Russian submarine Bars

Russian submarine Bars ("Leopard"[1]) was a warship, the lead submarine of her class, built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the First World War. She was active in the Baltic and was lost there in 1917.

Russian submarine Bars
History
Russian Empire
Name: Bars
Namesake: Leopard[1]
Launched: 2 June 1915
Commissioned: 12 July 1915
Fate: Lost May 1917; cause undetermined *
General characteristics [2]
Class and type: Bars class submarine
Displacement:
  • 650 tons surfaced
  • 780 tons submerged
Length: 223 ft (68.0 m)
Beam: 15 ft (4.57 m)
Draft: 13 ft (3.96 m)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 18 knots (33 km/h) surfaced
  • 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged
Range: 400 nmi (740 km)
Complement: 33
Armament:

Design

Bars was ordered under the 1913 Programme for the Baltic Fleet, and was laid down at the Baltic shipyard in St. Petersburg. She was powered by diesel/electric propulsion, though a shortage of diesel engines meant the boats were equipped with a variety of machinery, as it became available. Armament, too, varied as to availability; Bars was armed with 2 x 63mm guns, as opposed to the single 63mm and single 37mm gun she was designed for.[2]

The design originally had external torpedoes as well as internal torpedo tubes; these were carried in drop-collars in recessed niches low in the hull. Trials with Bars showed these to be unsuitable and subsequent vessels had the niches and drop-collars moved to the upper deck; Bars was later refitted to this pattern, before their ultimate complete removal.[2]

Bars was launched on 2 June 1915 and entered service the following month.[2]

Service history

Bars entered service with the Baltic Fleet on 12 July 1915. She undertook numerous war patrols in the Baltic, targeting German warships during the 1915 ice-free season, but with little success.[3]

In 1916 she was employed attacking German iron-ore shipments along the Swedish coast, though again with little success, due to the restrictions imposed by Swedish neutrality.[4]

Fate

On May 1917 Bars left port on her last patrol, and did not return. It is suggested by some that she was sunk in a depth-charge attack by German patrol boats on 28 May 1917,[2] though other sources suggest she was lost in a minefield off Norrköping.[5] The actual cause of her loss is unknown.

Notes
  1. Bars is a Russian word for the leopard (panthera pardus), derived from the Turkish Pars
  2. Conway p316
  3. Halpern p202
  4. Halpern p205
  5. Bars at deepstorm.ru (Russian)

References
  • Gardiner R, Gray R (1985) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 ISBN 085177 245 5
  • Halpern, Paul (1994) A Naval History of World War I US Naval Institute ISBN 1-85728-498-4
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