In 1919 L55 was sunk in the
Baltic Sea by
Bolshevik vessels while serving as part of the
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The submarine was raised in 1928 and repaired by the Soviets. After being used for training, she finally was scrapped in the 1950s.
British service
HMS L55 was based at
Tallinn,
Estonia as part of the
Baltic Battle Squadron, which was supporting the
Baltic states fighting for independence. On 9 June 1919 in
Caporsky Bay in the
Gulf of FinlandL55 attacked two 1,260-ton Bolshevik
Orfey-classminelayer-
destroyers,
Gavriil and
Azard. HMS L55 missed her targets and was forced into a British-laid minefield.[1] Soviet sources stated Azard sank her by gunfire.[2] If she was sunk by gunfire, L55 was the only British submarine sunk by hostile Soviet vessels.[3]
Salvage
The wreck was found by Soviet minesweepers in 1927. The Soviets raised her on 11 August 1928. As the Soviets refused to allow any British warship into their waters, the remains of the crew members were returned on the British merchantman Truro before transfer to
HMS Champion.[4] The crew, 42 officers and men, were buried in a communal grave at the
Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery in
Portsmouth on 7 September 1928.[5][6]
Soviet service
The boat was rebuilt by Baltic Works, Leningrad, the reconstruction cost of 1 million roubles being financed by a public fund as "an answer to
Chamberlain". She was recommissioned as a Soviet submarine with the same number (Л-55) on 7 August 1931. She was later named Bezbozhnik ("Atheist") and was used as the basis of design for the
Soviet L-class submarines. L55 was used for training until the beginning of
World War II, when she was damaged in an accident in early 1941. She was scrapped in 1953 or possibly 1960.
Notes
^Kettle, Michael (1992). Russia and the Allies, 1917–1920. Routledge. p. 469.
ISBN0-415-08286-2.
Budzbon, Przemysław & Radziemski, Jan (2020). "The Beginnings of Soviet Naval Power". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford, UK: Osprey. pp. 82–101.
ISBN978-1-4728-4071-4.