The D-2 Narodovolets Submarine is a memorial complex located on the quay in Saint-Petersburg.
The exhibition tells about constructors of the first Soviet submarines and the way the magnificent boats were used during WWII.
The main characteristics are as follows: surface displacement, underwater displacement and floatage – 956, 1387, 6, 45,5 tons. The greatest length, the greatest width and mean draft – 76, 6,4 and 3,81 m.
Excursion starts with a back torpedo room.
A battery of oxygen cylinders.
The boat wasn’t reconstructed much and passages between the sections look in a natural way.
The 6th room is a diesel one. Two diesels are located along the right and left sides of the boat.
The table allows to communicate by tapping.
The cabin is occupied by the navigation officer.
The cook room.
The boat was taken to the point of destination and put on the derrick table.
The rocket is launched on the North pole.
Kursk submarines is going to sail for the last time.
Location: Saint-Petersburg
via nah-valyuco
Where do the diesel fumes go when the sub is submerged.
Switches over to elctric motors
The sub runs on battery power when submerged. When surfaced, she runs on the diesels and recharges the batteries.
I think diesel engines are not directly connected to propellers. They use diesel-electric system and they run purely on electricity when submerged. Very eco-friendly for that time.
They were using electric power ONLY because it allowed them to run under water.
And there are HUGE batteries, and they were lead batteries – and they had to change them from time to time – and used lead batteries are definitely NOT “eco-friendly”
It allways makes me wonder how otherwise intelligent people say stupid things like “electric car has ZERO-emissions” – the electricity HAS to be made somewhere – and despite the rise of “renewable energy sources” – most of today’s electricy comes from COAL and OIL. And because there are some losses when transfering energy from chemical (in coal) to mechanical (generator) and then to electrical – the electric propulsion may be convenient for some applications, but it’s not especially “eco-friendly” even today.
Ha ha thanks for replying. No, I was only joking calling it ‘eco-friendly’. I had in mind todays car industry where basically every car with batteries in them is considered to be very eco-friendly which is kind of funny when you consider how much resourses they use making those batteries. And that before you start thinking about recycling them. Anyway I fully understand that even today electric/hybrid cars are pretty far from being ‘zero-emission’ as advertised.
I think that when most diesel submarines are submerged, they usually run on electric generators. OR they could always use a snorkel-like device so that they don’t have to fully surface.
Diesels only be used for surface course.
The sub runs on the surface (using diesel) and recharges it’s batteries at the time.
The sub actually only rarely submerged, and then it ran on batteries.
So at most times, it was a surface boat, but could submerge to hide and get away or even attack (which was mostly done on (or near) the surface too. Many, in fact, most attacks were made with the gun you see on the deck. It was a lot easier, quicker and cheaper to fire that gun that launch a torpedo.
Later, they came out with a “snorkel” that allowed the boat to run submerged while running diesel engines, but that really didn’t work out so well, you could tell there was a sub below that snorkel.
With the advent of nuclear submarines, it doesn’t matter any more, they can stay submerged a very long time.
While underwater it runs on batteries.
If they are not too deeply submerged, they use a “snorkel” (i.e. long tubes which goes above the surface – one for air intake and the other for exhaust).
If they want to go deeper they can’t use diesel engine and they have to switch to electric motor, which is also much quietter, so they may avoid detection much easily than with diesel engine.
However on some newer diesel sumbarines, they can use oxygen in a pressure bottles to feed diesel engines and I suppose they can feed the exhaust directly into the water (there’s enough pressure) as long as they stay close to the surface
It uses diesel on the surface only, and batteries when submerged.
The diesels are only run on the surface or when a schnorkel can vent to the outside air. The boat held a large bank of lead/acid batteries under the floor. These were recharged from the diesel generators. The propellers were powered by electric motors so either source of power could be used.
In the early part of WWII subs could not use diesels unless they were “on top”. When diving they had to go to battery-power. During WWII the snorkeling device (originally a dutch invention) came into use making it possible to use diesels at periscope-depth, but below that batterys was still the only choice. This really meant that pre-atomic subs weren’t really submarine, they should be called “dive-boats” Normally they operated (and attacked) on the surface and would only dive to escape attackers
Thanks for all the answers. I knew nothing of how a submarine worked, thanks very much everyone.
The diesel engines are only used on the surface. When submerged the submarine is propelled by electric motors powered by huge batteries ( accumulators). Submarines of this type had to surface every 20 hours or so to recharge the batteries.
Actually the electric motors could be switched to act as generators when re-charging the batteries. Generally when the sub is running surfaced it is running the motors as gen-sets while it is cruising.
The electric motors could be used either on the surface or submerged. The diesels were generally run on the surface. In the latter part of the war the Germans came up with some kind of engine arrangement that could run submerged on peroxide or some such thing, but barring a snorkel it was electrics for sub surface operations.
Speaking of batteries, the submariners had to be very careful to keep seawater from flooding them or poisonous fumes could be released in the sub.
With this kind of question I assume that you are from behind the ocean.
I do live near the ocean, not behind it. But I do not have a clue how a sub works.
diesel engines are used only when surfaced
They either use the electric engine or a snorkel when submerged.
Since WW2, most diesel subs are fitted with a “snorkel” system. It’s a sort of vertical exhaust pipe that pokes above the surface while the sub uses it’s diesel engines to charge the batteries. A diesel sub without a snorkel system has to surface to use it’s diesel engines to charge the batteries. Such subs can only travel submerged using their battery-powered electric motors.
Simple answer, when submerged, diesel subs work on battery power and only use their diesel engines when not submerged. This is part of the reason that diesel / electric subs are so hard to find when submerged. They are quiet.
Photo nrdovolets007-46, caption “The boat was taken to the point of destination and put on the derrick table.” This is actually a floating drydock. It permits transfer of boats where cranes & slipways are not available.
I lived in St. Petersburg 7 years and thought I had been to every museum and memorial in the city. Somehow I missed this one!
Time for a return trip!
Still I like the idea of making the complete sub a museum instead of making up dummys of part of it. Nice museum and good photos
Geoff, I think they ran on electric while they were submerged
I never seen the same question answered the same way so many times. Anyway, I liked these pictures, would love to visit that sub. In operation, it was hot as hell inside these subs.