Submarine built by S.K. Dzhevetskiy (1881)
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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 m x 3.4 m x 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 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.
