Soviet submarine Shch-214


Shch-214 was a Series X built for the Soviet Navy during the 1930s. Completed in 1939, the boat was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet and participated in the defense of the Soviet Union when the Axis powers invaded it in June 1941. She made four patrols in the southern area of the Black Sea before she was tasked to ferry supplies to besieged Sevastopol in mid-1942. Shch-214 was torpedoed enroute and sunk by an Italian MAS boat.

Background and description

The Series X Shchuka-class submarines were improved versions of the Series V-bis-2 boats placed into production because Soviet shipyards were having difficulties integrating new German technology. The boats displaced surfaced and submerged. They had an overall length of, a beam of, and a mean draft of. The boats had a diving depth of. Their crew numbered 40 officers and crewmen.
For surface running, the Series X boats were powered by a pair of 38V-8 diesel engines, one per propeller shaft. The uprated engines produced a total of, enough to give them a speed of. When submerged each shaft was driven by a electric motor for. The boats had a surface endurance of at and at submerged.
The Series X boats were armed with six torpedo tubes. Four of these were in the bow and the others were in the stern. They carried four reloads for the forward tubes. The submarines were also equipped with a pair of 21-K deck guns fore and aft on the conning tower.

Construction and career

Shch-214 was laid down by 61 Kommunara Yard in Mykolayiv, Ukraine, on 13 July 1935. She was launched on 23 April 1937 and commissioned into the Black Sea Fleet on 4 March 1939. Captain Vlasov Vladimir Yakovlevich commanded the submarine until her loss. The submarine was refitting when the Axis powers invaded on 22 June 1941 and became operational in September. Shch-214 sank the Italian tanker of on 5 November and a neutral Turkish schooner two days prior. Four other schooners would follow as the submarine patrolled off the Bosporus and the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. On 22 January 1942, Shch-214 was damaged in a storm at Tuapse when she was crushed against the quayside by the destroyer. The boat was under repair until May. On her first supply mission to Sevastopol she was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian motor torpedo boat MAS-571 near Gaspra, Crimea. Only two of her crew were rescued and taken as prisoners of war.