Shchuka-class submarine

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Class overview
Shch-311 was a Series V-bis-2 Shchuka of the Baltic Fleet
Operators:	Soviet Navy
In service:	1932
In commission:	- 1956
Completed:	88
Lost:	35
General characteristics
Displacement:	577 tons surfaced 704 tons submerged
Length:	57.00 m
Beam:	6.20 m
Draught:	3.78 m
Propulsion:	2 shaft diesel electric, 1370 hp diesel, 800 hp electric
Speed:	surface - 12.5 knots submerged - 6.3 knots
Range:	6000 nmi at 8 knots
Test depth:	300 ft
Complement:	38
Armament:	4 × bow torpedo tubes 2 × stern torpedo tubes (10 torpedoes) 2 × 45 mm semi-automatic guns

The Shchuka class submarines (Russian: Щука), also referred to as Shch or SC class submarines were a medium-sized class of Soviet submarines, built in large numbers and used during World War II. "Shchuka" is Russian for pike. Of this class, only two submarines (411 and 412) entered service after 1945, although they were launched before war.

Development

On January 23, 1930, the USSR Revolutionary Military Council (Revvoensoviet) adapted a proposed submarine concept that were to "execute positioning service on closed theatres". Plans were made to construct up to 200 submarines in three main versions, the later ones would be larger and with longer range than the previous versions. However, due to the outbreak of World War II, only 88 submarines were commissioned. It was still to be the second most numerous submarine class of the Soviet Navy (only the M class were more numerous with 111 built). Seven ship construction yards were involved in the program - No. 189, 190, 194 in Leningrad, No. 112 in Gorky, No. 200 in Nikolaev and No. 202 in Vladivostok.

The name of the class was taken from the individual name of the first submarine Shch-301 "Shchuka". Their numbering depended on which Soviet fleet they belonged to: the 100-series belonged to the Pacific Fleet, the 200-series to the Black Sea Fleet, the 300-series to the Baltic Fleet, and the 400-series to the Northern Fleet. There were however some special cases, i.e. the Northern Fleet submarine Shch-424 was renamed Shch-321 when she was transferred to the Baltic Fleet via the Stalin Canal (and later renamed back to Shch-424 when returning). The conning tower had brass symbols as identifiers (Щ-XXX, where the XXX is the number).

Operational service

The Shchukas saw some great losses during the war. The Baltic, Black Sea and Northern fleet lost 60-70% of their submarines. However, the submarines of the Soviet Pacific fleet did not suffer any losses to the Japanese due to the tranquil nature of the theatre (war operations commenced first in 1945 when the Japanese fleet largely was defeated). 3 submarines were however lost here to other reasons (non-battle damages and incidents).

In all, 35 Shchuka class submarines were lost, the vast majority during World War II.

The last surviving submarines of the class in the Soviet navy were decommissioned in the mid-1950s and scrapped during the following years, but two submarines of this class, along with two Soviet M class submarines (S-121 and S-123) were supplied to People's Liberation Army Navy in June, 1954, thus becoming the foundation of the submarine force of the People's Republic of China. However, the two Shchuka class submarines were not technically transferred to China, but instead, loaned to China for training Chinese crews, and technically, they were still Soviet naval property, and thus were not given Chinese names like the Soviet M class submarine handed to China.