Museum Discovers Original Designs of the Lembit in UK
The designs of the original interiors of the Estonian submarines Lembit and Kalev have been discovered in a UK archive. Two weeks ago, after having been on the lookout for years without much success, the Estonian Maritime Museum finally acquired more than two hundred original designs of the Lembit which will now be used to restore the interior of the pre-war submarine.
The Lembit has been deemed the world's oldest submarine still afloat. Later this year, it will be turned into a land-based museum exhibit, reported ETV.
Shortly before World War II, Estonia commissioned two identical submarines from the UK – the Lembit and the Kalev. Competition was stiff in the military industry back then, but the state finally decided in favor of the reputable British shipbuilding company Vickers-Armstrong.
Although launched already in July, 1936, both submarines entered service a year later. The Kalev was sunk in the autumn of 1941, but the Lembit has served as a training vessel as well as a museum exhibit after the war.
A year and a half ago, the Estonian Maritime Museum received word that the designs for the submarines Lembit and Kalev had been housed in the Cumbria County Archives, UK, ever since they had been donated to the Archives by Vickers-Armstrong decades ago.
The museum struck gold with this discovery, considering the fact that until that point, only a few black-and-white photos of the interior of the submarine Lembit had been known to exist.
"For years, we had made inquiries about the designs to the Submarine Museum, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and also to Vickers-Armstrong, receiving only negative responses," said Head of the Estonian Maritime Museum Urmas Dresen to ETV.
Toivo Arumäe, an expert at the museum, noted that the newly acquired designs are extremely valuable. "There are no photos left of some of the rooms. Perhaps we can now breathe some life into the Lembit with the help of these designs," said Arumäe.
"It turned out that some of the elements that had previously been considered to be part of the submarine's original interior design, are in fact not so," said Dresen. "The things that cannot be changed will remain as they are, because each vessel contains layers from different eras. However, we will attempt to restore anything that is altogether erroneous and disturbs the eye in the light of these designs."
The restoration of the interior of the Lembit will begin in a month's time, immediately after the vessel has been hoisted out of the water. This autumn, after the conversion of the seaplane hangars in the Seaplane Harbor has been completed, the battleship with a glorious past will carry on service on dry land, in what is likely to become a unique maritime museum in the world.
Sigrid Maasen