Russian submarine Kaiman

History
Russian Empire
Name	Kaiman
Builder	Crichton Yard, Saint Petersburg[4]
Laid down	29 September[c] 1905[1]
Launched	11 December[b] 1907[1]
Completed	24 July[a] 1911[1]
Fate	Stricken on 15 November 1916.[2] Captured by Germany in February 1918[2] and scrapped.[3]
General characteristics [3][4]
Displacement	409 long tons (416 t) (surfaced) 482 long tons (490 t) (submerged)
Length	132 ft 6 in (40.4 m)
Beam	14 ft 2 in (4.3 m)
Draft	16 ft 1 in (4.9 m)
Installed power	2 × gasoline engines (400 bhp (300 kW)) 2 × electric motors (200 bhp (150 kW))
Propulsion	2 × propeller shafts
Speed	8.4 knots (15.6 km/h; 9.7 mph) (surfaced) 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) (submerged)
Range	1,050 nmi (1,940 km; 1,210 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (surfaced) 40 nmi (74 km; 46 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Test depth	90 feet (27 m)
Complement	34
Armament	4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes (2 bow and 2 stern) 2 × external Drzewiecki drop collars 1 × 47 mm (1.9 in) deck gun

The Russian submarine Kaiman (Russian: Кайман, lit. 'caiman') was the lead ship of the Kaiman class of submarines of the Imperial Russian Navy. It was designed by the American engineer Simon Lake and his Lake Torpedo Boat Company before being sold to Russia and built in Saint Petersburg at the Crichton Yard.

Kaiman was laid down in September 1905 and launched in December [O.S. November] 1907, though during its sea trials it was found to have many design problems. The boat had to undergo modifications and was finally completed in July 1911 before entering service with the Baltic Fleet. The submarine was considered obsolete when World War I broke out. It saw action in the first two years of the war, during which Kaiman completed 18 patrols. The submarine did not sink any ships, but it did capture and bring back one German freighter of 1,127 gross register tons (GRT) in October 1915. All of the Kaiman class submarines were struck from the navy list in November 1916 and were left docked at the port of Reval.

The crew of Kaiman and the other boats of its class were reassigned to the newer and more advanced Bars and AG class submarines that were entering service. Kaiman and the other three boats of its class spent the rest of the war docked at Reval, in the Estonian Governorate, until the city was captured by the Germans in February 1918, at which point all four were taken to Germany for scrapping.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).