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THE SOVIET NAVY FLAG IN THE CITY OF NORRKOPING

[ W-137 docked in Norrkoping Harbour - 1999 ]
Foto: Jocke Blomqvist

Once more we could see the Russian Navy flag fly in our port - A Soviet U-boat from 1957 is on display.

"Some people work with their sailing boats, others work on steamships. But Timo Wallin, Finnish owner and master of the W-137 says: But I do my work on an old submarine from the Soviet Union."

[ Timo Wallin, Finnish owner and master of the W-137 ]
Foto: Jocke Blomqvist

He purchased the boat in 1992 to be used as a wave breaker to protect a Salmon farm on an exposed site in the Finnish archipelago off the Baltic coast. But Wallin later changed his mind and turned the wave breaker into a marine museum instead. The boat has been shown to the public in Sweden and in Finland since its purchase from Russia in early 90's.

Russians were a tough negotiator to deal with.

To buy yourselve your own U-boat is not done overnight, especially as the seller is Russian and the buyer like Mr Wallin is from Finland. The deal took over 3 years to finalise with assistance from the government in Helsinki.

[ View from behind the tower ]
Foto: Klas Horndahl

The historic W class

But now the boat is his, the 86 m long and 1000 ton heavy black painted beauty of expensive cooper metal, worth over 600.000 SEK just in weight. The Uboat´s Class is W for Whisky and it is the largest class in numbers in the Soviet Navy. 226 boats were built between 1950 - 1957. The W class boat was a successor of the Stalinetz class U-boat (S) where about 53 boats were built between 1934 - 1948 almost the same weight and measurements as the W class boat.

It is said that the Soviets lost one U-boat for each ship torpedoed during the WW2. A very costly operation. Both the S and W class were copies of a German U-boat. Nato considered the Russian W class boat from the 1950's as a bad copy of the German XX1 boat from 1945. This boat was in service in the Russian Navy until 1991 when Mr Wallin took over.

[ Sideview of tower with Soviet Navy flag. ]
Foto: Klas Horndahl

Scares feelings to step down the hatch and into the cold war.

The ladder leads the visitors directly to the torpedo room. Alongside, one notices 18 bunks in a murky corner of the boat where the 56 men crew slept, ate and worked for weeks on 3 month patrols below the surface. The light is sometime red and sometime white. During the night, the red light was constantly on. It takes about 30 minutes for a man to get his night vision back in the dark sky if the red light was not on, said Mr Wallin. Red light was also an indicator for the crew that it was night.

Astic and depth charges

Authentic sound tapes give the visitors a feeling of the surrounding noises from a submarine under surface attack. The boat had only 2 toilets, one equipped with a door, for the 6 officers and one without door, for the 56 men crew - there was no privacy onboard.

[ Klas in the aft torpedo room and holding a Soviet T-shirt found onboard ]
[ "The party is over" ]
Foto: Klas Horndahl

Deadly torpedo on display.

In the aft torpedo room one can respectfully lay the hand on the full size of this deadly weapon. The weapon who sent over 10000 people to instant horrible death on the MS Wilhelm Gustloff and SS General Steuben in 1945, or 7000 people on the MS Goya in the same spring of 1945. Or the nuclear torpedo on board W-137 who could have blown the city of Karlkrona out of this planet when it became stranded on the rocks in 1981.

[ View of Tower. ]
Foto: Klas Horndahl

Minimum 20 men crew.

In the command center, 6 men worked around the periscope. It is a mass of an endless number of instruments and handles and wheels. Mr Wallin stated that he needed at least 20 trained U-boat men to move this ship - it is not just like turn the key and go! Therefore he prefers to tow the boat - it is cheaper. The tow from Stockholm to Norrköping cost 200.000 SEK but 20 trained U-boat men on WW2 U-boats are hard to come by these days. Every visitor has to pay a fee of 70 SEK. But the boat has recorded 300.000 visitors until today.

The W Class particulars

Built Number 226 boats Years Built 1950 - 1957 Displacement 1030 tons Length over all 76 m Beam 6,7 m Draft 4,6 m Surface speed 17 knots Submerge speed 13,5 knots Max dive 125 m Crew ca 60 men Arms 6 torpedo tubes (4 fore 2 aft) Endurance 90 days submergible The boat can carry 18 torpedoes or 24 mines According to Nato sources, in 1981 (when W-137 was detected in Sweden), the Soviet Navy had 24 operative boats of the W class type V, plus a few boats in the other Warsaw pact countries and some in the third world.

[ Periscope Room ]
Foto: Klas Horndahl

This boat is the only Museum boat of its class.

The forerunner (to W-class)

S (Stalinetz) Class U-boat particulars

Built Number 42 - 53 boats
Years Built 1934 - 1948
Displacement 840/1070 tons
Length over all 78 m
Beam 6,4 m
Draft 4,4 m
HP 4000/1100
Surface speed 19,5 knots
Range 9800 miles (10 kts)
Endurance 30 days
Crew 45
Armament: Bow and stern torpedo tubes (6x21 inch) 102 mm cannon, 45 mm anti aircraft Gun, 12 torpedoes

[ Modeling headwear on Deck. ]
Foto: Klas Horndahl

Other larger Russian U-boat during the WW2 was:

The L, K and D class but S was considered as superior to these. During the Korean war a hostile Soviet S class was sighted in the Sea of Japan but there was no reports of any shots fired.

There is one Museum Submarine left of the S class (S-56) on display at Zolotoj ferry terminal Vladivostok, Russia. S-56 was considered most famous submarine of the Soviet fleet during WW2 and was honoured by the order of the Red Banner.

[ S-56 on display in Vladovostok Russia ]

Source: Submarine of the Soviets Navies 1718 - 1990 by Norman Polmar and Jurriet Noot.

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