 Virsaitis in Latvian service
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | SMS M68 |
| Builder | A.G. Neptun, Rostock |
| Launched | 25 July 1917 |
| Commissioned | 6 October 1917 |
| Fate | Sunk 29 October 1917 |
| History | |
 Latvia | |
| Name | Virsaitis |
| Acquired | Salvaged 1919 |
| Commissioned | 10 November 1921 |
| Fate | Seized by USSR August 1940 |
| History | |
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | T-297 |
| Fate | Sunk 2 December 1941 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | M1916 type minesweeper |
| Displacement | 553 t (544 long tons) deep load |
| Length | 59.30 m (194 ft 7 in) o/a |
| Beam | 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in) |
| Draught | 2.2–2.3 m (7 ft 3 in – 7 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion | 2 shaft reciprocating steam engines, 2 coal-fired boilers, 1,850 ihp (1,380 kW) |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Range | 2,000 nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
| Complement | 40 |
| Armament | |
SMS M68[a] was a M1916 type minesweeper built for the Imperial German Navy during the First World War. She entered service on 6 October 1917, but was mined and sunk off Latvia on 29 October 1917. The ship was salvaged by Latvia and entered service with the Latvian Navy on 10 November 1921 under the name Virsaitis as its first vessel. She was taken over by the Soviet Navy in August 1940 when the Soviet Union occupied Latvia in August 1940, serving as T-297 and was sunk by a mine on 2 December 1941.
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