The ''AG-16'' was an AG-class submarine, designed by the American Holland Torpedo Boat Company/

Electric Boat Company Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

, built for the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The submarine was fabricated in Canada, shipped to Russia and reassembled for service with the Baltic Fleet. The boat was originally named ''AG-13'', but was redesignated ''AG-16'' after '' AG-15'' sank and later repaired in 1917. She was

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

by the Russians at

Hanko Hanko may refer to People *August Hanko (military personnel), August Hanko, German First World War flying ace Places *Hanko, Finland, town and municipality *Hanko Peninsula, Finland *Hankø, an island in the Oslo Fjord in Norway *The asteroid ...

in April 1918. Attempts were made by the Finns to salvage the vessel: the boat was raised in 1918 and transferred to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

for repair, but this proved too costly and she was scrapped in 1929.

Description

''AG-13'' was a single-hulled submarine, with a pressure hull divided into five watertight compartments. The submarine had a length of

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

, a beam of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . She displaced on the surface and submerged. The AG-class submarines had a diving depth of and a crew of 30 officers and enlisted men. The submarine had two 3-bladed propellers, each of which was driven by a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

as well as a

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...

s. This arrangement gave ''AG-22'' a maximum speed of while surfaced and submerged. She had a range of at while on the surface and at while submerged.Polmar & Noot, p. 240 Her fuel capacity was of fuel oil. The AG-class submarines were equipped with four

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in the bow and carried eight torpedoes. For surface combat they had one

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...

Construction and service

In Russian service

The Holland 602 design was widely exported during World War I and the Imperial Russian Navy ordered a total of 17, in three batches, of a version known as the ''American Holland''-class (AG in Russian for ''Amerikansky Golland'' (American Holland)). The submarines were to be built in Canada as

knock-down kit A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...

s for assembly in Russia. Components for the first batch of five submarines were assembled in Barnet, near

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

, Canada, and shipped to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. There they were loaded onto the

Trans-Siberian Railroad The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...

and transported to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

where they were assembled by the Baltic Works by June 1916. ''AG-13'' was redesignated ''AG-16'' in 1917. During World War I Russian and British submarines operated from bases in Finland. The Russian submarines of ''Holland'' type (''AG-11'', ''AG-12'', ''AG-15'' and ''AG-16'') were scuttled in the harbor of

on 3 April 1918 just prior to the German landing there.Polmar & Noot, pp. 239–40

In Finnish hands

''AG-12'' and ''AG-16'' seemed to be in relatively good shape and the Finns decided to salvage them. ''AG-16'' was transferred to Helsinki and the Finns asked both Germany and Electric Boat for estimates on the cost of repairs. The latter was so costly so only the German alternative remained. German experts evaluated ''AG-16'', but the Finnish government never provided funds for the repairing of the submarine. The repairs would be costly and no shipyard were prepared to guarantee the results. The submarine was stored on dry land until 1929 when the Finnish government finally agreed on the new Fleet program, which also included new submarines. ''AG-16'' was then scrapped.

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Building Submarines for Russia in Burrard Inlet'' by W.Kaye Lamb published in ''BC Studies'' No.71 Autumn, 1986 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:AG-16 American Holland-class submarines Ships built in Canada Ships built in Russia 1916 ships World War I submarines of Russia Submarines of the Finnish Navy Maritime incidents in 1918 Scuttled vessels Shipwrecks of Finland Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Finland World War I shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea