350-001 SOVIET NAVY SUBMARINE SHCH-303 (SHCH CLASS, SERIES III)

SHCH (other terms: SZCZ or Szczuka) is the name of a class of Soviet diesel-electric submarines from the interwar period, World War II and the post-war period. The first unit of this type entered service in 1932. In total, 88 units of this type were built. The SHCH-class ship was 57 m long, 6.2 m wide, and had a displacement of about 700 tons. The maximum underwater speed was about 6.3-6.5 knots. The ships of this type had six 533 mm torpedo tubes and two 45 mm guns. The Szczuka-type submarines were medium-sized units, intended for operations in coastal waters and in the waters of such seas as the Baltic and Black seas. For this reason, their autonomy was rather limited, and they took a maximum of 10 torpedoes on patrol. Vessels of this type were built in several shipyards in the USSR, including in Leningrad (today's Saint Petersburg), Gorky and Vladivostok. SHCH type ships took an active part in World War II, but suffered very heavy losses. It is estimated that the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets lost 60-70% of units of this type in the years 1941-1945, among those that were in stock at the beginning of the war with the Third Reich. In total, 35 submarines of this type were lost. The last units of this type were decommissioned in the mid-1950s.