A commemorative plaque was installed on the Baltic wreck

On the wreck of a submarine resting on the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, an international group of divers placed a commemorative plaque. Thanks to the courtesy of the members of the expedition, especially the photographer Ivan Borovikov, the discovery of the wreck of the submarine Sch-408 and its subsequent exploration, we described on our portal and on the pages of DIVERS24 Magazine.

This time, divers from Finland and Russia, who have been working together for years, decided to honour the memory of the fallen crew by conducting another dive to the wreck of Sch-408 and placing a commemorative plaque on the wreck. The said group discovered the wreck during a search conducted in 2016.

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The date itself, chosen for the installation of the plaque, is also not accidental. It was on 26 May 2018 that exactly 75 years passed since the sinking of the described Soviet submarine Sch-408.

Sch-408 is the only Soviet submarine to be sunk by the Kriegsmarine in the Gulf of Finland, during combat. The Soviets were tracked by a German aircraft as they surfaced, in May 1943, while charging batteries that were running low. The pilot immediately reported the ship’s position to the Finnish and German commands.

The units arriving on the scene remained in the specified location for another two days. By that time the air supplies, as well as the already mentioned batteries of the Sch-408, were exhausted and did not allow to make an underwater escape. The commander of the submarine – Pavel Kuzmin, being pinned down, gave the order to surface in order to call for help, and then to try to escape from the enemy ships while submerged.

During a very intensive artillery shelling, lasting about 10 minutes, the German units recorded several hits in the vicinity of the bridge. Also, the shelling conducted by the Soviets proved effective, hitting the enemy ships several times. During the exchange of fire the commander of the escaping unit was probably killed, but the crew managed to send a distress call:

[blockquote style=”2″]”We have been attacked by a German aircraft. The ship is damaged. German units have made it impossible to recharge the batteries. We are in need of assistance. We are located near the island of Vaindlo.”[/blockquote]

The message was received, and the command tried to rescue the ship and its crew. Two groups of aircraft were sent to the indicated region, but were intercepted by the enemy and failed to help the crew of the Sch-408.

Source: fb.com/uwex.org/, Photo; fb.com/diversofthedark/

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