Submarines series III "Pike" became the first type of medium submarine, which were built in the Soviet Union. The construction of submarines of six different series was carried out with 1930 by 1945 year, all were built 86 submarines of the "Sh" type, what made them the most numerous type of Soviet submarines during the Great Patriotic War. The distinctive features of these submarines were the relatively low cost of production., increased survivability and maneuverability.
Submarines took an active part in hostilities during the Great Patriotic War. During the war years, these submarines sank 45 and damaged 8 enemy warships and commercial ships - more than a third of the total number of ships sunk by all Soviet submarines. Moreover, from 44 the submarines killed 31 submarine. For Military Merit 6 submarines of the "Sh" type became guards, yet 11 submarines were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
The design of the first submarines of the III series of the "Pike" type was carried out in parallel with the design of the submarines of the I series "Dekabrist". "Pike" was a one and a half hull submarine, its sturdy hull has been divided into 6 compartments. The project was developed in the design office, led by B. M. Malinin. The boats were originally designed as small, they were designed to operate in navigationally constrained areas of the Baltic. They were planned to be used in the water area of the Gulf of Finland with its shallow depths., skerries and narrow places. Subsequently, according to the pre-war classification adopted in the USSR, the boats were classified as average.
Soviet submarine Sch-301 "Pike" (type "Pike", series III) goes along the coast, a photo: waralbum.ru
The first series of submarines of the "Sh" type - series III were created by Soviet engineers in incredible haste. The sketch design of the boat was completed at the end 1929 of the year. Without waiting for approval, at the Baltic shipyard began to create working drawings. Moreover, even at the design stage, numerous changes were made to their design.. For example, the military demanded to place spare torpedoes on board the boat. Placing four more torpedoes on board demanded miracles of ingenuity from the designers of the Pike..
Interesting is the fact, that the project of boats of the "Sh" type was influenced by the raising and inspection of the British submarine L-55, which since October 1929 of the year was undergoing refurbishment in Kronstadt. From this boat "Shchuks" got the lines with a linear transformation and the general architectural type: one and a half hull, with boolean main ballast tanks. British boat L-55 sank in the southern part of the Gulf of Finland 4 June 1919 years when trying to attack the destroyers Azard and Gabriel. As a result of the demolition of the boat by an unaccounted current, it was blown up in an English minefield.
In summer 1928 the submarine was successfully raised to the surface, and then restored and introduced into the Soviet fleet. During the raising and examination of the boat, the remains were found 38 English submariners, which were transferred to the British side for burial at home.
The performance characteristics of the "Shch" -type submarines varied slightly from series to series. There were built 86 boats in six different series. Mainly, there was a change in the characteristics of the boats in the direction of the power of the installed diesel engines, increasing surface and underwater speed, some reduction in cruising range. Armament boats (four bow and two aft torpedo tubes and two 45-mm artillery pieces) remained unchanged (except for four boats of the III series, armed with one gun).
Submarines of the "Pike" type had 6 compartments in a robust housing: the first and sixth compartments were torpedo; the second is residential (in it, under a collapsible flooring made of wooden panels, there were batteries, and under them fuel tanks); the third compartment is the central post of the boat; fourth - diesel compartment; in the fifth compartment there were two main electric motors and separately - two electric motors for economic progress.
Since from the very beginning of work on the project, new submarines were considered as massive, the main requirement for them was maximum simplicity of design. This requirement was aimed at the maximum possible reduction in the cost of production.. At the same time, this did not reflect in the best way on the tactical and technical characteristics of the Shchuk.. The submersion time of the boats was unacceptably long: from cruising position - more than a minute, while the main ballast blowing time was more than 10 minutes. The surface speed of the boats of the III series was also significantly lower than that, what was contained in the specification - order 12 knots.
Placing four spare torpedoes in the living compartment significantly worsened the habitability of the submarine.. The design of the torpedo loading device was also unsuccessful., as a result, the total time for loading the ammunition onto the boat took more than a day. Submarine machinery made a lot of noise, which unmasked them and increased the chances of being detected by the enemy. Despite all the flaws, the project went into mass production. A total of four "Pike" III series were built, all four boats became part of the Baltic Fleet and carried numbers from Shch-301 to Shch-304. Three of them could not survive the Great Patriotic War, until the end of hostilities, only the submarine Shch-303 "Ruff" survived.
In addition to the indicated shortcomings, the boats of the "Sh" type also had obvious advantages., which were confirmed by acceptance tests. The strengths and simplicity of their design were attributed to the advantages of series III submarines., good seaworthiness and reliability of installed mechanisms. In terms of their tactical and technical characteristics, the new Soviet submarines did not yield to foreign boats of the same class., for example, French Orion-class submarines, which were built simultaneously with the Soviet submarines of the "Pike" type.
The first boats of the III series were laid down in Leningrad at the Baltic Shipyard No. 189 in 1930 year (boats Ш-301, 302 and 303), boat Shch-304 was built at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant No. 112 in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). The first boats entered the fleet in 1933 year, but by the end 1941 , it was built 84 submarine, which were built and commissioned in the following series: III series - 4 boats (1933 year), V series - 12 boats (1933-1934 years), V-bis series - 13 boats (1935-1936 years), V-bis-2 series - 14 boats (1935-1936 years), X-series - 32 boats (1936-1939 years), X-bis series - 9 boats were commissioned already in 1941 year, including after the start of the war, two more were transferred to the fleet in July 1945 of the year.
Submarines Sch-201 (V-bis), Shch-209 (X series) and Sch-202 (V-bis) Black Sea fleet, 1943 year.
Pikes of the second modification belonged to the V series and were built in greater numbers. 12 such submarines were added to the Pacific Fleet. The boats were transported to the place by rail in disassembled form, their final assembly was already carried out in the Far East. They did not have significant changes in comparison with the boats of the III series., with the exception of some changes in hull structures, in particular, the bow of the ship was given an "ocean" slope.
A notable difference was the installation of a second 45 mm gun., which then was present at the "Pike" of all subsequent series. At the same time, artillery armament was the weak point of all "Pike". For example, German medium submarine type VII (the largest series of submarines in history) carried on board an 88-mm artillery gun and a 20-mm anti-aircraft machine gun. And Soviet submarines of the "C" type were armed with 100-mm and 45-mm guns. In many respects, numerous upgrades of boats of the "Sh" type were associated with, that the commissioning of medium boats of the new type "C" was delayed. In total entered service 41 submarine type "C", but by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were only 17.
In addition to the urgent need of the fleet for new submarines, submarines of the "Sh" type, even despite all the flaws of the first series, in operational and tactical terms, they were considered quite successful ships, primarily by the combination of combat qualities and cost. For this reason, it was decided to develop this type of submarine., gradually eliminating the shortcomings revealed during the operation of the first series boats. Furthermore, smaller size allowed such boats to feel better in the waters of the Gulf of Finland and the Black Sea, in comparison with larger type "C" boats. It is no coincidence that the latter showed themselves best of all in the Northern Fleet., not in the Baltic.
Submarines of the V-bis and V-bis-2 series became the result of further improvement of the Shchuk.. The power of the boats' main diesel engines was increased by about 35 percent, however, their weight and dimensions have hardly changed. In addition, the shape of the rudders has been improved., which made it possible to increase the surface speed of the boats by 1,5 host. Also, based on the experience of the previous operation of series V boats, improvements were made to individual mechanisms and parts of submarines.. V-bis series boats were built 13. Eight of them went to serve in the Pacific Fleet, three to the Black Sea and two to the Baltic.
During the war, "Pike" V-bis series were actively involved in solving transport problems in the Black Sea. The boats could take on board instead of spare torpedoes before 35 tons of fuel, or 30 tons of cargo, either before 45 man with personal weapon.
Submarine Sch-201 in Tuapse
On the ships of the V-bis-2 series, the designers once again revised the theoretical drawing and the shape of the submarine's cabin. This made it possible to increase the surface speed by another 0,5 host, improving seaworthiness. The aft bulkhead of the second compartment received a stepped shape. This solution made it possible to store the torpedoes assembled.. In addition, the torpedo loading device was redesigned.. This was a very important step., since at the same time the clutteredness of the boat compartments decreased and the time for loading torpedoes on board decreased - from 25-30 hours before 12 hours.
Also, the designers changed the transmission of the electric motor of the economic course from gear to belt, what made her work silent. The electric motors of the stern and bow horizontal rudders were placed in the end compartments, leaving only manual control in the central post. An important achievement of the boats of this series was a significant reduction in the noise of mechanisms on board the boat., which increased the combat capabilities of ships. Thanks to all the changes made to the design, submarines V-bis-2 series earned high marks from Soviet submariners. There were built 14 boats of the V-bis-2 series. Five of them were received by the Baltic and Pacific Fleets and four - by the Black Sea Fleet..
The most numerous series of "Pike" were boats of the X series, which was built immediately 32 jokes. 9 boats received by the Pacific Fleet, 8 - Black Sea and Northern Fleet, 7 - Baltic Fleet. These submarines looked the most exotic due to the introduction of a streamlined wheelhouse fence, the so-called "limousine" type. In general, these submarines were almost indistinguishable from the V-bis-2 series ships.. As the main power plant, they used 38-K-8 diesel engines of the Kolomna plant with a capacity of 800 HP. at 600 rpm. Their surface speed increased to 14,1-14,3 knots.
The low profile of the new cabin of X series boats had a negative impact on the increase in its flooding even with relatively low sea waves., which was especially critical for submarines, who served in the Northern Fleet. As a result, another series of "Sh" -type submarines appeared - the X-bis series. By that time, the modernization potential of "Schuk" was almost completely exhausted., therefore, the renovations were mainly reduced to a return to the traditional wheelhouse fencing, as well as minor edits in the water pipe and high pressure air system. This did not significantly affect the performance characteristics of submarines..
Total was laid 13 submarine X-bis series. Of these, it was possible to complete 11 boats: two before the war, the rest during WWII. Four submarines took part in the battles in the Baltic, one - on the Black Sea. The rest of the submarines operated as part of the Pacific Fleet. Of the "European" "Schucks" of this series, only one Baltic boat survived. On the Pacific Ocean, one "Pike" of the X-bis series was killed in an explosion at the base. Only one submarine of this type participated in hostilities against Japan..
Loading a torpedo on a submarine of the Pacific Fleet of the "Pike" type (V-bis). Instead of a stern gun, a DShK machine gun is installed on the boat. A Pike-class submarine is visible in the background. (X series), a photo: waralbum.ru
The appearance of the "Pike" during the war years changed during various modernizations. For example, the folding parts of the gun platforms were eventually replaced by permanent ones and equipped with rails. Based on the accumulated experience of sailing in broken ice, the outer covers of torpedo tubes were dismantled on parts of the submarines. Instead of the second 45-mm cannon, a large-caliber 12.7-mm DShK machine gun was installed on parts of the submarines, at the same time, in the Pacific Fleet, along with the standard column installation, there were also homemade. During the Great Patriotic War, some submarines managed to receive Asdik sonars (Dragon 129), as well as a special demagnetizing device with windings outside the hull at the level of the superstructure deck.
In total, the USSR was built 86 medium submarines of the "Pike" type of different series. Of them 31 the submarine died during the Great Patriotic War, what is 36 percent of their total or 69 percent of the number of submarines, who fought in the European theater of operations. The losses were very significant. To some extent, this was due to the active use of these submarines in battles., as well as the most difficult conditions for divers in the water area of the Gulf of Finland, where many Soviet boats fell victim to enemy minefields.
Wherein, despite not the highest tactical and technical characteristics, submarines of the "Sh" type proved to be a formidable and effective weapon. In the North, they managed to sink 6 enemy warships and transports with torpedo weapons, and also damage one transport (torpedo did not explode). On the Baltic Sea, "Pike" torpedoes were able to sink one enemy submarine, and 17 transport and warships. Five more ships were seriously damaged. On the Black Sea, boats of the "Sh" type recorded on their torpedo account 12 enemy transports and warships, two more ships were seriously damaged. Wherein 9 transports they managed to sink with their artillery weapons.
Performance characteristics of submarines "Pike" type X series:
Displacement: surface - 584 tons, scuba - 707,8 tons.
dimensions: length - 58,8 m, width - 6,2 m, sediment - 4 m.
Power plant - two diesel engines 38-K-8 with a capacity of 2x800 hp. and two main rowing electric motors with a capacity of 2x400 hp.
speed: surface - 14,3 host, underwater - 8,1-8,3 host.
Economic speed: surface - 7,9 host, underwater - 2,6 host.
Cruising range (normal fuel supply) - to 2580 miles (surface passage), to 105 miles (underwater passage).
immersion depth: working - 75 m, limiting - 90 m.
artillery armament: 2x45 mm 21-K cannons and 2x7.62 mm machine guns.
torpedoes: 4h533-mm bow torpedo tubes and 2h533-mm torpedo tubes feed, the total stock of torpedoes - 10 pcs.
Endurance - 20 day.
crew - 37-38 human.
Information sources:
— vpk-news.ru/articles/45193
— deepstorm.ru/DeepStorm.files/17-45/sh X/list.htm
— techno-story.ru/articles/fleet/618-shatype
