Delfinul

Delfinul (The dolphin) is a Kilo class submarine of the Romanian Naval Forces. It was commissioned in August 1985 and is currently the only Romanian submarine in service. Due to a lack of funding the submarine is inactive since 1995 and kept in reserve docked in the military sector of the Port of Constanţa.

History
In the early 1980s, the Romanian Naval Forces expressed the need for a submarine to train the anti-submarine vessels of the fleet. The Chinese government made an offer for six Type-33 submarines, two built in China (one with Romanian workers) and four in Romania. The Type-33 was however an obsolete design and the Romanian government decided to purchase Soviet equipment. A Kilo class submarine was acquired in 1984 for $61,5 million from USSR. The submarine was built by Krasnoye Sormovo Factory No. 112 in Gorki. The Romanian crew of the submarine was trained in the USSR. The submarine, christened Delfinul, was delivered in 1985. Another two Kilo class submarines were going to be purchased, but due to financial reasons, the orders were cancelled.

Service
The submarine successfully accomplished 67 missions, with 2000 hours of immersion. During these missions, Delfinul launched 23 torpedoes and 2 naval mines. In 1996, the submarine exhausted the resources of the initial batteries and is kept in reserve since then. After 2001, the submarine was transferred to the "Mircea cel Bătrân" Naval Academy, being used as a training ship. Numerous overhauling plans have been proposed since 1996, yet none was implemented.