Old subs to be sold for scrap

TIRANA, March 6 – Albania has decided to destroy and sell for scrap two old Russian-made submarines staying unused at a naval base.
Following the breaking of ties with Soviet Union Albania kept four out of 12 diesel-powered submarines operating with joint crews since 1958, cruising at 18 knots and able to dive to 200 meters, and operated until 1994.
In 1961 a dispute over the subs almost sparked a battle at the naval base near Vlora, southwest of the capital Tirana.
Two other subs remain expecting offers to be turned into museums.
The money collected from ‘Tufani’ and ‘Vetetima’ subs’ sale will be used to update military technology.
Albania became a NATO member last year.
Albania broke with one-party communist rule in 1991, when the country held its first democratic elections after decades of dictatorial Marxist control that included temporarily alliances first with Moscow and then Beijing.
Beginning in 1958, the Soviet Union based a fleet of 12 diesel-powered submarines in Albania. Four of the 613-class boats were operated with joint Albanian-Russian crews as part of the Soviet bloc’s westernmost defense.
But the go-it-alone Albanian regime broke off relations with Moscow in 1961. The Soviets withdrew eight of the submarines, but agreed to leave the four jointly operated subs as payment for use of the naval base.
A dispute over the subs inspired the Albanian author Ismail Kadare to write “Winter of Great Loneliness” – an account of Albania’s break with the Soviets and the standoff over ownership of the submarine fleet that almost sparked a battle at the naval base. It was later rewritten and retitled “Great Winter” under pressure from Albania’s communist leaders.
Some years earlier, in 2002, the government aimed at turning two mothballed submarines into floating museums to document part of Albania’s turbulent Cold War history.
Defense authorities said then the two other subs would be sold as scrap.
They said the two remaining vessels would be renovated as museums and docked at Vlora.