site.btaNovember 1, 2011: Bulgarian Navy Decommissions Its Last Submarine

Thirteen years ago, on November 1, 2011, the last Bulgarian submarine Slava was officially decommissioned from the Bulgarian Navy, and thus from the Bulgarian Armed Forces. She was manufactured in 1959 in the former Soviet Union and is 76 m. long and 7 m. wide, Bulgarian News Agency's Reference Department said on Friday.

With full equipment, she weighed about 1,700 tonnes, and could carry 14 torpedoes. She had a submerge range of 180 miles and a maximum submerge depth of 300 metres. Her crew consistеd of 60 people. She joined the Bulgarian Navy in 1985 and her last cruise was in Varna Bay on December 21, 2010.

Slava was donated in January 2013 to the Varna Municipality and the Naval Museum in the city. At the beginning of 2019, a contract was signed between Varna Municipality and the Beloslav Glass Foundation to turn the submarine into a museum exhibit. At the end of November 2023, Slava was relocated at its last berth in Beloslav.