NMS Marsuinul
| History | |
|---|---|
 Romania | |
| Name | Marsuinul |
| Builder | Galați shipyard, Romania |
| Laid down | 1938 |
| Launched | 1941 |
| Completed | 1942 |
| Out of service | 1944 |
| Fate | Captured by the Soviet Union |
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | TS-2 |
| Commissioned | 1944 |
| Out of service | 1945 |
| Fate | Sunk by internal explosion |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 68.7 m (225 ft 5 in) |
| Beam | 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in) |
| Speed |
|
| Range | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) |
| Complement | 45 |
| Armament | |
NMS Marsuinul (The Porpoise) was a submarine of the Romanian Navy, one of the few warships built in Romania during the Second World War. She was laid down at the Galați shipyard in 1938, launched in 1941 and completed in 1942. She had a crew of 45, a displacement of 636 tons on surface and 860 tons in immersion, a length of 68.7 meters, a beam of 6.5 meters and a draught of 3.6 meters. Her top speed was of 16 knots on surface and 8 knots in immersion and had a range of 8,000 nautical miles. Her armament consisted of 1 x 88 mm SK C/35 naval gun in the front and 1 x 20 mm Oerlikon autocannon in the rear, as well as 6 x 533 mm torpedo tubes.[1][2][3]
Marsuinul carried out only one patrol mission, in May 1944, near the Soviet port of Batumi and near the Turkish coast. She was heavily pursued and hunted, by Soviet ships and also by German ships, who mistook her for a Soviet submarine. At one point, she was millimeters away from being hit by a torpedo. After a perilous journey, she reached Constanța at the end of the month with no damage and no casualties.[4] She was captured by Soviet forces after the 23 August 1944 coup and commissioned as TS-2 on 20 October. She was sunk at Poti on 20 February 1945 by an accidental explosion of one of her own torpedoes.[5]
Notes
- ^ W.M. Thornton, Submarine Insignia and Submarine Services of the World, p. 100
- ^ Frederick Thomas Jane, Jane's Fighting Ships, p. 234
- ^ Robert Gardiner, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, p. 361
- ^ Antony Preston, Warship 2001-2002, pp. 83-84
- ^ Mikhail Monakov, Jurgen Rohwer, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935-1953, pp. 266 and 274