Attempts to build a ship capable of going under water began in Russia long before the 20th century, even under Peter I. But the first submarine to become part of the Russian Navy is officially considered the destroyer Dolphin, built in 1901 in St. Petersburg … Its authors are engineers and mechanics Ivan Bubnov, Ivan Goryunov and Mikhail Beklemishev.
Da Vinci drawing
Historians claim that the initiator of the idea of building a submarine ship is the famous Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci. However, he never brought his promising project to completion. Moreover, da Vinci generally destroyed all shipbuilding drawings and drawings, fearing the consequences of the participation of such a boat in a possible submarine war.
It is difficult to say how the next invention of the great Leonardo could be called. But on the other hand, thanks again to historians, it is known for sure that the submarine number 1 of the Russian Navy had three names at once. The first of them was the fruit of the joint efforts of Russian engineers Ivan Bubnov, Ivan Goryunov and Mikhail Beklemishev in July 1901, on the eve of the start of construction of a submarine at a shipyard in St. Petersburg.
The official commissioning of the submarine, originally named Torpedo Boat No. 113, took place in March 1902. One of the creators, captain of the first rank and future general Mikhail Beklemishev, was appointed the commander of the boat. After that, the destroyer, as the submarines were then called, was enlisted in the lists of the Russian navy at number 150. And on May 31, 1904, the first Russian submarine began to be called the Dolphin.
Dolphin is almost invisible
The fate of the debut Russian submarine with internal combustion engines cannot be called happy. Already on June 8, 1903, during the initial sea trials, the Dolphin, together with chief designer Ivan Bubnov on board, almost lay down on the bottom of the Neva. And a little more than a year later, on June 16, 1904, the panic of the crew caused not only a new unplanned sinking of the ship, but also the death of a third of its sailors.
The destroyer's participation in the Russo-Japanese War turned out to be almost formal, limited to 17 days at sea and participation in combat patrols. Nevertheless, there were also casualties: one of the sailors died during an accidental explosion. More tragic was the Dolphin's short stay in Murmansk. Another gross mistake by the crew led to the fact that on April 26, 1917, the boat sank right in the home port, after which it was permanently excluded from the lists of the Navy.
And already under Soviet power, in 1920, it was not only completely written off, but also sent for scrap. By the way, a year earlier Ivan Bubnov himself died of typhus in Petrograd. In addition to the Dolphin, this outstanding Russian shipbuilder, mechanic and mathematician managed to design another three dozen similar submarines. Including "Shark", "Bars", "Kasatka", "Lamprey", "Walrus" and others.
Hidden ship
"Dolphin" Major General of the Corps of Naval Engineers Bubnov, tragically killed in the Barents Sea, became the first submarine in "shoulder straps". But it is not the first project of this kind in the more than 300-year history of the Russian fleet. The "pioneer" here is the Russian peasant Efim Nikonov. In 1721, not far from Sestroretsk, he presented to the court of Peter I, who understood a lot about the courts, his invention called "The Hidden Ship".
Unfortunately, Yefim Nikonov did not manage to finish the submarine because of the sudden death of the tsar. Other predecessors of the brilliant designer Ivan Bubnov can be considered two Russian engineers who lived in the 19th century - Karl Schilder and Ivan Alexandrovsky. Their submarines were built and tested, respectively, as early as 1834 and 1866. But they never made it to the tsarist navy.
