BPL 1911 g-class submarine

BPL 1911 g-class Submarine
Class overview
Name	BPL 1911 g-class Submarine
Operators	Far Eastern Imperial Navy
Planned	36
Built	32
Building	4
General Characteristics
Type	Submarine
Displacement	621 tons surfaced 994 tons submerged
Length	70.1 metres (230 ft)
Beam	6.5 metres (21 ft)
Draught	3.5 metres (11 ft)
Propulsion	2 shafts Diesel-electric propulsion 4 diesel engines (2 per shaft)
Power	640 hp (480 kW) (diesel) 900 hp (670 kW) (electric)
Speed	9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) surfaced 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) submerged
Range	12 days, 3500 miles at 6.5 knots 103 miles under water at 4 knots
Complement	47
Armament	2 × bow 450 mm (18-inch) torpedo tubes 2 × stern 450 mm (18-inch) torpedo tubes 1 × 76.2 mm gun 1 × 57 mm gun

Development

After the Far Eastern-Japanese war, the Imperial Navy begun massive fleet reconstruction program which was drafted after extensive studies of the war experience. One of the new emphasis in the building program was construction of submarines. To accompany the smaller coastal-submarines (LPL 1911 g), plans were made to introduce a proper ocean-going submarine as well. As with the coastal type, Far Eastern Empire turned for the help of the American company Electric boat co. for the development of the new submarine. Unlike with the coastal submarine, all units of the ocean-going submarine were to be build in Far Eastern shipyards. The boat were based on the Holland 31A design and it became the standard submarine type of the Far Eastern Imperial Navy.

Characteristics

Double-hull design with the hull separated by flat bulkheads into several compartments. Very similar to contemporary Russian "Narval"-class also based on the Holland-design. Initially these boats were to be powered by two large diesel engines, one per shaft but the lack of suitable engines forced to adopt 4 smaller domestic diesel engines. This led the boats to have somewhat low performance regarding surface speed particularly.

Ships in class

Patch 1

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launch Date	Entered Service	Fate
PL-15	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	January 1912	April 1913	February 1914	Extant in 1920
PL-16	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	January 1912	April 1913	October 1914	Extant in 1920
PL-17	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	January 1912	April 1913	October 1914	Extant in 1920
PL-18	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	February 1912	April 1913	February 1915	Extant in 1920
PL-19	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	February 1912	May 1913	March 1915	Extant in 1920
PL-20	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	March 1912	May 1913	March 1915	Extant in 1920
PL-21	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	March 1912	June 1913	April 1915	Extant in 1920
PL-22	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	March 1912	June 1913	April 1915	Extant in 1920
PL-23	Witte & Stroganov, Dalny	April 1912	July 1913	April 1915	Extant in 1920

See Also

Ships of Far Eastern Imperial Navy 1920