Type: submarine

Series: navy

Country: Russia, 1904

Scale 1:50

Number of sheets: 9 x A4

 

During the Russian-Japanese war, the urgent need for Russia to strengthen the Russian fleet in the Far East became clear. Russia has ordered 18 submarines from Germany. On May 24, 1904, a contract was signed with the Krupp firm for the construction of 3 submarines and for the purchase of 75 Schwarzkopf torpedoes. On August 21, by secret order No. 173, the boat was included in the list of the Russian Imperial Navy as the destroyer Trout. The Trout turned out to be a valuable acquisition at that time: it was the only combat-ready boat ready for immediate dispatch to the Far East - the small size of the boat made it possible not to disassemble the Trout, but to transport it entirely on a regular cargo platform. Since Port Arthur was already blocked by that time, the "German gift" and all the other submarines had to be sent to Vladivostok. On August 25, the boat was loaded onto a railway platform (along with batteries and torpedo tubes, but for some reason without a single torpedo) and attached to a military echelon (the crew was traveling by the same train). There were no special incidents on the way, and on September 25 the cargo arrived in Vladivostok. On October 2, she made her first voyage - so far only along the Vladivostok Bay. From that day on, the Trout, the first submarine in the Far East, was constantly on alert in case of a blockade of Vladivostok by the Japanese fleet. Sailing along the Golden Horn Bay continued until the beginning of November, and then the boat was raised ashore. The spring of 1905 was early, the bay was cleared of ice, and the submarine began to cruise along the bay, and at the end of March torpedoes were finally delivered to Vladivostok. From that moment on, submarines were no longer just a virtual threat. May 23, 1911 "Trout" was mothballed and deposited in the port, and on May 31 was excluded from the lists of the Siberian Flotilla.