In the 1942 campaign, submarines of the Baltic Fleet in three echelons broke through the blockade of the Gulf of Finland, which was increasingly intensified by the enemy. During the year, 32 submarines went out to sea, six of which made military campaigns twice. It has been reliably established that as a result of their actions, the enemy lost 43 and 3 ships were seriously damaged. The data on the destruction of about 20 more ships have not been fully confirmed. This is also explained by the fact that the enemy used ships of Denmark, Norway, France, Holland, Belgium, Poland for sea transportation in the Baltic, and their death was not included in the lists of losses.
In this difficult year for the Baltic submariners, 13 submarines operated in the Gulf of Bothnia, the Aland Sea and on the approaches to them. Of the 8 boats of the first echelon, which then broke through into the Baltic Sea, the tasks in this area were solved by Shch-317, Shch-303 and Shch-406; of 9 submarines of the second - Shch-309, S-13 and "Lembit" - of 16 submarines of the third - S-7, S-9, Shch-308, Shch-304, Shch-307, Shch-305 and L-3. The activity of our submarine forces in the northern Baltic and the constant increase in their number was explained by the high intensity of the enemy's maritime traffic here, which made 3,885 voyages from June 18 to December 31 alone. According to a number of domestic studies, the boats operating there sank nine ships and damaged four. Finnish sources provide information about the loss of seven and damage to four ships. There are also discrepancies in the definition of areas and the dates of their sinking.
At the time in question, in these areas, there were also many military clashes between Soviet submarines and Finnish anti-submarine defense forces (warships, aircraft and submarines), which were the result of the loss of secrecy by our boats, insufficient observation of the situation and misses during torpedo firing. In a number of cases, the commanders decided to surface and use the artillery systems on board. As a result of military clashes and mines, 5 of 13 submarines operating in the Northern Baltic were lost.
The boats of the first echelon, which broke through the enemy's anti-submarine lines in the Gulf of Finland, with access to the Baltic, at first fell into relatively favorable conditions - the enemy did not expect their breakthrough, being sure of the effectiveness of the blockade, and the torpedoing of the first ships was classified as a mine explosion. Therefore, the enemy did not initially search for and pursue the attacking Soviet submarines. He was convinced of the return by the message of the Soviet Information Bureau of July 11, 1942 about the successes of the Baltic submariners, who, as noted, sank 5 fascist ships in the last days. After that, the conditions for the actions of our submarines began to deteriorate sharply.
Of the three submarines of the first echelon, which were involved in actions in this area, only Shch-303 was there for the entire period of patrolling, and Shch-317 and Shch-406 were only part of the time. Of these submarines, Shch-317 achieved the greatest success under the command of Lieutenant Commander N. K. Mokhov. The first enemy transport "Argo" of the five ships sunk by it during the military campaign ("Orion", "Rain", "Ada Gorton" and "Otto Korda" with a total capacity of 11 thousand brt.) Was torpedoed in the area of the Aland Sea. Unfortunately, Shch-317 itself did not return to the base. It was assumed that, returning from the campaign, she died in the Gulf of Finland. This is indicated, in particular, by Finnish sources, claiming that their observation posts on July 12 noted an underwater explosion at a point with coordinates 59 ° 41'N / 24 ° 06'E, and aerial reconnaissance found an oil trail there. … After the bombing was carried out in this area, the emergence of pieces of wood, mattresses, etc. was observed. The point in the history of Shch-317 was put in the summer of 1999 by Swedish search engines, who announced that they had discovered this submarine, resting on the seabed at 57 ° 52 'N / 16 ° 55' E.
Submarine Shch-406 Captain 3rd Rank E. Ya. Osipova first operated near the Swedish skerries. In three attacks of enemy ships, the crew noted explosions, but the commander did not observe their results. According to foreign sources, Shch-406 then sunk the Fidesz transport. At the same time, the schooner Hannah disappeared here. The same sources cite information about the sinking of the submarine itself by the enemy's anti-submarine forces. But that was a mistake. On July 17, the submarine received a categorical ban on attacking ships and vessels flying any flag in this area, and Shch-406 was transferred to the Aland Sea. Here she attacked enemy convoys twice more, but the commander did not observe the results of her actions due to the pursuit of enemy ships. On August 7, the submarine returned to base.
Shch-303 Lieutenant Commander I. V. Travkin, operating in the area of about. Ute did not observe the results of her attacks either, but in the third of them, as you know, she seriously damaged the transport ship "Aldebaran" with a displacement of 7890 brt. The escort ships counterattacked the boat, unfortunately, during an urgent dive on Shch-303, the horizontal rudders failed, the boat hit the ground and damaged the bow, which stopped opening the torpedo tubes' covers. On 7 August, the boat was also forced to return to base.
The breakthrough of enemy anti-submarine lines in the Gulf of Finland by Soviet submarines of the 2nd echelon was carried out in a more difficult situation, and actions at sea met more powerful opposition from its ASW forces, which the enemy increased by transferring part of the ships here from the North and Norwegian Seas. In addition, the aviation of neutral Sweden began to search for our submarines, and its Navy to carry out escorting ships far beyond its territorial waters. There was also information about the use of the neutral Swedish flag in these areas by German ships and vessels.
Shch-309 captain 3rd rank I. S. Kabo was the second boat after Shch-406 operating in the Aland Sea. Unfortunately, despite four torpedo attacks on enemy convoys, its commander could not establish the results in a single case. According to foreign data, this boat sunk the transport "Bonden" on September 12.
Similarly, on the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia, the submarine "Lembit" operated, the commander of which, Lieutenant Commander A. M. Matiyasevich, in each of the three attacks, tried to record its results. According to foreign data, on September 14 the transport "Finland" was seriously damaged here, although after the attack Matiyasevich observed one sinking and one burning ship from the convoy. On September 4, after an attack by a transport from another convoy (8 transports guarded by 5 ships), he observed only 7 transports on the surface.
Of particular note is the cruise of the C-13 submarine Lieutenant-Commander P. Malanchenko, which then entered the Gulf of Bothnia for the first time. Here, in spite of the fact that the war had been going on for the second year, the enemy behaved rather carelessly. The passage of ships was carried out without security, at night they often carried all the lights put in peacetime. Nevertheless, the submarine was pursued by setbacks, although it carried out all attacks from the surface position. Finding on September 11 a single transport "Hera" (1378 brt) and firing one torpedo from a distance of 5 cabs, the commander missed and sank the transport only with the second two-torpedo salvo. The next day the situation was almost repeated, but with the transport "Jussi X" (2373 brt). True, this time the first torpedo hit and the transport was damaged, but another torpedo was required to sink it. September 17 was even more unsuccessful: all three consecutive single-torpedo volleys at the next single transport did not bring success, and the commander set it on fire with artillery. On October 30, the boat failed in the attack of the enemy convoy. This was the result of operations in the northern Baltic by 2nd echelon submarines.
The breakthrough and return of the submarines of the first two echelons was relatively successful (out of 17 boats, the Shch-317 leaving the Gulf of Finland and two more babies M-95 and M-97 operating in the bay itself were lost), this gave rise to a certain confidence in the headquarters that that the situation in the Gulf of Finland was assessed correctly, and the methods and methods of forcing the enemy's obstacles were correct. However, the enemy has already identified the organization of their exit and took additional countermeasures, both in the Gulf of Finland and in other parts of the sea. In particular, three medium-sized Finnish submarines "Iku-Turso" (the hero of the Finnish epic), "Vesikhiisi" ("Sea devil") and "Vetekhinen" ("Sea king"), as well as two small ones, were involved in the fight against our boats: Vesikko (Water) and Saukkou (Otter). Medium submarines operated in the Aland Sea, small submarines in the Gulf of Finland. In the Aland Sea, the Finns searched in the areas where our boats were found, in the daytime they lay on the ground and engaged in hydroacoustic observation, and at night they surfaced and tacked, trying to find our submarines while charging the batteries.
In the third echelon of Baltic submarines, S-9 and Shch-308 plots were the first to enter the Gulf of Bothnia and the approaches to it on September 15, respectively. The boat S-9 Lieutenant Commander A. I. Mylnikova, who replaced the C-13 here, already met the military organization of transportation: the ships followed in guarding the ships, a search and strike group of PLO operated in the area. Attacking the very first detected enemy convoy, C-9 sank the transport "Anna V", but was rammed by another vessel, fortunately, only rattled the bottom of the boat stern. The next day, after an unsuccessful torpedo salvo, she set fire to the transport "Mittel Meer" with artillery, and only an accident that happened two days later forced her to return to base ahead of schedule.
Submarine Shch-308 Lieutenant Commander L. N. Kostyleva only a month after the occupation of the area reported about the victory and about the sinking in the area of about. Ute three enemy transports, reporting that it has damage to a strong hull. Foreign sources confirm the sinking of the Hernum transport (1467 brt) and, in addition, report that on October 26, with the onset of darkness, when Shch-308 surfaced, on the approach to the Serda-Kvarken Strait at 62 ° 00'sev latitude / 19 ° 32'East longitude it was discovered and sunk by torpedoes by the Finnish submarine Iku-Turso. True, Finnish sources mistakenly believe that it was the Shch-320 submarine, which died a little earlier on mines in the Gulf of Finland.
Shch-307 captain 3rd rank N. O. Momota went on a military campaign on September 23. On October 2, in the Aland Sea, in her first attack on an enemy convoy, she fired two torpedoes, the explosion of which was heard by the entire crew, but the counterattack of enemy ships did not allow the commander to establish the results of the firing. On October 11, during the attack of another transport, there was a miss, and the explosion of the first depth charge was mistaken for a torpedo explosion. On October 21, the enemy evaded a salvo of torpedoes fired at the third detected convoy, and only during the attack of the fourth convoy, Shch-307 sank the transport Betty X (2477 brt). Since October 11, the Finnish submarine Iku-Turso has been searching for the boat. She detected Shch-307 three times within 16 days and attacked her with torpedoes and artillery, but she did not achieve success, although she believed that she had sunk our boat on October 27. On November 1, Shch-307 returned to base.
Submarines S-7 and Shch-305 in their last voyage to the Gulf of Bothnia and the Aland Sea left simultaneously on 17 October. C-7 Lieutenant Commander S. P. Lisina, making her second military campaign that year, replaced the S-9 submarine and was the third submarine conducting hostilities in the Gulf of Bothnia. On October 21, with the onset of dark, she surfaced and on a course of 320 ° and a speed of 12 knots began charging the battery. Approximately at the same time west of about. Legsker, the Finnish submarine Vesikhiisi, which was searching for it, stopped the diesel engine and, in order to create better conditions for its GAS, switched to driving under electric motors. At 1926 hours she found a Soviet submarine at a bearing of 190 ° at a distance of 8 km and 17.5 minutes later on a combat course of 248 ° from a distance of 3 km fired a two-torpedo salvo. After another 3, 5 minutes, two successive explosions rumbled over the sea, and the C-7, breaking in half, sank. The navigator of the Finnish submarine noted the coordinates of its death: 59 ° 50'N / 19 ° 42'E, sea depth 71 m.
Everyone who stood on the bridge of our boat was thrown into the sea by the blast wave. Shturman M. T. Khrustalev drowned, and the commander S. P. Lisin, helmsman A. K. Olenin, gunner V. S. Subbotin and hold V. I. The marten was captured. They, shell-shocked by the explosion, were taken aboard the Vesikhiisi and taken to Mariehamn. They bravely endured the hardships of captivity, and when in 1944 Finland announced its withdrawal from the war, they returned to their homeland. Perhaps some readers who are guided by modern liberal-democratic "historians" will be surprised, but they were not even "erased into camp dust" at all. Subsequently, Lisin and Olenin continued their service in the submarine, and Subbotin and Kunitsa retired to the reserve. Lisin commanded a submarine division at the Pacific Fleet, participated in the war with Japan, he was awarded the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (!).
The submarine Shch-305 (Commander 3rd Rank Captain DM Sazonov) was discovered on November 5 by the Finnish submarine Vetekhinen, also in the course of replenishing energy reserves at a course of 110 ° and a course of 8 knots. Guided by the work of the diesel engines of our submarine, the Finnish submarine approached her and at 22:50 discovered the Shch-305 at a bearing of 230 ° at a distance of 1.7 km. Five minutes later, the Finnish commander from a distance of less than 2 cab fired a two-torpedo salvo and at the same time opened fire from a cannon. However, the torpedoes passed by. Then he decided to ram our submarine and after a couple of minutes struck her with a bow on the port side. The impact caused heavy damage to our submarine and Shch-305 quickly sank. This happened at 80 ° 09 'north latitude / 19 ° 11' east longitude. The Veteiven itself was repaired for a long time after the collision.
The last submarines, which operated in 1942 in the northern Baltic, were Shch-304 and L-3 on October 27. Each made her second trip in a year. From Sch-304 captain 3rd rank Ya. P. Afanasyev not a single report was received. She was considered dead during the crossing of the Hogland position, but foreign sources suggest that she operated on the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia until the first days of December. So, on November 13, the Finnish minelay in this area three times evaded single torpedoes of the submarine. The fourth passed under the keel of the ship, but luckily it did not explode. On November 17, two ships from the convoy were damaged here by torpedoes from a submarine. There is information that in early December the presence of a Soviet boat was noted in this area. In 2004, Shch-304, lying at the bottom, was discovered and identified by divers of the Finnish Navy. The submarine was killed by a mine in the northern part of the Nashorn barrier.
Submarine L-3 captain 2nd rank P. D. Grishchenko, according to the plan of the campaign, in the area of about. Ute set up a mine can, on which the transport ship "Hindenburg" with a displacement of 7880 brt was blown up and sank in early November. On November 5, she departed for the southern regions of the Baltic, where 4 more ships and one enemy submarine were destroyed on the mines she placed.
In 1943, our boats from the Gulf of Finland to the Baltic could not break through, and in 1944, due to Finland's withdrawal from the war, the tasks for operations in the northern Baltic were no longer assigned to them. Thus, 1942 turned out to be the most tragic year for the submarine forces of the Baltic Fleet, during which 12 of our submarines were lost. In addition to three submarines that were killed during the actions of the forces of the 1st and 2nd echelons, as well as Shch-405 Captain 3rd Rank I. V. Grachev, who died on the transition from Kronstadt to Lavensaari, 8 more submarines from the 3rd echelon were killed. These are: S-7, Shch-302, Shch-304, Shch-305, Shch-306, Shch-308, Shch-311 and Shch-320.
