Kaiman-class submarine

Drakon
Class overview
Name	Kaiman class
Builders	W:m Crichton & C:o Okhta, Saint Petersburg
Operators	Imperial Russian Navy
Built	1906–1911
In commission	1911–1918
Planned	4
Completed	4
Lost	4
General characteristics
Displacement	409 long tons (416 t) (surfaced) 482 long tons (490 t) (submerged)
Length	134 ft 6 in (41.0 m)
Beam	12 ft 2 in (3.7 m)
Draft	16 ft 1 in (4.9 m)
Installed power	2 × gasoline engines (400 bhp (300 kW)) 2 × electric motors (200 bhp (150 kW))
Propulsion	2 × propeller shafts
Speed	8.4 knots (15.6 km/h; 9.7 mph) (surfaced) 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) (submerged)
Range	750 nmi (1,390 km; 860 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (surfaced) 24 nmi (44 km; 28 mi) at 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) (submerged)
Test depth	90 feet (27 m)
Complement	34
Armament	2 × bow and 2 × stern 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes 2 × external Drzewiecki drop collars 1 × 47 mm (1.9 in) deck gun

The Kaiman class^{[Note 1]} were a class of submarines built for the Imperial Russian Navy before World War I. They were designed by Simon Lake and built at the W:m Crichton & C:o Okhta shipyard in Saint Petersburg. The boats had numerous defects resulting in a legal battle between Lake and the Russian Government. The boats were impounded in 1910 and rebuilding work took place to remedy some of the defects. The boats finally commissioned in 1911 and served in the Baltic Fleet.

Ships

All four ships were built by Crichton Yard, Saint Petersburg, served in the Baltic Fleet and were scuttled in Reval in February 1918 to prevent capture by the Germans.

Ship	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Kaiman	1905[1][2][3]	November 1907	1911	Scuttled 25 February 1918 at Reval
Alligator		1908
Krokodil
Drakon		27 June 1908

Notes

1. It was also sometimes called the Alligator class or the Lake type.

References

1. Климовский С. Д. Подводные лодки типа «Кайман» // Судостроение. — Л., 1990. — Вып. 8. — С. 64—68.
2. Тарас А. Е. Подводные лодки Великой войны 1914—1918. — Мн.: Харвест, 2003. — 336 с. — ISBN 985-13-0976-1.
3. deepstorm.ru // Тип «Кайман» (проект С. Лэка, США)

Bibliography

• Polmar, Norman & Noot, Jurrien (1991). Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718–1990. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-570-1.
• Stevenson, Dr. Gene C. (1990). "Russian 'Lake' Type Submarines and the Baltic War 1914–1916". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Warship 1990. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-903-4.
• Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.