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From the Black Sea to the Arctic
 Ocean, the Soviet Navy fought a
 deadly

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00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,600
but largely forgotten war
 that led to some of the greatest

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00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:42,840
maritime tragedies in history.

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Originally produced
 for Russian television in 2011,

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00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,840
this is the story
 of Russia s Great Patriotic War

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00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,600
and the Red Army s long road
 from defeat to victory.

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00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,400
On the deck of a German warship,

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00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,280
the crew rolled trolleys loaded
 with huge metal spheres towards
 the stern.

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00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:27,480
It was nearly midnight on 21st
June 1941 the eve of the
 German invasion

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00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:33,080
of the Soviet Union and German
 warships were busy mining the
 Gulf of Finland.

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00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,280
There were just a few hours left
 before the first German air
 raids hit the Soviet Union,

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00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:43,960
and the German ambassador in
 Moscow handed over a declaration
 of war.

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00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,600
But here in the Baltic,
 the war had already begun.

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00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,280
Unlike the army and air force,
 the Soviet navy was expecting
 war.

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00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,440
For three days it had been on
 high alert. Its ships and
 aircraft

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mounted regular patrols to give
 early warning of any incoming
 attack.

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00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,720
Just before midnight on 21st
 June, the navy was put on red
 alert by its commander,

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00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:22,760
People s Commissar
 Nikolai Kuznetsov.

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But while Soviet airfields were
 hammered on the first day of the
 war,

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00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:31,360
the navy was hardly
 in the firing line at all.

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00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,160
The main Baltic naval base
 at Tallin wasn t even attacked.

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00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:40,880
But naval mobilization
 still left plenty to be desired.

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00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,720
Submarine Commander Petr
Grishchenko was asleep when the
 Germans attacked.

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00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:12,800
But it was not the submarine
 base that was being attacked. It
 was the airfield.

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If the bombers
 had targeted the Soviet fleet,

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there was every chance they
 would have pulled off a German
 Pearl Harbor.

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00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:32,240
But the Germans planned instead
 to blockade Soviet ships in
 their ports with mines.

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00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,520
The Soviet Navy was divided
 between four distinct
 operational zones:

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the Baltic Sea and Black Sea,
 the Arctic, and the Far East.

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The distances
 involved were vast

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00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,240
it was a sea voyage of nearly
 9,000 miles from Vladivostok to
 Leningrad.

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In 1941 the Soviet navy
 possessed few large modern
 warships.

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00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,200
Its expansion had focused
 instead on submarines and light
 ships

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a strategy advocated by several
 young Soviet naval theorists.

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00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,680
The argument ran: One submarine
 can disable a battleship.

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Several submarines can impede
 the actions of several fleets.

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The doctrine received
 official approval.

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People s Commissar of Defense,
 Kliment Voroshilov, declared:

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00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,720
All we want is to protect our
 coasts and borders. Our light
 forces,

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00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,120
naval aviation, and submarines
 will cripple an attacking
 enemy.

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00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,400
The USSR began a massive
 programme of
 submarine-construction.

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00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:00,640
The navy conducted manoeuvres,
 in which submarines practiced
 working

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00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:05,640
with coastal batteries, aircraft
 and light ships to repel an
 enemy naval attack.

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00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:21,360
At the outbreak of war, the
 Soviet Navy had 3 battleships, 7
light cruisers,

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00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:26,800
54 destroyers, 215 submarines,
 22 guard ships,

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290 torpedo boats,
 and 62 sub-hunters.

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All three battleships dated back
 to the days of the Tsar.

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The Baltic Fleet was strongest,
 with 2 battleships,

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2 modern light cruisers,
 and 21 destroyers.

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00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,200
The Northern Fleet was weakest,
 with just 8 destroyers.

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00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,280
The German navy, in contrast,
 had 3 battleships, 8 cruisers,

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34 destroyers, and
 155 submarines.

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00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,280
At 6:30 am on 22nd June,

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Baltic Fleet Headquarters
received orders from People s
 Commissar Kuznetsov.

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But such a course could have
 little effect. As Admiral
 Panteleyev pointed out:

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The Nazi navy had no intention
 of entering the Gulf of Finland.

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00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:36,680
On the contrary, it intended
 to blockade us inside it.

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00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:47,840
A cruiser, covered
 by a smokescreen,

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manoeuvred slowly
 through the harbor of Tallin.

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Every few minutes,
 its main guns roared out.

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The Cruiser Kirov was firing at
 German troops advancing on the
 Estonian capital.

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The enemy retaliated
 with heavy artillery.

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00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,120
This was why the Kirov kept on
 the move, hiding amongst the
 smoke.

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By late August 1941,

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the Red Army had been forced to
 yield most of its Baltic
 conquests.

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Only Tallin remained a last
 Soviet bastion in Estonia.

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The Germans and their
 Finnish allies

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were determined to prevent
 the evacuation of Tallin by sea.

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There were only two navigable
 channels to the city, one along
 the coast,

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and one through the middle
of the Gulf of Finland.

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The Germans and Finns filled
 this central channel with 2,500
 mines.

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The sea mine was
 a highly effective naval weapon,

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responsible for one fifth of all
 shipping losses during the war.

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The German EM, or
 moored contact mine,

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consisted of a hollow sphere
 with seven thin "horns".

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Inside, in a watertight box, was
 a 300 kilogram explosive charge.

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Most of the sphere was empty,
 so the mine would float.

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The mine was rolled
 overboard with its trolley,

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to which it was
 attached by a cable.

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The trolley acted as the mine s
 anchor and held it in place.

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00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,160
The cable length could be
 adjusted, to set the depth of
 the mine.

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The metal "horns"
 triggered the mine.

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When a ship hit one, it broke an
 acid container within the horn.

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00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,640
This turned it into a battery
 and sent an electric charge to
 the detonator.

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The mine would then explode.

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00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,360
Having fought their
 way to the coast,

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the Germans opened fire
 on the navigation channel.

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00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:08,880
But neither artillery,
 nor the mines,

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could prevent Soviet
 transports reaching Tallinn.

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00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,640
Soviet mine-hunters led the way.

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00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:18,840
Because of their shallow draft
 they passed safely over the
 mines,

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dragging a trawl that
 cut their cables.

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00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:27,320
When a mine floated to the
 surface it was destroyed with
 gunfire,

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creating safe lanes
 through the minefield.

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00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,800
During August, a steady stream
 of wounded Soviet soldiers and
 refugees

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were evacuated from
 Tallinn by sea.

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But it took a heavy toll on the
 Soviet mine-hunters. Some hit
 shallow mines.

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00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:54,240
Others were sunk by TMA
 "influence" mines, triggered by
 a ship s magnetic field.

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00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,240
On 26th August,
 Stalin telegrammed Voroshilov,

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authorizing a withdrawal from
 Tallin and the evacuation of its
 garrison by sea.

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00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,040
The operation called for an
 armada of more than 200 Soviet
 ships.

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00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,560
They would have to run a
 gauntlet of German and Finnish
 aircraft and torpedo boats,

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and minefields that could not be
cleared because of bad weather.

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00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,560
The convoy departed Tallin
 at noon on 28th August,

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carrying 28,000
 soldiers and refugees.

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00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,520
The ships sailed in
 the central channel,

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meaning German and Finnish
 coastal batteries fired at
 extreme range.

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00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,280
Luftwaffe divebombers
 joined the attack,

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as Soviet destroyers laid
 smokescreens to protect the
 convoy.

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00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:07,880
There were dozens of
 mines in the channel.

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00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:13,920
They soon began to
 claim their victims.

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00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,520
The cruisers and
 destroyers forged ahead,

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making for the heavily-defended
 naval base at Kronstadt.

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00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:28,640
The slower transports
 were left behind.

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00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,760
German aircraft fell upon
 them like vultures.

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00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:41,840
Of the 75 transports that left
 Tallinn, 12 were destroyed by
 mines and 19 by aircraft.

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00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,640
If the warships had slowed down
 to protect the convoy,

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the losses might
 have been fewer.

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00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:55,640
But the Fleet Commander
 needed his warships back safely.

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00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,280
The Baltic Fleet could
 not be sacrificed.

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00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,920
The cruiser Kirov reached
 Kronstadt without serious
damage,

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00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:14,200
as did 11 of 13 submarines,
 but only 5 out of 10 destroyers.

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00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:19,400
Of the 28,000 evacuees,
 two-thirds arrived safely.

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00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:26,080
But more than 15,000 lives had
 been lost on the 200 mile voyage
 from Tallin.

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00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,040
Within days, the Germans began
 their assault on Leningrad.

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00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,720
The warships, saved by the
 brutal decision to abandon the
 Tallin convoy,

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would play a vital part
 in the city s defence

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00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,040
Hitler s hopes of a rapid
 victory against the Soviet Union
 had been dashed.

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00:12:58,200 --> 00:12:59,320
As the war entered
 its second year,

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00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,760
the Germans became increasingly
 concerned about their own
 shipping routes.

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00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,040
Vital supplies of Swedish
 iron ore came across the Baltic

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00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:11,480
and along the Norwegian coast.

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00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:15,480
Chrome ore came across the
 Black Sea from neutral Turkey.

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00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,080
The Germans turned
 to their sophisticated sea mines

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00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:21,920
to protect all these
 shipping lanes.

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00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,600
In 1942, they created huge
 minefields along Norway s
 northern coast,

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00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,320
watched over by aircraft
 and coastal batteries.

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00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,600
It had an immediate and deadly
 impact on Soviet submarine
 patrols.

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00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:52,920
In April 1942, the Shch-421
 hit a German mine and sank.

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00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,640
The same month Shch-401
 went missing on patrol.

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00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,800
Three further submarines
 were lost in quick succession.

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00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:12,400
Sinkings by Soviet Northern
 Fleet submarines dropped off
 rapidly

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00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,240
from 21 in the first half of
 1942, to just 4 in the second
 half of the year.

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00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:19,920
They came at a cost
 of 9 submarines.

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00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,480
The sailors of the Baltic Fleet
 suffered all the hardships of
their home base,

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00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,440
the besieged city of Leningrad.

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00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,720
Rations were so meager that many
 of them suffered the effects of
 malnutrition.

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00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:46,880
Meanwhile, German factories
 were turning Swedish iron ore

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00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,240
into tanks, guns and shells.

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00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,680
Only the submarines of the
 Baltic Fleet could disrupt this
 supply.

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00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,520
On 2nd July 1942,
 S7, under Commander Lisin,

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00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,080
slipped through the minefields
 of the Gulf of Finland.

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00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,120
Sweden was neutral.
 But while surfaced,

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00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,040
Lisin came under attack from
Swedish aircraft, and was lucky
 to escape.

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00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,280
That night Lisin sank the
 Swedish transport Margareta,
 loaded with coal.

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00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:39,960
Two days later, he sank another
 Swedish ship, Luleo, carrying
 iron ore to Germany.

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00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,200
The Swedes claimed both ships
 had been sunk within territorial
 waters

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00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,200
a violation of their neutrality.
 The Soviets denied this,

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00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:54,600
but felt it prudent to order S7
 away from the Swedish coast.

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00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,840
On 30th July, Lisin sighted four
 more ships. To overtake them,

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00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:08,680
he took a huge risk sailing on
 the surface at full speed in
 broad daylight.

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00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:13,560
He attacked from a
 depth of just 20 feet.

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00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,400
If detected, he stood
 little chance of escape.

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00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,480
But Lisin s audacity paid off
 the German transport Kathe was
 sunk.

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00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,080
S7 had no torpedoes left and was
 heading home, when a Finnish
 steamer was detected.

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00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:54,200
The main deck gun had jammed, so
 the crew opened fire with their
 anti-aircraft gun.

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00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,560
It took almost 400
 shells to sink her.

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00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,960
From the wreckage, Lisin picked
 up the Finnish captain and his
 engineer

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00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:09,080
and brought them to Leningrad.

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00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,200
It was a very rare example
 of a submarine taking prisoners.

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00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,600
Four crew members of
 the S7 were decorated.

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00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,560
Lisin was recommended
 for the highest award,

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00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,000
the title "Hero of
 the Soviet Union".

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00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,000
In September 1942, S-12, under
 Commander Turayev, left on
 patrol.

175
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,880
But one day in, she was damaged
 in an attack by Finnish
 aircraft.

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00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:43,400
Her leaking oil tanks left a
greasy trail on the water s
 surface.

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00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:48,640
Then the sonar operator picked
 up the sound of propellers.

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00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,040
The submarine s batteries were
 almost dead, and she was in
 shallow water.

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00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,320
On the charts, Turayev spotted a
 small 60 metre deep trench on
 the sea floor.

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00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,240
The sea-bed all around
 was 40 metres

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00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,280
this was where the Finns would
 set their depth charges to
 explode.

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00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,840
S-12 descended into the trench.

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00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,560
The submarine was rocked
 by exploding depth charges,

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00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,600
and battered by debris
from the sea bed.

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00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:37,960
But she suffered
 no serious damage.

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00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,760
After dark S-12 made her escape.

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00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:48,880
But Turayev had no intention
 of cutting short his patrol.

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00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,520
He made a torpedo attack on the
 ageing German battleship
 Schlesien, but missed.

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00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,840
He was finally forced back
 to base by autumn storms.

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00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:12,200
On 17th October 1942, Commander
 Lisin took S-7 on a second
 Baltic patrol.

191
00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:24,920
But while recharging
 batteries on the surface,

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00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,560
S-7 was attacked by a
 Finnish submarine.

193
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,200
Four men of the upper watch,
including Commander Lisin, were
 thrown clear.

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00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,560
The other 42 crew
 members perished.

195
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,400
It was from inside
 a Finnish prisoner-of-war camp

196
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,120
that Lisin heard he d been
 made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

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00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:53,560
When Finland signed an armistice
 in 1944, Lisin returned to
 active service.

198
00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,600
He fought against Japan in 1945,
 and finally retired from the
 service in 1970.

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00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:08,760
In 1942, Soviet submarines
 had struck a small

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00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:13,560
but significant blow against
 Germany s vital supply line
across the Baltic Sea.

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00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,120
But it came at a heavy price

202
00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:25,000
In 1942, Soviet submarines sank
 at least 21 ships,

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00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:26,720
and damaged a further 9.

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00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:33,400
But of 27 Baltic Fleet
 submarines on patrols, 12 did
 not return.

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00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,240
And was already a dangerous
 environment for Soviet subs,

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00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,600
was about to become a deathtrap

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00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:52,400
By the end of 1941, it was clear

208
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,040
that Hitler faced a long
 struggle against the Soviet
 Union.

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00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:00,160
He assigned the German
 air force and navy

210
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,960
the task of stopping Allied aid
convoys reaching Russia across
 the Arctic Ocean.

211
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,320
These convoys brought
 much-needed shipments of food,

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00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:12,960
supplies and vehicles to the
 northern ports of Murmansk and
 Archangelsk.

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00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,360
Cargo ships from North America
 and Britain were assembled into
 convoys,

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00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,440
and assigned a naval escort

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00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:23,600
for the dangerous Arctic
 crossing to Northern Russia.

216
00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,320
The proximity to German-occupied
 Norway made the protection of
 warships essential.

217
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:40,120
Convoys bound for the USSR were
 codenamed PQ, and those
returning QP.

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00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,160
The first Allied convoy
 of 7 merchant ships arrived

219
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:51,960
without loss at Arkhangelsk
 on 31st August 1941.

220
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,440
The convoys passed within 200
 miles of the Norwegian coast,

221
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,600
at speeds of no
 more than 10 knots.

222
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:07,120
Conditions on the crossing could
 be horrendous waves the size
 of houses,

223
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:13,920
temperatures of minus 30 degrees
 centigrade, and incessant Arctic
 gales.

224
00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:24,880
Destroyers of the Soviet
 Northern Fleet joined the escort

225
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,600
for the final leg of
 the journey to Russia,

226
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:30,720
and provided defence against
 German air and submarine attack.

227
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,360
The early convoys to Russia
 consisted of no more than a
 dozen transport ships,

228
00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:47,360
and the first 7 convoys
 suffered no losses at all.

229
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:55,240
The first U-boat attack against
 an Arctic convoy did not occur
 until January 1942,

230
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,320
and resulted in the loss of one
 transport from Convoy PQ-7A.

231
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,320
But as the convoys increased in
 size, so too did their losses.

232
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:13,240
Convoy PQ-17 set sail
 in June 1942 with 34 ships,

233
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,880
of which 23 were sunk
by German aircraft and U-boats.

234
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:23,400
This disaster led to the
 suspension of Arctic Convoys for
 3 months.

235
00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:30,040
Hitler, in his determination to
 choke off any aid to the Soviet
 Union,

236
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:31,560
sent heavy reinforcements
 to Norway,

237
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,600
including the mighty
 new battleship, Tirpitz.

238
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,200
She was a sister-ship
 to the Bismarck, and like her,

239
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,040
carried a fearsome battery
 of eight 15 inch guns.

240
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:57,560
Soviet sub K-21, under Commander
 Lunin, was also bound for
 Norway.

241
00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:02,520
On the afternoon
 of 5th July 1942,

242
00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:07,400
K-21 s sonar officer reported
 the sound of heavy warships.

243
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,760
It was the Tirpitz,
 leading a German squadron

244
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,880
to intercept the
 Allied convoy PQ-17.

245
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,720
Lunin used his periscope
 to observe the target

246
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:26,080
although he knew that
 in clear weather,

247
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,600
there was a danger that its wake
 could be spotted by a German
 lookout.

248
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:33,920
The German ships were
 moving at high speed,

249
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,760
leaving only a small window
 for Lunin to make his attack.

250
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,640
As Lunin made his approach, the
 warships suddenly changed
course.

251
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:49,880
He had to act quickly.

252
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,720
From inside the enemy formation,
 K-21 attacked with its stern
 torpedo tubes.

253
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:14,880
Lunin fired 4 torpedoes then
 waited for the sound of
 explosions.

254
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,520
The sonar officer
 reported two explosions.

255
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,920
Lunin radioed the Fleet
 Commander, claiming a hit on the
 Tirpitz.

256
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,400
But they were wrong.
 The torpedoes had missed.

257
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,400
Meanwhile, in the Black Sea,

258
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,440
Soviet submarines were also
 active in hunting down the
 enemy.

259
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,520
Lookouts on the Shch-205 studied
a freighter that carried no
 national flag.

260
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,960
According to an
 Anglo-Turkish agreement,

261
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,040
all chrome ore mined in neutral
 Turkey was to be bought up by
 Great Britain,

262
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,200
thus depriving Germany
 of its main supply of chrome,

263
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:29,840
which it needed for alloys
 used in the armaments industry.

264
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,040
But Turkey continued to sell
 chrome ore to Germany as well,

265
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,880
in shipments sent to Bulgaria,
 which Soviet submarines tried to
 intercept.

266
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,760
The Turkish freighter "Duatepe"
spotted the submarine, and raced
 for an inlet.

267
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,640
Captain Lieutenant Sukhomlinov
 gave the order to open fire with
 the deck gun.

268
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,280
A stream of shells soon reduced
 the Duatepe to a blazing wreck.

269
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,480
The submarine s next victim was
 the Turkish transport Shafac.

270
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,440
Two torpedoes tore
 the small ship to pieces.

271
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,800
The Shch-205 s next mission
 was to deliver ammunition

272
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:40,840
to the besieged naval
 base of Sevastopol.

273
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,720
When the ammunition
 was unloaded,

274
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,200
50 wounded soldiers were crammed
into the small submarine for
 evacuation.

275
00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:58,520
The Shch-205 s survived around
 40 bomb and depth-charge
 attacks,

276
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,040
before reaching the safety of
 Novorossiysk on the Black Sea s
 eastern shore.

277
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:11,280
The Black Sea was less dangerous
 for Soviet subs than the narrow
 straits of the Baltic.

278
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,160
But shallow coastal waters
 posed their own risk

279
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,040
the sea was often no more
 than 10 to 15 metres deep,

280
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,560
and could be heavily
 mined by the Germans.

281
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,320
Soviet submarine commanders
had to be bold and aggressive.

282
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:34,000
In October 1942, Commander
 Greshilov, in a small M class
 submarine,

283
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,160
sank the 500 ton German
 tanker "Le Progress",

284
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,280
as she sailed under escort
 near the Danube Delta.

285
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,840
In August 1943 Greshilov,

286
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,400
now commanding a larger Pike
 class submarine, struck again,

287
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,280
sinking the Turkish
 transport Tisbe

288
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,600
under the noses of her escort of
 two destroyers and two
 sub-hunters.

289
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,760
She went to the bottom with
 1,600 tons of chrome ore aboard
 her.

290
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:11,000
In 1944 Greshilov was awarded
 the USSR s highest honour,

291
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:12,880
the title "Hero of
 the Soviet Union".

292
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,400
Back in the Baltic, the threat
 posed by Soviet submarines

293
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,640
caused the Germans
 to take drastic new measures.

294
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,440
Minefields alone were
 clearly not working.

295
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,000
In the spring of 1943,

296
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,840
the Germans began erecting huge
 steel nets across the Gulf of
 Finland.

297
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,920
This double anti-submarine net,
 codenamed Walrus,

298
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,000
stretched 25 miles
 from Naissar Island,

299
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,320
off the coast of Estonia,
to the coast of Finland.

300
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,120
The net was too strong for even
 the largest submarine to break
 through.

301
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,200
For good measure, the Germans
 and Finns laid another 9,000
 mines

302
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:03,600
in the Gulf of Finland.

303
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,360
On Hogland Island, they built
 an underwater listening station

304
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:12,200
to detect passing submarines.

305
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,240
When the winter ice melted,
 the first Soviet submarines

306
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,320
attempted to break through this
 formidable array of defences.

307
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,120
In May 1943, Shch-303, under
 the command of Ivan Travkin,

308
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,120
left Kronstadt bound
 for the Baltic.

309
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,120
Two days into the patrol,
 sonar reported a rhythmic,

310
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:38,880
metallic rasping
 against the hull.

311
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,680
Travkin made several attempts to
 get through the net, but all
 ended in failure.

312
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:02,800
With sonar also picking up
 several enemy anti-submarine
 patrols,

313
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,200
Travkin decided to report his
 findings and head for home...

314
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,840
Shch-408 was less lucky. She was
 detected and sunk by enemy
 patrol craft.

315
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,880
Shch-406, under the command of
 Hero of the Soviet Union Yevgeni
Osipov,

316
00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:34,160
also never returned to base.

317
00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,560
When Travkin returned, he and
 his crew were greeted like men
 back from the dead.

318
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,320
The Baltic Fleet command tried
 bombing the nets from the air.

319
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,200
Submarines tried firing
 torpedoes at it.

320
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,600
But neither had any effect.

321
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:05,320
Two more submarines, the S9 and
 S12, were lost whilst
 investigating the net.

322
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,680
After that, all attempts to
 break through were suspended.

323
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,640
For the time being, the Germans
 had succeeded in trapping and
 neutralising

324
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:24,840
the entire Soviet
 Baltic Fleet...

325
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,720
In the Black Sea,
 it was the German Luftwaffe

326
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,800
that posed the greatest
 threat to the Soviet navy.

327
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,200
In the first weeks of the war,
 the Soviet Black Sea Fleet

328
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,440
conducted raids against Romanian
 ports and later,

329
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,440
against the
 German-occupied Crimea.

330
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,680
The first raid, just four
 days into the war,

331
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,080
targeted oil storage facilities
 at the Romanian port of
 Konstanza.

332
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:01,760
But after a short bombardment,
 the destroyer Moskva hit a mine
 and sank rapidly,

333
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:04,760
leading to the withdrawal
 of the raiding force.

334
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:11,560
Soviet marines also carried out
 small-scale raids against
 Romanian targets.

335
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,040
After the fall of the Crimea,
 the Black Sea Fleet targeted
 Axis forces

336
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:23,120
stationed on its coastline.
 In October 1943,

337
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:29,160
three destroyers Kharkov,
 Sposobny and Besposhchadny
 left the east coast

338
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,560
to conduct a night-time
 bombardment of German positions
 at Yalta and Feodosia.

339
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,360
Then they sailed for home.

340
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:45,880
At dawn the destroyers were
attacked by 8 Stuka dive-bombers
 with fighter escorts.

341
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:51,720
Kharkov was hit in a boiler-room
 and taken in tow by Sposobny.

342
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:54,920
But the German air
 attack was unrelenting.

343
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,600
The last raid consisted of 25
 Stukas with a large fighter
 escort.

344
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,560
Soviet fighters arrived,
 but it was an uneven contest.

345
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,920
Anti-aircraft guns and fighters
 managed to destroy 18 German
 aircraft.

346
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,720
But all three Soviet
 destroyers were sunk.

347
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,200
780 sailors of the Black Sea
 Fleet were lost with them.

348
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:37,640
This disaster caused the Stavka
 to prohibit any further surface
 raids in the Black Sea.

349
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:49,320
From the conning tower of S-56,
 men peered anxiously towards the
 shore.

350
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,680
Finally, they saw the signal.

351
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,560
The submarine was there to land
 a reconnaissance team behind
 enemy lines.

352
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,040
It was a frequent mission for
 Soviet submarines during the
 war.

353
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,800
S-56, under Commander Shchedrin,

354
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,040
had travelled from Vladivostok
 more than half way around the
 world,

355
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,640
via the Panama Canal,
to reach the Arctic Ocean.

356
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,640
This 17,000 mile route

357
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,600
was the only way to avoid major
 war zones and the winter ice.

358
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,880
Northern Fleet Submarines were
 also tasked with attacking the
 convoys

359
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,440
that brought supplies to Axis
 forces in northern Russia.

360
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,720
On 17th May 1943,
 near the northern tip of Norway,

361
00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:03,160
S-56 sighted a convoy of one
 tanker, 4 cargo ships and 8
 escort vessels.

362
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,000
Shchedrin fired a
 salvo of 4 torpedoes.

363
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:21,040
In one salvo, S-56
 had sunk the tanker Eurostadt,

364
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:26,480
carrying 1,300 tons of fuel, and
 damaged the steamer Wartheland.

365
00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:32,840
The attack was followed
 by a 6 hour chase,

366
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:38,360
in which more than 60 depth
 charges were dropped... but none
 found their mark.

367
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,800
As huge battles raged
 at Stalingrad and Kursk,

368
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,520
in the North the front
 remained static,

369
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:51,360
and the battle to defend
 the Arctic convoys

370
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,280
with their vital cargoes
 of military aid continued.

371
00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:01,320
The Soviet Northern Fleet fought
 a running battle against U-boats

372
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,120
and the Luftwaffe into 1944.

373
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,200
That year, a major
 development finally allowed

374
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,200
the Soviet Baltic Fleet
 to break free of its shackles.

375
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,840
In September 1944,
 Finland signed an armistice,

376
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,840
allowing Soviet ships to bypass
 the net and mine defences of the
 Gulf of Finland,

377
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:29,960
and even operate
 from Finnish ports.

378
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:36,200
In January 1945, the Red Army
 launched an offensive into East
 Prussia.

379
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,920
The Germans began a massive
 operation to evacuate military
 personnel

380
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:46,200
and equipment by sea. The ships
 also carried thousands of
refugees.

381
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:49,600
Amongst them was the
 Wilhelm Gustloff,

382
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,160
a cruise ship requisitioned
 by the German navy.

383
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,440
On 30th January, she
 set sail from Gdynia

384
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,360
amidst heavy snowfall
 and temperatures of minus 10.

385
00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:10,000
On board were 918 U-boat cadets,
 500 other military personnel,

386
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:14,960
and according to some estimates,
 as many as 9,000 refugees,

387
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:17,360
of whom nearly half
 were children.

388
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,600
Fearing a collision
 with other convoys,

389
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,440
the captain of the Wilhelm
 Gustloff turned on her
 navigation lights.

390
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:39,280
It was these lights that led
 Commander Marinesko s S-13 to
 her shortly after 9pm.

391
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,880
Marinesko stalked his quarry
 for more than an hour.

392
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,840
Having got into a firing
 position, he launched 4
 torpedoes.

393
00:38:56,240 --> 00:38:59,320
3 hit the liner,
 with devastating consequences.

394
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,280
More than 9,000 lives were
 lost on the Wilhelm Gustloff.

395
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,280
But the Soviet navy defended its
 right to attack a ship under
 escort,

396
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,240
carrying military personnel.

397
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:19,320
Two weeks later, the same
 submarine sank the liner Von
 Steuben,

398
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,600
with the loss of 4,000 lives
 the majority of them,

399
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,200
in this case, wounded
 German soldiers.

400
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,560
In the first months of 1945, the
 Red Army was advancing rapidly,

401
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:37,080
crossing Poland to threaten
 Berlin in the north,

402
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,560
and crossing Hungary
 to reach Vienna in the south.

403
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,520
But there were still pockets of
 German resistance along the
 Baltic Coast,

404
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,280
in Pomerania and Latvia.

405
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:53,880
Destroying these groups
 communications by sea

406
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,920
was the Baltic Fleet submarines
 last mission of the war.

407
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,200
Searchlights swept across the
 entrance to the Bay of Danzig.

408
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,920
For the commander of Soviet
 submarine L3, it was a
 discouraging sight.

409
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:17,640
Commander Konovalov had
 orders to break into the bay,

410
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,000
but he considered
 it a suicidal task.

411
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:31,000
L3 stood off at the
 bay s entrance.

412
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,000
In early 1945 it was the scene
 of intense air and sea battles,

413
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:40,440
particularly around the Hel
 Peninsula, as the Germans
 desperately tried

414
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,360
to evacuate the remnants of
 their military forces, and
thousands of terrified refugees.

415
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,400
But they had to run the gauntlet
 of Soviet submarines.

416
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,240
On 17th April 1945, L3 sighted
 a convoy leaving the bay.

417
00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,800
It was bound from
 Hel to Swineünde.

418
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:05,160
After dark, Konovalov attacked
 with 3 torpedoes.

419
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:15,040
His victim was the transport
 ship Goya, carrying more than
 6,000 passengers.

420
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,200
There were just 183 survivors.

421
00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:27,800
In July 1945 Konovalov was
 awarded the title Hero of the
 Soviet Union.

422
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:30,760
His crew were also decorated.

423
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:36,600
On the very first
day of the war,

424
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:39,800
the submarine L3 had been at the
 mercy of the German Luftwaffe.

425
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,040
It had only been spared, because
 the Germans did not consider
 Soviet submarines

426
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:47,640
to be a high enough priority.

427
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:53,080
But they had gone on to prove
 themselves a truly deadly
 adversary.

428
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:59,840
Today the conning tower
 of L3 is on display

429
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,600
at the Moscow Museum
 of the Great Patriotic War.

430
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:12,040
The Soviet people celebrated
 Victory Day on 9th May 1945.

431
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:20,040
And on 22nd July, Soviet
 ships hoisted their colours

432
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,480
to mark the first Navy Day
 since the end of the war.

433
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,880
It was also marked by parades,
 and, on this occasion,

434
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:31,520
an address from Josef Stalin
 to all Soviet sailors.

435
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:41,640
It read: The navy has more than
 fulfilled its duty to the Soviet
 Motherland.