Ronis-class submarine

scheme of Ronis class submarine
Class overview
Name:	Ronis
Operators:	Latvian Navy, Soviet Navy
Built:	1925–1926
In service:	1926–1941
Completed:	2
Lost:	2
General characteristics
Type:	diesel/electric-powered attack submarine
Displacement:	390 tons surfaced 514 tons submerged
Length:	55.0 m
Beam:	4.80 m
Draught:	3.60 m
Propulsion:	2 shafts, - Two Sulzer diesels, 1300 hp - 2 electric motors 700 hp
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h) surfaced 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged
Test depth:	160 feet
Complement:	27
Armament:	6 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2 bow, and 2 x twin external turnable) 1 × 75mm.Main deck gun 2 × 7.62 machine-guns

Ronis and Spidola in the port of Tallinn (1927)

The Ronis class submarines were built for the Latvian Navy in France in 1925. They were acquired by the Soviets in 1940 following the annexation of Latvia by the Soviet Union. They were scuttled in Liepāja in June 1941 as the Nazis were about to capture the port. The hulls were raised in 1942 and scrapped

Design

The boats were small coastal submarines built to a French design. Ronis means "seal" in the Latvian language, Spīdola is a character from the Latvian language poem Lāčplēsis

Ships

Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Ronis	AC de la Loire, Nantes	1925	1 July 1926	1927	Scuttled 24 June 1941
Spidola	AC Augustin Normand, Le Havre		6 October 1926		Scuttled 24 June 1941

References

• Conway's All the World's Fighting ships 1922–1946
• Vladimir Yakubov and Richard Worth, Raising the Red Banner -2008 Spellmount ISBN 978-1-86227-450-1
• page on Ronis in Russian Language
• page on Spidola in Russian Language