The Kommuna - Russia’s Bizarre 110 Year Old Warship

when ranking the oldest commissioned naval ships still in existence many are drawn to the famous uss constitution originally launched in 1797 or the hms victory launched in 1765. the victory however has been out of the water for many decades now and while the constitution is in fact the oldest ship of any type still afloat like the victory her career as an active ship in the navy has long since passed there is one ship however now over 100 years since its launch that is still an active and operating ship within the russian navy officially commissioned for service in 1915 the russian salvage ship kamuna was a revolutionary submarine tender and salvage ship and has over her long life had the unique distinction of serving with the russian imperial then soviet and finally russian federation navy in the years following her launch the kamuna served as a mothership and rescue vessel for the then new and experimental submarines of the russian imperial navy after the tumultuous russian revolution she went on to serve as a crucial base amid the desperate siege and defense of leningrad during the second world war as the size of the submarine she was originally built to serve i grew her she was eventually redeveloped into a research and deep sea rescue vessel during the cold war amazingly to this day she is still equipped in operating within the russian navy's black sea fleet as recently as 2022 over a century since her launch she has been reportedly involved in operations around the russian invasion of ukraine specifically for the search and possible salvage operations for the russian flagship moskva which was sunk by ukrainian cruise missiles on the 14th of april 2022. many of the facts around the attack on the moskva are still emerging including how and where the kamuna may be involved in early may 2022 the kamuna had seemingly moved from her normal birth in sevestopol and being one of the russian navy's best equipped deep sea rescue and salvage ships in the black sea means its involvement in any salvage operations is highly likely as the story of both the moskva and the kumuna's possible role develop the importance of determining facts and rooting out misinformation is also more important than ever and i'm proud to say that today's sponsor ground news is the perfect resource for both ground news is the world's first news comparison platform it's a free app that delivers breaking news on stories that you're interested in but more importantly it allows you to explore and compare the sources of those news reports as well as their potential biases social media feeds manipulative algorithms the news bubbles that we often become trapped in makes it harder to consume a diverse variety of news sources with ground news topics are summarized and then broken down into the different sources covering the story but also the potential biases and political leanings of those sources i've been using ground use premium for a couple of months now and it's actually how i was first alerted to the community's possible involvement with the moskva i can sort by sources deemed most factual those with the most detail or simply reports recommended to me based on my interests it's a really great way to explore stories and get behind headlines to find what's been emphasized what's been exaggerated or what's been left out entirely so use the link ground dot news calum to try ground news for free or subscribe like i have to get access to all the features you see here and to support a small independent team working to make the news in today's world a bit more transparent so what is the true story and the real history of the incredible unique kamuna why and how is it still in service after all these years and are lost secrets of her construction process the real reason for her long life by the turn of the 19th century the russian imperial navy had been much like other naval powers of the time experimenting with emerging submarine technology and their potential naval applications as the technological arms race and rapid expansion of submarine fleets accelerated throughout the world so too did mistakes malfunctions and sinkings in 1907 the german imperial navy commissioned the sms vulcan a specially designed submarine recovery vessel that could be used for the rescue recovery and maintenance of their submarine fleets the design consisted of two catamaran hulls and a crane deck capable of lifting 500 tons fitted above the space between both hulls submarines could dock or be lifted from the seabed into the space between her two hulls for maintenance or recovery the vulcan took part in at least three salvage operations and seeing the successes and potential of such a ship the russian imperial navy decided to commission an enlarged version of this catamaran-based design that could be utilized for both rescue and recovery while also acting as a floating submarine base for maintenance resupply and coordination of submarine fleet activities the construction of this ship which would originally be named the volkov would require the combination of innovative design along with the most cutting-edge technology of the day much like the vulcan the design would consist of two hulls each 87 meters long and connected at the bow and stern giving the ship a total length of 97 meters sitting astride the twin hulls would be four tall steel trusses that would act as cranes for lifting and recovery the overall draft would be 18.5 meters but between the hulls lay a space 70 meters long and 8.57 meters wide where submarines could be lifted into and out of the water the main features and function of the volkov would be its state-of-the-art lifting mechanisms to raise and recover submarines instead of just two lifting trusses like that found on the vulcan the volkov would utilize four placed evenly apart and joined along the top where the navigational bridge would also be located mounted on each truss would be the lifting joists linked with four winches each winch was powered by a 70 horsepower reversible dc electric motor and could together lift a submarine with a displacement of up to 800 tons from a depth of 55 meters at an average lifting speed of at least 0.5 of a meter per minute with a total lifting time of no more than 2 hours when a submarine was to be raised the hooks could be attached to the submarine hull by the cruise company of divers rescue pumps for supplying fresh air to stranded submarines could also be attached and powered by the ship's air compressors a load balancing system was also built into each of the four hooks to ensure the raising of the submarine was even and as the boat was lifted into the well deck between the volks two hulls a series of twelve swivel beams with pine keel blocks could be swung out and under the submarine to support it allowing it to rest out of the water much like a floating dry dock because the volkov would act as a floating base and resupply ship it would also be designed with the escorting maintenance and resupply of submarine fleets in mind along with a large complement of motor launches yawls and diving boats the ship itself included a full radio room with a two kilowatt transmitter for communication and coordination as well as workshops with lathes drills planing machines compressed air and other equipment for submarine repairs painting and upkeep for replenishment the ship would carry up to 10 tonnes of drinking water and provisions 20 tons of spare fuel 5 tons of distilled water 2.5 tonnes of oil and 2.5 tonnes of sulfuric acid as well as equipment for charging submarine batteries a complement of 20 whitehead torpedoes could also be carried on board to restock a submarine's armament the crew would consist of 11 officers 22 divers and 2 senior divers as well as 60 machinists and sailors along with a 30-bed infirmary the accommodation also included 50 extra berths intended so that an entire complement of an 800 tonne submarine could comfortably stay on board should they find their vessel under the volkov's care the original main engines would be two six-cylinder diesel engines with a combined output of 600 horsepower this could give the ship an estimated top speed of around 10.6 knots in a range of around 4 000 miles this was supplemented by two 80 horsepower auxiliary engines which were used to power the ship's facilities including a full electrical and lighting system finally a low pressure steam boiler was employed to supply heat to the crew quarters and also power the onboard desalination plant on may 5th 1912 a one and a half million ruble contract for the construction of order number three five five nine soon to be named the volkov was signed with the pulitov shipyard and petrograd nice and petersburg it was a difficult and challenging build process however and the plans for the ship's systems crew quarters and machinery went through numerous design changes the number of crew required rose from 99 to 130 and by april 1913 various aspects of the ship had to be completely redesigned the original delivery timetable was also thrown off by the delays and manufacture of the more highly specialized pieces of equipment the contract stipulated that all components and mechanisms must be russian made and only those items and materials that could not be possibly manufactured in russia could be purchased from abroad records from the time indicate that items such as the high-strength lifting cables as well as the motor launches and diving boats proved difficult to be both constructed in the country and sourced elsewhere eventually however the completed hull of the volkov was successfully launched on november 17 1913 by the grand duchess maria daughter of nicholas ii who has rumored himself to be in attendance at the launch despite now being afloat yet more issues plagued the volkov's build a fire at the shipyard destroyed many of the portholes due to be installed delaying the fitting out process worse still in april 1914 strong winds caused her to break loose from her moorings and drift away running into an embankment and remaining stranded there for several days until she could be dislodged the volkov's overall readiness was listed at 74 on october 1st 1914 and by the end of the year the mass had been assembled crew quarters fitted out and the radio and navigation equipment had been installed however by now what had started with the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand had blossomed into the beginnings of a massive and increasingly catastrophic european conflict russia's various factories and shipyards were now overrun with orders for war material and it would be june of 1915 before the ship would finally see trials despite everything however the volkov performed well achieving a cruising speed of 10 knots and demonstrating her lifting ability to the commissioning officers finally on july 1 1915 over three years since work first began act number 24 on the acceptance to the treasury of the rescue vessel volkov was signed officially ushering her into service based out of the port of revel on the baltic coast by the time the volkov had entered service submarines had already become an increasingly important part of naval warfare and the technology behind them was developing at a rapid rate as a result the volkov would play an important role in keeping the new fleets of allied submarines in the baltic sea in operation the volkov's crew soon found themselves repairing and fixing both russian and also british submarines operating in the baltic acting as a base for the replenishment of fuel water and food supplies the charging of batteries as well as restocking torpedoes and other essential repairs most submarines of this period had evolved from designs based on the u.s plunger-class submarine and the russians saw class submarines as well as the british c and e-class which all shared similar designs and dimensions could be easily hauled out of the water by the volkov for maintenance negating the need for a dry dog submarine crews could also make use of the extensive facilities on board to rest as work took place despite the delays and complications in their construction the volkov had proved to be a powerful asset to the increasingly valuable submarine fleets of the russian imperial navy as the war raged on however growing discontent was brewing in russia massive casualty rates suffered along the eastern front were leading to a crisis of morale desertions grew amid increasing military defeats and the huge weight of the conflict was starting to create increasing strain in the russian economy strikes and demonstrations eventually blossomed into open revolt by november of 1917 still embroiled in a war with germany russia was now descending into the depths of a bitter and deadly civil war the baltic fleet of which the volkov was part was thrown into chaos as sailors and crews rose up commanders and officers were removed from their posts and committees were established to take command of the ships and bases it was popular at this time for ships to gain new names inspired by the revolutionary atmosphere the volkov in fact was briefly renamed the revolution in march 1917 but it seems the rebranding was ultimately unsuccessful it was amid this confusion and disorder however that the volkov took part in her first rescue of the submarine ag-15 which had sunk on the 3rd of june 1917 at a depth of 27 meters while taking part in a training exercise as the submarine had sank flooding the rear compartments and drowning many of the crew the remaining men were able to fire off a naval mine with a desperate message attached as a node there are 11 of us in the bow bow aground urgently raise us the water is coming at 23 o'clock and eight minutes five sailors and an officer were able to escape during the sinking and rescue boats arriving at the scene managed to initially secure the submarine and attempted to raise her nose but ultimately failed recognising that the crew who remained inside the flooded boat had by now drowned it was decided to wait for the volkov to arrive before any further salvage could take place despite days of punishing high winds and rough weather her crew of divers were able to eventually secure harnesses to the submarine's hull and finally on the 16th of june ag-15 was slowly pulled out of the turbulent baltic waters and into the belly of the volkov a later inspection found that the boat's cook while attempting to aid out the galley had left a hatch open without notifying anyone causing the submarine to flood upon diving and leading to the death of 19 of the ship's crew to the russian submarine cruise the accident was a grim and familiar reminder of the dangers of their undersea work for the volkov it was a valuable demonstration of her unique abilities especially as her crew was able to even repair and return the ag-15 back into service despite these successes though the sheer disarray caused by the political upheaval and the growing revolution was wreaking havoc on ships and crews alike the structure and command of what was once the russian imperial navy had almost completely collapsed and were still the deteriorating situation the front lines had meant the german army was threatening to close in on revel itself putting the naval fleet base there at risk therefore in february 1918 orders were given to hastily evacuate all ships from revel and scuttle anything that couldn't escape the volkov set off with a number of naval vessels supply ships and icebreakers but heavy ice conditions forced the ships into helsinki where they were interred by finnish authorities during this time the majority of the crews fled and many of their higher ranking officers feeling purges or disciplinary action at home opted to stay behind in finland by the 15th of april only 13 of the original crew remained but an agreement had been reached to let the ships which included eight destroyers a mine layer transports and rescue vessels such as the volkov depart for the naval base of kronstadt where the beleaguered fleet finally reached relative safety on the 12th of may with the country descending into the chaos of a full-blown civil war what was left of the battered and under-supplied baltic fleet now clung on for life around cronstadt and petrograd despite having reached this new safe haven fuel and supplies were practically non-existent with the majority of ships being sent into long-term storage and their armament's requisition for river flotilla ships or armoured trains the chronic lack of supplies and maintenance plagued the fleet submarine's complement many of which had sustained severe damage due to collisions with winter ice that had gone unfixed the volkov crew however worked tirelessly to repair and maintain what they could of the dwindling submarine fleet despite a lack of essential components and spare parts fuel and the depletion of crew due to the sailors being drafted for frontline combat the volkov herself was in a terrible state having suffered a lack of crewing and maintenance as well as the rigors of conflict having left most of her equipment broken and unmaintained incredibly however the volkov and her crew managed to not only bring themselves through the crisis but were able to maintain and assist in the operation of the northern fleet's submarine component due to the allies attempts to intervene on behalf of the pro-monarchy white forces the bolshevik submarines of the baltic fleet were now engaging with the same british submarines and warships that they had fought alongside with only months before the chaos of the civil war would eventually end in the death of millions the downfall and execution of the russian royal family and a clear victory for the revolutionary bolshevik forces caught amid this revolutionary fever the volkov like many ships cities and places around the new soviet union would also change its name the volkov officially became the kamuna or commune on december 31st 1922 by order of the revolutionary military council of the soviet republic perhaps one of the most famous and notable actions of the newly raised kamuna following the civil war was the raising of the submarine hms l-55 l-55 was a british l-class submarine one of the newest and most advanced classes of submarines to arrive at the end of world war 1. she entered service in december 1918 after the end of hostilities but was quickly embroiled in the allied intervention in the russian civil war the royal navy had formed the baltic battle squadron which was attempting to assist white forces against the red army on the 9th of june 1919 l55 attacked two bolshevik offrey class mine layer destroyers she missed her targets and while sources differ on what happened next she was either engaged by the destroyers and damaged or found herself running into a british-laid minefield where her mind struck her navigational bridge and she sank with all hands at the end of 1926 the wreck of the l-55 was discovered by two soviet minesweepers soviet authorities were keen to learn about the l-class for their own submarine designs and therefore a year after his discovery the kamuna was tasked with the important mission to raise the british wreck from the sea floor the l-55 was found to be in relatively good condition but it would be the secrets of our design that would prove so valuable going on to form the basis of the successful l-class submarines that would see extensive service with the soviets in the second world war incredibly the original l-55 was also repaired and returned to service in the soviet navy and went on to serve as both a training and supply vessel until it was finally scrapped in 1960. the raising of the l55 and its eventual return to service was a huge propaganda coup for the soviet government and the kimuna making her and her crew quite famous for their daring and successful salvage of an enemy submarine however the constant seemingly random reassignment of men and frequent purges of officers and experienced sailors by soviet officials was also keeping the kamuna increasingly busy as accident rates collisions and sinkings among the fleet owing to inexperienced crews and commanders skyrocketed the kamuna dutifully continued her work however maintaining the fleet and assisting operations in the baltic sea during the first soviet finnish war however little did her crew know that an even larger conflict even more chaotic and destructive than the civil war was just on the horizon and it would be the kamuna's first of many close calls with destruction on september 1st 1939 nazi germany invaded poland marking the beginning of the second world war britain and france were quick to declare war in an effort to protect poland's independence but the soviet union having signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with germany that same year had agreed on their own plans for poland on the 17th of september the soviet union also invaded from the east overwhelming any final resistance and effectively splitting the country in half it would only be a couple of years however before this non-aggression pact would be broken as germany launched the single largest invasion in history operation barbarossa in which the axis forces invaded the western soviet union along an almost 3 000 kilometer border as vast encirclements and losses and the breakdown of defensive lines pushed the soviets back out of poland and now into their own territories soviet naval forces were faced with the possibility of being overrun in their home ports in much the same way they had been threatened during the civil war this time the kamuna along with almost 200 ships stationed in the port city of tulin made a desperate escape to try and avoid capture or destruction by the rapidly approaching german forces with a beleaguered fleet and convoy of merchant vessels and other ships eventually reaching the relative safety of what was once petrograd and now renamed leningrad on the land soviet forces had fought stubbornly to hold back the axis advance but soon found the front was rapidly closing in on leningrad itself finnish forces had also invaded from the north to retake their own borders lost during the first soviet finnish war further encircling the city on the 8th of september 1941 the vermax severed the last road in or out of leningrad leaving the soviet union's second largest city entirely cut off and surrounded for the kamuna's crew the defenders of the city and the civilians trapped inside they could scarcely imagine the horror and devastation that would face them over what would be a brutal 900-day siege and one that would see the greatest destruction and the largest loss of life ever known to a modern city more than 1.5 million people would die in leningrad over the course of our almost two and a half year siege with constant bombardments air raids and offenses targeting the city and surrounding soviet defensive lines for the naval fleet trapped in leningrad and the nearby island base of kronstadt minefields and naval blockades now trapped most of the surface fleet in harbor battleships such as the october revolution or the cruiser kirov could still provide valuable fire support to the leningrad front but much like the civil war many sailors and crews found themselves reassigned as frontline combatants submarines however could still brave the naval blockades and minefields to strike at shipping in the baltic sea as a result the kamuna would continue to provide an invaluable role as a floating base and repair ship for the soviets now greatly diminished naval presence in the baltic german forces were keen to target and destroy naval assets in leningrad and kronstadt and as a result ships found themselves under fire numerous times the kamuna was carefully disguised using a series of camouflage nets to cover her huge superstructure giving the appearance of a run-down barge from above and allowing submarines to carefully sneak into the covered dry dock between her hulls this aerial photo taken of the centre of leningrad in 1942 shows a number of ships moored along the river neva on the top is the peter and paul fortress the historic fortified citadel of the city down from it is the cruiser kirov which had led the mass evacuation of ships from talon months earlier also pictured near the bottom is the battleship october revolution which had escaped revel during the revolution with the then volkov in 1918. only a couple of weeks after this photo was taken the october revolution would be badly damaged by the luftwaffe with three bombs hitting her bow and knocking out two of her turrets in the center of the photo mirrored just upstream is the kamuna disguised under her blanket of nets and camouflage her disguise was not perfect however during the attack that critically damaged the october revolution the kamuna was also hit this incredible photo shows the kamuna under bombardment as bombs fall all around her throwing up water and striking nearby buildings some of her worst damage was a direct hit to one of her crane trusses which also knocked out one of her two engines the damage was quickly repaired however and she was soon back to work repairing and maintaining what few naval assets remained it wasn't just submarines and ships her crew were tasked with saving either the communist crew were often busy repairing essential parts of leningrad's now damaged and crumbling infrastructure and the kamuna itself also lifted at least four kv tanks two tractors 31 cars and numerous barges and supply boats sunk or knocked into the river and coastlines by the relentless siege as the months and years dragged on the situation was becoming ever more desperate in leningrad for the civilian population food and fuel were almost non-existent and as the winters set in thousands trapped in the city were dying each day the kamuna was now well below 50 of her original 120 crew compliment with many having been formed fighting groups for the front lines over the months and years the only hope for leningrad and our defenders was the thin lifeline over lake lagoda in the east which froze over each winter and allowed soviet forces to establish a perilous supply line that could provide the city with the barest essentials of food and material to survive these roots over the ice known as the road of life were an incredible achievement and one that became an absolute necessity for the survival of the city it was also incredibly dangerous patches of thin ice could swallow entire convoys and constant attacks from the air or through artillery threatened to destroy the valuable ice paths or the supplies themselves divers would often lean out of trucks with all doors and windows wide open should the tracks only give out under them most knew that should they fall in they had mere minutes before the freezing water would kill them for the divers and salvage teams over the kamuna the road of life left them with yet another important role diving teams now worked in the freezing waters of the lake to recover lost trucks and equipment helping maintain the supply lines that leningrad so desperately needed to survive the skilled crew also worked as trainers for over 150 new divers as the years of experience on the ship meant they were now some of the most experienced divers to be found anywhere in the soviet union in 1943 with leningrad still in the midst of its siege and the kamuna still trapped in port several dive teams from the ship were smuggled out of the city towards stalingrad where similar recovery operations were undertaken along the volga to ensure crossings and supplies could continue to the devastated war-torn city finally on the 27th of january 1944 two years four months two weeks and five days after leningrad was originally cut off the horrific 872 day siege was lifted millions of men women and children were dead and millions more had been evacuated leaving the once great city a hollow shell of its former self as the soviet army stormed westward in search of revenge the battered remains of the baltic fleet were all but spent most cruisers and battleships had fled to lynn in 1941 and had helped defend leningrad were now little more than wrecks and most were gradually laid up as training ships were relegated to scrap for the kamuna however her unique position as a maintenance ship and submarine tender had been proven once again her entire crew received medals for their efforts in the defense of leningrad and having survived yet another conflict the camuno was soon leaving the neva river for the first time in almost three years to continue her work having become one of the very few survivors of the baltic fleet and the siege of leningrad not only was the kamuna deemed fit for service following her extensive war service she was also approved for a complete modernization of what would be one of her most extensive refits since she had been launched in may 1950 the kamuna was delivered to holland by two tugs where an extensive and substantial overhaul took place her broken engines which had been plagued with breakdowns and faults since launch were replaced with two new works per diesel engines and more efficient four-bladed propellers the accumulated damage from years of war service were also repaired and greatly overhauled the kamuna returned to service in july 1951 exactly 36 years after being accepted first by the russian imperial navy by this point what had originally been known as the volkov had served two different governments survived the first world war the russian revolution and civil war the winter war and the devastating siege of leningrad now however she was poised to enter a new era as the two emergent post-war superpowers the soviet union and the united states settled into an uneasy face-off in what would become the cold war a period of geopolitical tension where both nuclear arms and submarines would be at the forefront submarines were some of the most important and rapidly developing technology of the cold war and while their size would eventually come to outgrow the interior dock and cradle that the comuna was designed with her capabilities and specialization as a submarine tender and salvage vessel were still essential to the burgeoning soviet fleet in the early years of the cold war one of her most notable rescue attempts in this time was of the soviet submarine m200 or revenge as someone that had served originally with the northern fleet during world war ii on the evening on the 21st of november 1956 while attempting to take station alongside a destroyer the submarine cut across the destroyer's bow striking the boat on the starboard side aft flooding the two compartments aft immediately and killing six of the men stationed there the crew of the bridge however the commander midshipman trainee and four sailors were able to escape as a submarine sang eventually settling on the sea floor some 45 meters down 16 ships and vessels headed by the kamuna were assembled at the disaster site by the morning and contact was made with the surviving men inside but work was postponed that evening owing to the deteriorating weather communication lines of the submarine were snapped and by the time the wreck site was located again the following morning the communist divers found that the men had attempted to escape on their own via the airlock tragically the first man had died in his attempt blocking the escape hatch and dooming the rest of the crew it was yet another grim reminder of the dangers of the submariner's work and the eventual inquiry into the disaster would end with the imprisonment of the submarine's surviving commander as the years went on the camuna eventually became unable to perform its original duties as a submarine salvage vessel due to the ever-growing size of the new soviet submarines by the 1960s new generations of nuclear submarines began to dwarf the comparatively small kamuna and so after almost half a century and over a hundred vessels salvaged and repaired over her life the kamuna's mission would eventually evolve from submarine salvage and tender to that of a self-propelled research platform soviet naval authorities recognized that her workshops and lifting capabilities made her perfectly suited for conducting various experiments surveys and the trialing of new equipment and armaments of the soviet navy interestingly it was around this time that the us navy also commissioned the uss pigeon the first of two submarine rescue vessels that employed a similar design to that of the kamuna with a twin-hulled catamaran design connected by a series of lifting cranes and hoists at 77 meters long the pigeon class were around 15 meters shorter than the kamuna but it was similar to the camino's new role in the transport and launching of deep sea rescue craft as well as providing a stable platform for diving and deployment operations around the rescuing of stranded submarines as a result just after her 50th anniversary celebrations on july 5th 1967 the kimuna left her historic baltic home for a new base in sylvester paul on the black sea it was here where she would be outfitted with new state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate the testing of newly developed deep-sea diving submersibles designed as both research vessels and also as rescue craft for stranded submarines her lifting trusses were upgraded and reinforced with the two aft trusses now allocated for the lifting of smaller specialized submersibles and the front trusses being multi-functional cranes for the lowering of equipment and platforms her bridge and radio rooms were expanded and workshops offices and living quarters were refurbished a new electrical system was installed and new masts were erected to facilitate modern navigation and communication equipment it was possibly at this point that she also gained her metal deck which was originally wooden but is now entirely steel this modernization also allowed her crew to be reduced greatly and for the first time her crew was also supplemented with civilians with only a small number of naval officers remaining on board one of the primary operations the kamuna would undertake in her new role was the testing of the poisk ii a project 1832 deep sea diving submersible these sublimes were designed to achieve operational diving depths of up to 2000 meters for both research purposes but also for the possible use in submarine rescue and salvage initially plans started to take shape in 1967 and were envisioned to be used on the planned elbows class a huge new class of submarines salvage and rescue ships that would represent the newest generation of what had originally began with the volkov delays in the elbrus class however meant that the kamuna began as the primary platform for the testing of these new deep sea submarines during the late 60s and 70s as a result numerous research expeditions were undertaken on the black sea and rec sites located within the black sea using these various project 1832 submersibles at some point in the 80s or 90s the camuno would be provided with a project 1937 submersible the as5 part of a class designed for submarine rescues and recoveries in the 1980s the kamuna was overhauled yet again she was re-engined with new domestic diesel engines to replace her aging dutch power plant and her trusses were upgraded once again now gaining the ability not only to launch and recover submarines but with new lowering equipment that could allow her to lower objects down to a depth of up to 2 000 meters for the testing of new submarine components at extreme depths by the end of the 20th century the kamuna had become a notable survivor of the numerous political and societal upheavals and conflicts that had so rocked russia through the years amazingly she would outlive yet another regime before the century was out however in december 1991 almost 69 years since its formation in december 1922 the soviet union officially collapsed for the newly formed russian federation inheriting the vast bulk of the soviet union's former territories and military forces political turmoil in a cratering economy meant that the already stretched budgets became almost non-existent the vast fleets of former soviet submarines and ships of the now russian federation navy were left to languish and rot at anchor with little funds to even pay crews let alone fuel or maintain the ships it was during this time that the kamuna came closest to scrapping research expeditions and submersible dives dwindled to nothing and for many months neither maintenance nor even crew salaries were paid much like the darkest days of the revolution however and through all of her crisises it was really the kamuna's crew desperate to preserve and maintain what was known at that point as the grandmother of the russian navy that saved her her commander at this time leonard balukov fought tooth and nail with authorities for whatever funds and budget could be allocated to keep the kamuna afloat at a time where vast swathes of the russian navy was being consigned to scrap yards and breakers valukov was against all odds able to repeatedly convince naval authorities not to resign the almost 80-year-old kimuna to the same fate incredibly he succeeded and the kamuna emerged from the chaos of the 1990s relatively intact in 1997 russia and ukraine agreed to the partition treaty on the status of the conditions of the black sea fleet essentially dividing up the former soviet fleet between the two countries the kamuna and other parts of the russian federation fleet would remain based out of russian naval bases and sevestopol on ukraine's crimean peninsula at least from ukraine in 2002 captain balukov died only a year after the kamuna's 85th anniversary celebrations he along with his crew had brought the kamuna through one of her most difficult periods but despite their best efforts the ship remained in a poor state and both the ship and her equipment were in need of significant and extensive overhaul inspection of the ship in the early 2000s found that it was in remarkably good condition however no doubt due to the care and attention of its crew and its ability to launch and recover deep sea submersible still represented a valuable ability that few ships in the russian fleet possessed therefore in 2004 the kamuna went through her largest overhaul in almost 40 years new crews and specialists were rotated in for the operation of her equipment and she was transferred into a large pd88 floating dock where her hull could be carefully inspected cleaned and refurbished for service her engines were overhauled and her as5 submarine was recommissioned and tested for use by 2005 her refurbishment was complete and both the kamuna and her submersible took part in numerous drills and trials to demonstrate her new abilities in 2007 she received a panther xt plus from saab ci a remotely operated underwater submersible with a wide variety of sensors and manipulators increasing the kamuna's ability to conduct underwater surveys or rescues however in that same year her aging rescue submarine the as5 was removed leaving her with no permanent crude diving submarine on board the communist service has not just been extraordinary in her longevity but also in just how much service and action she has seen over the decades in both baltic and black sea fleets in the hands of either imperial soviet or federation navies from 2012 the russian federation entered what the u.s naval institute termed our renaissance as rising oil prices led to surplus profits for russia and increased investment in its naval forces in 2014 russia invaded and annexed the crimean peninsula from ukraine solidifying its already dominant naval presence in the black sea the kamuna remained in her base in the now russian-controlled sevestopol and provided both an important symbol of heritage and history amid russia's attempt to consolidate their claims in crimea as well as a still valuable tool for the storage and launching of deep sea submersibles in an area in which naval activity both above and below the surface was reaching new heights following this in 2015 or 16 the kamuna received a pritz class deep sea rescue submersible the as28 a similar style and design to its previous submersible the as5 the addition of this crude submersible greatly increased the kamuna's operational capabilities and recent photos and videos have shown the as28 taking part in numerous drills and exercises along with the kamuna on board the kamuna today you'll find a strange mismatch of technology and machinery from almost every era accumulated equipment and engineering from dozens of overhauls and upgrades over the decades while her distinctive design has changed little amid her trusses and gantries you'll see signs of more modern additions such as the state-of-the-art panther remote submersibles high up her small bridge has changed little over the years and down below decks the wardroom galley and even the tiny ship's chapel almost look unchanged from launch incredibly the wardroom even features the original piano built in 1914 for her launch as the camuna now approaches almost 110 years of continuous service her extreme longevity has produced much discussions about just how a ship like hers has been able to survive for so long both the rigors of day-to-day operations and the extreme stresses of war are enough to severely shorten the lifespan of most naval ships not to mention the extremely corrosive nature of salt water and the environments most ships operate within it led to rumors and stories of a secret process that was used to create the original volkov hull and one that after all these years has allowed the kamuna to survive her long and arduous career so far a crimean newspaper in an article discussing her 100th anniversary posed the question to a guide on board the ship yes the ship's hull is made of putilov steel and let it not just be in perfect condition now but in working condition for 103 years the structure of the commune has been like new corrosion does not touch it says victor the article goes on about five years ago experts even took a piece of the steel from the commune for examination they confirmed that the masters managed to obtain strong steel in the construction of the vessel by blueing another rumor purports that the steel was specially aged in belarusian swamps before it was riveted together yet another maintains that special golden rivets scattered amongst the thousands used to assemble the ship give the hull a special rust resistant property all claims and myths tend to share one common trope whatever special steelmaking was used by the specialists at the shipyards the secrets to this unique construction are now forever lost however while these rumors may add an interesting mystery to the legend of the kamuna they are probably not based in reality while it's true that the kamuna is remarkably well preserved for her age with some estimating that 90 of her original steel is still intact the russian state archive of the navy indicates that there was nothing remarkable about the volkov's materials standard open hearth steel was used for her construction the recipe of which is not only described but was strictly regulated the volkov was built in accordance with the standards and requirements of the naval ministry and especially for the construction of a warship deviations in materials or steel making practices would not have been tolerated interestingly the ross cosmos specialists who were referred to in the crimean article as the experts who studied fragments of the metal in fact concluded that the high survivability of the volkov hull was probably down to the bluing of the steel which was apparently done at the putilov plant bluing is a technique used often by gunsmiths to coat metals in a black oxide that makes the metal more resistant to rust it could be that certain sections of the volkov's hull were treated in this way but bluing of steel on such a scale is incredibly rare and would have been extremely expensive and time-consuming as a process speaking to winford davies a ship preservation specialist davies confirmed that the bluing could be part of the reason behind the communist condition but also pointed out that other steel-hulled ships of a similar age and older still exist in similarly good conditions such as the now 130 year old ss robin davey's assessment also pointed out that good upkeep is often the real savior of a ship and that especially naval ships as opposed to merchant ships and private boats traditionally had much larger compliments of men who were able to maintain constant upkeep and maintenance it's also worth pointing out that the kamuna far from the impervious as new ship as many claim has undergone numerous overhauls and repairs over the years and regular testing of the steel has found that it has certainly thinned as one article points out the kamuna undergoes regular dock repairs the intervals between which becomes shorter as the commune ages for example during launching the thickness of the hull at the bio was 16 millimeters during measurements in 2005 it turned out that the hull had thinned to 14.9 millimeters while it can't be doubted that the extreme age of the communal owes much to the high quality construction employed its regular upkeep by a committed crew is probably the real secret behind its longevity the fact that the kamuna has suffered less stresses and strains from regular and punishing journeys and open seas has also no doubt helped preserve the structural integrity of the hull and trusses over the years following the annexation of crimea in 2014 ukraine suffered greatly at the hands of repeated incursions and russian-backed separatists that waged a proxy war in the country's eastern donbass region in february 2022 russia launched a long-feared invasion of ukraine aiming to cut off the capital cave and launching simultaneous invasions along multiple ukrainian borders the opening stages of the invasion proved to be a disaster however and within weeks suffering mounting casualties and massive losses of equipment russia had pulled back from ukraine's north to focus on solidifying their meager gains in the donbass and south of ukraine during this time the russian black sea fleet also played an important role enacting a blockade on ukrainian coastal ports and launching numerous cruise missiles at targets throughout the country the flagship of this fleet was the russian cruiser moskva ironically built for the soviets in what is now ukraine in the 1970s on the 14th of april 2022 conflicting reports of a fire or an attack on the moskva began to emerge soon images revealed the ship surrounded in smoke and listing heavily to port she had been hit it is suspected by ukrainian-made neptune anti-ship cruise missiles and while she did not immediately sink while under tow back to crimea it seems she finally sank to the bottom of the black sea potentially with a large loss of life to date it is the largest loss of a navy ship to enemy fire since world war ii eclipsing the general belgrano sunk during the argentine invasion of the falkland islands in 1982. details are sketchy on what actually happened and no doubt more news and information on the attack will emerge in the years and months to come but soon after reports emerged that the kamuna was being dispatched to the area where the moskva sank presumably to survey and assess the wreck site in 2019 the kamuna's as28 rescue submersible had been sent away from modernization arriving back the next year it's likely that her compliment of divers remote operated submersibles and the as28 submarine will prove crucial to the russians in both surveying and salvaging what remains of the former black sea flagship incredibly almost 110 years after she was first launched the kamuna remains to this day a key asset to the russian federation navy as a unique vessel to her current government as she was to the soviets and as she was to the russian imperial navy before them to many russians she is a symbol of national pride the grandmother of the russian navy and also one of the greatest survivors of russia's tumultuous century but it also represents a fascinating reminder of just how far military and naval technology has advanced in just her lifetime as the invasion of ukraine continues the uses of the kamuna as well as her ultimate fate remain to be seen aside from the potential of being damaged in the conflict increasing russian sanctions and economic strains may make her ongoing need for maintenance even more difficult it's been reported that she has missed numerous overhauls at dry docks due to a lack of availability and this is no doubt only going to increase as the war continues if one thing is certain however it's that the kamuna has survived more wars governments and regime changes than her builders probably ever could have envisioned and she may have many more yet to outlive well thank you very much for watching this video on the kamuna this has been a very long and intensive process to get this video to the point which i was happy to actually produce it and publish it there's a lot of information out there but it's hard to verify information especially about quite a niche subject like this and i've spent months and years now at this point sourcing books and information whatever i can about the kamuna and and i actually had this book and numerous other books translated painstakingly and expensively translated so that i could try and get the most correct information as possible there's always going to be mistakes there's always going to be things that i i can correct and follow up on but hopefully it's the most definitive history that you'll find in english anyway um about the russian savage ship and kamuna of course i got most of these imported uh and purchased well before the invasion obviously all of the sanctions probably even more difficult to find a lot of this information uh these days but there's so much in this video that i didn't get a chance to even include in fact i actually drew a picture of the camino an entire exploded uh view of the kamuna um i colored it on the ipad here i didn't even use it in the final video and that's mainly because i managed to find quite a lot of photos which was good apologies for the quality of some of them but also i was able to um contact an amazing 3d artist at brendan who was able to give me these amazing 3d models of the community created and kind of built up and jerry-rigged these 3d models because i was working to an incredibly incredibly tight uh timescale and he did it really over the course of a weekend which i hugely appreciate and you can find more of his work in the description below definitely have a check of that i'm probably going to make another video about the kamuna in terms of a longer outro just talking about the translation process and you know um the uh the drawings and various things that i've been making um you'll find that my my patreon account so if you are interested i have a patreon account i release behind the scenes stuff i release videos early um my kind viewers often help me with a lot of editing and feedback over the course of a video making project so if you're interested in supporting me that way i'm always helpful and genuinely ground dot news slash callum um amazing service i actually use ground news they contacted me a few months back about a potential sponsor i kind of forgot they'd contacted me i ended up using their app ended up buying the premium servers for that and a bit of a news junkie anyway and then they kind of followed up and i was like oh well actually yeah it's a product i actually like and use which always makes it a very good recommendation if you're using a sponsor i i do try and make sure i vet my sponsors to be things i actually actually do use and things i have personal relationships and connections with so thank you very much for watching um any other information that i've forgotten i'll either follow up with in my patreon exclusive video or i'll stick in the comments in the description so thank you very much for watching bye

Channel: Calum

Views: 1,251,274

Keywords: Kommuna, Russian salvage ship Kommuna, Коммуна, спасательное судно, Вóлхов, Russian Navy, Black Sea Fleet, cruiser moskva, Slava Class Cruiser

Id: 0X2Dz6PA1rQ

Length: 48min 12sec (2892 seconds)

Published: Mon May 23 2022