Nordenfelt IV

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Nordenfelt IV
Construction plan of the Nordenfelt IV
Construction plan of the Nordenfelt IV
Ship data
flag Russian Empire 1883Russian Empire Russia
Ship type Submarine
Shipyard Barrow Shipbuilding Company , Barrow-in-Furness , England
Launch March 1887
Whereabouts Canceled in 1888
Ship dimensions and crew
length
38.1 m ( Lüa )
width 3.65 m
displacement surfaced: 160 t
submerged: 245 t
 
crew 9
Machine system
machine 2 × quadruple expansion machine with double steam expansion
Machine
performance 		1,200 hp (883 kW)
Top
speed 		15 kn (28 km / h)
propeller 1
Mission data submarine
Radius of action 1000 nm
Immersion depth, max. 30 m
Armament

Nordenfelt IV was the first submarine orderedby the Russian Empire , but it was never taken over. It was the lastsubmarinedesignedby the English engineer George William Garrett and built by the Swedish industrialist Thorsten Nordenfelt .

Since the Ottoman Navy already had a submarine with the Nordenfelt II and the construction of the second, the Nordenfelt III , was still pending, Russia also ordered a submarine from Nordenfelt. With a length of 38.10 m, it was 8 m longer than the Ottoman ships. Two quadruple expansion machines with double steam expansion with a total of 1200 hp served as the drive . The steam was generated in two boilers. Since no steam could be generated in the submerged state, there were two steam storage containers in which steam could be stored. The two chimneys could be folded down for underwater travel.

In order to stabilize the position of the boat in the water, in contrast to the previous submarines, the ballast tanks were divided into nine chambers. Two Nordenfelt mitrailleuses and two Schwartzkopff torpedoes were carried as armament . The submarine should reach a speed of 15  knots and be able to dive to a depth of 30 m. With the coal reserve of eight tons, it should have a range of around 1000 nm . The Nordenfelt IV had two towers with glass hatches for the journey in a half-submerged state . They were armored against machine gun fire.

The Nordenfelt IV was launched in March 1887. The trimming of the submarine was incorrectly calculated and so the stern was about 1.40 m lower in the water than the bow. This was compensated for by ballast in the bow, which made the boat lower in the water and therefore slower. The first tests were carried out near Southampton . Then the ship was transferred to Russia. At low tide near Jutland you ran into a sandbank and the ship was damaged. Russia refused to accept and pay. This was a great loss for Thorsten Nordenfelt. The Nordenfelt IV was scrapped and the submarine program was discontinued.

  • Schwartzkopff torpedo with which the Nordenfelt IV was equipped

literature

  • Dudszus, Alfred: The big book of ship types , Augsburg 1995, pp. 212-213
  • Richard Compton-Hall: The Submarine Pioneers: The Beginnings of Underwater Warfare , 2004, ISBN 1904381197 , pp. 68-71

Web links

Commons : Nordenfelt IV  - Collection of images, videos and audio files