Shchuka-class submarine
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The ''Shchuka''-class submarines (russian: Щука), also referred to as Sh or Shch-class submarines, were a medium-sized class of
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
submarines, built in large numbers and used during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. "Shchuka" is Russian for
pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...
. 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 Severnyy flot , image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem , start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...
. 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 Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
symbols as identifiers (Щ-XXX, where the XXX is the number).


Operational service

The ''Shchuka''s 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 submarine The M-class submarines, also ''Malyutka'' class (russian: Малютка; ''baby'' or ''little one''), were a class of small, single-, or 1½-hulled submarines built in the Soviet Union and used during World War II. The submarines were built in ...
s 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 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. 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.


Ships of the class


Pacific Fleet

*''Shch-101'' *''Shch-102'' *''Shch-103'' (lost 4 November 1935) *''Shch-104'' *''Shch-105'' *''Shch-106'' *''Shch-107'' *''Shch-108'' *''Shch-109'' *''Shch-110'' *''Shch-111'' *''Shch-112'' *''Shch-113'' *''Shch-114'' *''Shch-115'' *''Shch-116'' *'' Shch-117'' (lost 15 December 1952) *''Shch-118'' *''Shch-119'' *''Shch-120'' *''Shch-121'' *''Shch-122'' *''Shch-123'' *''Shch-124'' *''Shch-125'' *''Shch-126'' *''Shch-127'' *''Shch-128'' *''Shch-129'' *''Shch-130'' *''Shch-131'' *''Shch-132'' *''Shch-133'' *''Shch-134'' *''Shch-135'' *''Shch-136'' *''Shch-137'' *''Shch-138'' (lost 18 July 1942) *''Shch-139''


Black Sea Fleet

*''Shch-201'' *''Shch-202'' *''Shch-203'' (lost 26 August 1943) *''Shch-204'' (lost 6 December 1941) *''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) *''Shch-207'' (lost 26 August 1943) *''Shch-208'' (Sunk on 26 August 1942 by a mine of a flanking barrage laid by the Romanian minelayers ''Amiral Murgescu'' and ''Dacia'') *''Shch-209'' *''Shch-210'' (Sunk on 12 March 1942 off Cape Shabla by a mine in the Romanian minefield S-15, laid by the Romanian minelayers ''Amiral Murgescu'', ''Regele Carol I'' and ''Dacia'') *''Shch-211'' (Sunk on 16 November 1941 by a mine of a flanking barrage laid by the Romanian minelayers ''Amiral Murgescu'' and ''Dacia'') *''Shch-212'' (Sunk on 11 December 1942 near Fidonisi Island off the coast of
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by a Romanian minefield, laid by the Romanian minelayers ''Amiral Murgescu'', ''Regele Carol I'' and ''Dacia'') * (Sunk on 14 October 1942 off Constanța by a mine, in a minefield laid by the Romanian minelayers ''Amiral Murgescu'', ''Regele Carol I'' and ''
Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
''; wreck found 13 September 2010) * (lost 19 June 1942) * *''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 Nikolay Kuznetsov to accuse Polish submarine ORP Orzeł after the
Orzeł incident The ''Orzeł'' incident occurred at the beginning of World War II in September 1939, when the interned Polish submarine escaped from Tallinn, in neutral Estonia, to the United Kingdom. The Stalinist Soviet Union used the incident as one of ...
, as a pretext to seize
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
.Poul Grooss: ''The Naval War in the Baltic, 1939-1945'', p. 62-63, Barnsley, 2018, *''Shch-304'' (lost November 1942) *''Shch-305'' (lost 5 November 1942) *''Shch-306'' (lost 12 November 1942) *'' Shch-307'' *''Shch-308'' (lost 26 October 1942) *''Shch-309'' *'' Shch-310'' *''Shch-311'' (lost 12 October 1942) *''Shch-315'' * (lost 15 July 1942) *''Shch-318'' *''Shch-319'' (lost 29 September 1941) *''Shch-320'' (lost 27 October 1942) *''Shch-322'' (lost 11 October 1941) *''Shch-323'' (lost 1 May 1943) *''Shch-324'' (lost 5 November 1941)


Northern Fleet

*''Shch-401'' (lost 23 April 1942) *''Shch-402'' (lost 21 September 1944) *''Shch-403'' (lost 2 October 1943) *''Shch-404'' *''Shch-405'' (lost 13 July 1942) *''Shch-406'' (lost 29 May 1943) *''Shch-407'' *''Shch-408'' (lost 25 May 1943) *''Shch-411'' *''Shch-413'' (scrapped before completion in July 1941) *''Shch-414'' (scrapped before completion in July 1941) *'' Shch-421'' (lost 9 April 1942) *''Shch-422'' (lost 5 July 1943) *''Shch-424'' (lost 20 October 1939)


See also

"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 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'' ().


References


Bibliography

* {{WWII Soviet ships Submarine classes Russian and Soviet navy submarine classes