HMS L55

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L-class submarine

title: "HMS L55" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["british-l-class-submarines", "ships-built-in-govan", "1918-ships", "world-war-i-submarines-of-the-united-kingdom", "captured-ships", "lost-submarines-of-the-united-kingdom", "foreign-submarines-of-the-soviet-navy", "royal-navy-ship-names", "soviet-union–united-kingdom-relations", "maritime-incidents-in-1919", "maritime-incidents-in-1941", "shipwrecks-in-the-gulf-of-finland", "submarines-sunk-by-soviet-warships"] description: "L-class submarine" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_L55" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary L-class submarine ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
section2	{{Infobox ship/career
country	United Kingdom
flag
name	HMS L55
builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan
launched	29 September 1918
fate	Sunk, 9 June 1919
section3	{{Infobox ship/career
hide_header	title
country	Soviet Union
flag
name	Л-55 Bezbozhnik
acquired	Raised, 11 August 1928, and repaired
recommissioned	7 August 1931
renamed	7 August 1931
fate	Scrapped c. 1960
section4	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
class	L class submarine
displacement	*960 LT surfaced
*{{convert	1150
length	230 ft
beam	23 ft
draught	13 ft
propulsion	*2 × Vickers diesel engines, 2400 hp
*2 × electric motors, {{convert	1600
speed	*17 kn surfaced
range	4500 nmi at 8 kn
complement	44
armament	*6 × 21 in bow torpedo tubes
::

|section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= |image_caption=

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United Kingdom |flag= |name=HMS L55 |ordered= |awarded= |builder=Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan |laid_down= |launched= 29 September 1918 |christened= |acquired= |commissioned= |fate= Sunk, 9 June 1919 |homeport=

|section3={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=Soviet Union |flag= |name=Л-55 Bezbozhnik |acquired=Raised, 11 August 1928, and repaired |recommissioned= 7 August 1931 |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= 7 August 1931 |reclassified= |refit= |captured= |struck= |reinstated= |fate=Scrapped c. 1960 |homeport=

|section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class=L class submarine |displacement=*960 LT surfaced

1150 LT submerged |length=230 ft |beam=23 ft |draught=13 ft |propulsion=*2 × Vickers diesel engines, 2400 hp
2 × electric motors, 1600 hp
2 shafts |speed=*17 kn surfaced
10.5 kn submerged |range=4500 nmi at 8 kn |complement=44 |armament=*6 × 21 in bow torpedo tubes
12 × 21 inch torpedoes
2 × QF 4-inch guns |notes= '*HMS *L55''''' was a British L class submarine built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Clyde. She was laid down on 21 September 1917 and was commissioned on 19 December 1918.

In 1919 L55 was sunk in the Baltic Sea by Bolshevik vessels while serving as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The submarine was raised in 1928 and repaired by the Soviets. After being used for training, she finally was scrapped in the 1950s.

British service

HMS L55 was based at Tallinn, Estonia as part of the Baltic Battle Squadron, which was supporting the Baltic states fighting for independence. On 9 June 1919 in Caporsky Bay in the Gulf of Finland L55 attacked two 1,260-ton Bolshevik Orfey-class minelayer-destroyers, and . HMS L55 missed her targets and was forced into a British-laid minefield. Soviet sources stated Azard sank her by gunfire.{{Cite web |url = http://town.ural.ru/ship/ship/l_55.php3 |title = Бывшая британская типа "L" III серии. |work = Великая Отечественная - под водой |language = ru |access-date = 29 April 2013 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130417213730/http://town.ural.ru/ship/ship/l_55.php3 |archive-date = 17 April 2013 |df = dmy-all

Salvage

The wreck was found by Soviet minesweepers in 1927. The Soviets raised her on 11 August 1928. As the Soviets refused to allow any British warship into their waters, the remains of the crew members were returned on the British merchantman Truro before transfer to . The crew, 42 officers and men, were buried in a communal grave at the Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery in Portsmouth on 7 September 1928.{{Cite web |url = http://www.veterans-uk.info/remembrance/royal_navy.html |title = Remembrance - The Royal Navy |work = veterans-uk.info |access-date = 26 June 2010 |url-status = usurped |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722005958/http://www.veterans-uk.info/remembrance/royal_navy.html |archive-date = 22 July 2011 |df = dmy-all

Soviet service

The boat was rebuilt by Baltic Works, Leningrad, the reconstruction cost of 1 million roubles being financed by a public fund as "an answer to Chamberlain". She was recommissioned as a Soviet submarine with the same number (Л-55) on 7 August 1931. She was later named Bezbozhnik ("Atheist") and was used as the basis of design for the Soviet L-class submarines. L55 was used for training until the beginning of World War II, when she was damaged in an accident in early 1941. She was scrapped in 1953 or possibly 1960.

Notes

Bibliography

О подъеме английской подводной лодки Л-55, потопленной в июне 1919 г. в Финском заливе // «Военно-исторический журнал», № 6, 1971. стр.119

References

(1992). "Russia and the Allies, 1917–1920". Routledge.
(January 1988). "The Salvage of HM S/M L55 by the Soviet Navy: The Reason Why". Warship.
"Beneath The Waves: A History of HM submarine losses 1904–1971".
[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2044620/HASLAR%20ROYAL%20NAVAL%20CEMETERY] CWGC Cemetery Report.

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