This article is about the Soviet submarine class in
World War II. For Russian/Soviet nuclear submarine class with native Russian name "Shchuka-B", see
Akula class submarine.
The Shchuka-class submarines (
Russian: Щука), also referred to as Sh or Shch-class submarines, were a medium-sized
class of
Sovietsubmarines, built in large numbers and used during
World War II. "Shchuka" is Russian for
pike. Of this class, only two submarines (411 and 412) entered service after 1945, although they were launched before the war.
Development
On 23 January 1930, the USSR
Revolutionary Military Council (Revvoensoviet) adapted a proposed submarine concept that were to "execute positioning service on closed theatres". Plans were made to construct up to 200 submarines in three main versions, the later ones would be larger and with longer range than the previous versions. However, due to the outbreak of World War II, only 88 submarines were commissioned. It was still to be the second most numerous submarine class of the Soviet Navy (only the
M class were more numerous with 111 built). Seven ship construction yards were involved in the program - No. 189, 190, 194 in Leningrad, No. 112 in Gorky, No. 200 in Nikolaev and No. 202 in Vladivostok.
The name of the class was taken from the individual name of the first submarine Shch-301 Shchuka. Their numbering depended on which Soviet fleet they belonged to: the 100-series belonged to the
Pacific Fleet, the 200-series to the
Black Sea Fleet, the 300-series to the
Baltic Fleet, and the 400-series to the
Northern Fleet. There were however some special cases, i.e. the Northern Fleet submarine Shch-424 was renamed Shch-321 when she was transferred to the Baltic Fleet via the
Stalin Canal (and later renamed back to Shch-424 when returning).
The
conning tower had
brass symbols as identifiers (Щ-XXX, where the XXX is the number).
The Shchukas suffered heavy losses during the war. The Baltic, Black Sea and Northern Fleets lost 60–70% of their submarines. However, the submarines of the Pacific Fleet did not suffer any losses to the Japanese due to the tranquil nature of the theatre (military operations commenced only in the autumn of 1945 when the Japanese fleet largely was defeated). Three submarines were, however, lost to non-combat reasons. In all, 35 Shchuka-class submarines were lost, the vast majority during World War II.
The last surviving submarines of the class in the Soviet Navy were decommissioned in the mid-1950s and scrapped during the following years, but two submarines of this class (S-121 and S-123), along with two
Soviet M-class submarines were supplied to
People's Liberation Army Navy in June, 1954, thus becoming the foundation of the submarine force of the
People's Republic of China. However, the two Shchuka-class submarines were not sold, but instead, loaned to China for training Chinese crews and were thus not given new names like the M-class submarines.[1]
Shch-203 (Sunk on 26 August 1943 by Italian midget submarine CB-4)
Shch-204 (lost 6 December 1941; wreck found in 1984)
Shch-205
Shch-206 (Sunk by a group consisting of the Romanian torpedo boat Năluca, the Romanian gunboat Stihi Eugen and three Romanian motor torpedo boats on 9 July 1941)[2]
Shch-207
Shch-208 (Sunk on 26 August 1942 by a mine of a flanking barrage laid by the Romanian minelayers
Amiral Murgescu and Dacia)[3]
Shch-209
Shch-210 (Sunk on 12 March 1942 off
Cape Shabla by a mine in the Romanian minefield S-15,[4] laid by the Romanian minelayers
Amiral Murgescu, Regele Carol I and Dacia)[5]
Shch-211 (Sunk on 16 November 1941 by a mine of a flanking barrage laid by the Romanian minelayers
Amiral Murgescu and Dacia)[6]
Shch-212 (Sunk on 11 December 1942 near
Fidonisi Island off the coast of
Sulina by a Romanian minefield,[7] laid by the Romanian minelayers
Amiral Murgescu, Regele Carol I and Dacia)[8]
Shch-213 (Sunk on 14 October 1942 off
Constanța by a mine,[9] in a minefield laid by the Romanian minelayers
Amiral Murgescu, Regele Carol I and Aurora;[10] wreck found 15 November 2008, identified on 13 September 2010)
Shch-214 (sunk 19 June 1942 near Cape Ai-Todor by Italian motor torpedo boat MAS-571)
Shch-216 (lost 17 February 1944; wreck found July 2013)
Baltic Fleet
Shch-301 (lost 28 August 1941)
Shch-302 (lost October 1942)
Shch-303 - failed to sink Soviet freighter Metallist with two torpedoes, used by Admiral
Nikolai Kuznetsov to accuse Polish submarine
ORP Orzeł after the
Orzeł incident, as a pretext to seize
Estonia.[11]
Shch-304 (lost November 1942)
Shch-305 (Sunk 5 November 1942 by Finnish submarine
Vetehinen)
"Shchuka" is a traditional Russian/Soviet submarine name, often given to the first submarine of a new class of a new generation of submarines. For instance, the first submarine of the early 20th century
Som class carried the name. Also at least two other, newer Soviet/Russian submarine classes carries the name, however, the NATO reporting names differ. These are the Project 671 Shchuka (NATO:
Victor III) and Project 971 Shchuka-B (
Akula).
^Poul Grooss: The Naval War in the Baltic, 1939-1945, p. 62-63, Barnsley, 2018,
ISBN978-1526700001
Bibliography
Budzbon, Przemysław & Radziemski, Jan (2020). "The Beginnings of Soviet Naval Power". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford, UK: Osprey. pp. 82–101.
ISBN978-1-4728-4071-4.