Russian rescue ship Kommuna

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Kommuna is a submarine rescue ship in the Russian Navy, the Black Sea Fleet’s long‑time rescue vessel and the oldest active warship in the fleet. She is a twin‑hulled catamaran, built in Saint Petersburg as Volkhov. Construction began in 1912, she was launched in 1913 and commissioned in 1915. She was renamed Kommuna in 1922.

Over her long life Kommuna has served in the Imperial Russian Navy, the Soviet Navy and the Russian Navy. At first she focused on salvage and submarine tending, carrying spare torpedoes, fuel and crews for submarines, and helping submarine crews of both Russian and British boats.

Notable early achievements include salvaging the American submarine AG 15 in 1917 and refloating the Bars‑class submarine Edinorog that same year. In the Soviet era she continued to work as a salvage and repair ship, raising ships and boats and helping distressed vessels.

During World War II and the siege of Leningrad, Kommuna kept helping submarines and other vessels. In 1942 she recovered equipment and vehicles from Lake Ladoga using the “Road of Life” supply route. The crew was later awarded for their defense of the city.

After the war, Kommuna kept serving and in 1954 her engines were updated. She continued to take part in salvage work, including finding and lifting submarines. In 1967 she moved from the Baltic to the Black Sea and was refitted to carry submersibles. In 1974 she got the Type AS‑6 Poisk‑2 submersible, which could dive deep to help rescue submariners.

In 1974 Kommuna was modernized to serve as a Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) mothership, able to operate a 50‑ton submersible and rescue up to 20 submariners at once. In 1984 she was taken out of regular service and, after a period of uncertainty, was restored for navy use starting in 1985.

After the Soviet Union ended, Kommuna became part of the Russian Navy again. In 1999 she was reclassified from a salvage ship to a rescue ship. In 2009 she received the Pantera Plus, a British‑built rescue submersible that can reach depths up to 1,000 meters.

As of 2012 Kommuna was part of a rescue‑ship group based at Sevastopol. In April 2022, after the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva during the Ukraine war, Kommuna helped with recovery work at the site. In April 2024 Ukrainian sources claimed Kommuna was struck by a missile while docked at Sevastopol, but later information did not confirm any damage.