The ''Kalev'' class consisted of two mine laying

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s built for the

Estonian Navy The Estonian Navy () are the unified naval forces among the Estonian Defence Forces. With only six commissioned ships and displacement well under 10,000 tonnes, the Estonian navy is one of the smallest navies in the world. Its ship prefix is EM ...

Development history

The newly independent

Republic of Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

followed the

Finnish naval armament program Crichton-Vulcan is an abandoned shipyard in Turku, Finland, that once formed the cornerstone of the Finnish shipbuilding industry. The shipyard is best known for the World War II coastal defence ships and submarines it produced. Shipbuild ...

and the common top secret defence cooperation in acquiring submarines. Unlike the German-designed Finnish subs, Estonia opted for British-built submarines. Both boats of the class, and , were built by

Vickers-Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.Allied Warships - Kalev class
/ref>

Service history

The two subs were ordered in 1934 and delivered in 1937. After the Soviet annexation of Estonia in 1940 the Estonian Navy was integrated into the Soviet

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

. The ''Kalev''-class submarines were commissioned into the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

on September 18, 1940. ''Kalev'' was sunk outside Hanko, Finland in 1941, but ''Lembit'' continued a successful campaign against Swedish iron ore transports to Germany. ''Lembit'' was decommissioned in 1979. She is now preserved as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

at the Estonian Maritime Museum Lennusadam (Seaplane harbour/Hydroplane port),

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

As a museum exhibit

References

External links

Submarine ''Lembit''
- Estonian Maritime Museum
Kalev-class submarine (Kalev or Lembit)

The Vickers Photographic Archive
(search for ''Kalev'')
Lembit Submarine - Tallinn

{{WWII Soviet ships Submarine classes Military history of Estonia

Development history

Service history

As a museum exhibit

See also

References

External links