EML Lembit

Stern quarter view of EML Lembit, underway while in service.
History
Estonia
NameLembit
NamesakeLembitu
Ordered12 December 1934
BuilderVickers-Armstrongs
Laid down19 June 1935
Launched7 July 1936 13:07
Commissioned14 May 1937
In service1937 - 1940
HomeportTallinn
Motto"Vääri oma nime" ("Be worthy of your name")
CapturedSoviet Union in 1940
Soviet Union
NameLembit
In service1940 - 1979
Out of service1979
HomeportTallinn, Leningrad
Nickname(s)"Immortal submarine"
Honours and
awards
Order of Red Banner (1945)
CapturedFrom Estonia in 1940
FateMuseum ship from 1979 - Estonian Maritime Museum, but still guarded by the Soviet Navy
Estonia
NameLembit
OperatorEstonian Maritime Museum
AcquiredFrom the Soviet Navy, on 27 April 1992
Recommissioned(Honorary) "Estonian Navy vessel nr.1" as of 2 August 1994
Decommissioned19 May 2011
HomeportTallinn
Honours and
awards
Estonian Navy vessel nr.1 (1994)
FatePulled out of water on 21 May 2011, restored and now in a museum building.
General characteristics
Class and typeKalev-class submarine
Tonnage570 (in its current condition)
Displacement
  • 665 tons surfaced
  • 853 tons submerged
Length59.5 m (195 ft 3 in)
Beam7.5 m (25 ft) 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Draught3.6 m (12 ft) 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • surfaced - 13.5 kn (15.5 mph; 25.0 km/h)
  • submerged - 8.5 kn (9.8 mph; 15.7 km/h)
Test depth120 m (390 ft)
Complement
  • 4 officers + 28 sailors (Estonian Navy)
  • 7 officers + 31 sailors (Soviet Navy)
Armament

EML Lembit is one of two Kalev-class mine-laying submarines built for the Republic of Estonia before World War II, and is now a museum ship in Tallinn. She was launched in 1936 at Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness, and served in the Estonian Navy and the Soviet Navy. Until she was hauled out on 21 May 2011, Lembit was the oldest submarine still afloat in the world.[citation needed] Her sister ship, Kalev, was sunk in October 1941. Lembit is named for Lembitu, an Estonian ruler who resisted the Livonian Crusades.