PROTECTOR submarine 1902

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aukepalmhof
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PROTECTOR submarine 1902

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:19 pm

Built as a coastal defence submarine by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, Bridgeport, Con. between 1901/02 for Simon Lake.
01 November 1902 launched as the PROTECTOR.
Displacement 136 ton surface, 174.4 ton submerged. Dim. 19.8 x 3.4 x 3.7m. (draught surface)
Powered by two petrol engines 120 hp each, delivering power to two electro motors each 60 hp.
Speed surfaced 8.5 knots, submerged 5.6 knots. Range by a speed of 5 knots 350 mile.
Armament: 3 TA calibre 457mm torpedo tubes, two bow one stern, carried 5 torpedoes.
Diving depth 30 metre.
Crew 2 officers and 10 men.

When completed Simon Lake offered the PROTECTOR to the USA navy but she did not accept the offer but did stay with the Holland design submarine.

The Lake Torpedo Boat Company had to look for a new customer, they were lucky shortly thereafter the Russo-Japanese war broke out and both countries were looking for new vessels which could improve the superiority over the enemy. The Russian offer was better, but at that time the USA was a neutral state and war material was not allowed for export. After the Lake Company consulted lawyers a loophole was found, a decommissioned submarine did not contradict existing laws of the USA.
The PROTECTOR was transported to New York and loaded on board the cargo vessel FORTUNA for transport to Libau.
24 May 1904 the PROTECTOR was discharged in St Petersburg and transported to the Lesner Company there.
18 June 1904 commissioned in the Russian Imperial Navy as the OSETR (sturgeon).
After acceptance testing from 25 till 28 September 1904, she was taken out of the water and send by rail to Vladivostok where she on 12 May 1905 again was launched.
11 June she joined the submarine squadron in Vladivostok, the joining ceremony was delayed due to the failure of her batteries, which were wrongly stored during the winter of 1904-05.
02 August 1905 she made her first dive in the Far East after she made a trip to the Slavic Gulf. On her return voyage to Vladivostok she encountered bad weather and had to close her hatch, one of her exhaust outlets was leaking and the gases entered the submarine poisoning the crew of which some died.
She took from August to September 1905 a nominal part in the Russo-Japanese War, used for patrol duty at the Russian and Askold Islands in the Peter the Great Gulf.
From 1906 till 1913 a unit of the Siberian flotilla based in Vladivostok. In the summer months used for training voyages in the Gulf of Strelok, Razboinik Bay.
27 July 1913 decommissioned and 04 August 1913 removed from the Navy List.
10 March 1914 transferred to Vladivostok Port for dismantling, but first stored until 1922 before she was dismantled for her steel.

Benin 2016 600f sg ?, scott? (the 1,000f stamp shows the ARGONAUT see: http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewt ... allery]/6/
Source: Various internet sites and Wikipedia.
Attachments
2016 protector(2).jpg
protector submarine.jpg

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