AG-22 was a single-hulled submarine, with a pressure hull divided into five watertight compartments. The submarine had a length of 150feet overall, a beam of 16feet and a draft of 12feet. She displaced 355LT on the surface and 433LT submerged. The AG-class submarines had a diving depth of 164feet and a crew of 30 officers and enlisted men.[1]
The submarine had two three-bladed propellers, each of which was driven by a 480hp diesel engine as well as a 640hp electric motors. This arrangement gave AG-22 a maximum speed of 13kn while surfaced and submerged. She had a range of 1750nmi at while on the surface and 25nmi at while submerged.[2] Her fuel capacity was 16.5LT of fuel oil.[3]
The AG-class submarines were equipped with four 18inches torpedo tubes in the bow and carried eight torpedoes. For surface combat they had one 47mm deck gun.[2]
The Holland 602 design was widely exported during World War I and the Imperial Russian Navy ordered a total of 17, in three batches, of a version known as the American Holland-class (AG in Russian for Amerikansky Golland (American Holland)). The submarines were to be built in Canada as knock-down kits for assembly in Russia.[2]
Steel for the first three submarines (AG-22, and) of the second batch ordered by the Russians was assembled in Saint John, New Brunswick by May 1916. Five months later, they were sent to Vancouver by rail in sections where they were loaded into ships and shipped to Vladivostok. There they were loaded onto the Trans-Siberian Railroad and transported to Nikolaev where they were assembled by the Russud Shipyard. Assembly was delayed by the unrest caused by the Russian Revolution and the subsequent Russian Civil War and was not completed until 1919. By this time, Nikolaev was controlled by the Whites and they took AG-22 with them when they evacuated the Crimea in late 1920 as part of what came to be called Wrangel's Fleet.[4] They ultimately were granted asylum in Bizerte in February 1921. AG-22 was abandoned there in November 1923 and subsequently scrapped.[5]