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Old 02-26-2017, 10:28 AM   #11
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Re: Ioan Florea Dumitru, Submariner/Naval Officer.

Finally a post-Communist attestation of his anti-Communist service, reinforcing his service on "Marsuinul" after nearly 7 months on Armoured Patrol Boat #5, starting 22nd June 1941.
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Old 02-26-2017, 11:52 AM   #12
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Re: Ioan Florea Dumitru, Submariner/Naval Officer.

NMS Marsuinul was launched on 25th May 1941, listed in July 1943 and entered operational service in April 1944. It had a crew of 45.

"Marsuinul carried out only one war patrol between 10th-27th May 1944. Its task was to continue NMS Rechinul's mission in the Batumi area, under the command of Captain Grigore Ciolac. The war patrol started very badly when, after exiting the mine barrage, on 11th May, at 0100 hours, a German R-boat confused it with a Soviet submarine and fired its machineguns on it. After signalling the day's password, the problem was resolved. In the morning, it was bombed by a German seaplane and forced to submerge. The situation became critical because several light submarine hunters with Croatian crews responded to the alarm given by the seaplane and launched no less than 420 depth charges from 0830 hours until late in the evening. The submarine descended to 80 – 90 metres below sea level and was rigged for silent running. There was a moment when the captain tried to surface, but, after getting to as much as 20 metres, the explosions got closer and closer and had to return to the safety of greater depths. Fortunately the damages it had suffered were not serious.

After the light submarine hunters ran out of depth charges, they abandoned the pursuit and the submarine headed to Zonguldak and from there sailed along the coast. NMS Marsuinul was discovered and attacked for the first time by the Soviet patrol boats on 14th May, at 1110 hours. Then again, around 1500 hours, it was again found and pursued for three hours. Thus the captain decided to retreat for one day near Trabzon, by the Turkish coast. It returned to the area of operations, where it was again located on 17th May, 40 miles North of Cape Jason and attacked at 0412 hours, having to seek refuge again. But this time it was pursued and on 18th May, around 0400 hours, several submarine hunters launched depth charges in its vicinity. In the evening Marsuinul tried for the third time to approach Batumi, but the following day it was discovered and attacked. The crew counted 43 explosions.

On 20th May it was near Turkish territorial waters, 40 miles North of Cape Jason. During the night, around 0200 hours, the crew thought to have seen a torpedo and avoided it. There is no record of such an attack on that day from the Soviet side. Two hours later it was depth charged and 31 explosions were counted. The following day, also around 0200 hours, the submarine was again discovered and attacked until 1400 hours. 43 depth charges were launched. From Constanța, Captain Ciolac received the order to enter the area of operations for the fourth time. On 22nd May, the submarine hunters located NMS Marsuinul at 0455 hours, some 45 miles West by Northwest of Batumi. For three and a half hours, 82 depth charges were launched, of which 74 exploded in the vicinity of the ship's hull. But the day wasn't over yet. It was again detected and attacked between 1831 and 1858 hours.

The evacuation of Crimea was over and there was no need to risk a submarine in a screening mission. Thus, on 23rd May it received the order to return home, being under constant pursuit. The trip to the area near Zonguldak was made on a very heavy sea, for 37 hours. The weather got better after it left the route along the Turkish coast and headed directly for Constanța on 25th May. The following day, while sailing on the surface, the submarine was surprised by a Soviet seaplane, which dropped 6 bombs and forced it to submerge. Because of this, Marsuinul missed the rendezvous with the escort in the evening and entered the port the next morning."

(A rough round-up counts at least one machinegun attack, two bombing runs, 619 counted depth charges and a torpedo thrown at them)

Unsurprisingly the submarine did not leave port again whilst under Romanian control. Marsuinul was captured by Soviet forces on 5th September 1944 and commissioned by the Soviet Navy as "TS-2" on 19th September 1944. Unfortunately for the Soviet crew the ship continued to have back luck as on 20th February 1945 a torpedo exploded in the torpedo tube whilst in dock, killing 14 crewmen and sinking the vessel.

Here is the Soviet Report;

"Днем 20 февраля 1945 года на стоянке в потийском порту при попытке извлечения немецкой торпеды «G7a» из торпедного аппарата на «ТС-2» произошел взрыв зарядного отделения торпеды. По данным комиссии, расследовавшей катастрофу, взрыв произошел в результате преждевременного убирания продольной торпедной балки. Торпеда резко задралась носовой частью вверх и ударилась зарядным отделением о вступающие части корпуса. В результате аварии погибло 14 человек, а сама лодка, несмотря на то, что находилась в порту, через 65 минут затонула, так как из-за растерянности личного состава борьба за живучесть корабля не велась. Через восемь дней «ТС-2» поднята с глубины 6 метров аварийно-спасательной службой ЧФ и отбуксирована в Севастополь для проведения восстановительного ремонта. Погибшие члены экипажа похоронены на городском кладбище в Поти. По результатам «оргвыводов» начальник минно-торпедного отдела ЧФ капитан 2 ранга А. П. Дубровин, флагманский минер ЧФ капитан 1 ранга С. В. Рогулин и командир дивизиона подводных лодок Герой Советского Союза Б. А. Алексеев понижены в воинских званиях на одну ступень, начальник отдела подводного плавания контр-адмирал П. И. Болтунов снят с должности, командиру бригады подплава контр-адмиралу С. Е. Чурсину и его начальнику штаба капитану 2 ранга Н. Д. Новикову объявлены строгие выговоры. Командир «ТС-2» Алиновский «за систематическое пьянство, развал дисциплины и организации службы» предан суду военного трибунала"

The 14 Soviet crew that died were;
Senior Lieutenant Ivan Grigor'evich Velizhenko
Lieutenant Vasil'ev Evgenij Andreevich
Guards Starshina Mihail Ivanovich Bakushin
Guards Starshina Fedor Petrovich L'vov
Stashina 1st Status Petr Ivanovich Kuz'min
Senior Red Navy Sailor Nikolaj Illarionovich Balykin
Senior Red Navy Sailor Kirill Alekseevich Ershov
Senior Red Navy Sailor Vitalij Sergeevich Kondakov
Red Navy Sailor Vladimir Aleksandrovich Buklin
Red Navy Sailor Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kislov
Red Navy Sailor Boris Nikolaevich Savva
Red Navy Sailor Ivan Antonovich Semishkur
Red Navy Sailor Aleksandr Nikolaevich Sitkov
Red Navy Sailor Jakov Fedorovich Shalygin

The vessel was refloated on 28th February 1945 (from a depth of 6 metres) and towed to Sevastopol for repairs. Although the repairs were never carried out the vessel was renamed N-40 in August 1947 and S-40 in June 1949 before being struck on 28th November 1950.

Here are a trio of images of his vessel (On the right in the final picture).
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Marsuinul 1.jpg (68.3 KB, 3 views)
File Type: jpg marsuinul2.jpg (11.0 KB, 4 views)
File Type: jpg marsuinul3.jpg (17.1 KB, 4 views)
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Old 10-18-2019, 04:58 PM   #13
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Here is a recollection of the transfer of the vessel from Romanian to Soviet hands.

"On 28th August 1944, nothing out of ordinary happened. Several Soviet aircraft surveyed the harbour, nobody fired at them and they did not attack.

On 29th August 1944, 15.00 hours, a Soviet military car stopped at the main access gate. It did not enter the harbour, nobody questioned its presence. The Soviet officer, standing up in the car, examined the harbour through field glasses for 2-3 minutes. The car left afterwards. Meanwhile, as a result of negotiations between the Romanian Sea Navy Force and the Soviets, it was decided that on 30th August 1944, two speed boats, under the command of Captain Papzoglu Mircea and Lieutenant Apostolescu Emil, would go to Sulina, where they were to meet the Soviet ships and to lead them to Constanta harbour. During the night, several vedettes of the Soviet fleet entered the harbour. A Soviet officer was dispatched to every Romanian ship to prevent any unauthorised movement.

The next day, 31st August 1944, aboard the depot ship to which Marsuinul was tied-up, arrived several Soviet officers, mostly youths, who heard they will receive a good meal and booze at the officers' mess hall. Discussions in Russian, little in English. They were disappointed to see intact some of our ships they reported as being sunk. Such cases happened to us also!

On 1st September 1944, onto the depot ship came uninvited a Soviet major, an intelligent, elevated and mannered man, who offered to read to us excerpts from "Pravda", because he learned that we were indoctrinated by the Fascists and the Nazis. Nobody knew it was about to start a lot of trouble for us. In the evening, the crew of the trawler charged with closing the harbour with net was a little too amiable with the Soviet officer, who, because of the euphoria caused by the booze, forbade any movement of the trawler.
Because of this, in the night of 1st-2nd September 1944, a German submarine, that left the harbour 4 days earlier and knew the place very well, entered the harbour and launched a torpedo which hit the commercial ship Oituz. The ship was sunk.

The next day, 3rd September 1944, the quarrel started, because we were considered guilty. Our anti-submarine ships were ordered to exit the harbour, to search for the German submarine and to sink it. But a new tragedy occurred. Our available anti-submarine ships were two-three trawlers with underwater listening devices and depth grenade launchers, but not suited for heavy sea. At sea with average waves, the deck was swept by water and the mechanisms rusted. Therefore, each 2-3 months the grenades had to be returned to workshop to be checked. But during those troubled times, this was neglected. The anti-submarine trawlers spotted a submarine, launched the grenades, but they did not detonate. A new quarrel, this time we were charged with "sabotage".

On 4th September it was announced that a Soviet convoy with occupation troops is expect to arrive in Constanta harbour. The ship Admiral Murgescu was ordered to meet them and lead them inside the harbour. At sea, Admiral Murgescu detected submarines and signalled the Soviet ships from the mast the international sign. The Soviets, travelling in line, disregarded the signal, and continued in line instead of navigating in front. The torpedoes launched by the Germans submarine hit two transport ships, with hundreds of men aboard. A new quarrel started, using the same term of "sabotage". The following days, the waves brought to the shore many bodies, this set off the Soviets.

In the morning of 5th September 1944, before sunrise, platoons of Soviet soldiers armed with SMGs approached Romanian ships. The access ladders were guarded by a sentinel with a M1914 Rifle and bayonet. At an accosting and light signal, the Soviet platoons forced their way aboard the ships, disgraceful killing our sentinels in most of the cases. Once on board, they demanded the surrender of all officers. I was the officer on duty on the depot ship, near Marsuinul. I slept in the cabin, dressed up, to be ready in case. All the officers that were bunched on the shore, were forced to surrender their weapons. The doors to crew compartments were blocked by armed Soviet soldiers. Once on shore, we, 10-15 officers, were escorted to the Marina Station, where we met 80-90 officers from the other ships.

We were seized, as between us there were soldiers armed with automatic weapons,and we couldn't figure what was happening outside because the windows of the Station were painted in blue, for camouflage.

Meantime, a Jewish Soviet officer, in NKVD uniform, who spoke Romanian, told us that we were gathered here because the Soviet admiral in charge of operation was to come and to propose us a collaboration in the war against the Hitlerites.

From outside we could hear gunshots, trucks, we thought that, according to their usual practice, we were going to be taken outside the city and executed on the bank of a landfill.

It was 5.00. We stayed under increasing tension until about 12.00. We heard that when the Soviets tried to board one of the R Class destroyers, where it was the HQ of the destroyers flotilla, Commander Dumbrava, in order not to be dishonoured, committed suicide. At 12.00, the NKVD man told us that the Soviet admiral is too busy to talk to us and because of his good will, he allows us to go home, but not on the ships. At our protests, we were authorised to send an officer to go on board of each ship, to recover the luggage of the crew mates. Because in the cabin of the depot ship I had all my personal property, including my ID papers, I was allowed to go there.

Arriving at the depot ship, we saw the Romanian sailors carrying on shore crates with kitchen waste. We learned thereafter that they were doing so in order to escape from the ships. When the Soviets caught on, they forbid this activity.

In my cabin I found everything stolen. My suit was emptied of papers and money, my fountain pen and other personal items were missing, all the shirts in the dresser were missing, the watch on the side table, the pyjamas etc etc. I found several minor things that I gathered into a pillowcase and I also found my parade sword.

After the officers have been taken away from the ships, the sailors were told that their officers ran away, a fact that upset them since they saw through headlights what had happened. A soldier of my crew, the Transylvanian Tarsoaga, asked me to take him with me to carry my luggage, in reality a reason to leave the ship.

Returning to the Marina Station, around 15.00 hours, we were arranged in a row and we were escorted to the railway station, where a train was leaving to Bucharest at 16.00. The townsfolk of Constanta saw us and they were pitying us and crying. The picture was sad. Of the about 100 navy officers that were leaving the Marina Station, only I and another younger comrade were dressed in a navy officer uniform. The others, probably out of fear, tore their rank insignia from their sleeves, took off their ties and every detail that could have been dangerous and were walking in row, sad, to the railway station.

At 16.00 the train left the station to Bucharest."

Here's a picture from the launch of S-2 on 25th May 1941.
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