Submarine sch 402. Guards Red Banner submarine "Sch-402" X series. submarine X series
Type: Submarine, World War II
Country: USSR, 1936
Scale 1:100
Number of sheets: 22xA4
Author of the development: V. Moskotelnikov
Shch-402 - Soviet diesel-electric torpedo submarine of the Shch project - "Pike". It was laid down on December 4, 1934 at the Baltic Shipyard No. 189 in Leningrad, on October 1, 1936 it became part of the ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet under the number Shch-314. In May 1937, she was assigned to the 2nd division of the submarine brigade of the Northern Fleet under the number Shch-402, left Leningrad, passed through the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and in September 1937 arrived at the port of the city of Polyarny. In February 1938, together with the submarines Shch-404, D-3, the destroyer Karl Liebknecht, the icebreaking ships Murman, Taimyr and the ship Murmanets, she took part in the rescue operation of the Soviet Arctic research station Severny pole-1", in the conditions of a storm and a polar night, performing the tasks of providing radio communication between icebreakers and the base of the Northern Fleet. Since April 22, 1939, together with the submarines D-2, Shch-403 and Shch-404, while in the North Sea, it provided radio communications for a non-stop flight from Moscow to Vancouver of the Moscow aircraft under the control of V.K. Kokkinaki. Participated in the Soviet-Finnish war, having made 3 combat patrols off the Norwegian coast between Vardø and Cape Nordkin. June 22, 1941 was included in the 3rd division of the submarine brigade of the Northern Fleet. During the first military campaign on July 14, 1941, the Shch-402 penetrated the Porsangerfjord and from a distance of 14-15 cables torpedoed the German steamship Hanau, anchored in the port of Honningsvåg, with a displacement of 3,000 tons, the first of the Northern Fleet submarines to successfully attack enemy transport. During the war years, the boat made another 15 military campaigns, sank the German patrol ship NM01 "Vandale" and the coastal steamer "Vesteraalen" with a displacement of 682 tons. For military exploits on July 25, 1943 she was awarded the title of Guards, awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On September 21, 1944, at 06:42, 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 of the sea, for an enemy boat and, in violation of the order forbidding aviation to attack any submarines, dropped a torpedo from a distance of 600 meters, as a result of which explosion she sank. Apparently, the crew of the boat, searching for the enemy in a positional position, identified the approaching aircraft as Soviet and did not consider it necessary to dive, which led to a tragic result.
The model is simple. I was pleased with the exceptionally frequent spacing and the equally frequent segmentation of the underwater plating. The print is dark, juicy, without color variations, which is also nice. There are a lot of assembly drawings for such a small model. All together looks nice, while not very expensive.
submarine X series
Laid down on December 4, 1934 at plant No. 189 (Baltic Plant) in Leningrad under slipway number 254 as Shch-314. On June 28, 1935, the ship was launched, entered service on September 23, 1936, 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 "Sch-402" and on May 28, along the White Sea-Baltic Canal, she began moving to the North. On June 30, 1937, the submarine became part of the Northern Fot. 
Submarine Shch-402 in summer 1937 - autumn 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 Medvezhiy 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, were removed from the ice floe by the Taimyr and Murman icebreakers, and the supporting ships were ordered to return to the base.
On April 18-29, 1939, Shch-402, together with the submarines Shch-403, Shch-404 and D-2, provided non-stop flight of the TsKB-30 aircraft (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 Farvel - Miskoe Island.
On October 29, 1939, a senior lieutenant was appointed acting commander of Shch-402 Stolbov Nikolai Gurevich. Finally, he took over only by mid-December; probably for some time the submarine was commanded by its former commander, Lieutenant Commander Bakunin.
The Shch-402 met the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war in the sea near Vardø with the task of preventing the penetration of foreign warships to the Varanger Fjord and the Rybachy Peninsula. The use of weapons against them was allowed only after receiving the radio signal "Shot". It was forbidden to enter Norwegian territorial waters, but the submarine commander was given the right to destroy the enemy, going beyond his position. For Shch-402, this maneuvering zone was 6 miles to the west and south. Shortly after the opening of hostilities, the submarine was withdrawn from the position, and on the next patrol, which took place under the supervision of the commander of the 2nd submarine division, captain of the 3rd rank I.A. Kolyshkin in the area of Cape North Cape - Tana Fjord, was released only on January 28, 1940. Even at the transition to the area of operations, the submarine detected heavy movement of Norwegian ships and ships. Already in the first hours of January 29, in the Vardø area, the submarine met an unknown patrol ship heading north without lights, and a few hours later - a patrol boat. On January 31, in the Makkaur area, a submarine under the shore noticed a single transport heading northwest. In the following days, several more ships were found in the Tanafjord area. On February 2, near Sverttolfhavn, the submarine had to dive into an aircraft flying at an altitude of 400-500 m in the direction from the North Cape to the Laksefjord. In the early morning of February 5, Shch-402 discovered two unknown ships, and in the afternoon near Laksefjord, surfacing under the periscope, at a distance of 5-6 kbt, observed the Norwegian coastal defense battleship Norge, originally mistaken for the Finnish Vainamoinen. Since the target was identified in a timely manner, the attack was not carried out, but the submariners at close range were able to examine the largest ship of the Norwegian Navy shortly before its death. The battleship heading northwest was met again the next day. Based on the observations of Shch-402, it was concluded that near Vardø and in the Nordkapp-Nordkin area, the Norwegians are patrolling warships, and Porsanger Fjord is used by them as a maneuvering base. On the evening of February 7, Shch-402 headed for Polyarnoye, covering 1264 miles on the surface and 177 miles under water during the combat campaign. 
Before the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was concluded in Moscow on March 12, 1940, Shch-402 managed to conduct one more 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 that were moving in the wake and turned right at her. The submarine sank and went to a depth of 25 m. After surfacing two hours later, she again discovered unknown ships maneuvering in the same area and from time to time turning on searchlights. The submarine again went under water, reappearing on the surface only after two and a half hours. There were no more unknown ships, and the submarine itself was in a cluster of Norwegian fishing boats.
On March 13, Shch-402 completed its military campaign, arriving at the base; by this time the "Winter War" was over.
On June 22, 1941, the submarine met, under the command of senior lieutenant (later lieutenant commander, captain of the 3rd rank), Stolbov Nikolai Gurevich as part of the 3rd division of the brigade of the submarine of the Northern Fleet in Murmansk on the slipway of the plant of the People's Commissariat of the fishing industry, where it was completing the current repairs, which started April 17th. The outbreak of war forced the urgent completion of repair work, on June 23 the ship entered service.
Already the first combat campaign of the Great Patriotic War became a triumph for the Shch-402. The submarine left Polyarnoye on the morning of July 10 for operations at position No. 3 in the Porsangerfjord area. In the afternoon, at Cape Tsyp-Navolok, the submarine was attacked by a German aircraft, 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. Finding nothing, on the afternoon of July 14, the submarine penetrated the South Honningsvåg roadstead, where a large (3,000 tons, according to submariners) ship was anchored. Approaching 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, they did not visually observe the result of the launch of torpedoes from the submarine, limiting themselves only to fixing two explosions by ear. However, this fact did not become an obstacle to the winning report. The battle 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 stones of one of the torpedoes, the second jumped ashore and on July 22 was taken by them to Trondheim for study. 
Commander of the 4th DPL Captain 3rd Rank N.I. Morozov and the commander of the Shch-402, Senior Lieutenant N.G. Stolbov. Polyarny, summer 1941
The target of the Shch-402 attack on July 14, 1941 was the Hanau steamship (1921, 5892 brt).
Built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg for the Hamburg company Deutsche Australische Dampfschiffs Gesellschaft, since 1926 owned by the HAPAG company, Hamburg. He was 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, "Sch-402" a few more times (at night, in the morning and evening of 15, in the morning of 16, in the evening of 22 and in the morning of July 23) had the opportunity to go on the attack on single ships, but the submarine commander each time he refused to launch torpedoes, motivating his decision with a low density of batteries or suspecting a trap ship as a target. On the evening of July 24, Shch-402 arrived at Polyarnoye, where a solemn meeting was organized for the submariners.
The hopes of the command that the Shch-402 crew would prove itself again in the next military campaign were not justified. On the afternoon of August 7, the submarine left to serve position No. 5 (Vardø - Bosfjord); on the morning of August 8, near Sylte Fjord, she began patrolling the area. On the morning of August 10, Shch-402 was discovered on the surface by the destroyer Richard Beitzen, which was retreating 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 submerge. The Germans did not have time to pursue the submarine; the ship was damaged by close explosions of Soviet aviation bombs. Another meeting with German destroyers took place on the morning of August 14 (they 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 failed two days earlier.
On the afternoon of August 15, Shch-402 began an early return to the base, since, according to the commander of the submarine, the ship could not be at sea due to the passage of water through the diesel gas valve. When approaching its shore, as a result of a navigator's mistake, it turned out that the submarine had a discrepancy in its place of 29 miles; and instead of the Kildin-Vostochny lighthouse, it ended up at Cape Sharapov (the eastern coast of the Rybachy Peninsula). Fortunately, the submarine was not attacked by its own patrols and coastal batteries, and by the evening of August 16, it arrived safely in Polyarnoye.
When inspecting 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 just an excuse for an early return from the sea. By order of the Commander of the Northern Fleet, the commander of the ship was arrested for 10 days with the performance of his duties, and the military commissar senior political instructor A.B. Kochergin was severely reprimanded. However, they preferred to change the commissioner, on August 27 political instructor N.A. was appointed to the submarine. Dolgopolov, and A.B. Kochergin was decommissioned to the Pushkin mine blockship (until the end of the war, he continued to serve in the mine and torpedo department of the Northern Fleet).
In late August - early September, Shch-402 patrolled in the Porsangerfjord area (position No. 3). The submarine went on the attack three times, but each time, and the submariners were convinced of this themselves, the torpedoes stubbornly did not want to hit the target. On the afternoon of August 27, northwest of Cape Nordkin, transport from the convoy was unsuccessfully attacked; on the morning of August 29 and in the evening of August 31, northeast of Cape Sverholt-Klubben, torpedoes also passed by a tugboat and a fairly large (2500 - 3000 tons) tanker. During the time it was in position and at the transition to the area of operations, the submarine was forced 15 times to urgently dive away from enemy aircraft. Twice aircraft 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 the light hull.
On September 7-8, Shch-402 got into a severe storm. The roll of the ship reached 42 degrees, as a result of which electrolyte poured out of 13 storage tanks. Due to a sharp decrease in battery insulation and the established full hull communication on the morning of September 9, the submarine commander again decided to return to the 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 Shch-402 October campaign finally brought real combat results. On the evening of October 3, the submarine headed to the area of position number 2 for operations in the so-called Lopp Sea, the space between the islands of Sere, Lopp and Fugle. On the way, the submarine got into a storm, and until October 10 waited for it in the charging area.
Starting patrolling, Shch-402 discovered active shipping. Not a day passed without encounters both with individual ships and with convoys and warships of the enemy, but each time the attacks on them were thwarted for various reasons. Finally, by the evening of October 17, in the western part of the Seryo-sund Strait, Shch-402 discovered a laden transport of 4,000 tons 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 after 40 seconds the submariners watched as the explosion blew the ship to shreds. The victim of Shch-402 was the Norwegian coastal steamer Vesteraalen (682 brt), carrying piece cargo and 37 passengers from Tromsø to Hammerfest. All 60 people on board were killed. After the volley, the submarine could not stay at a depth, showing a cabin and an upper deck above the surface of the water, and then, due to a mistake by the personnel, fell to a depth of 115 m. Fortunately, the German patrol boats Uj-1213 and Uj-1416 approached the place shipwreck only 40 minutes after the shipwreck. The hunters limited themselves to dropping several 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 at 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 targets destroyed by this time), the torpedoing of the small steamer "Vesteraalen" looks rather pale. The command reproached the Shch-402 commander for making a number of mistakes that reduced combat success and lack of perseverance when going on the attack. Meanwhile, "Vesteraalen" became the second real victory for the 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. For the entire time they were in the area of operations of the enemy, they managed to meet only twice, but due to the large heading angle, torpedoes were not launched. On the evening of December 5, the submarine arrived at Polyarnoye, where it was laid up. The old battery, installed in June 1939, had almost exhausted its resource, and there was nowhere to get a new one; manufacturing product Leningrad plant them. Lieutenant Schmidt was in blockade. In anticipation of new batteries, on December 15, the submarine near the Krasny Gorn floating workshop began navigation repairs, and only on February 8, 1942, it entered service with a new battery.
Shch-402 opened the 1942 campaign with a campaign in 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. Shakhov. Arriving at the position in the early hours of February 24, Shch-402 already on February 27 carried out two covert attacks on convoys. The first attack was carried out ten minutes after noon. Her target was a large ship of 8000 tons as part of a convoy (5 transports, 4 escort ships) heading east. The Germans did not notice the attack, but an explosion was recorded on the submarine, which gave reason to believe that the target was hit. Three hours later, 3 miles north of Cape Sverholt-kluben, Shch-402 attacked the return convoy. Two torpedoes were fired at one of the six transports, estimated by the 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. "Sch-402" destroyed the patrol ship "Vandale", 24 German sailors died with it.
Another attack on two minesweepers, which actually turned out to be a pair of submarine hunters Uj-1102 and Uj-1105, was carried out by the submarine on the evening of March 3 in the Kjelle Fjord area. One torpedo was fired at the lead ship from a distance of 4-5 kbt. A minute later, the submariners recorded the explosion, but they did not have the opportunity to visually follow the result of the attack; the enemy, noticing the presence of a submarine, began pursuit. Within an hour, anti-submarine ships dropped 16 depth charges on Shch-402 (submariners counted 42 explosions), as a result of which the horizontal rudders jammed several times on the submarine, part of the lighting failed, and through the weakened rivets of boolean fuel-ballast tanks overboard the solarium began to ooze. By nightfall, the submarine managed to break away from enemy ships and float to the surface.
At the end of March 7, Shch-402 received an order to occupy the area of 71°08 N, 23°10 E. (position "B") to cover the allied convoy "PQ-12". Early on the morning of March 9, the submarine arrived at the site, but then it turned out that the solarium oozing from the damaged tanks No. 3 and No. 4 leaves an unmasking trail behind its stern. Considering that the fuel supply (at least 10-15 tons) in the fuel tanks would be enough, the submarine commander ordered the solarium 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, fuel was measured in internal tanks, it turned out that its stock was only 3.5 tons, which was not enough to go to the base even on an economic basis. The submarine turned to Polyarnoye, but after 11 hours it got up without fuel and lay down in a drift at the point 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 D-3 submarine was sent to help Shch-402, which was in a neighboring position 40-60 miles northwest of the emergency submarine. In addition, without completing the inter-passage repairs in the evening, K-21 left Polyarny on one diesel engine (the second one was assembled at the crossing) 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 4-knot move. After 37.5 hours, this "cocktail" ended, and the submarine again drifted at the point 71 ° 28 N, 31 ° 47 E.
In the meantime, the D-3 submarine received an order to return to its position, and the K-21, on the afternoon of March 12, arrived in the indicated area and, not finding the Shch-402, began searching for it in a square with sides of 40 miles . Finally, having received updated data on the location of the emergency submarine, on the afternoon of March 13, K-21 discovered Shch-402 at the point 71 ° 25 N, 32 ° 48 E. After the submarines exchanged identification, "K-21" moored to the side of the "Shch-402" and began pumping fuel. The solarium 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 pike's open hatch, 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 the event of a sudden appearance of the enemy, all the weapons of the submarines were brought to immediate action, and fighters with axes stood on the mooring lines to ensure an urgent dive.
After the transfer of fuel, the submarine trimmed, and independently headed to the base. On the evening of March 14, Shch-402 arrived at Polyarnoye. Already in the database, it turned out that the reason for the unauthorized development of internal tanks was the shut-off valve for replacing the solarium in the external tank, which was incorrectly assembled during the repair. While the submarine was undergoing navigational repairs and docking in Murmansk, on April 3, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "... for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the Command on the front against the German invaders and the valor and courage shown at the same time," the ship was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
On the night of May 3, Shch-402 entered the area 140 miles north of Kildin Island. This time the task of the submarine was not to fight on enemy communications, but to act against enemy submarines on the approaches to the mouth of the Kola Bay. Patrolling was accompanied by the presence of large accumulations of coarse ice on the surface of the water and took place in a submerged position. The ice was the reason that the campaign ended as soon as it began. On the evening of May 5, the watch officer, 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 racks. Shch-402 had no choice but to turn back to the base and arrive at Polyarnoye by the evening of May 7th.
After the repair 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, carried out a torpedo attack on a large vessel that was heading the column. After the launch of 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 attack of the submarine, continued to move. "Sch-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 meetings with enemy ships, but each time the attack failed 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 Shch-402 submarine; (from left to right): foreman of the hold group midshipman S.D. Kukushkin, commander of the department of gunners, foreman of the 2nd tbsp. A.P. Novikov, foreman of the group of electricians midshipman S.S. Semenov, electrician of the Red Navy E.F. Parfeniev, helmsman of the Red Navy P.V. Besedin, commander of the torpedo squad, foreman of the 2nd tbsp. A.S. Melnikov, commander of the minders department, foreman of the 2nd tbsp. DI. Novak, foreman of the radio-acoustic group, foreman of the 1st class. N.K. Khromeev and the commander of the torpedo squad, foreman of the 2nd tbsp. E.D. Ivashov. Polyarny, 23-24 July 1942
Assistant commander of the Shch-402 submarine Lieutenant Commander Sorokin Konstantin Nikitich. In the background with a flag is the foreman of the hold group, midshipman S.D. Kukushkin.
Calculation of the stern 45-mm gun "Shch-402" (from left to right): minder senior sailor M. Gorozhankin, torpedo senior sailor A. Melnikov, torpedo pilot A. Bakhtiarov, minder senior sailor G. Danilov; at the periscope stand - miner Lieutenant N. Zakharov. Polyarny, summer 1941
Members of the Shch-402 crew. Polyarny, summer 1943.
Patrolling Shch-402 at the end of July in the area of Varanger Fjord (position No. 6) was marked by two torpedo attacks, the success of which at the headquarters of the brigade of the submarine fleet of the Northern Fleet then no one doubted. On the evening of July 22, four torpedoes were fired at a large, estimated by submariners at 10,000 tons, transport, guarded by two guards. 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 deaf explosions in the compartments. The attacked transport "Pompeji" (2916 brt) observed the trail of one torpedo, and the minesweepers "M-31", "M-154" and the "R-56" minesweepers accompanying it dropped 21 depth charges at a safe distance from the submarine. The submarine withdrew to Tsyp-Navolok Bay, where it reloaded torpedo tubes throughout the evening and night of July 23. Having again taken a position, on the morning of July 25, southwest of Cape Kibergnes, 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, looking at the horizon, the enemy submarine was not found. The Germans did not lose any U-boats at this location at this time. (In addition, the I series of German submarines consisted of only two units; both were lost in 1940).
Having returned to the base by the morning of July 27, Shch-402 underwent a navigation repair with docking in a short time and prepared for the tenth military campaign, which almost became the last one for the submarine. On the afternoon of August 11, the submarine headed for the Tanafjord area for operations at position No. 4. On the night of August 14, at the time of charging the batteries from the V compartment, it was reported that there was a strong smell of acid there. The watch officer of the central post, foreman of the 2nd article, P. Alekseev, in violation of the Rules for the operation of batteries, knowing that at this moment the most intense hydrogen evolution occurs, with the permission of the watch officer of the commander of the BCH-2-3, Lieutenant N. Zakharov, switched the blower fan from the battery pits ( By that time, there was little hydrogen in the pits of II and III compartments) for ventilation of the V compartment. Half an hour later, when he tried to switch to the ventilation of the pits, there was a volume explosion of the battery 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 between diesel engines was visible. The blast wave destroyed the battery, bent bulkheads, damaged pipelines and system lines, moved many mechanisms, and disabled measuring instruments. The hatch between the III compartment and the central post (IV compartment) 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 torpedo pilot survived in compartment I, who could only be taken to the upper deck through the upper hatch. An attempt to get into the second compartment through the first failed; from the influx of air, a fire broke out there again. All other crew members of the submarine (19 people) who were in the bow compartments, including the commander, military commissar, chief mate and navigator, died. The command of the submarine was taken by the commander of the warhead-5 engineer-captain-lieutenant A.D. Bolshakov. He brought the Sch-402, which had lost the opportunity to dive, to the base on the morning of August 15.
Those who died as a result of the explosion were buried at the Polyarny garrison cemetery in Kislaya Bay. The commission investigating the causes of the accident concluded that it was caused by gross violations of operating rules, technical illiteracy and negligent performance of duties by the crew members of the submarine. As it turned out, the commander's cabin was the epicenter of the explosion. Since almost the entire command staff of the Shch-402 died, the commander of the BCh-5 Bolshakov and the commander of the hold department Alekseev, who were put on trial, were "appointed" guilty of the accident. (Engineer-captain-lieutenant Andrei Dmitrievich Bolshakov died on the Shch-422 submarine in July 1943, foreman of the 2nd article Pyotr Ivanovich Alekseev ended the war as part of the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment of the Intelligence Directorate of the Headquarters of the Federation Council). 
Monument on the mass grave of the Shch-402 crew members who died in an accident on August 14, 1942. The military section of the city cemetery, Kislaya Bay, Polyarny.
Captain-lieutenant (later captain 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 the Varanger Fjord. The new commander was provided by the commander of the 3rd submarine division captain of the 1st rank I.A. Kolyshkin. Arriving at the position on the morning of January 18, the submarine got into a strong storm and retreated to the charging area. Because of the thick fog, the submarine could not determine its place. When the weather conditions improved by the morning of January 21, it turned out that the ship was carried by waves and currents to the entrance to Motovskaya Bay. Returning to the area of operations, on the morning of January 23, the submarine discovered a German convoy and attacked a transport of 6,000 tons with four torpedoes. A minute after the salvo, the submariners recorded two explosions, but the enemy does 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, to drive away the submarine, the V-6112 patrol ship dropped 5 depth charges.
In March, Shch-402 operated in the Vardø area (position No. 5). During the patrol, the submarine touched the minreps several times when forcing minefields, in addition, she repeatedly encountered floating mines plucked from minefields. It was possible to go on the attack only once, when on the afternoon of March 20, off Cape Harbaken, 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 undercover intelligence, it was found that two ships with a cargo of flour and building materials became victims of the submarine's torpedoes at once. The Germans do not confirm either explosions or torpedo hits. The patrol ship "V-5907" accompanying the convoy ships at that time observed something resembling a torpedo trail, but did not raise an alarm. The second attempt to attack the enemy convoy in the Sylte Fjord area on the morning of March 22 was interrupted by an aircraft that discovered the submarine's periscope. The approaching escort ships by dropping depth charges forced the submarine to go deep and abandon the attack. 
Having returned to Polyarnoye, Shch-402 spent the whole of April installing and testing the Sprut depth stabilizer, and on the evening of May 7 again went to the Vardø area. On the way to the area of operations, the submarine and the small hunters "MO No. 114" and "MO No. 122" accompanying it were subjected to an unsuccessful attack by a pair of Bf-109 aircraft, which were driven away by fire from patrol boats. Arriving at the position. The submarine twice met with enemy ships, but did not attack.
Arriving at the base by the morning of May 23, Shch-402 went into repair, which lasted until the end of August. While work was underway, on July 25, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy, "for the courage shown in 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. "Sch-402" became the only "pike" - the owner of both the guards rank and the Order of the Red Banner.
With the task of covering the Soviet Arctic communications, the submarine spent the whole of September in the Kara Sea east of Cape Zhelaniya (position No. 12). Finding nothing there, by the morning of October 5, she arrived in Polyarnoye, getting up for a long repair, during which the Dragon-129 hydroacoustic station, the Torpedo Director and equipment for using electric torpedoes ET- 80". The submarine entered the stand only on June 5, 1944, but its material part, even despite the repair work, fell into exceptional disrepair due to intensive operation. 
Crew of Shch-402. Polyarny, summer 1944.
Shch-402 Commander A.M. Kautsky.
Shch-402 Commander Assistant Senior Lieutenant A.A. Telegin, November 1943
Rewarding the foreman of the group of bilge drivers "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 "Sch-402" was allocated "sector number 1" in the area north of the Porsangerfjord. By this time, the submarines of the Northern Fleet were operating using the “hanging curtain” method - the submarines were deployed seaward of the enemy’s minefields and aimed at his convoys according to aerial reconnaissance. 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 diesel engines of the submarine could not give her a fast enough move, therefore, when she arrived in the area indicated by intelligence, she did not find anything but Norwegian fishermen.
Returning to Polyarnoye on the night of July 26, Shch-402 got up for a short navigation repair, during which the submarine received a VAN-PZ retractable antenna.
Shch-402 set off on its last combat campaign on the evening of September 17th. The submarine was to operate in the Kongsfjord area (sector "D") as part of the "RV-8" operation. The submarine did not get in touch again and did not return to the base. According to the official Soviet version, she became a victim of “friendly fire” from the A-20 (Boston) torpedo bomber, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 36th mine-torpedo regiment, Captain M.I. Protasa 5.5 miles north of Gamvik on the morning of September 21, 1944. The plane, which took off on a "free hunt" in the area west of the island of Mageryo, found the submarine before reaching the search area. The submarine moved at low speed in positional position. Describing a combat turn, "Boston" from a height of 30 m and a distance of 600 m attacked the target with a torpedo, 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 site of the submarine. 
Shch-402 submarine.
Sch-402 Command Staff. Sitting (from left to right): assistant commander of the guard senior lieutenant A.A. Telegin, commander of the guard boat captain 3rd rank A.M. Kautsky, commander of the warhead-5 of the guard, engineer-captain of the 3rd rank V.V. Konovalov; standing: commander of the warhead-2-3 of the guard, senior lieutenant A.N. Krasilshchikov, senior military assistant lieutenant of the medical service M.V. Balashkov and the commander of the warhead-1 of the guard, captain-lieutenant D.K. Gelever. Polyarny, July 1943
Commander of the BCH-5 "Shch-402" Guard Engineer-Captain-Lieutenant V.V. Konovalov and foreman of the group of minders of the guard midshipman V.A. Mikheev.
Members of the Shch-402 crew. Submarine Commander of the Guard Captain 3rd Rank A.M. Kautsky, foreman of the group of radio operators of the guard midshipman N.K. Khromeev, commander of the torpedo squad of the guard, foreman of the 2nd tbsp. A.S. Melnikov, senior sailor P.V. Besedin and the foreman of the group of torpedoists of the guard midshipman N.A. Egorov.
After the report of the pilots and the development of the film of the photo machine gun (the pictures were not found in the archives), the headquarters came to the conclusion that the plane attacked the "pike". The subsequent call to the submarines in position showed that Shch-402 was not responding to the request.
Who was attacked by Captain Protas's torpedo bomber is still not clear. There is no answer to the question of what the submarine was doing practically without moving near the enemy coast in full view of enemy observation posts and under the guns of the coastal battery. In addition, the attack area of the aircraft was more than 30 miles outside the Shch-402 position and falls within the S-56 area of operations (sector B).
It is possible that Shch-402 died on September 19-21, 1944, when it was blown up by a mine of the NW-30 barrier 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 was the last submarine of the Northern Fleet to die 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 brt) and 1 patrol ship sunk. Officially counted 12 targets destroyed.
10/17/1941 TR "Vesteraalen" (682 brt)
02/27/1942 SKR "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 reported that the combat account of the SF submarine brigade was open - "402nd" sank a large transport in the roadstead of Honningsvåg. Although in the following days Stolbov missed several potential targets for attack, on his return to Polyarnoye on July 24 he was greeted as a triumph. 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 Hanau steamer - remained unharmed. In all likelihood, the cause of the miss was a violation of the mode of motion of torpedoes fired from a distance of 14-15 kbt. Nevertheless, 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 (August 7 - 16, 1941) in 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 our patrol ship was sunk 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 shutdown of the diesel gas outlet and decided to return to the base without permission. To top it all, 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 coastal batteries. This case even fell into the directive of the head of the Political Directorate of the Navy I.V. Rogov, but everything went without consequences. Between August 24 and September 10, 1941, the submarine operated near the North Cape, where it made three unsuccessful torpedo attacks. September 7-8 "pike" got into a strong storm. Due to the splashing of electrolyte, the battery shorted to the case. And this time, Stolbov returned to the base ahead of schedule, although on other boats in such situations they limited themselves to thorough washing and alkalizing of the pits. The commander was again reproached, but no organizational conclusions were made. 3 - 10/28/1941 Shch-402 operated in the Lopp Sea - this is how our submariners used to call the vast bay between the islands of Sere, Loppa and Fuglö in 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 brt) to pieces. Unfortunately, there was no military cargo on the ship, and all 60 dead (crew and passengers) were purely civilians. The fourth trip - to the Kongsfjord area (13.11 - 12.6.1941) - turned out to be inconclusive. The enemy convoy was discovered only once, and even then at a very long distance. After repairs Shch-402 again went to sea (21.2 - 14.3.1942). On February 27, the boat secretly attacked convoys twice, and in the second case, she managed to destroy the German patrol ship Vandal (24 crew members died). 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, Shch-402 was hit by 42 depth charges, which severely battered the light hull. Three days later, the submarine received the task of moving to the position of covering the allied caravan, but when it arrived in the assigned area on the evening of March 10, it turned out that there was almost no solarium left on the ship - it leaked into the sea through the burst seams of fuel and ballast tanks. After the transfer of fuel and oil from K-21 Shch-402 on March 13, it 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 left for 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 inspect the horizon, the boat collided with a large drifting ice floe, causing damage to the anti-aircraft periscope and antennas. Having failed to complete the task, the ship returned to the base. The subsequent two accesses to communications (May 29-June 15, 1942 to the Varde area and July 21-26, 1942 to the Varangerfjord) were also unsuccessful. Stolbov attacked three times (2.6, 22.7 and 25.7), but due to the long distance he never hit the target (however, during the war years, all these attacks were considered successful).
On August 11, the submarine went on its tenth combat campaign and arrived at the position two days later. On the night of the 14th, when she was charging the batteries, the watch officer of 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 commander of the watch, 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 ventilation of the pits, an accidental spark caused a volumetric explosion. A powerful blast wave arched the bulkheads, damaged the lines of various systems and moved many instruments and mechanisms from their places. The door between the central post and the 3rd compartment jammed. They tried to get into the accident area through the 1st compartment. Its upper hatch was peeled off, but the fire resumed from the influx of fresh air. It became clear that all 19 crew members who were in two compartments were killed. Among them were Stolbov, military commissar N.A. Dolgopolov, assistant K.N. Sorokin and navigator A.Ya. Semenov. The command of the boat was taken over by the 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 investigating the causes of the accident concluded that the incident on Shch-402 was the result of a gross violation of the rules of operation, technical illiteracy and negligent performance by the crew of their duties.
The new commander of the "pike" was Lieutenant Commander A.M. Kautsky, who was previously an assistant on the Shch-421 (in this position he participated only in the last trip 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 go on the attack on the surface, but in the conditions of a storm 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 twice patrolled in the Varde area. The enemy attacked the "pike" several times, three times the boat touched the minreps. 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 hydroacoustic heard two explosions, which, as it became known from 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 when firing one at a time is highly doubtful. Nevertheless, on July 25 Shch-402 was awarded the title of Guards, thus becoming the only "pike" - the owner of two highest military awards. The next (2.9 - 5.10.1943) submarine trip to the Kara Sea to the area east of Cape Zhelaniya did not bring encounters with the enemy. After arriving at Polyarnoye, the boat went into medium repair, according to experts, "its material part fell into exceptional disrepair." Through the efforts of workers and personnel, Shch-402 was put into operation by the summer of next year. By that time, the command of the BPL and the Northern Fleet had switched to using submarines according to the “overhanging curtain” method, the essence of which was to deploy submarines seaward of the line of minefields and point them at convoys according to aerial reconnaissance. It is obvious that Shch-402 - the only combat-ready "pike" - was not very suitable for this: its 11.5-nodal "ceremonial" course was even smaller in practice due to the deterioration of diesel engines and the removal of breakwater shields of torpedo tubes. The participation of the boat in the operation "RV-5" (campaign 10 - 26.7.1944) was reduced to seven unsuccessful attempts to intercept convoys, the speed of which each time turned out to be higher. Despite this, on the evening of September 17, the 402nd went on its last - 16th - military campaign. On the morning of September 21, the Boston torpedo bomber of the 36th Mine and Torpedo Regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force flew out on a “free hunt” to the area west of Mageryo Island. Before reaching the search area, under the shore near Cape Sletnes, the gunner-radio operator discovered the cabin of a submarine. The crew commander, Captain Protas, without hesitation, described a wide combat turn and dropped a torpedo, which instantly hit the target. When developing a film loaded into a photo-machine gun, specialists from the headquarters of the Air Force and the BPL unanimously declared that a “pike” was captured in the pictures taken seconds before the hit. In the ensuing proceedings, it turned out that the order of setting a combat mission was grossly violated at the headquarters of the air regiment, as a result of which the pilot was not notified of the prohibition of attacks by 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 at a distance of only 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 message about combat damage or an accident, it remains to be assumed that the cause of this was a gross navigational error or ... "Boston" nevertheless attacked a German submarine, and Shch-402 died at another time in a completely different way reason. Not so 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, the final identification of the find is possible only after a deep-sea diving survey.
The message from the Soviet Information Bureau was, as usual, brief: “The Enskaya submarine of the Northern Fleet under the command of Senior Lieutenant Stolbov penetrated the fascist harbor and attacked transport with a displacement of 6 thousand tons. Torpedo operator Melnikov blew up an enemy ship with two torpedoes. The submarine returned safely to its base." This first combat success of the Northern Fleet in the Great Patriotic War fell to the crew of the Shch-402 submarine, which on July 14, 1941 penetrated the Porsangerfjord and destroyed an enemy transport ship. The move was made. But the “four hundred and second” still had many difficult campaigns, and each demanded from the crew the maximum return of spiritual and physical strength, courage, courage and resourcefulness.
The winter of 1942 was drawing to a close. But only according to the calendar: there were severe frosts, the sea was constantly stormy. Every now and then dense snowballs came up.
The Four Hundred and Second, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Nikolai Stolbov, has been plying the Barents Sea for several days on the likely routes of enemy transports.
The storm kept getting stronger. "Pike" was thrown from side to side so that the inclinometer indicator went on a scale from lock to lock. The people on the bridge were exhausted. Seeing that the usual time between shifts of shifts is four hours - they cannot stand it in such an environment, Stolbov ordered to be replaced every two hours. Soaked and stiff from the cold, the signalmen and the watch officer descended into the boat and, after sitting for a couple of hours at the electric heater, again went up to the bridge to change their comrades.
On the fourth day, after noon,
Shch-402 came to the area northwest of Varangerfjord - to the crossroads of enemy convoy roads. Stolbov decided to dive, give the crew a break, and then start an active search.
When the boat surfaced at night, the submariners marveled at the complete calm, which is extremely rare in the Barents Sea. However, this disturbing silence was not considered a good omen. Indeed, in such weather, not only the enemy, but also the submarine - as if in the palm of your hand.
1 – noise direction finder antenna; 2 - mooring capstan; 3 - nasal net taps; 4 - radio antenna; 5 - railing; 6 - central bow gun; 7 – anti-aircraft periscope; 8 - the main magnetic compass; 9 – gyrocompass repeater; 10 - commander's periscope; 11 - Maxim's machine gun; 12 – folding bulwark; 13-45 mm stern gun; 14 - handrail; 15 - holes for water drainage and air release; 16 - antenna stand; 17 - feed network taps; 18 - flagpole; 19 - the flag of the order-bearing ship; 20 - lower wake light; 21 - anchor clewse; 22 – Hall anchor; 23 - false keel (with solid ballast); 24 - deadwood; 25 – propeller shaft; 26 – propeller shaft bracket; 27 – bracket mortar; 28 – propeller; 29 - bracket; 30 – vertical steering wheel; 31 - door to the superstructure; 32 - lifebuoy; 33 – wheelhouse hatch; 34 - bale straps; 35 – fencing of the nasal horizontal rudder; 36 – nasal horizontal rudders; 37 - cable; 38, 43 - a folding sheet above the ventilation valves; 39 - folding sheet over the entrance hatch; 40 - folding grill over the batteries and the eye; 41 - bow signal buoy; 42 - folding sheet over the fenders; 44 - folding grate over the stern batteries and the eye; 45 – folding grille over mufflers; 46 - folding sheet; 47 - bollard; 48 - holes for water drainage and air outlet; 49 - guard propellers and stern horizontal rudders; 50 - lanyard; 51 – stern horizontal rudders; 52 - signal mast; 53 - upper wake light; 54 - rynda; 55 – cover of aft torpedo tubes; 56 - top fire; 57 – anti-aircraft periscope fairing; 58 - side distinctive lights; 59 – cover of bow torpedo tubes; 60 - guisstock; 61 - hook niche
Fortunately, the night passed quietly and the "pike" was able to fully charge the battery, "fill" the high pressure air and carefully ventilate the compartments. As soon as dawn broke, the boat plunged to periscope depth and began to search.
Captain-Lieutenant Stolbov is in the central post. From time to time he raises the periscope and, leaning against the eyepiece, scans the horizon, then with a sigh he folds the periscope handles and lowers it. The horizon is clear. This means you have to wait.
When the commander once again raised the periscope, everyone in the central post noticed how his palms tightened, squeezing the handles. This time, Stolbov did not leave the eyepiece for a long time, turning the periscope slightly to the right, then to the left.
Finally, as if sensing the gazes directed at him, he snapped:
-Transports in the protection of minesweepers and boats. Combat Alert! Torpedo attack!
And then the deaf silence of the compartments was announced by the trills of bells.
The boat, increasing speed, went to approach. Stolbov raises the periscope again. The transport is now visible quite well, its bulk is getting closer and closer to the salvo bearing.
– Nasal devices tovs! commanded by a Lieutenant Commander.
The high black stem of the transport crawls onto a vertical thread in the eyepiece of the periscope.
- Pli! shouted Stolbov, cutting the air with his hand.
And everyone in the boat felt how the "pike" shuddered, freeing itself from deadly projectiles.
-Torpedoes out! Senior Lieutenant Zakharov reported from the first compartment.
Dangerous moments. The lightened nose of the "pike" was pulled to the surface. Togo and look above the water, the bow and cabin will appear. But the boatswain Nikolai Dobrodumov vigilantly watched the vial of the trimmer. Skillfully and energetically acting with horizontal rudders, he managed to keep the submarine at a depth.
Meanwhile, the hand of the commander's stopwatch impassively ran across the dial. And it began to seem that it would be time for the explosion to thunder. People in all compartments froze, listening...
Two powerful explosions, one after the other, echoed in the body of the "pike" with a ringing rumble. Victory!
Stolbov, as soon as the torpedoes rushed to the target, began post-volley maneuvering to evade pursuit. He preferred to take the boat, as far as the depths allowed, closer to the shore, reasonably expecting that they would hardly be looking for the “pike” there. So far, his predictions have come true.
-Boatswain, float under the periscope! followed by a new command.
The steel pipe slowly crawled up. As soon as the lower head of the periscope appeared from the shaft, Stolbov immediately threw back the handles and, while still on the rise, turned it in the direction of the explosions.
The picture that Stolbov saw on the surface delighted him: a huge transport was sinking, breaking in half.
Meanwhile, for some reason, there was no persecution. True, enemy ships dropped several depth charges not far from the torpedoed transport - at random. Soon the acoustician reported that the noise of the propellers of enemy ships was not heard. Assistant commander Konstantin Sorokin ordered from the central post in a cheerful voice:
– Move away from places on combat alert! Free from watch to dine!
Dinner on the occasion of the torpedo attack passed with great enthusiasm, no one complained about the lack of appetite. But before they had time to wash the dishes in the galley, the acoustician Vasiliev heard noises. Watch officer Zakharov called the commander to the central post.
"Four hundred and second" turned towards the noise, and after about twenty minutes the lieutenant commander saw the enemy convoy through the periscope: six transports with guards.
This torpedo attack was much shorter in time than the previous one. The fact is that the convoy was on a collision course and the largest transport turned out to be the closest to the boat, at an ideal heading angle of attack.
“The attack is like in a textbook,” the lieutenant commander joked, glancing at the stopwatch.
As soon as the foreman of the torpedo group reported to the central post that the bow two-torpedo volley had been made, they commanded from there: “Tovs!”. And almost immediately: "Ply!"
The torpedomen jerked their triggers. Compressed air pushed the torpedoes forward with a powerful hiss. And again, the agonizing expectation: “Did they hit or not ?!”, and stormy joy when deaf explosions of torpedoes reached the boat.
-Boatswain, dive fifty meters! Stolbov ordered.
Dobrodumov energetically shifted the rudders, and then, nervously tapping his fingers on the glass of the depth gauge, as if this could increase the speed of the boat's sinking, he began to report:
– Depth 25 meters… 30… 35…
This is where his reports ended. The first bomb explosions shook the body of the "pike" when the depth gauge showed 37 meters.
And then it began! Enemy ships fiercely pursued the "four hundred and second". From nearby explosions, light bulbs burst in compartments, fuses flew out at substations. The kingston of the equalizing tank was torn off, and outboard water poured into it. This was the most dangerous thing: now the boat could fall into the depths of the sea to such a depth where its hull could not withstand the pressure.
At that moment, the fate of the boat and the crew depended entirely on the promptness and dedication of the hold. The watchman in the hold, Vanganov, darted with lightning speed under the flooring of the central post, somehow squeezed between the pump and the air lines, and, diving into the icy water, quickly repaired the damage. The flow of seawater has stopped.
There were such pauses in the bombing at times that it seemed that the Nazis' attempts to destroy the boat were over. But after some time, close explosions of depth charges resumed. From each of them, the body of the "pike" shuddered, from the central post, after a new series of explosions, the command came: "Look around in the compartments!"
The boat continued to search. At dawn on March 3, the acoustician reported: “Starboard, course forty: propeller noise!”
Stolbov dropped to the eyepiece of the periscope. After some time, he clearly made out the outlines of two German minesweepers engaged in control trawling.
Quickly making the necessary calculations, the commander attacked one of them. After a few tens of seconds, the fired torpedoes reached the target and a strong explosion followed.
As soon as Stolbov was convinced of the successful completion of the attack, the acoustician reported:
The enemy ship has turned towards us. The distance is shrinking!
In less than five minutes, the first depth charge exploded nearby. Followed by a second, a third, two more...
The surviving minesweeper, apparently, quite accurately found the location of the "pike". Very close by, an explosion of such force was heard that many in the boat could not stay on their feet.
The lieutenant commander realized that it would hardly be possible to get rid of the pursuit by ordinary maneuvering. And in this difficult moment, Stolbov found the only way out, how to confuse the fascist acousticians and break away from persecution. The essence was the following. When depth charges were exploding over the "four hundred and second", the commander ordered to give the most full speed. At this time, there, upstairs, the acoustics still did not hear anything. But as soon as silence came, the electric motors stopped and the boat moved by inertia. And so every time. Explosion: "Full speed ahead!" The rumble of explosions subsided: "Stop the engines!"
Finally, after many hours of pursuit, the bombing stopped. Enemy minesweeper lost "pike".
With the onset of darkness, Stolbov ordered to surface and inspect the ship. And then it turned out that the hull of the boat received holes in the area of \u200b\u200bfuel tanks, from which almost the entire supply of diesel fuel flowed out: it remained only for partial charging of the batteries. The situation was complicated by the fact that the distance to the base exceeded 300 miles, and there were not even twenty miles to the coast occupied by the Nazis.
All night long the "four hundred and second" drifted, and in the morning from the headquarters of the fleet they radioed that help had been sent to the boat. Now all that was left to do was to wait ... Deprived of the course and the ability to dive, the Soviet submarine could be detected and attacked by enemy ships and aircraft every minute. Therefore, torpedo tubes and artillery were brought to full combat readiness, and personal weapons were handed out to the crew. Just in case, Shch-402 was prepared for the explosion.
In this difficult hour, mechanical engineer Bolshakov with foremen Stepanenko and Kukushkin did not waste time. They decided to use a mixture of oil and kerosene from the remaining torpedoes. And the diesel engine, having sneezed a couple of times, started working on this “ruff”.
All night the "pike" went to the native shores. Having waited out the bright part of the day in full combat readiness, the "four hundred and second" continued on its way with the onset of twilight. But the fuel lasted only until midnight. The boat drifted again ... The long-awaited help came at dawn. The military campaign ended successfully.
An exceptional fate fell to the share of the "four hundred and second". During the Great Patriotic War, she made 16 military campaigns, sank an enemy submarine and 9 transports with a total displacement of over 50 thousand tons, and caused serious damage to several transports. This submarine, which won the highest naval distinctions, was the first to open a combat account for the North Sea submariners, and became the last of those who died in the Arctic. This happened on September 21, 1944.
SUBMARS OF TYPE "SH"
In the Soviet Navy during the Great Patriotic War, the Shch type submarines were the most numerous. They were created in the late 1920s - early 1930s and were intended for operations in coastal areas and inland seas. The first boats with a displacement of 580 - 700 tons carried six torpedoes in vehicles (four in the bow and two in the stern) and four spares. Two 45-mm anti-aircraft semi-automatic guns were installed in the bow and stern of the bridge. Two diesels of 600 liters. With. informed the boat surface speed up to 12 knots. Under water, the boat went on two electric motors of 400 hp each. With. at about 8 knots. (within one hour).
These submarines served as the basis for the creation of a number of other series of Shch-type submarines. So, in 1932, boats of the V series were developed specifically for the Pacific Fleet, which could be transported disassembled by rail. They were equipped with more powerful diesel engines of 800 hp. with., allowing to increase the surface speed to 14 knots. Later, more advanced boats of the Shch type of the V-bis, V-bis 2, X and X-bis series were built. They were used in all fleets.
The submarine discussed in this essay was laid down in December 1934. On October 1, 1936, the Naval flag was hoisted on it in a solemn atmosphere. From that day on, under the number Shch-14, she became part of the warships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.
In May 1937, mechanisms and weapons were removed from her and put in a floating dock: the boat was being prepared for passage to the Barents Sea. In September, the "pike" (now with tail number 402) arrived in the young city of Polyarny.
It was difficult for the Baltic sailors in the Barents Sea. The meteorological situation and navigational conditions were fraught with many unknowns. Frequent and strong storms, snow charges and other specific polar difficulties and hardships tempered the characters and will of the submariners, contributed to the improvement of their combat skills. The first great achievement of the crew was the operational dive and ascent with a wave of 6 points.
At that time, with such a strong wave, submariners did not practice this exercise on any other fleet. In the winter of 1937/38, the Shch-402 crew had a chance to carry out an important government task. Then the whole world enthusiastically followed the heroic drift on the ice field of the first in the history of the polar station "North Pole". Names of Soviet Arctic explorers - I.D. Papanin, P.P. Shirshova, G.K. Fedorov and E.T. Krenkel - did not leave the newspaper pages. When the ice floe with the Papanins, as they were then called, began to break up, and four brave polar explorers found themselves in a threatening situation, a special expedition was sent to save them in the Arctic Ocean. In addition to the icebreaking ships Taimyr and Murman, it included submarines L-3, Shch-404 and Shch-402.
On February 19, the SP-1 station was evacuated by icebreakers. The submarines completed their task, maintaining a reliable connection between the Taimyr and Murman with the radio center of the Northern Fleet.
North Sea submarines penetrated further and further into the Arctic Ocean. From December 16, 1938 to January 16, 1939, the crew of the "four hundred and second" was on autonomous navigation. Three-quarters of the time of the campaign proceeded in difficult conditions. And the sailors with honor passed the test for maritime maturity, returning to their base without a single breakdown.
On April 22, 1939, the “four hundred and second”, together with other submarines of the Northern Fleet, entered the government task to provide radio communications with the V.K. Kokkinaki, who flew across the Atlantic to the United States of America. The campaign was very difficult for submarines, the course ran along the Norwegian coast, crossed the Norwegian Sea. After their mission was completed, the boats, turning around in the North Sea, returned to their native shores.
During the Finnish campaign, in the harsh winter of 1939/40, the "four hundred and second", along with other ships of the Northern Fleet, carried out difficult patrol service. The actions of submarines were hampered by a forty-degree frost. The hulls were frozen over, the boats received additional positive buoyancy, which prevented an urgent dive. Antennas were torn under the weight of ice, railings were broken. The optics of the periscopes froze over. Weapons broke down - the guns turned into ice blocks, water froze at the torpedoes in the cutouts of the turntables of the inertial drummers, the grease solidified.
While on patrol, the North Sea submariners repeatedly had to meet with German reconnaissance ships that appeared near Soviet territorial waters.
The Great Patriotic War became a decisive test of the military skills of the crew of the North Sea "pike". For military exploits during the war, the "four hundred and second" was awarded the rank of guards and the Order of the Red Banner.
Model painting
The model is painted in the following colors: freeboard of the hull, superstructure and armament - in gray-green; the underwater part of the hull and deck - in black; side number and waterline - in white.
PERFORMANCE AND TECHNICAL DATA OF THE ONE AND A HALF-HULL TWO-SHAFT SUBMARINE SC-402
Maximum length, m .... . . ……….. 58.75
Maximum width, m ……………… 6.1
Draft is average, m. …. . …………. 4.3
Displacement, t... . . . . . . . . . . 590/707,8
Working immersion depth, m ………….. 90.0
Full stroke speed, knots …………. 13.6/8.7
Cruising range, miles …………… 6500/108
Power, l. With.:
diesel engines …………… 2X800
electric motors ………… 2X400
Crew, pers. ………………. 40
Armament: 4 bow and 2 stern 533-mm torpedo tubes (spare torpedoes - 10);
Laid down on December 04, 1934 in Leningrad at the plant number-189 under the designation Shch-314, factory number-254. June 28, 1935 launched. September 29, 1936 became part of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. May 16, 1937 assigned the designation Shch-402. On May 28, 1937, the transition to the North began along the White Sea-Baltic Canal. June 30, 1937 became part of the Northern Fleet. On June 22, 1941, she met under the command of a senior lieutenant (later lieutenant commander, captain of the 3rd rank) N.I. Stolbov as part of the 3rd division of the Submarine Brigade in Polyarny.
On July 11, she took a position in the Porsangerfjord area, but, not finding the enemy, on July 14 she 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 these were trap ships. On August 16, she returned to the base ahead of schedule, since, according to the commander, she could not be in the mine 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 discrepancy in its place of 29 miles and instead of Cape Kildin-Vostochny ended up at Cape Sharapova, which could lead to shelling by coastal defense artillery.
When inspecting Shch-402, the base came to the conclusion that it could well have been in position with such a malfunction, and this was just an excuse for an early return from the sea. In the order of the commander of the fleet, the commander of the submarine was arrested for 10 days with the performance of his duties, and the military commissar senior political officer 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 the base ahead of schedule, but this time due to splashing of the electrolyte.
On March 3, 1942, after the attack of the ship, the PLO was pursued and received damage from close explosions of depth charges, including fuel and ballast tanks. To prevent the occurrence 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 a solarium in the main fuel tanks, it was left without a course 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 transition time, she was assigned a route of only 25 miles from the coast of the enemy. At 06.47 Shch-402, being 22 miles from the coast, successfully launched a diesel engine in oil diluted with kerosene, and at 4 knots began to move to the base. On March 12, at 1300, K-21 arrived in the area, but Shch-402 did not find it and began searching for it in a square with a side of 40 miles. March 13 at 05.45 ran out of oil, the submarine lay adrift. Having received updated data on the location of the emergency submarine, she again lay down in a drift. Having received updated data on the location of the emergency submarine, at 11.53 K-21 discovered a 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 transfer of fuel was completed, and both submarines, after trimming alternately, 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 watch officer surfaced to a depth of 7 meters, and Shch-402 collided with an ice floe. As a result of this incident, the anti-aircraft periscope was broken and the antenna poles were cut off, the submarine returned to the base. On August 14, an explosion occurred in the 2nd and 3rd compartments due to a violation of the AB ventilation rules in Tana Fjord. Of those who were in the bow of the submarine, only one torpedo pilot survived in the 1st compartment, who could only be taken to the upper deck through the hatch: the door from the 4th compartment to the 3rd jammed, a fire raged in the second compartment. A total of 19 people died, including: commander, military commissar, assistant commander and navigator. The submarine returned to the base under the command of the commander of the warhead-5, lieutenant commander A.D. Bolshakov. On August 14, captain-lieutenant (later captain of the 3rd rank) A.M. Kautsky was appointed commander.
July 25, 1943 was awarded the title of "Guards". In August, deployed to the east of Cape Zhelaniya to cover Arctic communications. In April 1944, she received the Dragon-129 GLS. On September 17, she went to sea to act on enemy communications. On September 17, 1944, Shch-402 entered its last 16th military campaign. On the morning of September 21, the Boston torpedo bomber of the 36th mine-torpedo regiment of the Air Force of the Northern Fleet flew out on a “free hunt” to the area north of Magere Island. Before reaching the search area, under the shore near the village of Gamvik, the gunner-radio operator discovered the cabin of a submarine. The crew commander, Captain Protas, without hesitation, described a wide combat turn and dropped a torpedo, which instantly hit the target. When developing a film loaded into a photo-machine gun, specialists from the headquarters of the Air Force and the BPL unanimously declared that Shch-402 was captured in the pictures taken seconds before the hit. A call to communications from submarines made immediately after this event showed that Shch-402 was indeed not responding. In the ensuing proceedings, it turned out that the order of setting a combat mission was grossly violated at the headquarters of the air regiment, as a result of which the pilot was not notified of the prohibition of attacks by any submarines in the area between Varde and Cape Nordkin.
After all of the above in the history of the death of the Shch-402, one can put an end to it, but I would like to look at the situation with an open mind, and it becomes clear that the established version of the death of the Shch-402 looks far from being 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 not do anything to drive the submarine to the depth during the rather significant period of time that the aircraft observed it? After all, the submarine was in sight from the German coastal batteries under fairly good weather conditions. Secondly, why did the submarine not have a move? Shch-402 had a depth stabilizer without a stroke (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 the periscope on the move, if the helmsman on the horizontal rudders made a mistake. But the object captured in the pictures was in a drift and did not raise periscopes. Taking into account the fact that 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. It was not the first time that our pilots reported on attacks by enemy submarines, which, in fact, could not have been in this area at that time. The main thing is that Shch-402 was not sent by the command to the Gamvimka area, but to the Kongs-fjord area, where several of our submarines had previously gone missing. The distance between the named geographical points - about 35 miles - is too large to attribute it to a navigational 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 case of harassment of an enemy convoy, but the latest data on convoys were sent to 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 Shch-402 was blown up on the NW-30 anti-submarine minefield, secretly set up by the enemy in the summer of 1943.
Submarine Shch-402 became the last submarine of the Northern Fleet to die.
The term of combat service is 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 unveiling of the plaque
In order to perpetuate the memory of the fallen submariners of the Navy, the Naval 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 commemorative plaque was a veteran submariner of the Navy, captain of the 2nd rank, retired V.M. Golubev.
October 26, 2010 at 10 o'clock on Podpolnaya St. in Kherson at 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 the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral, Father Vasily (who later consecrated the Commemorative Plaque), the media of Kherson, a Commemorative Plaque was installed.
At the request of veteran submariners of Kherson, I created the “Book of memory of submariners of the Navy, 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 in the Museum of Local Lore in Kherson.
Vladimir Boyko