Two submarine wrecks found in the Baltic

The wrecks of two Soviet submarines have been found in the freezing waters of the Baltic Sea! The final resting place of the Sch-320 and Sch-406 has been located at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. This is another significant success of the group exploring this region in the search for the wrecks of missing Soviet ships from World War II.

[blockquote style=”2″]”We have located, identified and investigated two World War II Soviet Shchuka-class submarines lost in the Gulf of Finland area on 27 October 1942 and 26 May 1943. The commanding officer of Shch-320 was Captain Vishnevsky Ivan Makarovich, the vessel is located at a depth of 49 metres. In turn, floating under the command of Captain Osipov Eugeny Yakovlevich, Shch-406 rests at a depth of 60 metres.”[/blockquote]

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Both ships sank during the forcing of the German mine barrier “Zeeigel” and today their wrecks are only 500 metres apart.

During the expedition organised in May 2017, the wreck of Shch-406, a Shchuk-class ship of the X-bis series, was first found. During the inspection, it was possible to establish that the ship suffered damage on the right part at the front of the hull. The major part of the resulting hole is buried in the bottom and is not visible.

Documentation collected during the exploration concluded that the crew survived the mine explosion and tried to save themselves. The main hatch is fully open, while the emergency hatch is half open. It is known from Finnish archives that a few days after the loss of Shch-406, the Finns discovered, near Ristisaari, the corpse of a Soviet submarine sailor, dressed in survival gear. By analysing the winds and currents of the time in the area, the ship’s research team came to the conclusion that it must have been one of the sailors of Shch-406.

The second ship found during the May expedition was Shch-320, which had been on the searchers’ target since 2013. Due to the long period spent searching for it, the team had almost given up hope of finding it.

During these four years of searching, exploring the waters of the Gulf of Finland, it was possible to find many other interesting wrecks, e.g. the ship of the imperial fleet of the Russian Empire “Lefort” from 1857. However, the Shch-320 still remained in hiding, somewhere at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Entering the mine, Shch-320 was damaged in the front part, near compartments 1 and 2. Nearby there are anchors of German mines and one intact mine. The examination of the wreck allows us to state that the captain tried to manoeuvre the vessel to the end in order to avoid the mine (rudder turned to the maximum left).

It can also be seen that some of the crew survived the explosion. This is indicated by the marks in the aft section, where the sailors tried to push the torpedo out of the launcher and escape. Unfortunately, the torpedo got stuck and trapped the surviving crew members in a death trap.

For several years I have been closely following the activities of this group of divers, operating in the Gulf of Finland. During this time their search resulted in finding some very interesting vessels. It was a chance to write the last chapter in the lives of many seafarers, and to bring their families the belated news of the fate of their loved ones. This is a very valuable message, which makes it possible to say with certainty – it is here. For those who have lost someone, even after seventy years, it is certainly still awaited.

Trying to present their activities, I got in touch with one of the divers-photographers belonging to the team, Ivan Borovikov. He liked very much the idea of introducing Polish divers to their activities and the history of the wrecks they discover. Ivan each time willingly provides us with all the information (at least the ones he can) and a full set of beautiful photographs of his authorship.

Taking into account the interest from our readers for more texts, we decided that starting from issue #2 of the paper version of DIVERS24, in each subsequent issue we will include an article dedicated to wrecks discovered in the Gulf of Finland. The next text with photographs by Ivan Borovikov will be published already on June 1, 2017.

Photo: Ivan Borovikov