EML Lembit EML " Lembit " is one of two " Kalev " class mine - laying submarines built for the Republic of Estonia and served in Estonian and Soviet Navy . She was launched in 1936 at Vickers and Armstrongs Ltd . in Great Britain . Until she was hauled out 21 May 2011 , " Lembit " was the oldest submarine still afloat in the world . She is now a museum ship in Tallinn . Her sister , " Kalev " , was sunk in October 1941 . History . The " Lembit " is the only surviving warship of the pre - war Estonian Navy and in the Baltic countries . Estonia is a maritime nation and as with every country with a long coastline to defend , it has to safeguard its territorial waters . With regard to the experiences of World War I , submarines found their proper application in the pre – World War II Estonian Navy . The collection organised by the Submarine Fleet Foundation in May 1933 , developed into one of the most successful undertakings among similar events demonstrating a nation - wide determination to defend the country . In the course of building and testing the two submarines , the Estonian crews received training in Great Britain in 1935 - 1937 . From 1937 to 1940 the " Lembit " and her sister ship , the " Kalev " were the most imposing vessels in the Estonian Navy . Their inactivity in the annexation of Estonia by the USSR was a political decision . World War II . The " Lembit " joined the Estonian Navy in the spring of 1937 where she operated until the Soviet take - over in 1940 . The submarine carried out one training torpedo attack in her 3 years of service in the Estonian Navy but was never used in the minelaying role . On 24 February 1940 , The Third Reich expressed an interest in obtaining the submarine . This request was turned down . The submarine was formally taken over by the Soviet Navy on 18 September 1940 by which time only five men of the submarine ' s Estonian crew remained on board . They were needed to assist the Soviet crew in learning unfamiliar machinery . After the German attack on the USSR in June 1941 , " Lembit " was commissioned into the Soviet Baltic Fleet . The original name " Lembit " was retained . At least 3 of her original Estonian crew helped to operate the submarine during the war . " Lembit " participated with the Soviet Baltic Fleet in military operations . She carried out a total of seven patrols during the German - Soviet war . After World War II . On 18 June 1946 , " Lembit " was renamed " U - 1 " ; on 9 June 1949 " S - 85 " ; on 30 January 1956 ; " STZh - 24 " on 27 December 1956 " UTS - 29 " . Some time between 1949 and 1956 she possibly carried the designation " PZM - 1 " ( " PTsM - 1 ? " ) for some time . The original name was probably restored when she was decommissioned and returned to Tallinn as a museum ship in 1979 . " Lembit " was presented with the Order of The Red Banner on 6 March 1945 for her victories earlier in the German - Soviet war . She was withdrawn from active duty on 17 January 1946 and become a training boat . On 12 January 1949 " Lembit " was included among medium submarines . She was stricken ( disarmed ) on 10 June 1955 . She was transferred to the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard on 3 August 1957 and subsequently towed to Gorky ( now known as Nizhni Novgorod ) . Here " Lembit " was preserved as an experimental boat and an example of British submarine design . Her hatch for the pressure - tight anti - aircraft gun storage shaft was of particular interest . It was copied into designs for the missile hatches of new Soviet submarines . On 28 August 1979 exactly 38 years after she had left Tallinn , " Lembit " returned – under tow . After a lengthy overhaul , the submarine was opened to the public as a war memorial , ( more precisely , as a branch of the Museum of the Soviet Baltic Fleet ) , on 5 May 1985 . She , along with other artifacts , was used to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany . " Lembit " was one of three submarine war memorials in the USSR in 1987 , along with " S - 56 " in the Far East , and " K - 21 " in the Far North . There had been plans for displaying all three vessels out of the water , but a floating crane which was to have been used , ( which had been moved from Kronstadt ) , lost its boom during the tow . After regaining independence . After the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the subsequent dissolution of its navy , the submarine was taken over by Estonian officials on 27 April 1992 – a few Defence League men hoisted an Estonian flag on the vessel , meeting no resistance . " Lembit " is one of two surviving pre - war Estonian warships , the other is a small former - gunboat on Lake Peipsi , the " Uku " - existing as a wreck . " Lembit " received the honorary nomination of ' vessel No . 1 ' in the new Estonian Navy on 2 August 1994 . After a long and expensive restoration , the submarine was opened to the public , as a department of the Estonian Maritime Museum , with a collection of other naval weapons . " Lembit " is one of the few surviving pre – World War II submarines ( among others are the Finnish " Vesikko " , built in 1933 , and Soviet K - 21 , built in 1937 ) . She could be the oldest submarine in the world still afloat . Preservation and future . Unlike most other submarine museums , no new means of entry has been cut into the hull of " Lembit " . Visitors enter and leave the ship through one of the normal points – the torpedo loading hatch . ( It was also used in this way when the submarine was in port ) . Fire . In late 2002 the Lembit caught fire . The inside was filled with flammable wood and rubber . Nobody knew how or why it caught fire but through 2003 it was not viewable by the public . One person was killed in the blaze , but nothing of historic value was lost . Design drawings . The original design drawings were discovered in the Cumbria archive in 2010 . They were scanned and sent to Estonia . A total of over 200 drawings were sent to Estonia . The Lembit will now be restored as much as possible . Pulling the EML Lembit out of water . Estonian Maritime Museum developed plans to place the vessel into the museum building ( Lennusadam ) in 2008 . The Lembit was pulled out of water on 21 May 2011 . It was pulled out , using another exhibit at the same museum - BTS - 4 ( an armoured recovery vehicle , based on the T - 54 tank ) . The winching was done on a 100m ramp . External restoration in June 2011 . The submarine was missing its external torpedo tube covers . They used one original , that was stored somewhere else and the drawings ( obtained from England ) , to construct 3 replicas . Most of the external paint was also removed , for minor derusting and the removal of some small dents . It was anticipated that the total restoration , cost over 360000 Euros . In the Lennusadam . The submarine was " parked " next to the Lennusadam building , until the night of 6 / 7 July 2011 , when they began to tow it into the Lennusadam . The towing was done the same way as when it was pulled out of water and it took until the 10 ' th of July . The Lennusadam is getting finishing touches and will be open to visitors from the 19 ' th of May , 2012 .