Shchuka class Submersible (1931-39)

The “Shchuka” (“Pike”) class was the bedrock of the Soviet Submarine Force in the interwar and WW2. The series III were the start of a lineage that also comprised the Series V, V-bis, V-bis-2, and X, X-1938 making for a total of 86 boats. This family the second largest in 1941 after the coastal M-class. They served in the Black, Baltic, Arctic and Pacific Fleets. The Serie III only comprised four boats. They were designed as cost-effective mass-construction models, strongly inspired by the British L55 (recovered in 1927), but paid a heavy price to the war with 31 lost, while sinking 86,000 GRT and damaging four warships (18,204 GRT), 35% of the enemy’s tonnage sunk or damaged. 6 were awarded the Guards title, 11 the Order of the Red Banner.

H302

Development

The development of Soviet Submarines started well before, with Imperial Era engineers, so before the revolution in 1917, in a lineage that went all the way back to 1878. By 1914, Russia boasted already a large submarine fleet but as the civil war ended circa 1922, many specialist had fled the country or perished in the furnace. The latest purely Russian subs were the Bars (bear) class, 650 tonners, and foreign types, the AG type or “Amerikanski Golland”, Canadian-built Holland 602GF/602L types. They were shipped to Russia in WWI for assembly but it was just before the revolution, so they were completed in 1920-23, still active in WW2, notably as training subs. The new Soviet naval Command worked from 1922 on the submarine types that were needed so in 1923 plans were made for a С (S) type (for средняя (srednyaya, “medium”)) submersible. It was to be delivered to the Black sea or Baltic, authorized by Soviet Naval Shipbuilding Program of 1926 and final design was completed at the Baltic Shipyard by B.M. Malinin.

The Series I or “Dekabrist” (Decembrist) class were the first purely Soviet designed Medium Submarines in service, but between 1917 and 1922, Russia lost most of its expertise building submarines and technology went ahead in the West in between, so a delegation was sent in Italy, among other countries of Europe under Malinin already by 1925, to drawing the first specifications, resulting in a final designed that drew some influences from the Balilla or Pisani class. This first “single-hull” construction had a diving depth of 50 metres (160 ft) and final surfaced displacement of c700 tons, riveted hull using quality steel from pre-revolutionary reserves, and a pressure hull made of armour plate recovered from scrapped battlecruisers, new types of internal bulkheads and rapid-filling Italian-style ballast tanks to be approved on February 17, 1927, construction starting at the Baltic Shipyard.

This became in 1927 the Series I or “Dekabrist”, six boats of the D-type (retroactively called Series I) completed from early 1929, and tested that year, bringing crucial information to alter a successor design planned in 1927, albeit the Soviet Navy wanted in 1926 a minelaying submarine which led to the Leninets-class submarine and their successors (25 minelayers of until 1942).

A new Standard Medium Submarine

The genesis for the “Shchuka”, a term used for submarines and meaning the first in class of first generational types, were considered as a clear departure from the Dekabrist design, which was “Italian-flavored” in many ways, and its started in 1926, also under the leadership of Malinin at the Baltic Works design bureau. The Soviet Naval Command was ordered by the Premier of the Time, Joseph Stalin, to define a series of medium-sized submarines that would have comparatively lower construction costs for mass-construction, increased maneuverability and better survivability.

The case of HMS L55

The British L55 and its L50 class was the true inspiration behind the Shchuka type. Note the two guns on either side of the enlarged CT.

The Shchuka-III class were the first truly “medium” type built in the USSR. The first four submarines planned, retrospectvely called the Serie III when the submarine force was reorganized prewar, was conducted in parallel with the design of the Dekabrist-class already, so back in 1927, as a smaller, cheaper alternative. The design of the first Shchukas was influenced indeed, not by Italian models suich as the Balilla, but by the study of the salvaged British HMS L55, sunk during the civil war, and undergoing repairs at the Baltic Shipyard. The Shchukas basically adopted similar lines to the L55, but with a “one-and-a-half” hull design, with main ballast tanks in the bulges. A truly different approach.

L55 was originally commissioned on 19 December 1918, and based at Tallinn, Estonia, for the Baltic Battle Squadron supporting the Baltic states fighting for independence and the Bolsheviks. On 9 June 1919 she was in Caporsky Bay, Gulf of Finland when attacking two Bolshevik Orfey-class minelayer destroyers, Gavriil and Azard. She missed, but while escaping, blundered into a British-laid minefield although Soviet sources claimed she was sank by gunfire. Anyway, she wreck was found again in 1927, she was raised on 11 August 1928, remains of the crew returned on the British merchantman Truro and she was studied and rebuilt by Baltic Works in Leningrad (1 million rouble through public fund as “an answer to Chamberlain”). Recommissioned as a Л-55 Bezbozhnik on 7 August 1931. She was used to train Shchuka class crews until 1941.

L55 was later modified by the Soviets (see below) and restored into service commissioned in July 1931. Her new specs were the following: Displacement, 954 tonnes surfaced and 1,139 tonnes underwater, 71.6 meters long, 7.20 meters in beam and 4.10 meters in draught for two shafts, with two Vickers diesels for 2400 HP total and two electric motors for 1,600 HP. This made for a tp speed, surfaced, of 13.5 knots and 8.2 knots underwater. She carried 106 tonnes of fuel oil for an endurance of 4500 nautical miles at 8 knots and 75 nm underwater at 4 knots. Sh was armed by two 75mm/48 Canet guns as replaced by the Soviets, kept in her original CT and six 533mm TT all in the bow, with 12 in reserve. Standard crew was 49 plus cadets, and she could dive down to 50m. In 1934 she had her Vickers diesels replaced by Soviet diesels 42BM6 (2,200hp). Discarded in 1940, she became a test ship in January 1940, and a charging plant from May 1943.

The British L class were considered the last, and perhaps best medium submarine design in the Royal Navy, already made simpler for mass production: From 1917 thirty-two had been built, through the L1, L9 and L50 classes, and more than 30 cancelled at the end of the war. They introduced a number of innovation compared to the older E class: Changes included 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes on the later groups (L9/L50), and on the last L50 group, sporting two QF 4-inch fore and aft with a lengthened conning tower. They also hag external hull wing tanks rated for 76 tons of fuel oil. Some ideas were considered by Soviet planners, but they ditched early on the two elevated guns in the CT as making little sense on the standpoint of stability and drag. Instead one gun was retained and placed on a sponson forward of the CT.

Design: Series III

On the Soviet designed worked on by Malinin, the pressure hull was eventually divided into six compartments, with the primary armament consisting of torpedo tubes, comprising four bow tubes, and two stern tubes like the original. After construction started, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR ordered the addition of extra accommodations to shoehorn four spare torpedoes for the bow tubes and a bulkhead in the engine room, to ensure suvivability. However this created issues with loading and storing torpedoes and also reduced habitability, making the Series III (Or Schch-301 class) the first to try that new design, much improved afterwards.

The Well-known “Shchukas” (“pikes”) were the first mass-built series of Soviet WWII-era submarines, with the final design proceeding from 1928 alongside the repairs and standardization of the L55. They had been defined as “patrol, small (later medium) submarines”, for the Baltic. The main features of the saddle-tank with bulge tanks and hull form were thus kept almost unchanged but they differed by having a single 45mm gun, whereas all subsequent submarines of that serie received two. The lack of surfaced firepower was the main critcism of that first four boats prelude. However as wanted by the Soviet hig command, they could dove in safety to 90 meters.

The first three were built at the experienced 189 Yd (Ordzhonikidze Yd) shipyard at Leningrad but Shch-304 was the first submarine built at the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard, N°112 Yd in Gorkiy but with completion at 189 Yd (Ordzhonikidze Yd) in Leningrad. All four Shchuka III series entered service with the Baltic Fleet. Three were lost during the war.

Hull and general design

The ShChuka-III ShCh-301 to 304 series had about the same specifics as the follow-up boats, displacement was certainly a fraction of the Leninets or Dekabrist classes. They ended even smaller than the Italian 800-series and more comparable to the German Type III U-Boats. They only reach 578 tons surfaced and 706 tons submerged for an overall length of 57 m (187 ft), a beam of 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) and a draught of 3.78 m (12 ft 5 in) light, and between 3.8 ad 3.9 meters mean. Most sources point out the ShCh-301 were the heaviest, with other going down to 577 or even 576 tonnes, and 704-705 tonnes. Russian sources points out 572 tonnes surfaced and 672 tonnes underwater however based on its own translated measurements for ShCh-301.

The hull was very much reminiscent of the British L class with a narrow straight stem, well shaped and streamlined outer hull, ballast blisters with a reonforcement running through the middle. The “belly” went down to meet a droppable emergency solid keel. The stern was narrow, with a rounded tail to which was attached the compensated rudder, having two horizontal diving planes behind the two propellers, 3-bladed. The forward diving planes were fixed (on-retractable) and located well below the waterline, at the rear of the torpedo tubes. There were seroes of half-moon water scoops, at the bow, above the bulges and at the stern. The main diesels exhauts were located not far from the CT aft.

The conning tower was composed of a small enclosed, windowed, helmsman post after a slope and gun platform. It was tall, with high walls on its rear open section. Unusually, the proper conning tower bell connected below to the pressure hull and housing the attack and watch persicopes were close to a gantry supporting the main net-protecting steel cable running from the prow (no net-cutting implement) to the stern, with tripod supports. There was a secondary mast located in the middle of the sail with a projector, and radio equipments plus a small platform for a spotter. On this chapter there was a radio detection antenna on top of the helmsman’s post.

Powerplant

The Series III had two shaft diesel electric, for an overall output of 745 kW (1,000 hp) thanks to its Soviet 8V28/38 diesels for the first two boats, Shch-301 Shchuka and Shch-302 Orkun. The second pair,
Yorsh and Komsomolets had instead more powerful 38B8 diesels rated for 1,020 kW (1,370 hp). But all four shared the same PGV-8 600 kW (800 hp) electric motors. Thus, performances diverged. The first two were limted to 11.6 knots surfaced, but the second pair reached 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph) and all had the same submerged speed of 6.3 knots (11.7 km/h; 7.2 mph). Range was 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) based on 52 tonnes of diesel oil in several saddled tanks, and test depth was 91 m (300 ft), for an operational depht of 75 meters (246 ft).

Armament

Torpedoes

21-inches type 53-27

The story of the first 21-inches Soviet torpdoes started under Imperial Russia, as a model called the pattern 1917 designed to carry a warhead of 476 lbs. (216 kg) at 3,280 yards (3,000 m) and 45 knots or 10,940 yards (10,000 m) at 30 knots thanks to its Wet-heater. It never entered service due to the Revolution but formed the basis for the first Soviet torpedo, the “53-27” project. It is interesting to point out the simple type identifier, rather than “model and the year”, precising the caliber 53 cm and year (1927) was judged more compact, precise and efficient.

The first model adopted was the 533 mm 53-27 type. It was universal, designed to be used from large surface combatants down to MTBs and submarines. Design started likely in 1923 and was accepted in 1927, about the tilme the Dekabrist class were completed, so they were obtained probably in 1928-29 as production ramped up given their urgent need in the whole fleet.
They weighted 3,770 lbs. (1,710 kg) for a body that was 22.97 feet (7.0 m) long, carrying a 584.2 lbs. (265 kg) warthead, with simple percussion cap for the detonation mechanism, and thanks to their Wet-heater they reached 3,700 m at 45 knots. The dual setting mode was abandoned as too complicated. It was produced en masse until 1935 and really became widespread.

Deck Gun: 45/43 21K (1934)

Installed at completion on the Series III. This was a navy version of the Army 45 mm Pattern 1932 anti-tank gun. The navalized mount had a semi-automatic breech. Tested in 1934, accepted in 1935 after tests with the originally intended automatic breech mechanism failed. Standard AA mount until 1941-42, replaced by the 37 mm/67 but in production until 1947. Not efficient, semi-automatic, no time fuze. Total prod. 2,799 guns. It was largely used on submarines either as AA gun or main deck gun on small Schchuka types.

Specs

Gun Weight: 107 kg, length 2.3975 m, bore 2.0725 m, rifling 1.650 m
Rounds FRAG-Tracer OT-033 2 kg, HE O-240 2.89 kg, FRAG-Tracer OR-73A 2.32 kg
Muzzle velocity: FRAG-Tracer 880 mps and OR-73A 760 mps HE O-240 335 mps and F-73 760 mps.
Rate Of Fire: 25-30 rounds per minute
Single pivot Mount 21K 507 kg, -10 / +85° at 10-20°/sec. Recoil 27-30 cm.
Range (FRAG-tracer): 45°: 9,200 m, 85° 6,000 m. With HE at 45° 5,000 m.
Rounds provision c500, barrel life 4000 rds.

Sensors

In 1939, Shch-304 saw its original hydrophone replaced by the Orion sonar. In 1940-1941, the remaining Shch-301, Shch-302, Shch-303 had instead the Mars-12 hydrophone. In 1944, Shch-303 received the British type 129 sonar. These were also the only upgrades of the type.

Orion Hydrophone

No data yet.

Mars-16 Hydrophone

A locally produced version of the Atlas Werke model, which proved ineffective for speeds above 3 knots due to noise interference. It was less a problem for a submarine underwater, which could ran at 4 knots on more discreet electric engines. It replaced the Mars-A, DM and ShM models on all boats in 1940-41.

Type 129 Sonar

An excellent British sonar, obtained from the british for L-3, keel-fitted. 10 KhZ standard deployed also on the T Class, U Class, and V Class.

Series III Group 1 Construction

The design for the Series III submarine (four boats) of medium-displacement torpedo boat (type “Shch”) was developed by chief designer B.M. Malinin as a bureay at Baltic works that became after WW2 the “Rubin” design bureau, responsible for most Soviet Submarines types. In 1930 the Special Technical Bureau of the Economic Administration under the Plenipotentiary Representative of the State Political Administration in the Leningrad Military District (OTB EKU PP OGPU v LVO) began operations, located at the Baltic Shipyard. It employed, among other personnel, submarine designers. The OTB was tasked with
correcting problems that arose during testing of Series I submarines and develop a design for squadron submarines (Series IV – 3 units).

On January 18, the board of Soyuzverf (the All-Union Association of Shipbuilding Plants) incorporated Technical Bureau No. 4 of the Baltic Shipyard into the Central Design Bureau for Special (Military) Shipbuilding (TsKBS). In April, the 3rd Department of the Central Design Bureau of Shipbuilding and the Special Technical Bureau merged into Special Design and Technical Bureau No. 2 (OKTB-2), subordinate to the OGPU. This bureau, which existed until April 1932, began developing a design for a large squadron submarine of Series IV (Pravda) and a small-displacement submarine of Series VI, which could be transported by rail from one theater of war to another. In 1932 OKTB-2 ceased to exist, transferring its functions to the Central Design Bureau for Special (Submarine) Shipbuilding No. 2.

Meanwhile the Series III boats were ordered in 1929 and ordered from the Baltic Shipyard, “Shch-301” (“Pike”) was laid down on February 5, 1930, at Shipyard No. 189 Leningrad, in slipway number 199. R.A. Muklevich, member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and Chief of the Red Army Naval Forces, attended the keel-laying ceremony. She was launched on December 1, 1930 and commissioned on October 11, 1933. On October 14, 1933, under command of Alexander Petrovich Shergin, joined the Baltic Fleet.

Series III

⚙ specifications
Displacement	578 tons surfaced, 706 tons submerged
Dimensions	57m long x 6.20m beam x 3.80-3.90 m mean draft
Propulsion	MAN diesels 1000 hp*, PGV-8 electric motors 800 hp
Speed	11.6 knots surfaced*, 8.5 kts submerged
Range	52 tons diesel oil, 3,130 nm/8.5 kts and 112 nm/2.8 kts sub.
Armament	45mm/43 21K deck gun, 6x 533mm TT (4 bow, 2 stern, 10).
Depth: Operational/Limit	75/90m
Sensors	Hydrophones, see notes
Crew	41 Officers & crew

*Yorsh, Komsomolets: 38B8 diesels 1,370 bhp, 12.5 kts surfaced.

Several more designs for the Shch-type submarines were subsequently developed, representing further improvements to this type of submarine:

• Series V – designed in 1932 (12 units). The lead submarine of the series, “Losos,” was delivered to the Navy in 1933.
• Series V-bis – designed in 1933 (13 units). The lead submarine of the series, “Lin,” was delivered to the Navy in 1934.
• Series V-bis II – designed in 1934 (14 units). The lead submarine of the series, “Treska,” was delivered to the Navy in 1935.
• Series X – designed in 1935 (32 units). The lead submarine of the series, “Shch-401,” was delivered to the Navy in 1936.
• The X-bis series was designed in 1938 (11 units). The lead submarine of the series, “Shch-135,” was delivered to the Navy in 1941.

Shchuka class coastal Series V/V bis (1933)

To come in a new update

Shchuka class coastal Series VI/VI bis (1934)

To come in a new update

Shchuka class coastal Series X/X bis (1936)

To come in a new update

Career of the ShChuka class

Series III

She was laid down on February 5, 1930, at Shipyard No. 189 (Baltic Shipyard) in Leningrad under slipway number 199. R.A. Muklevich, member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and Chief of the Red Army Naval Forces, attended the keel-laying ceremony. The submarine was launched on December 1, 1930. She was commissioned on October 11, 1933, and on October 14, 1933, under the command of Alexander Petrovich Shergin, joined the Baltic Sea Naval Forces. In September 1939, Shch-301 Pike under command of Boris Vladimirovich Ivanov, started patrols of the Gulf of Finland. By the fall of 1939, she was sent in drydock for major repairs and modernization, only completed in early 1941. Chief Petty Officer Galkin from Shch-303 (who defected to the enemy in 1943) says she took part in the “Kavleva incident” of the Finnish airline Aero, shot down by Soviet pilots over the Gulf of Finland on June 14, 1940. So she was certainly trained and ready in the summer of 1941.

On June 22, 1941, now under command of Lieutenant Commander Ivan Vasilyevich Grachev she joined the Baltic Fleet’s Separate Submarine Training Division in Oranienbaum. On August 10, 1941, she started her first combat mission to the Stockholm Skerries and on arrived two days later in the area. On the 17, she spotted a transport, but aborted when one torpedo tube accidentally filled with water prematurely. On August 19, she spotted a convoy at night but was illuminated by a searchlight and attacked by an escort. She escaped but surfacied 40 minutes later, spotting the same transport anchored and a retreating destroyer. He launched the attack, firing two 53-27 torpedoes, reporting explosions leading to believe it was sunk, but in reality the German transport Teda Fritzen (288 GRT) estimated at 8,000 tons, was missed, perhaps due to faulty detonations. She launched two more attacks on August 23 and 24. In the first, the torpedo blew up in the torpedo tube (the propulsion, not the warhead). In the second, explosions were heard claiming an estimated 4,000-ton transport, but it was never confirmed.

A Swedish destroyer escorting the convoy observed the torpedo’s wake and followed it right on the submarine, but she escaped. On the 25th-27th, Shch-301 observed maneuvers of the Swedish fleet but had stricts orders about neutrality. On the night of August 27 she was recalled to Tallinn, reached a day later, as troops abandoned the city. Shch-301 headed for Kronstadt, escorting the third Transport Convoy or the Covering Detachment, with the rescue vessel Neptun. At 9:15 p.m. on August 28, near Keri Island, Shch-301 struck an F-22 mine, laid by Finnish minelayers Riilahti and Ruotsinsalmi, blewing her stern. She sitll remained afloat thanks to her aft bulkhead. The commander concluded that salvage operations were futile as the propeller shafts were bent upward, fourth compartment was open to the sea, a torpedo fell from the stern tube. He gave order to abandon ship and 13-14 men were rescued by patrol boats escaping through the CT hatch. They were transferred them to the command vessel Vironia and Shch-301 sank with 22 crew members. Vironia soon also sank on a mine and the surviving crew died. Only Commander Grachev and one sailor swam and managed to reach Kronstadt.

Shch-302 Okun was laid down in a ceremony presided by the Chief of the Naval Forces R.A. Muklevich on February 5, 1930, at Shipyard No. 189, slipway number 200, launched on November 6, 1931, commissioned on October 11, 1933 and a few days later entered service with the fleet under command of Dmitry Mikhailovich Kosmin. By September 1939 she was part of the 14th Submarine Division, patrolling in the Gulf of Finland. In October she was back at Shipyard No. 194 in Kronstadt for a major refit, work completed in late 1940 or early 1941. On June 22, 1941, under Captain-Lieutenant Petr Nikitich Drachenov she was based in Kronstadt, separate submarine training division for post-refit trials, but never entered service again. Instead by August under Capt.Lt. Vadim Dmitrievich Nechkin she received a new crew, setn ashore to fight with marine detachments defending the city.

On September 13, 1941, Shch-302 became the first Baltic Fleet submarine tested for winding-free degaussing. On September 22 Kronstadt was pumelled by a Luftwaffe raid and Shch-302 suffered near-misses damage notably on her pressure hull. On September 27, she was sent near the entrance to Leningrad’s Lesnaya Harbor, when she collided with the minesweeper TShch-53, loosing her aft horizontal rudders and having a bent rudder. After repairs and with a new crew she was sent for a first patrol October 10, 1942, in 3rd echelon, Baltic Fleet protection for submarines heading back to base. On the night of October 11, while escorted by the gunboat Moskva and minesweepers, she reached Lavensaari but strong winds by night separated her with the escorted rerouted to shelter in Nogge-Kappellaht Bay. Shch-302 continued onward but was never heard of again. Fate uncertain, presumed sunk by mine.

The third boat on class, Yersh, was laid down on February 5, 1930 (construction number 201) at Leningrad. She was launched on November 6, 1931 and commissioned and on November 25 under command of A.V. Vitkovsky with V.V. Semin as chief engineer. By September 1939 she wa sin SubDiv 14. On the 27th, she likely sank by error the steamship Metallist. In October 1939 she started a long refit at Shipyard No. 194 in Leningrad. By February 1940 Ivan Vasilyevich Travkin became commander. In 1941 she was part of a submarine training brigade moored at the shipyard, ready at 90%. On September 6, 1941, she entered the 3rd Submarine Division but this was delayed for a battery replacement. On June 22, by night, she transited from Leningrad to Kronstadt but came under intense fire from enemy coastal artillery.

On July 4, she made a first combat patrol off Ute Island and Cape Ristna area under order of SubDiv 3 Captain 2nd Rank G.A. Goldberg aboard. She had a brief grounding, crossed the Seeigel barrier but was unable to recharge batteries due to dense enemy ASW patrols. On July 10, she was attacked by patrol boats, and the following night by aircraft. On July 12 near the Porkkala-Kallboda lighthouse, she spotted a lone timber carrier, launched two torpedoes, presumed sunk. Patrol boats soon appeared but she escaped. On July 15 she was close to the Nashorn barrier, and on the 19th she attacked an enemy convoy at long range but missed. On July 20, she at last badly damaged (confirmed) the transport Aldebaran (7,891 GRT) carrying the German 7th Mountain Division. She escaped attacks by German minesweepers, dropping 23 depth charges. Her forward hydroplanes jammed down and she hit the seafloor hard. She surfaced on July 23 and was inspected, showing the covers of the forward torpedo tubes were deformed and could not open. She was back to base on the 28th but en route had to dive twice to escape minelayers and on the 30th, was attacked by air. On August 1, she arrived at her RDV point with an escort, but she never showed. She waited in Narva Bay for six days when attacked by German ships on August 6, making an emergency five and taking damage but she made it to Kronstadt three days later for repairs.

After repairs she made another sortie for the 1942 campaign and by October 1, still in 3rd echelon she departed Kronstadt for Lavensaari, and off Landsort lighthouse, crossing the ASW barrier and on October 10 arrived on site, ordered a strict ban on attacks on Swedish vessels. On the 18th she made a 2-torpedo salvo at a transport convoy, noted an explosion and column of fire and smoke. She escaped.
On the 20th, she spotted and attacked a lone transport, noted explosions but both were never confirmeded. After reloading the tubes and refilling batteries, Shch-303 attacked again on November 2n launching in a force 8 gale, and missed. On the 4th she fired her three remaining torpedoes at the convoy, possibly hitting the Swedish steamship Lidingo (5,855 GRT) albeit t was later attributed to a British bottom mine in the Femern Belt. She was back to base on November 13. On March 1, 1943 she 3 was awarded the title of Guards.

Active operations of the Baltic in 1942 forced countermeasures with more extensive anti-submarine defenses, 10,000 additional mines and nets. In April 1943, the Gulf of Finland was closed by a deep double anti-submarine net. On May 6, Shch-303 for a third patrol to the mouth of the Gulf of Finland from Utö Island to the Ristna Lighthouse. At Lavensari her escort, BTShch-210 hit two mines and was badly damaged. Shch-303 crossed the Gogland barrier near Namsi Bank on May 12, remained off Vaindlo Island for four days, unabled to reload batteries. On May 17 she moved off the Carey Lighthouse, spotted several German minelayers, and on the 19th she was caught in a net. But battery discharged she was forced to return to Carey. On the 21st the sonar operator reported enemy ships and Chief Engineer Boris Galkin sealed the bulkhead doors and blocked the door to the radio station, pumped high-pressure air into the tanks to surface. Opening the hatch, he climbed onto the deck and start signaling the enemy ships with a pillowcase to defect. Alekseyev and Mironenko managed to open the doors open but failed to catch Galkin, which jumped overboard. The captain ordered a dive. Spotted, Shch-303 was attacked while they picked up Galkin. The sub reported by perhaps 200 depth charges. She laid down and by June 1, made her return trip.

On June 7, her escorts were lost: MO-102 sank to mines and MO-123, was damaged. She proceeded alone via Lavensari to Kronstadt, escaping a Finnish air raid en route. Only Shch-303 returned to base, other subs were lost. The second half of 1943 saw her in a major overhaul, with a new sonar installed. Captain 3rd Rank Pavel Petrovich Vetchinkin assumed command in 1944, Repairs were completed that summer, and she started training. On October 3, she struck a wall to avoid collission with a Merchant Harbor in Kronstadt, loosing her starboard propeller shaft, guardrail, rudder stock. Repairs took 42 days.. By november she departed with Captain 3rd Rank Nikolai Aleksandrovich Filov and transited in December to Turku. On December 17 under CptLt Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Ignatyev she made a 4th patrol near Libau. On December 20, she arrived on area. On the 29th, she attacked a convoy but was detected. On January 1, 1945, during an escape she hit the bottom hard, damaging her rudder, keel and hull. Water leaked in the forward fuel tanks, and she was forced back to Turku, drydocked for repairs until February 22.

She sailed again, under supervision of Captain 2nd Rank G.A. Goldberg. On March 5, she was sent again near Libau but her general condition was quite poor. Noisy machinery and pulsating starboard shaft led her to be detected many times and attacked. She made a attack on March 5, but missed. On March 8 a torpedo explosion was observed but this wa snever confirmed. The Soviets claimed the Borbeck (6,002 GRT), but it was sunk on March 11, 1945 at another place. On March 22, German patrols spotted Shch-303 and she was chased until the southern tip of Gotland. On March 24, the divisional commander decided to get back to base and the submarines remained there in repairs until the war ended. She was scrapped afterwards.

Shch-304 “Komsomolets” was laid down on February 23, 1930, at Shipyard No. 112 Krasnoye Sormovo, Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). The ceremony was presided by the head of the Komsomol, with members and youth of the country raising 2.5 million rubles for her construction of the ship. On May 2, 1931, she was launched and transferred on the Mariinsky Waterway transport dock to Shipyard No. 189, Baltic in Leningrad for completion. She was commissioned by August 15, 1934. On the 25th Konstantin Mikhailovich Bubnov took command and she joined the Baltic Sea Fleet. On June 22, 1941, under Capt.Lt Yakov Pavlovich Afanasyev, she joined Kronstadt, Baltic Fleet Submarine Training Brigade and started a major overhaul completed by late August. She had no combat missions before June 9, 1942. On the 11th, she arrived at Lavensari, and from there crossed the ASW barrier, first Baltic Fleet to do so in 1942. On the 14th, she joined the Tallinn-Helsinki meridian. A day later she attacked a transport near the Porkklan-Kalboda lighthouse, fired two, heard two explosions, assumed sunk. She likely sank the minesweeper floating base MRS-12 (form steamship Nuremberg, 5,635 GRT), but only a transport carrying troops and tanks was confimed by axis sources. It seems she missed and attacked the same target 10 hours later and missed, then the commander decided to surface and finish her with artillery only to realize her target was armed and she had to dive.

On the 20th, while evading an attack, she collided with a rocky ridge or sunken vessel under 40 meters, damaging her hull. On June 28 she reached her RDV point with escort ships for home. In all she was chased and depth charged for 90 hours (150 charge detonations counted), making 22 minefield crossings, took 7 air attacks and thrice by coastal artillery. The crew was awarded decorations for this sortie.
She was back on August 23 at Lavensaari and a week later, sent off Irben Strait and Soela-Väin Strait, albeit this was marred by a diesel engine breakdown forcing her back to Kronstadt. Her final sortie was on October 27, 1942. On the 29th she left Lavensaari but never returned to base. Postwar it was discovered she hit a mine in the northern part of the Nashorn minefield, likely after October 29, 1942. Her wreck was discovered by the Finns in 2002 during a seabed scan, she was inspected and positively identified in 2004.

Series IV

(Next to follow)

Read More/Src

Books

Building Submarines for Russia in Burrard Inlet by W.Kaye Lamb published in BC Studies No.71 Autumn, 1986
Polmar, Norman & Noot, Jurrien (1991). Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718–1990. Naval Institute Press.
Trusov G.M. “Submarines in the Russian and Soviet Fleets,” GSISP, Leningrad, 1957.
Shirokorad A.B. “Ships and Boats of the USSR Navy 1939-1945,” Minsk, “Harvest,” 2002.
Berezhnoy S.S. “Ships and Vessels of the USSR Navy 1928-1945”, Moscow, “Military Publishing House”, 1988.
Gusev A.N. “Soviet Submarines 1922-1945”, Part 2, St. Petersburg, “Galeya Print”, 2004.
Taras A.E. “Submarines of World War II 1935-1945”, Minsk, “Harvest”, 2004.
Rimkovich V.P. “Submarines in the Black Sea”, Odessa, Isma-Invest, Astroprint, 2000.
Dmitriev V.I. “Soviet Submarine Shipbuilding”, Moscow, “Military Publishing House”, 1990.
Morozov M.E. “Submarines of the USSR Navy in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, Part 2, Moscow, “Strategy KM”, 2003.
Brescia, Maurizio (2012). Mussolini’s Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regina Marina 1930–45. NIP
Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Soviet Warship Development: Volume 1: 1917-1937. Conway Maritime Press.
Budzbon, Przemysław (1980). “Soviet Union”. In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Conway Maritime Press.
Budzbon, Przemysław & Radziemski, Jan (2020). “The Beginnings of Soviet Naval Power”. In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Osprey.
Budzbon, Przemysław; Radziemski, Jan & Twardowski, Marek (2022). Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945. Vol. I: Major Combatants. NIP
Fontenoy, Paul E. (2007) Submarines: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO.
Polmar, Norman & Noot, Jurrien (1991). Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718–1990. NIP
Rohwer, Jürgen & Monakov, Mikhail S. (2001). Stalin’s Ocean-Going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs 1935–1953.
Westwood, J. N. (1994). Russian Naval Construction, 1905–45. Macmillan.
Yakubov, Vladimir & Worth, Richard (2008). Raising the Red Banner: A Pictorial History of Stalin’s Fleet. Spellmount.

Links

sovboat.ru: Series III
sovboat.ru portral
ckb-rubin.ru
navypedia L55
navypedia serie III
102mm/45 M1931
45mm/46 AA
37mm/30 Maxim AA
4-in/45 B2 wet deck gun
53-27 torpedoes
uboat.net L55
uboat.net Shchuka boats
deepstorm.ru: The real Deal
ShChuka-class wiki
RU wiki

Model Kits

Scalemates: Shchuka Series III, V, X class kits, Zvezda, Mikromir, Moldova, Park models.