June 27, mines were placed in the area of ​​the Anatoli-Fener and Rumeli-Fener lighthouses. The barrier was discovered by the Turkish fleet by floating mines, after which trawling began, but the Turkish gunboat Isa-Reis was blown up by exposed mines. The second laying of mines was carried out in the same area on July 18, 1916, the third - on September 1, 1916. In September 1916, the "Crab" was repaired and re-equipped in the workshops of the Sevastopol port.

On December 29, 1917, the submarine became part of Krasny. Black Sea Fleet. On May 1, 1918 it was captured by German troops, and on November 24, 1918 by Anglo-French troops. On April 26, 1919, without the knowledge of the command of the Russian Volunteer Army, by order of the allied command, it was taken out of the port by tugboats and scuttled with explosive cartridges (in the left side of which a hole measuring about 0.5 square meters was made in the wheelhouse area and the bow hatch was opened) in the outer roadstead Sevastopol.

In 1934, the Crab was discovered during preparatory work for the recovery of the submarine Whale. During the search for sunken boats, the metal detector gave a deviation indicating the presence of a large amount of metal in this place. The “Crab” lay at a depth of 57-59 meters without a list. The stern part of the underwater minelayer went deep into the ground and the trim to the stern was 12 degrees. The bow hatch was open, the conning hatch was closed.

In May 1935, ship-lifting work began. Due to the large depth of the flooding for that time, they decided to lift the submarine in stages, that is, gradually transferring it to an ever shallower depth. The task of the first stage was to extract the “Crab” from the ground. To do this, it was supposed to raise the bow end by 12 meters with pontoons, bring towels under the stern and lower the submarine to the ground. At the second stage, two 200-ton pontoons, two 80-ton pontoons and two 40-ton soft pontoons were to be sharpened over the submarine and the boat was to be raised in a stepwise manner and transferred to Streletskaya Bay to a depth of 17 meters. At the third stage, it was planned to attach 200-ton pontoons directly to the sides of the boat, and then lift it to the surface. It was not possible to strictly adhere to the project. When the bow was raised, the stern of the “Crab” sank even further into the ground and it was not possible to place towels under it. Attempts to raise the bow continued several times, while the submarine's trim to the stern reached 50 degrees, but the result remained the same. In this situation, the entire burden of further work at the first stage fell on the divers. By the end of September, they had eroded a pit 9-10 meters deep under the stern. This work was very difficult, since bringing the entire system of soil suction pipes to the top is very difficult, and the swell could turn this entire system into scrap. In addition, due to the great depth, divers could only work on the ground for 30 minutes. Repeatedly, the walls of the pit collapsed on the divers, but, fortunately, each time they managed to get out of the rubble safely.

After the propeller shafts emerged from the ground, the excavation of the pit was stopped. Two 80-ton pontoons were secured to the shafts and the submarine was pulled out of the ground. Further work proceeded extremely quickly. From October 4 to October 7, the submarine was successively raised to 12, 15 and 17 meters and brought into Streletskaya Bay, and a month later the “Crab” was brought to the surface. Having sealed the hole and drained the compartments, EPRON handed over the minelayer to the Black Sea Fleet.

The creator of the world's first underwater minelayer M.P. Naletov lived in Leningrad at that time. Having learned that his brainchild, the “Crab,” had been raised, he drew up a project for the restoration and modernization of the minelayer. But over the years, the Navy has gone far ahead in its development. It included dozens of new, advanced submarines of all types, including underwater minelayers, and the need to restore the “Crab”, an already obsolete submarine, disappeared. Therefore, after being raised near Sevastopol, the “Crab” was scrapped.

Tactical and technical data of the submarine "Crab"

Speed: highest (surface/underwater) - 10.8/8.3-8.6 knots
economic (surface/underwater) - 8.5/5.5-5.9 knots
Cruising range: surface - 1,200/2,000 miles (10.8/8.5 knots)
Submarine - 82/138 miles (8.2/5.9 knots)
Fuel capacity: 13.5 tons (kerosene)
Dive time - 7 min 38 sec
Ascent time - 4 min
Buoyancy reserve - 14%
Armament: 1 47 mm and 1 37 mm gun, 1 7.62 mm machine gun
(since 1916: 1 75/50 mm gun, 2x1 7.62 mm machine gun),
2 457 mm torpedo tubes (bow),
4 Drzewiecki torpedo tubes,
60 mines of barrage, 2 periscopes, searchlight with a diameter of 30 cm
Immersion depth (working): 50 m.
Crew: officers - 3 people, conductors - 2 people
lower ranks - 24 people.

N. A. Zalessky

"Crab" - the world's first underwater minelayer

Underwater minelayer "Crab"

FROM THE EDITOR OF THE FIRST EDITION

The creation and combat operations of the world's first underwater minelayer "Crab" - a completely original ship of the Russian Navy - were covered in our literature very sparingly, and sometimes inaccurately. Thus, incorrect information was reported about the construction of a small submarine for laying mines in besieged Port Arthur - the prototype of the "Crab".

The author of this book, shipbuilding engineer, candidate of technical sciences, graduated from the Naval Engineering School named after. F. E. Dzerzhinsky and the shipbuilding department of the Naval Academy. He not only collected enormous archival and literary material, but also conducted genuine research in order to recreate, on the basis of far from complete and sometimes contradictory information, a true picture of the entire epic construction of the “Crab”.

N.A. Zalessky objectively illuminates the thorny path traveled by the inventor and builder of the “Crab” M.P. Naletov, the path that ultimately led to the establishment of the priority of Russian technical thought in the creation of the world’s first underwater minelayer. The chapters devoted to the combat operations of the "Crab" are written in a lively and interesting manner.

One can hope that N.A. Zalessky’s book will be favorably received not only by specialists in the field of shipbuilding, but also by those interested in the history of the Russian Navy.

Konstantin Fedyaevsky

The creation of the world's first underwater minelayer "Crab" is one of the remarkable pages in the history of Russian military shipbuilding. The technical backwardness of Tsarist Russia and a completely new type of submarine, which was the Crab, led to the fact that the minelayer came into operation only in 1915. But even in such a technically developed country as the Kaiser’s Germany, the first underwater minelayers appeared only in the same year, and in terms of their tactical and technical data they were significantly inferior to the Crab.

Unfortunately, this event in domestic shipbuilding was very poorly covered in Soviet literature, not to mention the pre-revolutionary press. This prompted the author, over 25 years ago, to begin researching the history of the creation of the world's first underwater minelayer, using mainly archival documents and, to a much lesser extent, literary sources. The book about "The Crab" was published in 1967 in a relatively small edition - 14,000 copies and has now become a kind of bibliographic rarity. Therefore, the publishing house undertook a second edition of the book.

As the first attempt to present the history of "The Crab", the book, of course, was not without shortcomings, and although over the past twenty years since the publication of the book, the author has not received any comments or suggestions for improving its content, the author considered himself obliged to clarify and correct and supplement the text of the first edition.

The author expresses his gratitude to his comrades who contributed to the success of the book. Thus, when identifying documents on the underwater minelayer "Crab" in the Central State Archives of the Navy (TSGAVMF), systematic assistance was provided to the author by its director I.N. Soloviev, and the staff of the archive L.N. Gusarova, I.A. Livshits, V.E. Nadvodsky, E.I. Zugman and others. Relatives of M.P. responded to the author’s request and provided him with manuscripts, memoirs and photographs. Naletova - prof. K.K. Fedyaevsky, E.A. Naletova, N.M. Bovina and V.V. Zolotnitsky. They also provided various materials or photographs of M.I. Bozhatkin (Nikolaev), N.A. Bykova (Leningrad), T.N. Bekova (Moscow), G.P. Kolenov (Nalchik), S.S. Kamensky (Odessa) and G.V. Stepanov (Lenigrad).

The author also expresses his gratitude to foreign naval historians R.E. Gregor (Prague), P.A. Warnek (Brussels) and E. Pertek (Poznan) for the photographs needed for the book, which were not found in the USSR.

To illustrate the book, documents and drawings of the TsGAVMF and photographs of the Central Naval Museum were used. In addition, some drawings were borrowed from articles by S. Glinka “The Submarine of Mr. Naletov” (illustrated supplement to the newspaper “New Time” dated August 10, 1905) and N.A. Monastyrev “The underwater minelayer “Crab” as a ship of the original Russian type” (Sea collection, Bizerte, 1922, No. 2), as well as from the reference book Henry Le Masson “Les Flottes de Combat” (Paris, 1947).

"A small submarine... built by me

in besieged Port Arthur, although it did not bring him any benefit,

but she played the role of the embryo for "The Crab."

M. Naletov 1

M.P. Air raids

As you know, the Russo-Japanese War began with a treacherous attack by Japanese destroyers on the night of January 26-27, 1904 2 to the ships of the Russian Pacific squadron stationed in Port Arthur. The ships of the squadron stood in the outer roadstead with their distinctive lights partially turned off, only the headstay and tail lights were on. There were two destroyers on patrol 20 miles from the raid with their distinctive lights on. The Japanese destroyers, sailing with their lights off, easily turned away from them and passed unnoticed. Despite the surprise of the torpedo attack by these destroyers on the Russian squadron, the Japanese did not manage to destroy a single Russian warship and achieve decisive successes at the very beginning of the war. Of the sixteen torpedoes fired by Japanese destroyers, only three hit Russian ships, damaging two squadron battleships (Tsesarevich and Retvizan) and one cruiser (Pallada), temporarily putting them out of action. True, the situation was aggravated by the fact that there was no dock in Port Arthur to repair damaged battleships. Then they found another way out: special caissons were used to repair their underwater part.

After the attack by Japanese destroyers, the squadron's combat operations were passive in nature and were reduced mainly to repelling attacks of the Japanese fleet.

With the appointment of Vice Admiral S.O. as commander of the Pacific Squadron. Makarov and his arrival on February 23 in Port Arthur, the squadron intensified its actions. The ships began to go to sea and practice maneuvering and sailing together. Light forces were actively used. The repair of damaged ships was accelerated. Upon their release from repair, S.O. Makarov intended to fight the Japanese fleet for dominance at sea. However, these plans of Makarov were not destined to come true. On the morning of March 31, the destroyer Strashny, returning from the sea to the base, was destroyed by Japanese destroyers. During the battle, the cruiser Bayan left Port Arthur to support the Terrible. Suddenly, Japanese battleships and cruisers appeared, then the entire Russian squadron came out to meet them.

Makarov held his flag on the squadron battleship Petropavlovsk. Deploying on the spot, Makarov intended to give battle to the Japanese fleet approaching Port Arthur. But the Petropavlovsk exploded on mines laid by Japanese destroyers on the night of March 30-31 and was lost 3 . The most talented admiral of the Russian fleet of that time, Stepan Osipovich Makarov, died on it. The squadron's personnel took the death of their beloved admiral seriously. Many understood that now all hopes of victory over the Japanese fleet had collapsed. We experienced the death of S.O. Makarova and all the patriots of Russia, and among them - railway technician Mikhail Petrovich Naletov, who was in Port Arthur at that time.

Possessing a clear mind and ebullient energy, Mikhail Petrovich, like many, thought about how to eliminate the numerical superiority of the Japanese fleet over the Russian Pacific squadron. He came to the conclusion that such a task could best be accomplished by an underwater minelayer. Here's what M.P. himself wrote about it. Air raids:

“The first idea to arm a submarine with barrage mines came to my mind on the day of the death (March 31) of the battleship Petropavlovsk, which exploded on a Japanese mine, which I witnessed. The explosion of two Japanese battleships on May 4, 22 on our mines laid near Port Arthur ", once again showed the power of mine weapons and finally strengthened in me the idea of ​​​​the need to create a new type of warship - an underwater minelayer. Such a ship solved the problem of laying mines off enemy shores even when we did not control the sea" 5.

At the same time, according to Naletov, sailors and conductors from the ships of the squadron were interested in his boat. They often came to the construction of the boat and even asked to be included in the minelayer team. Lieutenant N.V. provided great assistance to Mikhail Petrovich. Krotkov and mechanical engineer P.N. Tikhobayev (squadron battleship "Peresvet"). The first helped to obtain the necessary mechanisms for the boat from the port of Dalny, and the second released specialists from his team who, together with the workers of the dredging caravan, worked on the construction of the minelayer. Despite all the difficulties, Mikhail Petrovich successfully built his boat.

The submarine "Crab", the world's first underwater minelayer, was designed by Mikhail Petrovich Naletov, a communications technician by training, a talented inventor, an energetic and enterprising designer.

The idea of ​​​​creating an underwater minelayer came from M.P. Naletov on the day of the death of the battleship Petropavlovsk, which was blown up by a Japanese mine on March 31, 1904. M.P., who was in Port Arthur at that time. Naletov decided to build a submarine - a minelayer for laying mines off enemy shores. Naletov built this submarine with his own savings; The local naval authorities were distrustful of Naletov’s idea, but allowed him to use workshops and “free machines.”

The displacement of the underwater minelayer under construction was supposed to be about 25 tons, it was supposed to carry 4 mines or 2 Schwarzkopf torpedoes. The mines were supposed to be placed through a hatch in the lower part of the hull - “under oneself”.

The hull of the minelayer was built; for submersion, cast iron ingots (ballastins) were laid on the deck; for ascent, they were removed by a floating crane. In connection with the surrender of Port Arthur to the Japanese, the unfinished minelayer was blown up.

In 1906 M.P. Naletov presented to the Marine Technical Committee a project for an underwater minelayer with a displacement of about 300 tons. The project had a number of shortcomings and was not accepted. After considering the comments, Naletov developed a second version of an underwater minelayer with a displacement of 450 tons and a third with a displacement of 470 tons.

The fourth and final version of the minelayer was developed by Naletov in 1907. On October 2, 1907, the specification with drawings and the draft contract were submitted by the Nikolaev plant "Naval" for approval by the Naval Ministry. In 1908, the Naval Ministry issued an order to the Naval plant for the construction of an underwater minelayer.

Submarine "Crab"

In the summer of 1909, after testing submarine models in the Experimental Pool, the plant presented the final drawings of an underwater minelayer, which, together with the specifications, were approved on July 11, 1909. By the end of 1909, assembly of the hull began. M.P. Naletov was appointed as a consultant during the construction of the submarine.

In parallel with the construction of the underwater minelayer, the production and testing of mines designed by M.P. Naletov, which were supposed to have zero buoyancy, and a dispute arose between Naletov and the mine department of the Marine Technical Committee about the priority in the invention of mines of this type.

Trial laying of mines from the submarine "Crab"

A number of shortcomings were discovered in the submarine design, the main one being the excessive volume of the aft ballast tank. Adjustments to the project continued until 1912, when a new contract was signed for the construction of one underwater minelayer with a displacement of about 500 tons during surface navigation.

On August 9, 1912, the underwater minelayer was given the name “Crab”; on August 12, 1912, “Crab” was launched.

Launching of the submarine "Crab"

In June 1913, factory tests of the "Crab" began, and on June 22 the first test dive took place. Senior Lieutenant A.A. was appointed the first commander of the "Crab". Andreev.

Rebuilding the submarine "Crab" at the boathouse in Sevastopol

During acceptance tests, insufficient stability of the submarine was discovered, which required the installation of a lead keel weighing 28 tons and the installation of boules (on-board “displacers”) to compensate for its weight. The alterations were completed in the fall of 1914, the tests ended only in July 1915.

"Crab" after installing the lead keel and displacers

The underwater minelayer "Crab" made its first combat mission on June 25, 1915. With 58 mines and 4 torpedoes, the Crab, accompanied by the submarines Walrus, Nerpa and Tyulen, sailed to the Bosporus. On June 27, mines were placed in the area of ​​the Anatoli-Fener and Rumeli-Fener lighthouses. The barrage was discovered by the Turkish fleet by floating mines, after which trawling began; However, the Turkish gunboat Isa-Reis was blown up by exposed mines.

Loading mines on the "Crab"

The second laying of mines was carried out in the same area on July 18, 1916, the third - on September 1, 1916. In September 1916, the "Crab" was sent for repairs to the workshops of the Sevastopol port.

In June 1918, the Crab fell into the hands of the German and then the Anglo-French naval command. On April 26, 1919, the “Crab”, in the left side of which a hole measuring about 0.5 square meters was made. m, was flooded in the outer roadstead of Sevastopol Bay.

In 1934, the Crab was discovered during preparatory work for the lifting of the submarine Whale. The "Crab" lay at a depth of 57-59 meters without a list. The stern part of the underwater minelayer went deep into the ground and the trim to the stern was 12 degrees. The bow hatch was open, the conning hatch was closed.

In May 1935, ship-lifting work began. It was planned to raise the underwater minelayer in several stages. The task of the first stage was to extract the “Crab” from the ground. To do this, it was supposed to raise the bow end by 12 meters with pontoons, bring towels under the stern and lower the boat to the ground. At the second stage, two 200-ton pontoons, two 80-ton pontoons and two 40-ton soft pontoons were to be sharpened over the boat and the boat was to be lifted in a stepwise manner and transferred to Streletskaya Bay to a depth of 17 meters. At the third stage, it was planned to attach 200-ton pontoons directly to the sides of the boat, and then lift it to the surface.

This project could not be strictly adhered to. When the bow was raised, the stern of the “Crab” sank even further into the ground and it was not possible to place towels under it. Attempts to raise the bow continued several times, while the trim of the boat to the stern reached 50 degrees, but the result remained the same.

In this situation, the entire burden of further work at the first stage fell on the divers. By the end of September, they had eroded a pit 9-10 meters deep under the stern. Repeatedly its walls collapsed on the divers, but, fortunately, each time they managed to get out of the rubble safely. After the propeller shafts emerged from the ground, the excavation of the pit was stopped. Two 80-ton pontoons were secured to the shafts and the boat was pulled out of the ground. Further work proceeded extremely quickly. From October 4 to October 7, the boat was successively raised to 12, 15 and 17 meters and brought into Streletskaya Bay, and a month later the “Crab” was pulled to the surface. Having sealed the hole and drained the compartments, the Epron team handed over the minelayer to the Black Sea Fleet.

Having learned about the rise of the "Crab", M.P. Naletov came up with a project for the restoration and modernization of the Crab. The project was rejected, "Crab" was not restored and was scrapped.

Tactical and technical elements

Submarine (minelayer) "Crab" The underwater minelayer project was developed by communications technician M.P. Naletov. In December 1906, it was reviewed by the Marine Technical Committee. Naletov took into account the comments of the Marine Technical Committee and compiled 3 versions of an improved project, one of which later became the project of the Crab submarine.

Its final development was carried out by specialists from the Naval plant. In the summer of 1909, after testing submarine models in the Experimental Pool, the plant presented the final drawings of an underwater minelayer, which, together with the specifications, were approved on July 11, 1909. By the end of 1909, assembly of the hull began. M.P. Naletov was appointed as a consultant during the construction of the submarine.

The Crab was the world's first underwater minelayer. The mines were located in a permeable superstructure in two rows in corridors occupying approximately 2/3 of the length of the ship. There were guide rails on the side walls of each corridor, and a conveyor chain running at the bottom. A number of shortcomings were discovered in the submarine design, the main one being the excessive volume of the aft ballast tank. Adjustments to the project continued until 1912, when a new contract was signed for the construction of one underwater minelayer with a displacement of about 500 tons during surface navigation.

The submarine "Crab" was laid down at the end of 1909 at the Naval shipyard in Nikolaev, and launched on August 25, 1912. On August 23, 1912, she was included in the list of ships of the Black Sea Fleet. In June 1913, factory testing of the “Crab” began, and on June 22 the first test dive took place. During acceptance tests, insufficient stability of the submarine was discovered, which required the installation of a lead keel weighing 28 tons and the installation of boules (on-board “displacers”) to compensate for its weight. The alterations were completed in the fall of 1914, the tests ended only in the summer of 1915. The submarine "Crab" entered service on July 8, 1915.

During the First World War, the "Crab" took part in mine-laying operations in the Bosphorus Strait and near the port of Varna, and carried out positional and patrol services off the coast of Crimea.

The underwater minelayer "Crab" made its first combat mission on June 25, 1915. With 58 mines and 4 torpedoes, the “Crab”, accompanied by the submarines “Walrus”, “Nerpa” and “Seal”, went to the Bosphorus. On June 27, mines were placed in the area of ​​the Anatoli-Fener and Rumeli-Fener lighthouses. The barrier was discovered by the Turkish fleet by floating mines, after which trawling began, but the Turkish gunboat Isa-Reis was blown up by exposed mines. The second laying of mines was carried out in the same area on July 18, 1916, the third - on September 1, 1916. In September 1916, the "Crab" was repaired and re-equipped in the workshops of the Sevastopol port.

On December 29, 1917, the submarine became part of Krasny. Black Sea Fleet. On May 1, 1918 it was captured by German troops, and on November 24, 1918 by Anglo-French troops. On April 26, 1919, without the knowledge of the command of the Russian Volunteer Army, by order of the allied command, it was taken out of the port by tugboats, and flooded with explosive cartridges (in the left side of which a hole measuring about 0.5 square meters was made in the wheelhouse area and the bow hatch was opened) on the outer raid of Sevastopol.

In 1934, the Crab was discovered during preparatory work for the recovery of the submarine Whale. During the search for sunken boats, the metal detector gave a deviation indicating the presence of a large amount of metal in this place. The “Crab” lay at a depth of 57-59 meters without a list. The stern part of the underwater minelayer went deep into the ground and the trim to the stern was 12 degrees. The bow hatch was open, the conning hatch was closed.

In May 1935, ship-lifting work began. Due to the large depth of the flooding for that time, they decided to lift the submarine in stages, that is, gradually transferring it to an ever shallower depth. The task of the first stage was to extract the “Crab” from the ground. To do this, it was supposed to raise the bow end by 12 meters with pontoons, bring towels under the stern and lower the submarine to the ground. At the second stage, two 200-ton pontoons, two 80-ton pontoons and two 40-ton soft pontoons were to be sharpened over the submarine and the boat was to be raised in a stepwise manner and transferred to Streletskaya Bay to a depth of 17 meters. At the third stage, it was planned to attach 200-ton pontoons directly to the sides of the boat, and then lift it to the surface. It was not possible to strictly adhere to the project. When the bow was raised, the stern of the “Crab” sank even further into the ground and it was not possible to place towels under it. Attempts to raise the bow continued several times, while the submarine's trim to the stern reached 50 degrees, but the result remained the same. In this situation, the entire burden of further work at the first stage fell on the divers. By the end of September, they had eroded a pit 9-10 meters deep under the stern. This work was very difficult, since bringing the entire system of soil suction pipes to the top is very difficult, and the swell could turn this entire system into scrap. In addition, due to the great depth, divers could only work on the ground for 30 minutes. Repeatedly, the walls of the pit collapsed on the divers, but, fortunately, each time they managed to get out of the rubble safely.

After the propeller shafts emerged from the ground, the excavation of the pit was stopped. Two 80-ton pontoons were secured to the shafts and the submarine was pulled out of the ground. Further work proceeded extremely quickly. From October 4 to October 7, the submarine was successively raised to 12, 15 and 17 meters and brought into Streletskaya Bay, and a month later the “Crab” was brought to the surface. Having sealed the hole and drained the compartments, EPRON handed over the minelayer to the Black Sea Fleet.

The creator of the world's first underwater minelayer M.P. Naletov lived in Leningrad at that time. Having learned that his brainchild, the “Crab,” had been raised, he drew up a project for the restoration and modernization of the minelayer. But over the years, the Navy has gone far ahead in its development. It included dozens of new, advanced submarines of all types, including underwater minelayers, and the need to restore the “Crab”, an already obsolete submarine, disappeared. Therefore, after being raised near Sevastopol, the “Crab” was scrapped.

Tactical and technical data of the submarine "Crab"

Speed: highest (surface/underwater) - 10.8/8.3-8.6 knots
economic (surface/underwater) - 8.5/5.5-5.9 knots
Cruising range: surface - 1,200/2,000 miles (10.8/8.5 knots)
Submarine - 82/138 miles (8.2/5.9 knots)
Fuel capacity: 13.5 tons (kerosene)
Dive time - 7 min 38 sec
Ascent time - 4 min
Buoyancy reserve - 14%
Armament: 1 47 mm and 1 37 mm gun, 1 7.62 mm machine gun
(since 1916: 1 75/50 mm gun, 2x1 7.62 mm machine gun),
2 457 mm torpedo tubes (bow),
4 Drzewiecki torpedo tubes,
60 mines of barrage, 2 periscopes, searchlight with a diameter of 30 cm
Immersion depth (working): 50 m.
Crew: officers - 3 people, conductors - 2 people
lower ranks - 24 people.

kaf> If you are such a specialist, then help the ignorant.
You directly admitted that you are building a meter long model being ignorant?! Well, I came across a certain array of documents (including drawings) on the Black Sea Fleet submarine, but the Crab is not in it.

kaf>As far as I understand, you won’t build models
Wrong.

kaf>help.
Who posted the photo of the model?

kaf> And what have you dug up there that doesn’t correspond to the original at all.
Look at the diagram that Vili posted and compare it with yours. The entire wheelhouse, periscopes and their fairings are not the same (and you can see it in the photo). That diagram was made from an original drawing. Well, the artillery there is fantasy, as is its composition, the proportions of the guns. The proportions of the depth rudders are not the same....

>> And we ourselves will decide what to build.
It is already obvious how plausible this work will be.

mamacabo> Indeed, there is very little drawing material for the RIF submarine, just scribbles.
There is plenty of material - “Catfish”, “Walruses”, “Leopards”, “Swans”, “Narwhals”, just 50-150 drawings per boat - in TsVMM, TsVMB and, of course, the Russian State Administration of the Navy. Descriptions of five or six types, monographs, articles in Shipbuilding.

mamacabo> the topic of the 1st World War is not interesting to anyone.
It's a delusion.

Trosik39> Russian authorities do not like history.
The Russian authorities retained “Tver” and “Standard”, etc., the largest museums were founded under the tsars. And this attitude towards history is a late Soviet thing; under Khrushchev they began to destroy museums and exhibitions, and this tendency of a disregard for attitude lasted until the 90s. Better now. The World Ocean Museum is a clear confirmation of this. And the first nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin" has been preserved and stands at the sea terminal in Murmansk.

kaf> We will restore according to the descriptions and what we can find.
So you have nothing. At all. At all. How to imagine and depict an electric motor, for example? there, on boats of the same series, they could be different... And the “Crab” is not at all typical - you don’t use “Leopards” with “Walruses”.

kaf> The world is not without good people.
Plus people will be taught.

kaf> Good information is difficult to find on any ship, especially on submarines, which have always been a secret.
Surfing the Internet YES! And in the 870 fund of the Russian State Administration of the Navy, almost the entire RIF is presented in varying degrees of detail.

kaf> You can probably take a little bit of the device from there too.
If you read carefully, the “Crab” from 1913 to 1917 was constantly reworked and moved mechanisms. Only I saw a list of about 30 completions and alterations from the fall of 1915... And those diagrams that exist are generally a preliminary design, judging by the shape of the hull and deckhouse.

kaf> Who has graphics for the Austrian mountain gun of 70 mm caliber. (possibly M99). This is according to the description of the “Crab” device for 1916. So let’s scrape up the rest bit by bit.

If you don’t scratch it, how do you know what kind of gun this is? There is a very cunning hybrid there, you and the Japanese "Narwhal" - you lied, but here it is much more complicated. Keep it simple - in all three photos of the "Crab" with weapons that I know of, there is a 47 Hotchkiss with a mercury compressor (horizontal).