The Great Patriotic War is under water. Great Patriotic War - under water Model of the submarine Shch 402 made of cardboard

Laid down on December 4, 1934 in Leningrad at plant No. 189 under the designation Shch-314, serial number 254. June 28, 1935 launched. On September 29, 1936, she became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. On May 16, 1937, it was assigned the designation Shch-402. On May 28, 1937, the transition to the North along the White Sea-Baltic Canal began. On June 30, 1937 it became part of the Northern Fleet. On June 22, 1941, she met under the command of senior lieutenant (later captain-lieutenant, captain 3rd rank) N.I. Stolbov as part of the 3rd division of the Submarine Brigade in Polyarny.

On July 11, it took a position in the Porsangerfjord area, but, not finding the enemy, on July 14, it penetrated the roadstead of the port of Honningsvåg and attacked transport there. On July 15 and 16, the commander refused to attack single transports, suspecting that they were decoy ships. On August 16, she returned to base ahead of schedule, since, according to the commander, she could not be in the sink due to the passage of water through the rivet of the diesel gas outlet. At the same time, when approaching the shore, it turned out that the submarine had a position discrepancy of 29 miles and instead of Cape Kildin-East it ended up at Cape Sharapova, which could lead to shelling of it by coastal defense artillery.

When inspecting the Shch-402, the base came to the conclusion that it could well have been in position with such a malfunction, and this was simply a reason for an early return from the sea. In the order of the fleet commander, the submarine commander was arrested for 10 days while performing his duties, and the military commander, senior political instructor A.B. Kochergin, was severely reprimanded. On August 27, a new military commissar, political instructor N.A. Dolgopolov, was appointed to Shch-402. On September 10, she again returned to base ahead of schedule, but this time due to electrolyte spillage.

On March 3, 1942, after an attack on the ship, the PLO was pursued and damaged by nearby explosions of depth charges, including fuel and ballast tanks. To prevent the formation of an unmasking trail due to fuel leakage, it was blown overboard from the ballast tanks. On March 10 at 22.11, due to an error in measuring the presence of diesel fuel in the main fuel tanks, it remained idle 3 miles from the North Cape. On March 11, at 02.10, D-3, located 40-60 miles northwest of it, was sent to help Shch-402, and at 18.45, K-21 left Polyarny at full speed on the surface; to reduce the transit time, she was assigned a route of only 25 miles from the enemy's coast. At 06.47 Shch-402, being 22 miles from the coast, successfully launched a diesel engine running on oil diluted with kerosene, and began moving to base at 4 knots. On March 12 at 13.00 K-21 arrived in the area, but Shch-402 was not detected and began searching for it in a square with a side of 40 miles. On March 13 at 05.45 the oil ran out and the submarine began to drift. Having received updated information about the location of the emergency submarine, she again began to drift. Having received updated data on the location of the emergency submarine, at 11.53 K-21 discovered the silhouette of a submarine at a distance of 40-50 kb, which turned out to be Shch-402. At 12.45, the transfer of 8 tons of fuel and 120 liters of oil began. At 13.43, the fuel transfer was completed, and both submarines, after trimming one by one, headed for the base. On April 3, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

On May 5, despite the commander’s prohibition, the officer on watch surfaced to a depth of 7 meters, and the Shch-402 collided with an ice floe. As a result of this incident, the anti-aircraft periscope was broken and the antenna struts were cut off; the submarine returned to base. On August 14, due to a violation of the AB ventilation rules in Tanafjord, an explosion occurred in the 2nd and 3rd compartments. Of those in the bow of the submarine, only one torpedoman survived in the 1st compartment, who could only be removed to the upper deck through a hatch: the door from the 4th compartment to the 3rd was jammed, and a fire was raging in the second compartment. A total of 19 people died, including: the commander, military commissar, assistant commander and navigator. The submarine returned to base under the command of the commander of the BC-5, Lieutenant Commander A.D. Bolshakov. On August 14, captain-lieutenant (later captain 3rd rank) A.M. Kautsky was appointed commander.

On July 25, 1943, she was awarded the title “Guards”. In August it was deployed east of Cape Zhelaniya to cover Arctic communications. In April 1944, the Dragon-129 GLS was put into service. On September 17, she went to sea to operate on enemy communications. On September 17, 1944, Shch-402 set out on its last, 16th, combat mission. On the morning of September 21, the torpedo bomber Boston of the 36th mine and torpedo regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force flew out on a “free hunt” to the area north of Magere Island. Before reaching the search area, a radio operator discovered the control room of a submarine under the shore near the village of Gamvik. The crew commander, Captain Protas, without hesitation, described a wide combat turn and dropped a torpedo, which instantly hit the target. When developing film loaded into a photo-machine gun, specialists from the headquarters of the Air Force and the BPL unanimously declared that the photographs taken seconds before the hit showed Shch-402. A call to submarine communications made immediately after this event showed that the Shch-402 was indeed not responding. In the ensuing proceedings, it turned out that at the headquarters of the air regiment the order of setting the combat mission was grossly violated, as a result of which the pilot was not notified of the prohibition of attacks on any submarines in the area between Varde and Cape Nordkin.

After all that has been said above, we can put an end to the history of the death of Shch-402, but I would like to look at the situation unbiasedly, and it becomes clear that the established version of the death of Shch-402 does not look nearly as convincing as it seemed to the headquarters of the Northern Fleet.

Judging by the descriptions made by Protas of photographs (not preserved), it turns out that the submarine was in an intermediate position between submerged and positional. If we assume that the submarine jumped to the surface while moving at periscope depth, then it is not clear why the watch did nothing to drive the submarine to depth during the rather significant period of time that the plane observed it? After all, the submarine was within sight of German coastal batteries under fairly good weather conditions. Secondly, why did the submarine not move? The Shch-402 had a depth stabilizer without movement (the Sprut system), but if it failed, the submarine would hardly have jumped to the surface on its own - its buoyancy would have been close to zero and would not have acquired a positive value. Jumping to the surface, on the contrary, is more likely when observing through a periscope while moving, if the helmsman made a mistake on horizontal rudders. But the object captured in the photographs was drifting and did not raise the periscopes. Taking into account the fact that the coastal batteries did not fire at it, and the object itself did not try to leave the observation zone, it remains to be assumed that it was a Norwegian fishing boat. This was not the first time our pilots reported attacks by enemy submarines, which in fact could not have been in this area at that time. The main thing is that the Shch-402 was sent by the command not to the Gamvimka area, but to the Kongsfjord area, where several of our submarines had previously gone missing. The distance between the named geographical points - about 35 miles - is too great to attribute it to a navigator’s error when arriving at the position, because the crew had almost two days with good visibility, during which they could easily clarify their position using coastal landmarks. Submarines were allowed to enter foreign positions in the event of pursuing an enemy convoy, but the last information about the convoys was sent to the boats on the evening of the 19th, and from that time their commanders were obliged to search independently within their own positions. Apparently at that moment the Shch-402 exploded on the NW-30 anti-submarine minefield, secretly deployed by the enemy in the summer of 1943.

The submarine Shch-402 became the last submarine of the Northern Fleet to perish.

Duration of combat service - 39 months (06/22/41 - 09/21/44). 16 military campaigns (232 days). 14 torpedo attacks, as a result of which 1 ship and 1 ship were sunk.

After the opening of the memorial plaque

To perpetuate the memory of the fallen Navy submariners, the Maritime Assembly of Kherson (chaired by Captain 1st Rank Reserve N.I. Sribny) decided to install a memorial plaque to A.M. Kautsky on the house where he lived. The initiator and creator of the memorial plaque was a veteran Navy submariner, retired captain 2nd rank V.M. Golubev.

October 26, 2010 at 10 o’clock on Podpolnaya Street in Kherson, in the house where Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Moiseevich Kautsky was born and lived from 1906 to 1928, in the presence of veterans of the Russian and Ukrainian Navy, Chairman of the Naval Assembly N.I. Sribny , Chairman of the Russian Cultural Center in Kherson N.E. Batarova, Rector of St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral Father Vasily (who subsequently consecrated the Memorial Plaque), the Kherson media installed a Memorial Plaque.

At the request of veteran submariners of Kherson, I created the “Book of Memory of Navy submariners, natives of Kherson and the region who died during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945,” which was published by that time. The presentation of the book took place on the same day at the Kherson Museum of Local Lore.

Vladimir Boyko

I hope the readers will forgive me for allowing myself to begin immediately with a digression in my own direction. Because this will make it easier in the future to understand my personal (and it will be here) attitude towards these people. In my military biography, there were several cases when I had the opportunity to try sides not related to my military specialty. That is, I jumped with a parachute, once piloted a military transport version of the An-24 for 10 minutes (I turned out to be no pilot, so upon landing I had an unpleasant conversation with the rest of the passengers, turning into a friendly scuffle. Moreover, the conversation lasted much longer than I was piloting ). While serving in the Far East, I happened to drunkenly meet a senior lieutenant, the commander of a minesweeper, and drunkenly accepted an invitation to “go to sea” to check the engines. They even entrusted me with holding the helm (but, remembering my sad experience as a pilot, I did this purely symbolically), and as soon as we left the bay, I concluded that I was a sailor just like a pilot. The rest of the time I was vomiting like a wind-up toy.

And, on Navy Day, when all the sailors swell with importance and become kind and condescending towards the land rats (and by that time I had already more than proven myself to be such, but I treated it with humor, which was appreciated by those floating and walking), Several people were allowed on board the Chita submarine. It was an event that made an indelible impression on me. I have too much of a good imagination, so when I imagined myself in this ship, with a hundred meters of water above you... For some reason I immediately wanted not just to go up, but even to land. But, having given myself the appropriate instructions, I endured the entire excursion with honor, conscientiously listening to the foreman-guide and hitting my head on a variety of crap and mechanisms.

Forgive me, submariners, I never had the courage to ask what must be in the brain in order to voluntarily board this embodiment of a claustrophobic nightmare and not only live on it, but also work. You can’t live there, that’s my established opinion. I’m not claustrophobic; by that time I was used to working in a confined space, but it was too much. It’s one thing when there are three of us in a tin can of a kung, and a completely different thing is a submarine.

The foreman, who took us around the compartments (damn, they also run between them on alarm!!!), noticed that in modern nuclear power plants, of course, the places are bigger, brighter, and in general... But he said this somehow without envy at all. This alarmed me, and I asked, are there more advantages here? And then this little man, scratching his mustache, answered like this: “You know, senior, if anything happens, we’re here once - that’s all.” And they will drown there for a long time. A very long time". I didn’t ask any more questions... And when the epic with the Kursk began, I remembered this elderly foreman.

But let me return to the main theme of my story.

1941 Northern Fleet.
Numbers first.
By the beginning of the war, the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet consisted of 15 submarines.
By 1945 there were already 42 of them.
Losses during the war amounted to 23 submarines, of which 13 were missing.
Here they are.

Guards Red Banner submarine "D-3" "Krasnogrvardeets".

“D-3” was the first ship of the USSR Navy to simultaneously achieve the rank of Guards and become Red Banner.
She was launched and on November 14, 1931 became part of the Baltic Sea Naval Forces.
In the summer of 1933, a boat as part of EON-2 made the transition from the Baltic to the North along the newly built White Sea-Baltic Canal, becoming the core of the nascent Northern Fleet. On September 21, 1933, “Red Guard” became part of the Northern Military Flotilla.
8 military campaigns.
First: 06/22/1941 - 07/04/1941
Last: 06/10/1942 - ?

Result:
According to official Soviet data, “D-3” accounted for 8 sunk enemy ships with a total displacement of 28,140 GRT and damage to one transport of 3,200 GRT.
The success of not a single attack has been confirmed by the enemy.

The Guards Red Banner submarine "D-3" set out on its last combat mission on June 10, 1942. By this time, the boat had a fully decorated crew, mainly consisting of candidates or members of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). “D-3” did not make contact again and did not return to the base. Along with the boat, 53 members of its crew also died.

Submarine "K-1"

K-1 was laid down on December 27, 1936 at plant No. 194 “Im. A. Marty" in Leningrad. Launching took place on April 28, 1938, K-1 was included in the 13th division of the Baltic Fleet submarine training brigade. On December 16, 1939, the boat entered service.
On May 26, 1940, K-1 became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet; in the summer of the same year, K-1, together with the same type K-2, the destroyer "Stremite" and several other ships, proceeded through the White Sea-Baltic Canal. On August 6, it became part of the Northern Fleet and was assigned to the 1st division of the Northern Fleet submarine brigade with a base in Polyarny.

The boat made 16 combat cruises with a total duration of 196 days, made one torpedo attack with two torpedoes and 10 mine laying, in which it laid 146 mines. A torpedo attack from a distance of 10-11 cables was ineffective, although according to official Soviet data at that time it was believed that the K-1 sank the transport. According to verified post-war data, exposed mines killed 5 ships and 2 warships.

November 8, 1941 - transport “Flottbeck”, 1,930 GRT;
December 26, 1941 - transport “Kong Ring”, 1,994 GRT, 257 vacation soldiers died;
April 8, 1942 - transport “Kurzsee”, 754 brt;
May 23, 1942 - transport “Asuncion”, 4,626 brt;
September 12, 1942 - transport “Robert Bormhofen”, 6,643 brt;
December 6, 1942 - patrol ships V6116 and V6117.
The total tonnage of the lost ships is 15,947 GRT.

The boat went missing in 1943 during its last voyage in the Novaya Zemlya area.
There were 69 sailors on board during the last voyage.

Submarine "K-2"

Laid down on December 27, 1936 at plant No. 194 in Leningrad. On April 29, 1938, the boat was launched and on May 26, 1940, it became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Soon "K-2" was transferred to the North and on July 18, 1940 it became part of the Northern Fleet.

7 military campaigns:
First: 08/07/1941 - 08/31/1941
Last: 08/26/1942 - ?

Results:
4 ineffective torpedo attacks, 9 torpedoes fired
3 artillery attacks (49 shells), resulting in damage to 1 vehicle.
2 mine laying operations (33 mines), which allegedly killed 1 enemy ship.

"K-2" entered its last combat campaign on August 26, 1942. On September 7, according to the cover plan for the PQ-18 convoy, the boat was ordered to change position, but the conditional signal to move from K-2 was not received. Further attempts to establish contact and searches for the boat by aircraft led to nothing. Presumably, "K-2" died in a mine in early September 1942.
There were 68 sailors on board the K-2 on its last voyage.

Submarine "K-3"

She was laid down on December 27, 1936 under slipway number 453 at plant number 194 in Leningrad and launched on July 31, 1938. On November 27, 1940, "K-3" entered service and on December 19, 1940 became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.
The boat was preparing in Kronstadt for the transition to the Northern Fleet as part of EON-11 and arrived in Belomorsk on September 9, 1941.

9 military campaigns

First: 07/27/1941 – 08/15/1941
Last: 03/14/1943 – ?

Destroyed 2 large hunters, 1 Norwegian transport (327 GRT), damaged 1 German transport (8116 GRT).

12/03/1941 BO “Uj-1708”, artillery.
01/30/1942 TR "Ingyo" (327 brt), mine.
02/05/1943 BO “Uj-1108”, artillery.
02/12/1943 TR "Fochenheim" (8116 GRT) - damaged.

“K-3” set out on its last combat mission on the night of March 14, 1943. Subsequently, she did not make contact and did not return to the base at the appointed time. On April 14, the submarine's autonomy expired. There were 68 sailors on board.

Guards submarine "K-22"

Laid down on January 5, 1938 at plant N196 (Sudomekh) Leningrad. November 3, 1939 launched. On July 15, 1940 she entered service, and on August 7, 1940 she became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.
On August 4, 1941, having passed through the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the boat arrived in Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk) and on September 17 was enlisted in the Northern Fleet.

8 Military campaigns:
First: 10/21/1941 - 11/18/1941
Last: 02/03/1943 - 02/07/1943

Results:
5 transports, a driftboat and a barge were sunk. Total more than 8.621 brt.

artillery: more than 1.463 brt
12/09/1941 TR "Weidingen" (210 GRT)
12/11/1941 driftboat and barge
01/19/1942 TR "Mimona" (1,147 GRT)
01/19/1942 Trawler "Vaaland" (106 GRT)

minami: 7.158 GRT
09.12.1941. TR "Steinbeck" (2.184 GRT)
03/15/1942. TR "Niccolò Siaffino" (4.974 GRT)

At the end of January 1943, “K-22”, together with the submarine “K-3”, conducted joint exercises at the Kildinsky Reach in order to practice joint actions using the Dragon-129 hydroacoustic equipment. On February 3, 1943, the boats went on a combat mission, from which the K-22 did not return.
On February 7 at 19.00 the boats exchanged messages via audio communication. The acoustician "K-3" heard four loud clicks, after which "K-22" no longer contacted. Presumably, at that moment the boat died as a result of the accident, since no one heard an explosion on the K-3, although it is possible that the K-22 died in a mine.
77 sailors died on the submarine.

Submarine "K-23"

Laid down on February 5, 1938 at plant No. 196 (New Admiralty) in Leningrad.
On April 28, 1939, the boat was launched and on October 25, 1940, "K-23" became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.
On September 17, 1941, the boat was enlisted in the Northern Fleet.

5 combat campaigns:
First: 10/28/1941 - 10/30/1941
Last: 04/29/1942 – 05/12/1942?

Results:
2 torpedo attacks with the release of 6 torpedoes and 1 unauthorized launch of a torpedo due to crew error. No results.

3 mine laying (60 min) in which they died
08.11.41 TR "Flotbek" (1931 GRT) - most likely died in K-1 mines
12/26/41 TR "Oslo" (1994 GRT) - possibly killed by K-1 mines
02/15/42 TR "Birk" (3664 GRT)

3 artillery attacks, as a result of which she was sunk
01/19/42 TR "Serey" (505 GRT)

"K-23" left for its last combat campaign on April 29, 1942. On May 12, 1942, "K-23" attacked an enemy convoy consisting of the transports "Karl Leonhard" (6115 brt) and "Emeland" (5189 brt) while guarding the patrol ships "V-6106", "V-6107" and "V-6108" " and submarine hunters "Uj-1101", "Uj-1109" and "Uj-1110". The torpedoes did not hit the target, but one of them walked along the surface and surfaced at the end of the range. The ships stopped their progress and began to lift the torpedo out of the water. Suddenly, the K-23 unexpectedly rose to the surface and opened ineffective artillery fire on the escort ships of the convoy, to which they also responded with fire from 88-mm guns, firing a total of more than 200 shells. The boat was hit and tried to escape, but was attacked by a Ju-88 aircraft, sank, and the hunters began searching and pursuing the submarine, which lasted more than 3 hours. Gadzhiev (commander of the submarine division) reported on the radio that as a result of a torpedo attack, a transport was sunk, and during an artillery battle, two enemy patrol ships were sunk, the K-23 was damaged and needed immediate assistance. The command gave the go-ahead for the return, but K-23 did not return to base. Along with the ship, its crew - 71 people - also died.

Submarine "S-54"

Laid down on November 24, 1936 at plant No. 194 (named after Marty) in Leningrad. The submarine was delivered in sections by rail to the Far East, where its final assembly was carried out at plant No. 202 (Dalzavod) in Vladivostok. On November 5, 1938, the ship was launched. On December 31, 1940, the submarine entered service, and on January 5, 1941, it became part of the Pacific Fleet.

The ship met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War as part of the 3rd division of the 1st brigade of the Pacific Fleet submarine in Vladivostok.

On October 5, 1942, the S-54 began an inter-naval transoceanic transition from the Pacific Ocean to the Northern Fleet through the Panama Canal. On January 10, the S-54 arrived in England. In Rosyth her battery was replaced, and in Porsmouth she underwent ongoing repairs and installation of sonar and radar. At the end of May, the S-54 left Lervik, and on June 7, 1943, arrived in Polyarnoye, where on the same day it was assigned to the 2nd division of the SF submarine brigade.

5 military campaigns

First: 06/27/1943 - 07/11/1943
Last: 03/05/1944 - ?

1 ineffective torpedo attack. There are no victories.

The S-54 left on its last mission on March 5, 1944. The submarine did not return to base. There were 50 people on board the S-54 at the time of its death.

Submarine "S-55"

It was laid down on November 24, 1936 at plant No. 194 in Leningrad under slipway number 404. The submarine was transported in sections by rail to the Far East, where its final assembly was carried out at plant No. 202 in Vladivostok. On November 27, 1939, the S-55 was launched, on July 25, 1941, it entered service, and on August 22, 1941, it became part of the Pacific Fleet.

On October 5, 1942, paired with the S-54, the submarine began moving to the North along the route: Vladivostok - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Dutch Harbor - San Francisco - Coco Solo - Guantanamo - Halifax - Reykjavik - Greenock - Portsmouth - Rosyth - Lervik - Polar. On March 8, the S-55 arrived in Polyarnoye and on the same day was assigned to the 2nd division of the SF submarine brigade.

4 combat campaigns:

First: 03/28/1943 – 04/03/1943
Last: 12/04/1943 – +

Result: 2 transports sunk (6.089 GRT)

04/29/1943 TR "Sturzsee" (708 brt)
10/12/1943 TR "Ammerland" (5.381 GRT)

On the evening of December 4, the S-55 set out on its last mission. On the morning of December 8, at the mouth of the Tanafjord, an unexploded torpedo hit the stern of the Norwegian ship Valer (1016 GRT). The convoy escort ships did not leave their place in the order, since the submarine attack was discovered too late. The further actions of the S-55 are unknown, the submarine never made contact, and it did not respond to the order to return given to it on the evening of December 21.
It is possible that the skeleton of a submarine discovered in 1996 at the bottom of Cape Sletnes is a mass grave for 52 crew members of the S-55.

Laid down on December 4, 1934 at plant No. 189 (Baltic Shipyard) in Leningrad under slipway number 253 as “Shch-313”. On June 28, 1935, the submarine was launched, on July 17, 1936, it entered service and became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. In the summer of 1938, the submarine moved to the North via the White Sea-Baltic Canal and on June 27, 1937 became part of the Northern Fleet.

7 military campaigns
First: 06/22/1941 – 07/02/1941
Last: 04/11/1942 – ?

Result: 1 ship sunk (1.359 GRT)
04/23/1942 TR "Shtensaas" (1.359 GRT)

Shch-401 set out on its last mission on the night of April 11, 1942. On April 18, by order of the command, she moved to the North Cape. On the afternoon of April 19, off Cape Omgang, the Forbach tanker was unsuccessfully attacked by a submarine. The minesweepers M-154 and M-251 accompanying the convoy conducted an anti-submarine search and dropped 13 depth charges at the supposed location of the submarine. The second time “Shch-401” announced itself on the morning of April 23, when at Cape Sletnes, as a result of a torpedo hit, the Norwegian transport “Stensaas” (1359 brt) mobilized by the Germans sank to the bottom with a cargo of military equipment for Kirkenes. On April 23, Shch-401 made contact with a report of two attacks using all torpedoes in the bow torpedo tubes.

This was the last report from the Shch-401. She did not respond to further calls with an order to return.

Together with Shch-401, 43 sailors died.

Guards Red Banner submarine "Shch-402"

The submarine was laid down on December 4, 1934 at the Baltic Shipyard No. 189 in Leningrad (serial number 254). Launched June 28, 1935. Should have received its own name "Tiger". On October 1, 1936, she became part of the ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet under the number Shch-314.
In May 1937, the boat was put into a floating dock in preparation for passage to the Barents Sea.
On May 16, 1937, she was enlisted in the 2nd division of the Northern Fleet submarine brigade under the number Shch-402.
On May 28, 1937, she left Leningrad, passed along the White Sea-Baltic Canal and in September 1937 arrived at the port of Polyarny.

On June 22, 1941, it was included in the 3rd division of the Northern Fleet submarine brigade.

During the first combat campaign on July 14, 1941, Shch-402 penetrated Porsangerfjord and from a distance of 14-15 cables torpedoed the German steamer Hanau with a displacement of 3 thousand tons anchored in the port of Honningsvåg, the first of the Northern Fleet submarines to successfully attack enemy transport.
During the war, the boat made 15 more military campaigns, sank the German patrol ship NM01 “Vandale” and the coasting steamer “Vesteraalen” with a displacement of 682 tons.

In the evening of September 17, 1944, she left the base for her last combat campaign.

On September 21, 1944, at 6:42 a.m., the crew of the Boston torpedo bomber of the 36th mine-torpedo aviation regiment of the Northern Fleet attacked and sank a surface object with a torpedo. After analyzing the photographs of the photo-machine gun, it was concluded that he mistook the Shch-402, which was on the surface at sea, for an enemy boat and, in violation of the order prohibiting aviation from attacking any submarines, dropped a torpedo from a distance of 600 meters, as a result of which the explosion sank it. the entire crew (44 sailors) died.

Submarine "Shch-403"

The boat was laid down on December 25, 1934 at plant No. 189 "Baltic Shipyard" in Leningrad under construction number 261 and the name Shch-315, and launched on December 31, 1935. It was supposed to assign the name "Jaguar". On September 26, 1936, she entered service and became part of the Baltic Fleet of the USSR Navy.
On May 16, 1937, the ship received the name Shch-403, in May-June it was transferred via the White Sea-Baltic Canal to the Northern Fleet, and on June 19 it became part of the 2nd submarine division of the Northern Fleet.

In total, during the war years, the Shch-403 made 14 combat campaigns, spending 165 days in them, carried out 11 torpedo attacks with the release of 37 torpedoes, and did not achieve any targets.

On 10/13/1943 she unsuccessfully attacked a convoy at Cape Makkaur, after which the boat did not make contact.

43 sailors died along with the boat.

Red Banner submarine "Shch-421"

Laid down on November 20, 1934 at plant No. 112 (Krasnoye Sormovo), Gorky, from parts manufactured at the Kolomna Machine-Building Plant named after. Kuibyshev under the designation "Shch-313". Launched on May 12, 1935. On December 5, 1937, she became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. On May 19, 1939, she began transferring to the Northern Fleet via the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and on June 21, 1939 she became part of it.

6 military campaigns
First: 06/22/1941 - 07/08/1941
Last: 03/20/1942 - 04/09/1942

Results:
1 transport sunk (2.975 GRT)
02/05/1942 TR "Consul Schulze" (2.975 brt)

At 20.58 on April 3, 1942, when the Shch-421 was in the Lakse Fjord area at a depth of 15 meters, the boat hit a mine. The boat surfaced, the conning hatch was opened and the horizon was examined. An attempt to give the Shch-421 a turn was unsuccessful. After making sure that the boat could not be moved, the commander decided to ask the base for help. The submarines "K-2" and "K-22" were sent to the scene of the accident. "Shch-421" was inexorably drifting towards the enemy shore. Then, at the suggestion of assistant commander A.M. Kautsky, two canvas covers from diesel engines were raised like sails on periscopes. By morning, visibility improved, and the sails had to be removed and the boat moved into a positional position, since the enemy shore was only 8 miles away. In the event of an enemy appearance, "Shch-421" was prepared for an explosion, but at about 11 o'clock on April 9, "K-22" discovered an emergency boat. Attempts to tow the Shch-421 were unsuccessful: the towing ends were torn, the bollards were torn out, and an attempt to tow the boat with a log also did not lead to success. At 13.34 an enemy plane appeared, noticed the boats and began dropping signal flares. In order not to put people at unnecessary risk, the crew was removed from the "Shch-421", and the boat itself was sunk by a torpedo from the "K-22" at 70.12 north; 26.22 ind. 12 seconds after the torpedo hit, the Shch-421 disappeared under water. The crews escorted the boat with their heads naked.

Guards submarine "Shch-422"

The boat was laid down on December 15, 1934 at plant No. 112 "Krasnoe Sormovo" in Gorky from parts manufactured at the Kolomna plant named after Kuibyshev under construction number 84 and the name Shch-314, and launched on April 12, 1935. On December 5, 1937 it entered service, on December 6 it became part of the Baltic Fleet of the USSR Navy. In May-June 1939 it was transferred via the White Sea-Baltic Canal to the Northern Fleet, on June 17, 1939 it received the name Shch-422, and on June 21 it became part of the 3rd submarine division of the Northern Fleet.

During the Great Patriotic War, Shch-422 made 15 combat cruises, spent 223 days at sea, and made 18 torpedo attacks with the release of 42 torpedoes. On July 25, 1943 she was awarded the title of Guards.

On September 2, 1941, the German transport Ottar Jarl (1,459 GRT) was sunk by a single torpedo.
On September 12, 1941, a single torpedo hit the anchored transport Tanahorn and did not explode.
On January 26, 1942, the crew of a Norwegian motorboat was captured, and the abandoned ship was sunk by artillery.

Shch-422 went on its last mission on June 30, 1943. There was no contact.
44 sailors died along with the boat.

Submarine V-1
(formerly British "Sunfish")

The submarine was laid down on July 22, 1935 at the Chatheim Dock Yard, Chatham, UK. On September 30, 1936, the submarine was launched, on March 13, 1937, it entered service and on July 2 became part of the British Navy under the name “Sunfish”.

According to agreements in Tehran at the end of 1943, “Sunfish” was intended to be transferred to the Soviet Union as part of the division of the Italian fleet. On April 10 (according to other sources, March 9), 1944, the submarine was enlisted in the Navy of the USSR under the designation “B-1”. On May 30, 1944, a solemn ceremony took place in Rosyth to hand over the ship to the Soviet crew, which arrived in the UK as part of convoy RA-59, and was formed from sailors of the submarine L-20.

On July 25, the submarine arrived in Lervik, from where in the evening of the same day it left for Polyarnoye, but did not arrive there.

According to the main version of the death of the B-1, it is believed that the submarine deviated from the recommended course and became the victim of an erroneous attack by a Liberator aircraft of the 18th air group of the RAF Coastal Command on the morning of July 27, 1944, 300 miles north of the Shetland Islands (64°34 "N/01°16"W, according to other data 64°31"N/01°16"W).
51 people died along with the ship.

Submarine "M-106" "Leninsky Komsomol"

Laid down at plant No. 112 (Krasnoe Sormovo) in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) on October 29, 1940 under slipway number 303. On April 10, 1941, the ship was launched. At the beginning of December 1942, the submarine moved to Polyarnoye and was included in the Separate Training Division, where it was completed, conducted acceptance tests and completed combat training tasks. On April 28, 1943, the M-106 entered service and on May 11 became part of the 4th division of the Northern Fleet submarine. Since the completion of the ship was carried out with funds raised by Komsomol members and youth of the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy dated April 28, 1943, “M-106” was given the name “Leninsky Komsomol”.

3 combat campaigns:
First: 05/13/1943 – 05/16/1943
Last: 06/30/1943 – +

The third combat campaign was the last for the M-106. On the afternoon of June 30, the submarine went on a mission, did not make contact and did not return to base. 23 sailors died along with the submarine.

Submarine "M-108"

Laid down on October 30, 1940 at plant No. 112 (Krasnoe Sormovo) in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) under slipway number 305 and launched on April 16, 1942. On November 21, 1942, the ship was loaded onto a railway transporter and sent to Murmansk, where it arrived on November 29. On January 9, 1943, the submarine was launched a second time. On August 24, 1943, the M-108 officially became part of the Northern Fleet.

3 combat campaigns:
First: 12/29/1943 – 01/06/1944
Last: 02/21/1944 – ?

1 unsuccessful torpedo attack.

The M-108 entered its last combat campaign on the night of February 21, 1944. She never got in touch and never returned to the base. On the M-108, 23 crew members went to sea on its last voyage.

Submarine "M-121"

Laid down on May 28, 1940 at plant No. 112 (Krasnoe Sormovo) in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) under slipway number 290. On August 19, 1941, the submarine of the year was launched; but outfitting work on the ship was stopped, since from July 1 the plant, by decree of the State Defense Committee, completely switched to the production of T-34 tanks. Having a high degree of readiness, the submarine was transferred to Astrakhan before the freeze-up, and then to Baku, where at the shipyard named after. The Trans-Federation carried out the final completion of the ship.

In the spring of 1942, the M-121 entered service, and on April 10, 1942, it became part of the Caspian military flotilla. Already in May 1942, the submarine was being prepared for shipment to the Northern Fleet and was transferred back to Gorky. There, the submarine was installed on a railway transporter and sent to Molotovsk on June 12, where the M-121 arrived safely on June 18, 1942. On June 30, when the submarine began to be launched, due to imperfections in the launching device, it came off the skids and stopped with a large list. It was only on the third attempt that the M-121 was launched on July 15. On August 12, 1942, the M-121 entered service for the second time and was assigned to the 4th submarine division of the Northern Fleet.

On September 30, “M-121” moved from Arkhangelsk to Polyarnoye. After completing a combat training course on the evening of October 14, the M-121 went out on its first combat mission.

2 military campaigns.
14.10.1942 – 21.10.1942
07.11.1942 – ?

There are no victories.

The second combat campaign was the last for the M-121. On the afternoon of November 7, the submarine left Polyarnoye. Subsequently, the submarine did not make contact and did not return to base; On November 14, she did not respond to the order to return.
21 people died on the M-121.

Submarine "M-122"

Laid down on May 28, 1940 under slipway number 291 at plant number 112 (Krasnoe Sormovo) in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). On February 12, 1941, the submarine was launched, but due to the outbreak of war in September 1941, work on it was stopped, and before the freeze-up it was transferred for completion to Baku (according to other sources, to Kamyshin). In May 1942, the submarine was again transferred to Gorky to prepare for shipment to the Northern Fleet and on June 15 was sent by rail to plant No. 402 in Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk), where it arrived safely on June 23. On August 1, 1942, the M-122 was launched a second time, and on November 25, 1942 it became part of the Northern Fleet.

4 combat campaigns

First: 03/13/1943 – 03/17/1943
Last: 05/12/1943 – 05/14/1943.

3 torpedo attacks. (6 torpedoes fired).
03/16/1943. TR "Johanisberger" (4467 GRT), severely damaged, sank soon.

On the evening of May 12, the M-122 set out on its last combat mission. On the morning of May 14, while moving from a position to a maneuver base in Tsyp-Navolok Bay to charge M-122 batteries at a point 69°56"N, 32°53"E. was attacked and sunk by bombs from two Fw-190 aircraft from 14/JG5 (according to other sources, it was attacked by three Bf-109 fighter-bombers). Three hours later, the patrol boats “MO No. 122” and “MO No. 123”, which approached the site of the sinking of the submarine, picked up the corpse of the assistant commander, senior lieutenant I.I., from the water. Ilyin with shrapnel wounds to the head and arm.
22 crew members died on the M-122.

Guards Red Banner submarine "M-172"

Laid down on June 17, 1936 under slipway number 89 at plant number 196 in Leningrad as "M-88". On July 23, 1937, the submarine was launched, on December 11, 1937, it entered service and on December 25, 1937, it became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

On May 19, 1939, the submarine left along the White Sea-Baltic Canal to the North. On June 16, the ship was given the designation “M-172” and on June 21, it became part of the Northern Fleet.

20 military campaigns.
First: 07/11/1941 – 07/20/1941
Last: 10/01/1943 – +

13 torpedo attacks, 1 SKR sunk.
02/01/1943 TFR “V-6115”.

The submarine set off on its last combat mission on the evening of October 1, 1943. It should operate in the Varanger Fjord in tandem with the M-105, replacing it in positions on even numbers. No one saw the M-172 again.
23 sailors died on board.

Submarine "M-173"

Laid down on June 27, 1936 under slipway number 90 at plant number 196 in Leningrad as "M-89". On October 9, 1937, the submarine was launched, on June 22, 1938, it entered service and on the same day became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. On May 19, 1939, the ship left along the White Sea-Baltic Canal to the North. On June 16, the submarine was given the designation “M-173”, and on June 21 it became part of the 4th division of the Northern Fleet submarine brigade.

13 military campaigns:

First: 08/04/1941 – 08/05/1941
Last: 08/06/1942 – +
4 torpedo attacks.

04/22/1942 sunk by TR "Blankensee" (3236 GRT)

On the evening of August 6, "M-173" left for operations in the area northwest of Vardø. On the evening of August 14, they were waiting for her in Polyarny, but the submarine never responded to the order to return, transmitted the day before. On August 16, the receiving radio center of the Northern Fleet noted signs of operation of the “baby” transmitter, but the text of the message could not be deciphered. On August 16 and 17, planes flying along the route of the submarine’s probable return did not find anything; on August 17, the submarine’s fuel autonomy expired.
Along with the submarine, 21 members of its crew remained at sea forever.

Guards submarine "M-174"

Laid down on May 29, 1937 under slipway number 105 at plant number 196 in Leningrad as M-91. On October 12, 1937, the submarine was launched. On May 19, 1939, the submarine left along the White Sea-Baltic Canal to the North. On June 16, the ship was given the designation “M-174” and on June 21 it became part of the Northern Fleet.

17 military campaigns.
First: 07/01/1941 – 07/12/1941
Last: 10/14/1943 – ?

3 torpedo attacks. Sank 1 German transport (4301 GRT).
12/21/1941 TR "Emshoern" (4301 brt)

On August 12, 1943, the M-174 entered service after emergency repairs. On the evening of October 14, she again reached a position in Varangerfjord and went missing.
25 sailors died on the submarine

Submarine "M-175"

Laid down on May 29, 1937 at plant No. 196 (Sudomekh) in Leningrad under slipway number 106 as “M-92”. Launched October 12, 1937; On June 21, 1938, the submarine became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and officially entered service on September 29, 1938. On May 19, 1939, the submarine began its passage along the White Sea Canal to the North, and on June 21 it became part of the Northern Fleet under the designation “M-175”.

There were 5 military campaigns during the Great Patriotic War

First: 07/06/1941 – 07/20/1941
Last: 01/08/1942 – +

On the morning of January 8, 1942, she set out on her last campaign. On the morning of January 10, she became a victim of torpedoes from the German submarine U-584 (commanded by Lieutenant Commander Joachim Decke) in the area north of the Rybachy Peninsula, at 70°09"N/31°50"E.

"M-175" became the first submarine of the Northern Fleet not to return from a combat campaign in the Great Patriotic War.
Along with the submarine, 21 crew members of the submarine died.

Submarine "M-176"

Laid down on May 29, 1937 at plant No. 196 (New Admiralty) in Leningrad under slipway number 107 as "M-93". On October 12, 1937, the ship was launched, and on June 21, 1938, it became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

On May 19, 1939, the M-93 began its passage along the White Sea-Baltic Canal to the North and on June 21, 1939, became part of the Northern Fleet. On June 16, the ship received the designation “M-176”.

During the Great Patriotic War, the M-176 made 16 military campaigns:
First: 06/22/1941 – 07/01/1941
Last: 06/20/1942 – +

7 ineffective torpedo attacks (12 torpedoes fired)

On the afternoon of June 20, 1942, the M-176 set out on its last mission. On June 28, she did not respond to orders to return to base. The circumstances of the boat's death have not yet been clarified.
Along with the M-176, its entire crew, 21 people, also died.

I deliberately did not give the names of the captains. The sea made everyone equal: officers, foremen, sailors. And boats with crews are like soldiers: some managed to kill the enemy before death, others did not.

War is a terrible thing. Everyone is scared. An infantryman rising to attack towards the growling barrels of machine guns, an artilleryman taking aim at enemy tanks and realizing that this is the last shot, a gunner in an airplane looking through the sight at attacking enemy fighters, an anti-aircraft gunner pointing the barrel of an anti-aircraft machine gun towards diving Junkers, a tankman attacking enemy positions under fire from anti-tank guns... But each of these fighters has at least a ghostly chance of surviving if defeated by the enemy. A wounded infantryman can take cover behind a fold of terrain, a pilot can use a parachute, an anti-aircraft gunner has a gap... And everyone can count on the help of their comrades. Even an infantryman killed in an attack or a tanker burned out could count on the fact that his surviving comrades would tell their relatives that “Your son died in battle...”

The submariners didn’t even have a slim chance. The rescued crew from Shch-421 is a rare exception. The rest had to die in cramped dark compartments filled with icy arctic water, trying until the last second to stop this flow, in an attempt to push another breath of life-giving air into the lungs burned by battery acid vapors. Knowing that they won’t come to help. The cold polar waters became a mass grave for submariners. Somewhere over the horizon. They are even denied much memory. Ships do not lower their flags, do not sound their horns, and do not throw wreaths into the dark waters. Because the sea, unfortunately, knows how to keep its secrets.

It may seem to some that the list of victories of submariners of lost boats is more than modest. Moreover, many did not win a single victory at all. But it seems to me that this is not just a difficult matter - actually blindly (10 degrees of periscope view), taking into account a bunch of components, to hit a moving (and probably maneuvering) ship with a torpedo. In arctic conditions. It's not just difficult. Nevertheless, they went and did their job. Some are better, some are worse. And this did not always depend on the rank and title of the commanders. Gadzhiev and Fisanovich were Heroes of the Soviet Union, the most experienced sailors. What is done is done. Thanks to them. And all that remains for us is memory.

I don’t know how anyone feels, but all this goes beyond my personal understanding. I can’t really imagine what kind of person you have to be to go off on missions like they do, understanding everything perfectly. Suicide bombers? I don’t know... In my opinion, the penalty box had more chances. So all I can do is remind them of them, express my deepest admiration for all the submariners, both those who died and those who survived. Which is exactly what I do.

Information sources:
http://www.town.ural.ru
http://www.forum-tvs.ru

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submarine X series

    Laid down on December 4, 1934 at plant No. 189 (Baltic Shipyard) in Leningrad under slipway number 254 as “Shch-314”. On June 28, 1935, the ship was launched, on September 23, 1936, it entered service and on September 29, 1936, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Bakunin Boris Konstantinovich became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. In April 1936, the submarine was supposed to be named Tiger.

    On May 16, 1937, the submarine was given the designation “Shch-402” and on May 28 it began its transition to the North along the White Sea-Baltic Canal. On June 30, 1937, the submarine became part of the Northern Fleet.

Submarine "Shch-402" in the summer of 1937 - autumn of 1939.

    In mid-February 1938, Shch-402, together with the submarines D-3, Shch-404 and the destroyer Karl Liebknecht, provided communications during the operation to rescue the polar explorers of the SP-1 station. The voyage took place in the area of ​​Bear Island in difficult conditions of a winter storm and polar night. On February 19, four members of the polar expedition led by I.D. Papanin, after a 274-day drift, was removed from the ice floe by the icebreakers Taimyr and Murman, and the supporting ships were ordered to return to base.

    On April 18-29, 1939, "Shch-402" together with the submarines "Shch-403", "Shch-404" and "D-2" supported the non-stop flight of the aircraft "TsKB-30" (which bore its own name " Moscow"; prototype of the "DB-3" bomber) crewed by V.K. Kokkinaki to North America along the route Moscow - Novgorod - Helsinki - Trondheim - Iceland - Cape Farwell - Miskow Island.

    On October 29, 1939, senior lieutenant was appointed acting commander of Shch-402 Stolbov Nikolay Guryevich. He finally took over the case only in mid-December; the submarine was probably commanded for some time by its former commander, Lieutenant Commander Bakunin.

    The Shch-402 met the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish War at sea near Vardø with the task of preventing foreign warships from penetrating the Varanger Fjord and the Rybachy Peninsula. The use of weapons against them was permitted only after receiving the “Shot” radio signal. Entering Norwegian territorial waters was prohibited, but the submarine commander was given the right to destroy the enemy by going beyond his position. For Shch-402, this maneuvering zone was 6 miles to the west and south. Soon after the opening of hostilities, the submarine was recalled from its position, and the next patrol, which took place under the support of the commander of the 2nd submarine division, captain 3rd rank I.A. Kolyshkina in the area of ​​Cape North Cape - Tana Fjord, left only on January 28, 1940. While still on the way to the area of ​​operation, the submarine discovered intensive movement of Norwegian vessels and ships. Already in the first hours of January 29, in the Vardø area, the submarine met an unknown patrol ship without lights heading north, and a few hours later - a patrol boat. On January 31, in the Makkaur area, a submarine under the shore spotted a single transport heading north-west. In the following days, several more ships were discovered in the Tanafjord area. On February 2, near Svertholfhavn, the submarine had to evade by diving from an aircraft flying at an altitude of 400-500 m in the direction from the North Cape to Laksefjord. In the early morning of February 5, Shch-402 discovered two unknown ships, and in the afternoon, off the Laksefjord, floating under the periscope, the Norwegian coastal defense battleship Norge, initially mistaken for the Finnish Vainamoinen, was observed at a distance of 5-6 kbt. Since the target was identified in a timely manner, the attack was not carried out, but the submariners were able to see the largest ship of the Norwegian Navy from close range shortly before its death. The battleship heading northwest was encountered again the next day. Based on the observations of Shch-402, it was concluded that near Vardø and in the North Cape - Nordkin area, the Norwegians carry out patrol duty with warships, and they use the Porsangerfjord as a maneuver base. On the evening of February 7, "Shch-402" headed for Polyarnoye, during the combat campaign it covered 1264 miles on the surface and 177 miles under water.

    Before the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed in Moscow on March 12, 1940, Shch-402 managed to conduct another patrol in the Vardø area. Having taken a position on February 23, on the evening of March 3, the submarine discovered the lights of two unknown ships heading in the wake and turning directly towards it. The submarine sank and went to a depth of 25 m. After surfacing two hours later, it again discovered unknown ships maneuvering in the same area and turning on searchlights from time to time. The submarine sank again, reappearing on the surface only two and a half hours later. The unknown ships were no longer there, and the submarine itself ended up in a cluster of Norwegian fishing vessels.

    On March 13, "Shch-402" completed its combat campaign, arriving at the base; by this time the "Winter War" had ended.

    On June 22, 1941, the submarine met Nikolai Guryevich Stolbov under the command of senior lieutenant (later captain-lieutenant, captain 3rd rank) as part of the 3rd division of the SF submarine brigade in Murmansk at the slip of the People's Commissariat of the Fishing Industry plant, where it completed current repairs, which was started on April 17. The outbreak of war forced the urgent completion of repair work, and on June 23 the ship entered service.

    Already the first combat campaign of the Great Patriotic War became triumphant for the Shch-402. The submarine left Polyarnoye on the morning of July 10 to operate at position No. 3 in the Porsangerfjord area. In the afternoon, near Cape Tsyp-Navolok, the submarine was attacked by a German plane, inflicting its first combat damage - several holes in the superstructure and the wheelhouse fence. In the first hours of July 12, Shch-402 arrived in the designated area. Having found nothing, on the afternoon of July 14, the submarine penetrated the South Honningsvag roadstead, where a large ship (3,000 tons, according to submariners’ estimates) was anchored. Having approached the target at a distance of 14-15 kbt, the submarine fired two torpedoes at the transport. The enemy did not react to the attack, but, despite the fact that there was no pursuit, the submarine did not visually observe the result of the torpedo launch, limiting itself to only hearing two explosions. However, this fact did not become an obstacle to the winning report. The combat account of the North Sea submariners was formally opened, although the attacked transport Hanau (5892 brt) escaped damage. The Germans observed an explosion on the rocks of one of the torpedoes, the second jumped ashore and on July 22 was delivered by them to Trondheim for study.

    Commander of the 4th submarine, captain 3rd rank N.I. Morozov and the commander of “Shch-402”, senior lieutenant N.G. Stolbov. Polyarny, summer 1941

    Target of attack "Shch-402" July 14, 1941 steamship "Hanau" (1921, 5892 brt).
Built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg for the Hamburg company Deutsche Australische Dampfschiffs Gesellschaft, since 1926 owned by HAPAG, Hamburg. Killed by a mine on January 30, 1944 in the Fehmarn Belt.

    Continuing to remain in the area of ​​operations until the morning of July 23, "Shch-402" several more times (at night, in the morning and evening of July 15, in the morning of July 16, in the evening of July 22 and in the morning of July 23) had the opportunity to launch an attack against single ships, but the submarine commander Each time he refused to launch torpedoes, citing the low density of the batteries or suspecting that the target was a decoy ship. On the evening of July 24, "Shch-402" arrived in Polyarnoye, where a ceremonial meeting was organized for the submariners.

    The command’s hopes that the Shch-402 crew would prove themselves again in the next combat campaign were not justified. On the afternoon of August 7, the submarine left to service position No. 5 (Vardo - Bosfjord); on the morning of August 8, near Syltefjord, she began patrolling the area. On the morning of August 10, "Shch-402" on the surface was discovered by the destroyer "Richard Beitzen", which was leaving after a raid by a group of German ships at the mouth of the Kola Bay (during which the patrol ship "Tuman" was sunk). The destroyer opened fire, but the submarine managed to dive. The Germans did not have time to pursue the submarine; the ship was damaged by close explosions of Soviet aircraft bombs. Another meeting with German destroyers took place on the morning of August 14 (these were Karl Galster and Hermann Schoemann), but the submarine was unable to attack them due to improper maneuvering. For the same reason, the attack on the convoy two days earlier failed.

    On the afternoon of August 15, Shch-402 began an early return to base, since, according to the submarine commander, the ship could not be at sea due to water passing through the diesel gas outlet valve. When approaching its shore, as a result of a navigator’s error, it turned out that the submarine had a mismatch of 29 miles; and instead of the Kildin-Vostochny lighthouse, she ended up at Cape Sharapov (the eastern coast of the Rybachy Peninsula). Fortunately, the submarine was not attacked by its own patrols or coastal batteries, and by the evening of August 16 it arrived safely in Polyarnoye.

    When inspecting the Shch-402 at the base, the command came to the conclusion that the submarine could well have been in position with such a malfunction, and this was simply a reason for an early return from the sea. By order of the Commander of the Northern Fleet, the ship's commander was arrested for 10 days while performing his duties, and the military commander, senior political instructor A.B. Kochergin was severely reprimanded. However, they still preferred to change the commissioner; on August 27, political instructor N.A. was appointed to the submarine. Dolgopolov, and A.B. Kochergin was written off for the Pushkin mine blocker (until the end of the war he continued to serve in the mine and torpedo department of the Northern Fleet).

    At the end of August - beginning of September, "Shch-402" patrolled in the Porsangerfjord area (position No. 3). The submarine launched attacks three times, but each time, and the submariners were convinced of this for themselves, the torpedoes stubbornly refused to hit the target. On the afternoon of August 27, northwest of Cape Nordkin, a transport from the convoy was unsuccessfully attacked; on the morning of August 29 and evening of August 31, northeast of Cape Sverholt-Klubben, torpedoes also passed by a tugboat and a fairly large (2500 - 3000 tons) tanker. While in position and during the transition to the area of ​​operation, the submarine was forced to urgently dive away from enemy aircraft 15 times. Twice planes attacked the submarine; in the first case, a bomb was dropped on it to no avail; in the second (September 1), the submarine was fired upon by machine-gun and cannon fire and received 11 holes in its light hull.

    On September 7-8, "Shch-402" was caught in a strong storm. The ship's roll reached 42 degrees, as a result of which electrolyte spilled out of 13 battery tanks. Due to a sharp decrease in battery isolation and the established full hull communication on the morning of September 9, the submarine commander again decided to return to base ahead of schedule, although in such conditions other submarines remained at sea. At the end of September 10, "Shch-402" arrived in Polyarnoye.

    The October campaign of "Shch-402" finally brought real combat results. On the evening of October 3, the submarine headed to the area of ​​position No. 2 for operations in the so-called Lopp Sea, the space between the islands of Sere, Lopp and Fugle. During the transition, the submarine encountered a storm and waited out it in the charging area until October 10.

    Having started patrolling, "Shch-402" discovered active shipping. Not a day passed without encounters with both individual ships and convoys and enemy warships, but each time the attacks on them were frustrated for various reasons. Finally, by the evening of October 17, in the western part of the Serø Sund Strait, Shch-402 discovered a loaded 4,000-ton transport guarded by a minesweeper. Four torpedoes were fired at the target in a new way “with a time interval” from a distance of only 6 kbt, and 40 seconds later the submariners watched as the explosion tore the ship to pieces. The victim of the Shch-402 was the Norwegian coastal steamer Vesteraalen (682 GRT), which was transporting piece cargo and 37 passengers from Tromsø to Hammerfest. All 60 people on board were killed. After the salvo, the submarine could not stay at depth, showing the wheelhouse and upper deck above the surface of the water, and then, due to a personnel error, fell to a depth of 115 m. Fortunately, the German patrol boats Uj-1213 and Uj-1416 approached the place the sinking of the ship only 40 minutes after the sinking of the ship. The hunters limited themselves to dropping a few depth charges at a safe distance from the submarine. "Shch-402" remained in position until the evening of October 25, but did not meet anyone else. On the afternoon of October 28, the submarine arrived in Polyarnoye.

    Against the background of the victorious reports of a number of submarines of the Northern Fleet (for example, “D-3” and “M-172” had already announced three destroyed targets by this time), the torpedoing of the small steamer “Vesteraalen” looks rather pale. The command reproached the commander of "Shch-402" for making a number of mistakes that reduced combat success and lack of persistence when launching an attack. Meanwhile, “Vesteraalen” became the second real victory of North Sea submariners.

    The fourth combat campaign of "Shch-402" took place within position No. 4a. On the morning of November 15, the submarine set off for the Kongsfjord area - Cape Makkaur. During the entire time we were in the area of ​​​​operations, we managed to encounter the enemy only twice, but due to the large heading angle, no torpedoes were launched. On the evening of December 5, the submarine arrived in Polyarnoye, where it was laid up. The old battery installed in June 1939 had practically exhausted its service life, and there was nowhere to get a new one; Leningrad plant manufacturing the product. Lieutenant Schmidt was under blockade. While waiting for new batteries, on December 15, the submarine began navigation repairs at the Krasny Horn floating workshop, and only on February 8, 1942, it entered service with a new battery.

    Shch-402 opened the 1942 campaign with a march to the area of ​​Cape Nordkin (position No. 3). On the evening of February 21, the submarine went to sea, having on board the senior instructor of the Political Directorate of the Northern Fleet, battalion commissar S.S. Shakhova. Arriving at the position in the first hours of February 24, Shch-402 already carried out two covert attacks on convoys on February 27. The first attack was carried out ten minutes after noon. Its target was a large ship weighing 8,000 tons as part of a convoy (5 transports, 4 escort ships) heading east. The Germans did not notice the attack, but recorded an explosion on the submarine, which gave reason to believe that the target had been hit. Three hours later, 3 miles north of Cape Sverholt-Klubben, Shch-402 attacked the return convoy. Two torpedoes were launched at one of six transports, estimated by submariners at 6,000 tons, guarded by six ships. There was no pursuit of the submarine, but this time two explosions recorded by the submariners indicated that the target had been hit. Shch-402 destroyed the patrol ship Vandale, killing 24 German sailors.

    The submarine carried out another attack on two minesweepers, which in fact turned out to be a pair of submarine hunters “Uj-1102” and “Uj-1105” on the evening of March 3 in the Kjellefjord area. One torpedo was fired at the lead ship from a distance of 4-5 kbt. A minute later, the submariners recorded an explosion, but they did not have the opportunity to visually monitor the result of the attack; the enemy, noticing the presence of the submarine, began pursuit. Within an hour, anti-submarine ships dropped 16 depth charges on the Shch-402 (the submariners counted 42 explosions), as a result of which the horizontal rudders on the submarine jammed several times, part of the lighting failed, and through the weakened rivets of the Boolean fuel and ballast tanks overboard Solarium began to ooze. By nightfall, the submarine managed to break away from the enemy ships and surface.

    At the end of March 7, “Shch-402” received an order to occupy the area 71°08 N, 23°10 E. (position “B”) to cover the allied convoy “PQ-12”. Early in the morning of March 9, the submarine arrived at the site, but then it was discovered that the diesel fuel oozing from the damaged tanks No. 3 and No. 4 was leaving an unmasking trail behind its stern. Believing that the fuel supply (at least 10-15 tons) in the fuel tanks would be sufficient, the submarine commander ordered diesel fuel to be blown into the sea from the damaged ballast tanks. However, on the morning of March 10, when, by order of a mechanical engineer, the fuel in the internal tanks was measured, it turned out that its reserve was only 3.5 tons, which was not enough to move to the base even by economic means. The submarine turned to Polyarnoye, but after 11 hours it got up without fuel and drifted at 71°30 N, 24°49 E. 30 miles northwest of the North Cape, which was reported to the command. On the night of March 11, the submarine D-3, which was located at a neighboring position 40-60 miles northwest of the emergency submarine, was sent to help Shch-402. In addition, without completing inter-trip repairs in the evening, the K-21 left Polyarny on one diesel engine (the second was assembled during the transition) at full surface speed. While help was coming, the Shch-402 crew, having created a mixture of engine oil and drained kerosene from the remaining torpedoes, was able to give the ship a speed of 4 knots. After 37.5 hours, this “cocktail” ended, and the submarine again drifted at 71°28 N, 31°47 E.

    Meanwhile, the submarine "D-3" received an order to return to position, and "K-21", having arrived in the indicated area on the afternoon of March 12 and not finding "Shch-402", began searching for it in a square with sides of 40 miles . Finally, having received updated data on the location of the damaged submarine, on the afternoon of March 13, K-21 discovered Shch-402 at 71°25 N, 32°48 E. After the submarines exchanged identification, K-21 moored to the side of Shch-402 and began pumping fuel. The diesel fuel was supplied through a hose, one end of which was connected to the aft fire horn in the Katyusha superstructure, and the other, through the open conning hatch of the Pike, to the open neck of its internal fuel tank. In an hour, with the help of a bilge pump, 8 tons of diesel fuel were supplied to the emergency submarine; 120 liters of oil were transferred by hand in rubber buckets. In case of a sudden appearance of the enemy, all the weapons of the submarines were brought into immediate action, and soldiers with axes stood on the mooring lines to ensure an urgent dive.

    After transferring the fuel, the submarine trimmed and independently headed to the base. On the evening of March 14, Shch-402 arrived in Polyarnoye. Already in the database it became clear that the reason for the unauthorized depletion of the internal tanks was the shut-off valve for replacing diesel fuel in the external tank that was incorrectly assembled during repairs. While the submarine was undergoing navigational repairs and dry-docking in Murmansk, on April 3, by a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “... for the exemplary execution of combat missions of the Command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the valor and courage shown,” the ship was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

    On the night of May 3, Shch-402 reached an area 140 miles north of Kildin Island. This time, the submarine’s task was not to fight on enemy communications, but to act against enemy submarines on the approaches to the mouth of the Kola Bay. The patrol was accompanied by the presence of large accumulations of coarse ice on the surface of the water and took place underwater. The ice was the reason that the campaign ended as soon as it began. On the evening of May 5, the officer on watch, despite the commander’s prohibition, surfaced to a depth of 7 m, and the submarine collided with an ice floe, breaking the anti-aircraft periscope and cutting off the antenna struts. "Shch-402" had no choice but to turn to the base and arrive in Polyarnoye by the evening of May 7.

    After repairs were carried out at the end of May - the first half of June 1942, the submarine patrolled in the area northwest of Vardø (position No. 5). On the morning of June 2, north of Cape Harbacken, the submarine discovered a large convoy and, from a distance of 16 kbt, launched a torpedo attack on a large ship that was sailing at the head of the column. After launching the torpedoes, the submarine took a course of retreat from the enemy and did not observe the result of the attack, but 2 minutes 5 seconds after the launch of the first torpedo it recorded an explosion, followed by a second, and 8 seconds after the first - a third; the target was considered hit. The submarine was not pursued; the convoy, not noticing the submarine’s attack, continued moving. "Shch-402" was in position until the middle of the day on June 15 (arrived in Polyarnoye by the morning of June 16). During this time, the submariners twice had encounters with enemy ships, but each time the attack was frustrated due to the inability to keep the boat at depth with a large wave, or a large distance to the target.

    Crew members of the submarine "Shch-402"; (from left to right): foreman of the bilge group midshipman S.D. Kukushkin, commander of the gunner squad, foreman of the 2nd Art. A.P. Novikov, foreman of the electricians group, midshipman S.S. Semenov, electrician, Red Navy man E.F. Parfenyev, helmsman of the Red Navy P.V. Besedin, commander of the torpedo squad, foreman of the 2nd Art. A.S. Melnikov, commander of the engine mechanics squad, foreman of the 2nd Art. DI. Novak, foreman of the radio-acoustic group, foreman of the 1st Art. N.K. Khromeev and the commander of the torpedo squad, foreman of the 2nd Art. E.D. Ivashov. Polyarny, July 23-24, 1942

    Assistant commander of the submarine "Shch-402" captain-lieutenant Sorokin Konstantin Nikitich. In the background with a flag is the foreman of the bilge group, midshipman S.D. Kukushkin.

    Crew of the stern 45-mm gun "Shch-402" (from left to right): motorman, senior Red Navy man M. Gorozhankin, torpedoman, senior Red Navy man A. Melnikov, torpedoman A. Bakhtiarov, motorman, senior Red Navy man G. Danilov; at the periscope stand - miner Lieutenant N. Zakharov. Polyarny, summer 1941

    Shch-402 crew members. Polyarny, summer 1943

    Patrolling of "Shch-402" at the end of July in the Varanger Fjord area (position No. 6) was marked by two torpedo attacks, the success of which at the headquarters of the SF brigade no one doubted. On the evening of July 22, four torpedoes were fired at a large transport, estimated by submariners at 10,000 tons, guarded by two patrol boats. The shooting was carried out from a long distance of 24 kbt, but, despite this distance, three minutes after the salvo, the submariners heard three dull explosions in the compartments. The attacked transport "Pompeji" (2916 brt) observed the trail of one torpedo, and the accompanying minesweepers "M-31", "M-154" and the raumboat "R-56" dropped 21 depth charges at a safe distance from the submarine. The submarine retreated to Tsyp-Navolok Bay, where it spent the entire evening and night of July 23 reloading its torpedo tubes. Having again taken a position, on the morning of July 25, southwest of Cape Kiebergnes, Shch-402 discovered a submarine of the U-25 type (I series), firing three torpedoes at it from a distance of 3-4 kbt. 30 seconds after the salvo, an explosion was heard on the Soviet submarine, and after one and a half to two minutes, scanning the horizon, the enemy submarine was not found. The Germans did not lose any submarines in this location at this time. (besides, the 1st series of German submarines consisted of only two units; both were lost in 1940).

    Returning to base by the morning of July 27, “Shch-402” in a short time underwent navigational repairs with docking and prepared for the tenth combat campaign, which almost became the last for the submarine. On the afternoon of August 11, the submarine headed to the Tana Fjord area to operate at position No. 4. On the night of August 14, while charging batteries from compartment V, it was reported that there was a strong smell of acid there. The watchman of the central post, foreman of article 2 P. Alekseev, in violation of the Rules for the operation of batteries, knowing that at this moment the most intense hydrogen release occurs, with the permission of the watch officer of the commander of Warhead-2-3, Lieutenant N. Zakharov, switched the blowing fan from the battery pits ( by that time there was little hydrogen in the pits of compartments II and III) for the ventilation of compartment V. Half an hour later, when he tried to switch to ventilation of the pits, a massive battery explosion occurred in compartments II and III. All the interior of the submarine was filled with smoke, which spread through the ventilation and communication pipes, and in the fifth compartment, through the hatch of the fourth, a flash of flame was visible between the diesel engines. The blast wave destroyed the battery, bent bulkheads, damaged pipelines and system lines, dislodged many mechanisms, and disabled measuring instruments. The hatch between compartment III and the central post (compartment IV) was jammed and it was impossible to open it; a fire was raging in the second compartment. Of the people who were in the bow of the submarine, only one torpedoman survived in compartment I, who could only be removed to the upper deck through the upper hatch. An attempt to get into the second compartment through the first failed; a fire broke out again due to the influx of air. All other members of the submarine's crew (19 people) who were in the bow compartments, including the commander, military commissar, first mate and navigator, were killed. Command of the submarine was taken by the commander of the warhead-5, engineer-captain-lieutenant A.D. Bolshakov. He brought the Shch-402, which had lost the ability to dive, to the base on the morning of August 15.

    Those killed in the explosion were buried at the Polyarny garrison cemetery in Kislaya Bay. The commission that investigated the causes of the accident came to the conclusion that it was caused by gross violations of operating rules, technical illiteracy and negligent performance of official duties by members of the submarine's crew. As it turned out, the epicenter of the explosion was the commander's cabin. Since almost the entire command staff of Shch-402 was killed, the commander of the BC-5 Bolshakov and the commander of the hold department Alekseev, who were put on trial, were “assigned” to blame for the accident. (Engineer-captain-lieutenant Andrei Dmitrievich Bolshakov died on the submarine "Shch-422" in July 1943, foreman 2nd article Petr Ivanovich Alekseev ended the war as part of the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment of the Intelligence Directorate of the Northern Fleet Headquarters).

Monument at the mass grave of the Shch-402 crew members who died in the accident on August 14, 1942. Military section of the city cemetery, Kislaya Bay, Polyarny.

    A lieutenant captain (later captain of the 3rd rank) was appointed as the new commander of "Shch-402" Kautsky Alexander Moiseevich, and the submarine itself was put into emergency repairs, which lasted until the end of November.

    Shch-402 entered the 1943 campaign with a renewed crew. On the evening of January 17, the submarine left for action at position No. 6 in Varangerfjord. The new commander was provided by the commander of the 3rd submarine division, captain 1st rank I.A. Kolyshkin. Arriving at the position on the morning of January 18, the submarine encountered a strong storm and retreated to the charging area. Due to the thick fog, the submarine could not locate its location. When the weather conditions improved by the morning of January 21, it turned out that the waves and currents had carried the ship to the entrance to Motovskaya Bay. Returning to the area of ​​operation, on the morning of January 23, the submarine discovered a German convoy and attacked a 6,000-ton transport with four torpedoes. A minute after the salvo, the submariners recorded two explosions, but the enemy did not comment on the result of this attack.

    Another torpedo launch took place on the afternoon of February 2, when Shch-402 attacked a large ship from the convoy. Again, two explosions were heard on the submarine, but the Germans did not confirm the success of the attack; they observed the passage of three torpedoes, one of which was on the surface of the water. In response, the patrol ship V-6112 dropped 5 depth charges to drive away the submarine.

    In March, "Shch-402" operated in the Vardø area (position No. 5). During the patrol, the submarine touched mines several times while crossing minefields; in addition, it repeatedly encountered floating mines torn from minefields. It was possible to launch an attack only once, when on the afternoon of March 20, off Cape Kharbacken, Shch-402 fired three torpedoes at a ship from the convoy. A minute and a half later, two explosions were heard on the submarine, which gave reason to believe that the target had been hit. Later, according to human intelligence data, it was established that two ships with a load of flour and building materials became victims of the submarine’s torpedoes. The Germans do not confirm any explosions or torpedo hits. The patrol ship V-5907, which was accompanying the convoy ships, at that time observed something resembling a torpedo trail, but did not raise the alarm. A second attempt to attack an enemy convoy in the Syltefjord area on the morning of March 22 was interrupted by an aircraft that detected the submarine's periscope. The approaching escort ships dropped depth charges and forced the submarine to go deeper and abandon the attack.

    Returning to Polyarnoye, Shch-402 spent the whole of April installing and testing the Sprut depth stabilizer, and on the evening of May 7 it again went to the Vardø area. While moving to the area of ​​operation, the submarine and the small hunters MO No. 114 and MO No. 122 accompanying it were unsuccessfully attacked by a pair of Bf-109 aircraft, which were driven off by fire from patrol boats. Arriving at the position. The submarine had encounters with enemy ships twice, but did not conduct an attack.

    Arriving at the base on the morning of May 23, “Shch-402” began repairs, which lasted until the end of August. While the work was going on, on July 25, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy, “for the courage shown in the battles for the fatherland with the German invaders, for steadfastness and courage, for high military discipline and organization, for the unparalleled heroism of the personnel,” the ship was awarded the Guards Banner. “Shch-402” became the only “pike” to receive both the Guards rank and the Order of the Red Banner.

    With the task of covering Soviet Arctic communications, the submarine spent the entire September in the Kara Sea east of Cape Zhelaniya (position No. 12). Having found nothing there, by the morning of October 5 she arrived in Polyarnoye, having undergone a lengthy repair, during which the Dragon-129 hydroacoustic station, the Torpedo Director calculating device and equipment for the use of ET- electric torpedoes were installed on the submarine. 80". The submarine entered service only on June 5, 1944, but its equipment, even despite repair work, fell into exceptional disrepair due to intensive use.

    Shch-402 crew. Polyarny, summer 1944
    Commander of "Shch-402" A.M. Kautsky.
    Assistant commander of "Shch-402" senior lieutenant A.A. Telegin, November 1943
    Awarding ceremony for the foreman of the group of bilge operators "Shch-402" midshipman S.D. Kukushkin with the US Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

    The technical condition of the submarine largely determined the result of the next combat campaign, which took place as part of Operation RV-6. For the actions of Shch-402, “sector No. 1” was allocated in the area north of Porsangerfjord. By this time, the Northern Fleet submarines were operating using the “overhanging curtain” method - the submarines were deployed seaward of the enemy’s minefields and targeted their convoys based on aerial reconnaissance data. Arriving in the area of ​​operations by noon on July 12, Shch-402 tried seven times to intercept enemy caravans, but to no avail. The submarine's diesel engines could not give it a fast enough speed, therefore, having arrived in the area indicated by reconnaissance, it found nothing but Norwegian fishermen.

    Returning to Polyarnoye on the night of July 26, Shch-402 embarked on a short navigational repair, during which the submarine received a retractable VAN-PZ antenna.

    Shch-402 set off on its last combat mission on the evening of September 17th. The submarine was to operate in the Kongsfjord area (sector D) as part of Operation RV-8. The submarine did not make contact again and did not return to base. According to the official Soviet version, she became a victim of “friendly fire” from the torpedo bomber “A-20” (Boston) of the commander of the 2nd squadron of the 36th mine-torpedo air regiment, Captain M.I. Protasa 5.5 miles north of Gamvik on the morning of September 21, 1944. The plane, which took off for a “free hunt” in the area west of Magerö Island, discovered the submarine before reaching the search area. The submarine moved at low speed in a positional position. Having described a combat turn, the Boston attacked the target with a torpedo from a height of 30 m and a distance of 600 m, after which it recorded a strong explosion. During the second approach of the aircraft, a large spot on the surface of the water and smoke were observed at the submarine’s site.

    Submarine "Shch-402".
    Shch-402 command staff. Sitting (from left to right): assistant guard commander, senior lieutenant A.A. Telegin, commander of the guard boat, captain 3rd rank A.M. Kautsky, commander of the BC-5 guard, engineer-captain 3rd rank V.V. Konovalov; standing: commander of the BC-2-3 guard, senior lieutenant A.N. Krasilshchikov, senior military paramedic, medical service lieutenant M.V. Balashkov and the commander of the BC-1 Guard, Lieutenant-Commander D.K. Helever. Polyarny, July 1943

    Commander of the BC-5 "Shch-402" Guard engineer-captain-lieutenant V.V. Konovalov and the foreman of the group of guard motorists, midshipman V.A. Mikheev.

    Shch-402 crew members. The commander of the guard submarine, Captain 3rd Rank A.M. Kautsky, foreman of the group of guard radio operators, midshipman N.K. Khromeev, commander of the guard torpedo squad, foreman of the 2nd Art. A.S. Melnikov, steering guard senior sailor P.V. Besedin and the foreman of the guard torpedo group, midshipman N.A. Egorov.

    After the report of the pilots and the development of the machine gun film (no photographs were found in the archives), the headquarters came to the conclusion that the plane attacked the “pike”. A subsequent call to the communications of the submarines in position showed that the Shch-402 was not responding to the request.

    It is still not clear who was attacked by Captain Protas’ torpedo bomber. There is no answer to the question of what the submarine was doing practically without moving near the enemy shore in full view of enemy observation posts and under the guns of the coastal battery. In addition, the aircraft’s attack area was more than 30 miles outside the Shch-402 position and falls within the S-56 area of ​​operations (sector B).

    Perhaps "Shch-402" died on September 19-21, 1944 when it was blown up by a mine barrier "NW-30", installed by the enemy in the Kongsfjord area in the summer of 1943. One way or another, the cause of the death of the submarine will be reliably established only when it will be found and examined at the bottom.

    "Shch-402" became the last submarine of the Northern Fleet to perish during the Great Patriotic War. Her fate was shared by 45 crew members.

29.11.1939 – 12.1939
28.01.1940 – 09.02.1940
23.02.1940 – 13.03.1940

16 military campaigns.
10.07.1941 – 24.07.1941
07.08.1941 – 16.08.1941
24.08.1941 – 10.09.1941
03.10.1941 – 28.10.1941
13.11.1941 – 05.12.1941
21.02.1942 – 14.03.1942
03.05.1942 – 07.05.1942
28.05.1942 – 16.06.1942
21.07.1942 – 26.07.1942
11.08.1942 – 15.08.1942
17.01.1943 – 03.02.1943
10.03.1943 – 26.03.1943
07.05.1943 – 23.05.1943
02.09.1943 – 05.10.1943
10.07.1944 – 26.07.1944
17.09.1944 – +

14 torpedo attacks. 1 Norwegian ship (682 GRT) and 1 patrol ship were sunk. Officially, 12 targets destroyed were counted.
10/17/1941 TR “Vesteraalen” (682 GRT)
02/27/1942 TFR "Vandale"

Shch-402

Shch-402 (Senior Lieutenant N.G. Stolbov) met the beginning of the war on the slipway of the Murmansk plant of the People's Commissariat of the Fishing Industry. On July 10, the boat headed for Cape Nordkin, and four days later its commander announced that the combat account of the Northern Fleet submarine brigade was open - the “402nd” sank a large transport in the Honningsvag roadstead. Although Stolbov missed several potential targets for attack in the following days, he was greeted as a triumph upon his return to Polyarnoye on July 24. Only after the war did it become clear from enemy documents that only one of the two torpedoes fired by the boat exploded, and even then when it hit a rock, while the target, the German steamer Hanau, remained unharmed. In all likelihood, the cause of the miss was a violation of the travel pattern of torpedoes fired from a distance of 14-15 kbt. Nevertheless, the Shch-402 immediately found itself in good standing with the command, which subsequently helped Stolbov more than once in difficult situations.

So, for example, in the second campaign (7 - 16.8.1941) to Varanger Fjord, the commander twice failed to launch an attack on German destroyers, and in the first case (on the morning of August 10, a few hours after the sinking of our patrol ship at the mouth of the Kola Bay “Fog”) the Germans themselves almost shot the “pike” that was on the surface. On the 15th, Stolbov discovered that water was getting inside the boat through the slam of the diesel gas outlet and decided to return to base without permission. To top it all off, when returning, the navigator made a mistake in the reckoning of 29 miles, as a result of which the boat almost came under fire from its own patrols and shore batteries. This case was even included in the directive of the head of the Navy Political Directorate I.V. Rogov, but there were no consequences. In the period from 24.8 to 10.9.1941, the submarine operated near the North Cape, where it made three unsuccessful torpedo attacks. On September 7-8, the “pike” was caught in a strong storm. Due to the electrolyte splashing out, the battery was shorted to the housing. And this time, Stolbov returned to base ahead of schedule, although on other boats in such situations they limited themselves to thoroughly washing and alkalizing the pits. The commander was again reprimanded, but no organizational conclusions were made. 3 - 10/28/1941 Shch-402 operated in the Lopp Sea - this is how our submariners commonly called the vast bay between the islands of Sere, Lopp and Fugle on the western section of the German coastal communications. After several attempts, Stolbov managed to launch a torpedo attack, and, firing at point-blank range with the new “English” (that is, salvo, with a time interval) method, smashed the Norwegian coastal steamer Vesteraalen (682 GRT) into pieces. Unfortunately, there was no military cargo on the ship, and all 60 dead (crew and passengers) were purely civilians. The fourth campaign - to the Kongsfjord area (11/13 -12/6/1941) - was unsuccessful. The enemy convoy was detected only once, and even then at a very long distance. After repairs, Shch-402 went to sea again (21.2 - 14.3.1942). On February 27, the boat secretly attacked convoys twice, and in the second case it managed to destroy the German patrol ship Vandal (24 crew members were killed). On the evening of March 3, the “pike” attacked two minesweepers, which in fact turned out to be submarine hunters. As a result of an hour-long pursuit, 42 depth charges fell on the Shch-402, severely battering the light hull. Three days later, the submarine received the task of moving to a covering position for the allied caravan, but when it arrived in the given area on the evening of March 10, it turned out that there was almost no diesel fuel left on the ship - it leaked into the sea through the burst seams of the fuel and ballast tanks. After the transfer of fuel and oil from K-21 on March 13, Shch-402 arrived at the base, and on April 3 news came that the boat had been awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

After repairs and replacement of the battery, Shch-402 went to a position north of Kildin Island to hunt enemy submarines (4 - 7.5.1942). Already on the second day of the trip, when surfacing to scan the horizon, the boat collided with a large drifting ice floe, which damaged the anti-aircraft periscope and antennas. Having failed to complete the task, the ship returned to base. The subsequent two communications (29.5-15.6.1942 to the Varde area and 21-26.7.1942 to Varangerfjord) were also unsuccessful. Stolbov launched attacks three times (2.6, 22.7 and 25.7), but due to the long distance he never hit the target (however, during the war, all these attacks were considered successful).

On August 11, the submarine set out on its tenth combat mission and arrived at its position two days later. On the night of the 14th, when she was charging the batteries, the watchman at the central post, foreman of the 2nd article Alekseev, received a message from the 5th compartment that there was a strong smell of acid there. Knowing that little hydrogen had accumulated in the pits of the 2nd and 3rd compartments, Alekseev, with the permission of the watch commander, Lieutenant Zakharov, in violation of all instructions, switched the blower fan from the battery pits to the ventilation of the 5th compartment. Alekseev did not take into account that at the end of charging, hydrogen is released especially intensively, and when, after 28 minutes, he tried to switch back to the ventilation of the pits, an accidental spark caused a volumetric explosion. A powerful blast wave bent bulkheads, damaged lines of various systems and dislodged many instruments and mechanisms. The door between the central post and the 3rd compartment is jammed. They tried to get into the accident area through the 1st compartment. It was possible to clean off its top hatch, but the influx of fresh air reignited the fire. It became clear that all 19 crew members in two compartments were killed. Among them were Stolbov, military commissar N.A. Dolgopolov, assistant K.N. Sorokin and navigator A.Ya. Semenov. Command of the boat was taken over by mechanic captain-lieutenant A.D. Bolshakov, who managed to start the diesel engines and, guided by the magnetic compass, bring the boat to the base. The commission that investigated the causes of the accident came to the conclusion that the incident on the Shch-402 was the result of a gross violation of operating rules, technical illiteracy and negligent performance by the crew of their official duties.

The new commander of the “pike” was Lieutenant Commander A.M. Kautsky, who had previously been an assistant on the Shch-421 (in this position he participated only in the last voyage of the boat). The baptism of fire of the renewed crew took place in January (17.1 - 3.2.1943), and the campaign was provided by division commander Kolyshkin. The boat twice managed to launch an attack on the surface, but in stormy conditions and the polar night the torpedoes missed. The Germans recorded both attacks, but their attempts to strike back were also unsuccessful. In the spring (10 - 26.3.1943 and 7 - 23.5.1943) the submarine patrolled twice in the Varde area. The enemy attacked the “pike” several times, and the boat touched the minreps three times. Kautsky managed to go on the attack only once - on March 20.

1.5 minutes after the release of three torpedoes from a distance of 8-10 kbt, the sonar heard two explosions, which, as it became known from human intelligence data, sank two transports with flour and building materials. Although foreign researchers have not yet commented on the results of this attack, the possibility of sinking two ships while shooting one at a time is highly doubtful. However, on July 25, Shch-402 was awarded the title of Guards, thus becoming the only “pike” to receive two highest military awards. The submarine's next (2.9 - 5.10.1943) trip to the Kara Sea in the area east of Cape Zhelaniya did not bring any encounters with the enemy. After arriving in Polyarnoye, the boat was in moderate repair; according to experts, “its material part fell into exceptional disrepair.” Through the efforts of workers and personnel, the Shch-402 was put into operation by the summer of next year. By that time, the command of the UAV and Northern Fleet had switched to using submarines using the “overhanging curtain” method, the essence of which was to deploy submarines seaward of the minefield line and point them at convoys based on aerial reconnaissance data. Obviously, the Shch-402 - the only combat-ready "pike" - was not very suitable for this: its 11.5-knot "front" speed in practice was even less due to the wear of the diesel engines and the removal of the wave-cutting shields of the torpedo tubes. The boat's participation in Operation RV-5 (cruise 10 - 26.7.1944) was reduced to seven unsuccessful attempts to intercept convoys, the speed of which was higher each time. Despite this, on the evening of September 17, the 402nd went out on its last - 16th - combat campaign. On the morning of September 21, the torpedo bomber Boston of the 36th mine and torpedo regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force flew out on a “free hunt” to the area west of Magerø Island. Before reaching the search area, a radio operator discovered the control room of a submarine under the shore near Cape Sletnes. The crew commander, Captain Protas, without hesitation, described a wide combat turn and dropped a torpedo, which instantly hit the target. When developing film loaded into a photo-machine gun, specialists from the headquarters of the Air Force and the BPL unanimously declared that the photographs taken seconds before the hit showed a “pike.” In the ensuing proceedings, it turned out that at the headquarters of the air regiment the order of setting the combat mission was grossly violated, as a result of which the pilot was not notified of the prohibition of attacks on any submarines in the area between Varde and Cape Nordkin. But here the question arises: for what purpose was the boat in a positional position just a couple of miles from the enemy’s coast during daylight hours in conditions of good visibility? Since Kautsky did not get in touch with a report of combat damage or an accident, it remains to be assumed that the cause of this was a gross navigation error or... Boston nevertheless attacked a German submarine, and Shch-402 died at a different time in a completely different way reason. Not long ago, while searching for the German transport Curitiba sunk in the Gamvik area, a private Norwegian company discovered the skeleton of a submarine at the bottom. Since Shch-401, K-2 and S-55 also died somewhere in this area, final identification of the find is possible only after a deep-sea diving survey.

Almost 60 years have passed since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, and yet the Central Naval Museum, which publishes a list of maritime memorable dates every month, invariably notes July 25, 1943, when the Guards honorary name was assigned to the Red Banner submarines Shch-402 and M -172 and the submarine Shch-422 of the Northern Fleet.

Heroism and tragedy were closely intertwined in that great war. All three boats died in military campaigns, earning eternal memory. The circumstances of the death of submarines are rarely known exactly, but how Shch-402 died was established on the same day - it was torpedoed by its own plane.

Submarine "Shch-314" (future "Shch-402", serial number 254) during sea trials. Spring - autumn 1936

The United Council of Veteran Submariners of the Navy brought complete clarity to this difficult fact. In the books of the chairman of the Navy OSVP commission for perpetuating the memory of submariners, “The Submariner, whose name is given to the library” (1996) and “This “pike” was the first in almost everything” (1998), answers are given to all questions regarding this event, but there are still authors who mislead the reader.

For the first time in the open press, the famous Soviet submariner I.A. Kolyshkin wrote about the tragedy in the book “In the Depths of the Polar Seas” 20 years after the war. A few years later, the famous writer V.S. Pikul outlined the sad fact in his characteristic emotional manner in the book “Requiem for the PQ-17 caravan.”

Commander of the 4th submarine, captain 3rd rank N.I. Morozov and commander
"Shch-402" senior lieutenant N.G. Stolbov. Polyarny, summer 1941

“The vaunted aces of Germany did not at all know how to distinguish enemy ships from their own, sinking them so cruelly that if at least one person from the crew remained alive, then even then Raeder said to Goering with venom: “Thank you very much from the fleet, Reichsmarshal!” Approximately the same situation developed in the US Navy; many American ships and sailors died under the bombs and torpedoes of their aircraft. Unfortunately, in the Northern Fleet, at the end of the war, due to the negligence of the air regiment headquarters, the guards submarine Shch-402 (commander captain 3rd rank A.M. Kautsky) was sunk.”

The emergency incident was mentioned, but how and, most importantly, why it happened was not known, and the ill-wishers of our submarine fleet began to invent all sorts of fables.

Guards Red Banner Shch-402 is one of the most honored ships of the Northern Fleet. Under the command of N.G. Stolbov, on July 14, she opened the combat account of submariners in the Great Patriotic War, as reported by the Sovinformburo, and this victory was the first victory of submariners of the Northern Fleet in its history. Shch-402 made 3 military campaigns in the Finnish campaign and 16 military campaigns in the war against the German fascists, sinking 12 ships and vessels. Since August 1942, the boat was commanded by a captain-lieutenant, later by captain 3rd rank A.M. Kautsky, who was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner for military services. “The crew of the Pike,” says the military-historical essay on the Northern Fleet, “was distinguished by exceptional cohesion, strong maritime friendship and courage, activity in the search for the enemy and accuracy of attacks.”

The magazine “Morskoy Sbornik”, opening the column “Ships of the Great Patriotic War” for the 30th anniversary of the Victory, dedicated the first two essays to the Guards and Red Banner submarines D-3 and Shch-402.

“In the Northern Fleet,” noted Hero of the Soviet Union, Vice Admiral G.I. Shchedrin, “Shch-402 was the last to die, but she was the first in almost everything.” In the entire history of the Soviet fleet, only 4 ships became Guards and Red Banner. Among them is -402”.

Command staff of "Shch-402". Sitting (from left to right): assistant guard commander, senior lieutenant A.A. Telegin, commander of the guard boat, captain 3rd rank A.M. Kautsky, commander of the BC-5 guard, engineer-captain 3rd rank V.V. Konovalov; standing: commander of the BC-2-3 guard, senior lieutenant A.N. Krasilshchikov, senior military paramedic, medical service lieutenant M.V. Balashkov and the commander of the BC-1 Guard, Lieutenant-Commander D.K. Helever. Polyarny, July 1943

It was very tempting for unscrupulous critics to disparage such a ship and its commander. For them, the main question in the glorious history of Shch-402 was how the boat died. The documents were interpreted tendentiously and sensational stories were created. They wrote that some duty officer at some headquarters simply forgot to tell the pilot where our boats were and that attacks by boats were generally prohibited, that the pilot circled the boat twice, giving it identification signals, and only after that dropped the torpedo. It was implied and even emphasized that the submariners lost their vigilance, “messed up” and did not have time to dive. They even came up with an investigative commission, which allegedly claimed that the service on the boat was poorly organized...

At the same time, they added that the pilot could not be blamed for the mistake, and to make it more convincing, they made up a story about his death. First, the Murmansk author V. Sorokazherdiev told readers that the pilot “Captain Protasov,” upon learning that he had sunk his ship, shot himself out of grief. In other “works” they said that the pilot, having taken off on a new mission, sank two enemy transports, and on the third he dived into a burning plane “in honor of rehabilitation.”

It is not surprising that confusion and misinformation of readers continue to occur after the publication of documentary studies of the tragedy. In the 1999 publication “Loss of the Northern Fleet’s naval personnel and civilian departments in the Northern Maritime Theater during the Great Patriotic War,” which is generally very objective. A. Golubev, unfortunately, will give a picture of the death of “Shch-402” in Sorozherdiev’s version: “The boat was in a positional position. The crew of the plane had no warning of the presence of our submarine in this area, despite the order of the Northern Fleet headquarters prohibiting attacks on submarines in this area. After developing the film and finding out that our boat was sunk, Captain Protasov shot himself.”

The reader does not know whether it is good or correct that the boat was in a positional position, but since it led to tragedy, he may well think that this is bad. At best, the reader will agree with the opinion of the writer P.V. Bozhenko (“Submarines at War”, 1996): “Why the experienced submariner Kautsky was on the surface near an enemy port remains unclear.”

But the reader will be sure that the pilot, who through someone’s fault did not receive the notification, fired the torpedo correctly and, of course, deserves sympathy.

And little does the reader know that everything was quite the opposite.

“Shch-402” was in its assigned area of ​​operation and searched for the enemy in the manner recommended by the command - in a positional position, when only the boat’s wheelhouse was visible on the surface, and without moving, in order to save energy for a torpedo attack. Separately, other attack aviation forces and surface ships were assigned their own areas of operation. These areas were strictly demarcated, and Captain Protas (not Protasov) received orders to fly to the area of ​​attack aircraft, which was located at a greater distance than the area of ​​​​operation of the submarines. Precisely because, due to the conditions that prevailed in the Northern Fleet in 1944, our planes flew over submarine operating areas, the command prohibited aviation from attacking any (any!) submarines in these areas. Therefore, the words “the pilot had no warning” are not just an inaccuracy: the pilot should not have had any warning. Moreover, having discovered a boat “in this area,” the pilot had to fly past without changing course and speed. The fact is that our aviation in the North had complete air superiority in 1944: 740 aircraft against 136 German ones.

Conditions were created for organizing operational and tactical interaction between submarines, aviation (reconnaissance and attack) and surface ships (torpedo boats) against enemy convoys, which the fleet command strived for throughout the war. From January to September 1944, 7 operations of heterogeneous forces were carried out under the code name “RV”. Submarines began to operate in groups in the same area with reconnaissance aircraft and, upon receiving information from them (or from the coastal command post) about the convoy, launched an attack on it, which ensured the infliction of maximum losses on the Nazis.

To avoid fatal accidents, all naval forces were prohibited from attacking any submarines during operations. All details of interactions were worked out in tactical exercises. Particular attention was paid in training to identifying aircraft and quickly communicating with them. To exchange experiences, submariners and aviators visited each other, and in open letters through the newspaper they stated clearly: “We will improve and practice the practice of tactical interaction.” And the goal was achieved. Several times successive attacks by boats, torpedo bombers and boats on the same convoy were successful, and once a simultaneous attack by planes and boats on a convoy in Varashef Fiord.

Given this nature of operations, encounters between our boats and friendly aircraft were frequent, and encounters with enemy aircraft, even off the coast, were less likely. Therefore, the submarines, having the opportunity, due to their lower visibility, to detect the plane earlier than it could detect the boat, were in no hurry to dive, but tried to identify the plane. If it was not possible to immediately identify the plane, the boat urgently sank. If it was reliably visible that the plane was its own, the boat did not interrupt the search, remaining on the surface.

All this is recorded in archival documents, in books and memoirs of North Sea submarine commanders G.I. Shchedrin, G.F. Makarenkov, Z.M. Arvapov, F.V. Konstantinov, N.T. Zinoviev and others. There are many such examples in the reports of submarine commanders on military campaigns stored at the Central Military Museum in Gatchina (fond 767, inventory 2, file 198, sheets 252-299). In only three campaigns, commanders K.M. Kolosov (“S-51”), G.K. Vasilyev (“S-15”) and P.P. Nechaev (“S-103”) noted 14 cases when they did not immersed in the visibility of the aircraft, since “the detected aircraft are our reconnaissance aircraft” (sheet 299). The report of the commander of Shch-402 A.M. Kautsky for the campaign in July (sheet 253) stated that on July 12 at 0.55 and at 6.15 aircraft were discovered (the type was not identified, they evaded an urgent dive,” and on July 20 at 17.00 an aircraft of the “type” was discovered Boston” and “did not dive from the plane.”

In the book “On Board the S-56 (Vladivostok. 1982)” Shchedrin wrote: “Previously, a short report: “Airplane!” was enough. and the boat immediately sank... We saw planes twice, and both times the signalmen reported: “Ours,” and we did not interrupt the charging, saving time.” Like this: even the submariners did not interrupt charging the battery while in sight of the aircraft!

Talking about the Shch-402, G.I. Shchedrin clarified: “all of us are submariners, we knew the silhouettes of our aircraft very well, the pilots knew the silhouettes of submarines. And they interacted with each other for so long that when we discovered them, we did not dive, and when they saw us, they did not change course. They were prohibited from attacking submarines. This order was widely known in the navy... Shch-402 saw the plane, identified it and calmly continued to observe, since the plane did not change course or speed. When the Shch-402 saw that the plane was launching an attack on it, the order was given from the bridge: “Urgent dive!”, but they didn’t have time to dive!

During the entire war in the North, only one fact of the sinking of our boat by enemy aircraft is reliably known.

Why did the Guards-Red Banner crew, who successfully evaded enemy aircraft, submarines and surface ships, their bombs, torpedoes, mines and even artillery shells for 39 months, not have time to dive from their plane? Precisely because it was its own plane, which flew past in excellent visibility, and then suddenly returned...

The operational report of the Northern Fleet Air Force headquarters says this: “On September 21, 1944, at 06.42 abeam Cape Gamvik, 10 km to the North, with one torpedo, pilot Captain Protas, from a distance of 600 m, height 30 m, attacked a submarine in a positional position, the move is insignificant. Having received a message from the crew, he turned around and torpedoed. The submarine did not have time to dive. The crew observed a strong explosion. On the second approach, smoke and a huge round spot were seen at the submarine’s site. According to the crew's report and based on the decryption of the photograph, the submarine was sunk. The picture shows the wheelhouse of our “Shch” type submarine. The submarine located in that area does not respond to requests. Our submarine was probably sunk. Weather: cloud height 600-1500 m, visibility 10-20 kilometers.”

When an aircraft torpedo is fired at a practically stationary target from a distance of 600 m, it is impossible to dive or evade. There was no bad organization of service on a submarine; there was unpredictable behavior of a pilot who violated a combat order. He did not reach his assigned area of ​​operations and attacked a submarine, although attacks by boats were prohibited. He was unable to identify his ship from pistol range, although headquarters did so immediately from the photograph. This is all the more difficult to explain since Protas was the deputy squadron commander and flew quite a lot, including on September 15 and 16. He had to teach his subordinates, including how to interact with submarines...

His further fate is as follows. On September 27, Protas went on a mission again. The plane did not return from the mission. The entire crew died, except for Protas, who was captured by the Germans. Again, in violation of combat orders, he did not take his personal weapon during the flight over enemy territory and did not offer resistance to the Nazis, although he was not wounded or shell-shocked, which is known from his own explanatory note. After returning from captivity, he was sent to the Black Sea Fleet aviation, but in April 1946 he was expelled from the party, demoted and soon dismissed from the Navy.

How did the submariners act after the Shch-402 tragedy? Just like Shch-402 on its last trip! After a harsh assessment by the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral A.G. Golovko: “Due to the lack of proper organization of the combat work of the mine-torpedo air division and the lack of proper control over the implementation of instructions from the Air Force headquarters, there was a case of sinking of the Shch-402 submarine by a Boston aircraft (TsVMA , F.767, o.2, d.56, d.18) a provision prohibiting attacks by any submarines during operations of heterogeneous forces reinforcing it. In Operation West to defeat the Nazis in the Arctic in October-November 1944, 14 submarines operated, there were no losses. But the enemy had losses. Just one example.

On October 20, in the Nordkin area (near the place of death of “Shch-402”) at about 6 o’clock in the morning (Shch-402 died at 6.42...) the submarine “V-4” under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Y.K. Iosseliani (classmate and friend of the deceased commander of “Shch-402” A. Kautsky), being near the enemy shore in a positional position without moving (the “Shch-402” also searched on September 21!), discovered an enemy convoy and successfully attacked it from the shore. 38 bombs were dropped on the boat, but it escaped pursuit. The war in the North was ending, but the submariners still took risks, not sparing themselves, for the sake of our Victory. And this risk was justified.

The United Council of Veteran Submariners has brought complete clarity to the history of the Guards Red Banner submarine Shch-402, which makes it possible to avoid any misunderstandings and distortions in the future.