''Delfinul'' ('The dolphin') is a of the

Romanian Naval Forces The Romanian Naval Forces () is the principal naval branch of the Romanian Armed Forces and operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860. History The Romanian Navy was founded in 1860 as a river flotilla on ...

. It was commissioned in August 1985 and is currently the only

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n submarine in service. Due to a lack of funding the submarine has been inactive since 1995; it is kept in reserve docked in the military sector of the

Port of Constanța The Port of Constanța is located in Constanța, Romania, on the western coast of the Black Sea, from the Bosphorus Strait and from the Sulina Branch, through which the Danube river flows into the sea. It covers , of which is land and the re ...

History

In the early 1980s, the

expressed the need for a submarine to train the anti-submarine vessels of the fleet. The Chinese government made an offer for six Type 33 submarines, two built in China (one with Romanian workers) and four in Romania. However, the Type 33 was an obsolete design and the Romanian government decided to purchase Soviet equipment. A was acquired in 1984 for $61.5 million from USSR. The submarine was built by Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112 in

Gorki Gorki may refer to: *Maxim Gorki (1868–1936), Russian author * Gorki Águila (b. 1968), Cuban rock musician *Gorki (band) Gorki was a Belgian rock group, in its most recent line-up consisting of Luc De Vos (lead singer and guitarist), L ...

. The Romanian crew of the submarine was trained in the USSR. The submarine, christened ''Delfinul'', was delivered in 1985. Another two Kilo-class submarines were planned for purchase, but due to financial reasons, the orders were cancelled.

Service

The submarine successfully accomplished 67 missions, with 2,000 hours of immersion.''Almanahul Forțelor Navale 2007'', p. 86 During these missions, ''Delfinul'' launched 23

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es and 2

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

s. In 1996, the submarine exhausted the resources of the initial batteries and is kept in reserve since then. After 2001, the submarine was transferred to the "Mircea cel Bătrân" Naval Academy, being used as a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

. Numerous overhauling plans have been proposed since 1996, yet none were implemented.

Notes

References

* ***, ''Almanahul Forțelor Navale 2007'', Statul Major al Forțelor Navale, Editura CTEA, București, 2006, Submarines of the Romanian Naval Forces Attack submarines Romania–Soviet Union relations Kilo-class submarines 1985 ships Ships built in the Soviet Union {{submarine-stub

History

Service

See also

Notes

References