Volkoff, salvage ship.

[BALTICSUBS]

Hi All,

does anyone have any information ot photos of the Russian salvage ship Volkoff, or Volkov, which was in service from WW1 and up to the 1970's i was led to believe.

A strange looking vessell indeed.

Cheers BD.

[Tiornu]

What sort of info are you looking for?

[Krieg1981]

http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=625116
http://warfare.ru/?catid=302&linkid=2159

[BALTICSUBS]

Hi Krieg1981,

that is a brilliant photo of her. Thankyou. Looks like it was taken recently.

Tiornu, any info around her time in Reval, (Tallin), during WW1. Plus her completion/commission dates size and so on. I was reading the diary of a British rating in Reval during WW1 and he has drawn a diagram of her twin hulls and how they raised the H Class submarine AG15? from memory i think it was.

Wouls love to see any WW1 photos of her as my great grandfather would have also seen her during this time.

When was she scrapped?

Cheers DB.

[Krieg1981]

Balticsubs,

I believe she is still in commission as a support vessel for small(midget) submarines. This pic has a caption that explains its current disposition! Considering the pic was taken less than a year ago, I'd say she's still alive and kicking. :p
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=640545

[Tiornu]

The ship was laid down at Putilov Yard in 1912, launched 17 Nov 13 (or 30 Nov, depending on your calendar), and commissioned 14 Jul 15. Two additional units were planned for the other fleets, but the oncoming war cut the program short.
The design derived from the concpet of the German Vulkan, launched in 1907. Vulkan was also a catamaran, but not quite as striking in appearance.
Volkhov's lifting gear was 42m long with a capacity of 1000 tons. This allowed a lifting of 1000 tons from 60m depth in two hours. She was able to recover AG.15 and Edinorog, both in 1917.
Displacement: 2400 tons normal
Dimensions: 96.2 oa x 20.4 x 3.7m
Machinery: two-shaft diesels, 1200 bhp = 10 knots
Bunkerage: 82 tons, 1700nm at 6 knots
She carried no armament. Each hull had a maximum breadth of 6.6m.
Renamed Kommuna on 31 Dec 22, she didn't experience many changes in her long career. She was overhauled at De Schelde 1950-51, and went on to serve in the Black Sea into the 1980's at least. She lost her masts and gained a Neptune radar. Her fate is unknown (to me, at least).

[BALTICSUBS]

Hi Krieg1981,

when i first looked at the photos they are so clear that they do look recent. I wonder if she is still around. That is an incredible thought if true, near on 100 years.

Tiornu,

thanks for that bio on her, as mentioned above i was led to believe she was gone in the 1980, but maybe not. I have attached the diary note on her from a British submariner, not that clear, and a horrible photo of her in Reval 1916. She was also used there for the submarines to refuel and charge their batteries, as she is mentioned in a few diaries in this role.

She also moved to Hango in Finland in 1917 when the subs changed basr e to there mid year.Still yet to see any really good photos of her during WW1.

Cheers DB.

[Krieg1981]

My sources tell me she is still in service, stationed in Sevastopol as a member of the Black Sea Fleet. Still useful after all these years! :eek:

[BALTICSUBS]

Well i'm stunned at that, i was always told she went to the scrap heap in the 1980's, but in looking up the book i have, it just says remained in service until the 1980's.

Truley amazing really, a WW1 ship still in use, and not just a museum ship. She does not seem to have changed much, and i went on to read she raised the British submarine L55 sunk in the Baltic in 1919.

I wonder what her future will be.

Cheers DB.

[mik43]

Good pix Kreig1981. Obviously built in the days when things were supposed to last, so it is really great that she is still around and in service. Magic!!
Mik

[BALTICSUBS]

Hi All,

i kindly received this photo of a model of the Volkhov, it is in the Estonian Maritime Museum who were also suprised to learn the Volkhov was still in commission. Volkhov of course was a big part of Revel, (modern day Tallinn), as she was based there during WWI.

Cheers DB.

[Antoine]

Hello!

The "Volkhov" was commissioned July 14, 1915 as it was said and was attached to the Submarine Division base at Reval as a depot vessel. June 13-15, 1917 she raised the sunken submarine AG15 and September 23-25 -- the grounded submarine "Edinorog". In February 1918 she came to Helsingfors where was interned by German in April. In May of the same year she was returned to Soviet and used for repairing of some submarines to be re-commissioned for actions. December 31, 1922 she was renamed the "Kommuna" (it was also said). Before the war the vessel raised the patrol vessel "Kobchik" (August 1923), the British submarine L55 (August 11, 1928), the mine-laying submarine "Rabochy", ex-"Yorsh" (July 11-13, 1933), the submarine B3, ex-"Rys" (August 2,1935) etc.
Some photos:
1 - the launching of the "Volkhov";
2 - the submarines "Peskar", "Alligator" and two of the "Bars" class aboard the "Volkhov";
3 - the "Kommuna", 1935.

P. S. The Volkhov is the river connecting the Ilmen and the Ladoga lakes.

[Commodore Armiger]

Antoine:

Volkoff interned by Germans in Helsingfors (Helsinki) in 1918? That would be something of a mystery. Finland was in the process of freeing itself from Russia, and at the same time indulging in civil strife between Reds (sporadically supported by the Soviet Russians) and Whites (supported by Germany - until its defeat). The Reds had control of Helsinki in February 1918, so if Volkoff arrived there she would have been under the guns of Finns not Germans. To be interned, she would have had to have the status of the vessel of a foreign belligerent. But Soviet Russia was not at war with the Red Finns.

Second mystery: When did she leave Helsinki and why? She would of course have been something of a white elephant to the Red Finns, who, lacking any use for such a specialised vessel, were probably indifferent as to her fate. In the event, two German battleships forced the harbour entrance and German land forces took Helsinki on 13 April, so either she slipped away before that date, or the Germans took control of her on their arrival. By April, it must be recalled, Imperial Germany and Bolshevik Russia had signed a peace treaty, in the spirit of which the Germans would not have interned Volkoff but have had to let her sail away (though their Admirals probably ground their teeth at the thought of losing such a valuable asset!).

Another mystery: Why did Volkoff go to Helsinki anyway? If she was under the control of a revolutionary crew, which seems more than likely, what was their aim in sending such an unusual vessel to a port in a region of political turmoil even greater than in Petrograd and Kronstadt? Was there an operational reason - a submarine in trouble? Her crew can hardly have been trying to escape from the Soviets, otherwise they would have headed for either a Finnish port under control of the Whites, the Åland islands (then under control of a Swedish expeditionary force), or Sweden itself.

[BALTICSUBS]

Hi Antoine,

great photos, i'm truley amazed at the response from this thread. From my notes i can see that due to unrest in Reval the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic moved to Helsinki in May 1917, and here they found live a lot less removed from the revoultion scene in Reval, with the C Class going to Hanko. Volkhov did go with them, see the attachment i put on this thread from the diary of the British submariner. I also have a photo on the Russian Icebreaker Sampo, which was used to bring the British submarines back through the ice, and she is escorting the German battleships during the invasion of Finland. The Russians had given her over to the Fins earlier, so who knows what was going on in this confusing period.

I also have a report of the British submarine depot ship HMS Alecto which visited Helsinki in 1929, and the topic was about the condition of a raised submarine they were trying to get servicable again, think it was a H Class boat from memory. They also reported on the Fins raising all the torpedos scuttled by the British in April 1918, and the stern of one of the C Class subs scuttled in 1918.

On this note, has anyone ever seen, or have, photos of E1, E8, E9, E19, C26, C27, & C35 being raised in the 1950's, as you'll find comments written about them being raised by a German company, but i have never seen concrete evidence of this, (the Nat Archives in England has some correspondance listed with the German company but it is still not clear as to what they raised), would have been a great job for Volkhov.

Where was Volkhov in WW2?

Cheers DB.

[Antoine]

Hello, Armiger!

No mystery indeed. In February 1918 ships of the Baltic Fleet left Reval because of threat to be captured by German forces and came to Helsingfors. In April 1918 according the German ultimatum the Fleet passed from Helsingfors to Kronshtadt (the so-called "icy cruise"). But the ships remained at Helsingfors (because of the lack of crew) had to be disarmed and to raise special flags. They were under the German control until May when their were returned according the agreement between German and Soviet.

[BALTICSUBS]

Volkhov raising the British submarine L55.

[mik43]

That last pic Baltic is really spooky.
Mik

[BALTICSUBS]

Yes Spooky, and also horrible when she would have been opened up. If you have seen any WW1 era vessels in the Baltic as they are now, they are incredible. I have seen internal photos of the S.M.S. Prinz Adabert, so when L55 would have been raised items such as uniforms and the crews bones would still be intact. I have even seen rolled up newspapers still intact and wooden furniture and so on, and that is the Baltic for you.

DB.

[Glasisch]

Hello,
here a picture of "L 55" and "Kommuna" ex- Volkhov"
Regards
Mischa
http://thumbnails16.imagebam.com/7281/efcf6f72806133.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/efcf6f72806133)
Free Image Hosting by ImageBam.com (http://www.imagebam.com)

[davep]

thanks for the interesting post and pictures

[tassie48]

Great post and photos wow a WW1 ship still operational would make a great r/c model well done good to learn history like this tassie48.

[BALTICSUBS]

Hope they give her a good 100 year birthday party in a few years time!

Have a look at the HMAS AE2 thread, maybe as part of their decision making re what to do with this sunken Australian submarine they could have used this WW1 ship to raise this WW1 SUB.

[r.morrison]

Apparently she is still in service with the Black Sea Fleet at SEVASTOPOL. I replied to anther thread concerning pre war ships having served in WW2 and I mentionned the KOMMUNA. This one has not only seen WW1, WW2 and at least two major revolutions in its' long carreer.

"97 and still spry............"