Its full name is the Memorial Guards Red Banner Submarine "S - 56".

They say that in Vladivostok the S-56 (located on Korabelnaya Embankment) is as important a symbol of the city as Red Square in Moscow.

The construction of the diesel-electric torpedo submarine of the IX-bis series began in 1936 at a shipyard in Leningrad (then not yet St. Petersburg), and the assembly was already carried out in the Far East: the ship was delivered in separate sections to Vladivostok by train. The S-56 was launched at the end of 1939.

The first commander of the submarine, G. I. Shchedrin, in his book of memoirs “On board the S-56” wrote about the state acceptance tests:

"... The members of the acceptance committee start the stopwatches at the same time. My job is to control the ship ... We blow through the tank for a quick dive, linger at a given depth ... The standard set by the designers is met and blocked ... We have to dive to the maximum depth. at first every twenty, and then ten meters. Everything goes as well as possible - the tightness of the boat is complete, only occasionally you have to press one or another gland to eliminate dripping water. People behave perfectly. Most of them are at such a depth for the first time, and that's all I didn't see any traces of excitement on any face - such is the strength of confidence in one's technique. They laid down on the ground at a depth five meters higher than the official limit. They tested the pumps, outboard fittings - everything works fine. The solid hull, its set, sheathing sheets - these steel muscles of the ship, as they are often called, did not utter a single “groan.” Good steel was welded by workers whose! I am so confident in the strength of the boat that in a difficult moment, if I have to evade the enemy, without a second's hesitation, I will dive to depths much greater than the red line on the depth gauge indicates. What a satisfaction to trust those who build and command such a wonderful ship!"

The military history of this submarine in Vladivostok as part of combat units Pacific Fleet began on October 30, 1941. Later the ship was transferred to the Northern Fleet.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War the submarine completed eight combat campaigns and fired 30 torpedoes in 13 attacks. S - 56, which sank four ships and damaged one - the most successful Soviet submarine in the battle of the Second World War.

For outstanding military merits, the S-56 was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and has the Guards rank.

After the end of the war, the submarine continued to serve in the Northern Fleet and became the first Soviet submarine to circumnavigate the world.

The ship was decommissioned in 1955, later it was renamed more than once, it was used as a floating charging station, then as a training submarine.

By May 9, 1975, the ship was restored and installed on Korabelnaya Embankment in the Golden Horn Bay of Vladivostok as a memorial submarine, and now it is part of the Battle Glory of the Pacific Fleet museum complex. Everyone can visit the three compartments preserved in their original form: residential, central and torpedo, where the wardroom, captain's cabin, acoustic cabin, latrine and even ammunition stacked on racks in the first compartment are located.

The remaining 4 compartments of the C-56 are a museum exposition that allows you to study the personal belongings of the crew members and the captain, photographs and letters, as well as exhibits that tell about the development of the submarine fleet of our country. Submarine excursions are held regularly (but also wander around and explore everything on your own, as I did in my time). Tickets can be bought at the box office at the entrance to the museum (and, if I'm not mistaken, they cost a symbolic 100r)

Transition to the engine room (if I'm wrong and this compartment is called differently - correct me)

Periscope


Underwater latrine (shooting through glass)


Transition to the wardroom


Commander's cabin (only through glass, alas)


Cabin


Hydroacoustics cabin


Entrance to the bow (torpedo) compartment

The bearing part of the torpedo in the section


Well, I'll show you a couple of citywide photos ...
View of the Golden Horn Bridge (at that time the bridge had not yet been put into operation)

) to tell about the S-56 submarine-museum, standing on the Ship Embankment.

In general, submarine museums are very wonderful museums. They are remarkable in that they give mere mortals the opportunity to visit this miracle of technology and evaluate the service conditions of submariners. Well, you must admit: everyone was on the plane, everyone was on the ship, it’s also not cunning to get into the tank somewhere - since there are plenty of them everywhere. But somehow you can’t even visit a submarine ... This type of military transport has always been shrouded in some kind of mystery. Perhaps that is why they are so attractive and fascinate ...

Being able to stand for minutes and look at these black beauties ... And when I had a rare opportunity, I was generally in seventh heaven!

I am not indifferent to the Navy and our submarines in particular. At every opportunity I try to climb there :) I also visited a similar museum - the K-21 submarine, the famous Luninskaya submarine. It may be known to you from the plot of the wonderful film "Convoy PQ-17".

There is also a submarine museum in Kaliningrad, but, unfortunately, I didn’t get there .... :(

What can I say - there is a submarine even in Moscow, in Tushino.

In total, I already counted 4. At all ends of our vast. :)

Let's go back to S-56.
This is a Soviet medium diesel-electric submarine from World War II. The boat was laid down in 1936 in Leningrad. After manufacturing in disassembled form according to railway delivered to "Dalzavod" them. Voroshilov No. 202 in Vladivostok, launched on December 25, 1939, entered service on October 20, 1941 and became part of the Pacific Fleet.

I think no one will tell about the sights like Wikipedia. :) The facts and dates are taken from there, from the article "C-56".

On October 5, 1942, the boat "S - 56" under the command of Lieutenant Commander G.I. Shchedrin, together with the submarines "S-51", "S-54" and "S-55", departed from Vladivostok to its new port, starting passage from the Pacific through the Panama Canal to the North.

The boat passed two oceans and nine seas: Japan, Okhotsk, Bering, Caribbean, Sargasso, Northern, Greenland, Norwegian and Barents. The duration of the transition was 2220 hours, the range was 16,700 nautical miles (almost 31,000 km).

March 8, 1943 became part of the Northern Fleet. During the war years, the S-56 made 8 military campaigns (according to other sources, 7), made 13 attacks with the release of 30 torpedoes, sinking 4 ships (2 warships and 2 transports) and damaging one, more than 3 thousand depth charges. On March 31, 1944, the S-56 boat was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for military merits. On February 23, 1945, the submarine was awarded the Guards rank. During the Great Patriotic War, "S-56" 19 times (!) Was declared dead.

S-56 is the most productive Soviet submarine in the Great Patriotic War.

After World War II, she continued to serve in the Northern Fleet. In 1953, along the northern sea route, she passed on the surface to Vladivostok, thereby becoming the first of the Soviet submarines to circumnavigate the world. The commander of the S-56 at the transition, Lieutenant Commander V.I. Kharchenko (01/27/1925). For the courage shown in carrying out the assigned task, the C-56 crew was rewarded. V.I. Kharchenko was awarded the Order of the Red Star, now lives in Kharkov. On November 6, 1953, she became part of the Pacific Fleet.

All right, let's go inside.

Entrance to the boat - from the side of the memorial wall, through the "kiosk" with the usher:

By tradition, the boat is divided into two parts - exposition and historical. Let's go to the first one:

It turned out that the museum is closed for minor repairs. But when we told where we came from, the repair ended immediately. The guy in the vest threw a paint brush and turned into a guide. :)

At first glance, the exhibits are not very interesting. But that's only until you look at them.

This is a fragment of a missile that hit the target. Launched from the first missile submarine of the Pacific Fleet, which performed "excellent" missile firing - it is written on the plate. Interestingly, the fragment also hit some target, since it was found? Some grandfather Vanya's bath window... :)

Light machine gun of the Degtyarev system:

Probably, when the torpedoes and shells in the bow gun ran out, the submariners went out with this bandura and played it for the Germans ... :)

A lot of things were still on display there, but one photo kept me in front of me for a long time:

I had the honor to work with this man for a long time, which I am proud of. An extraordinary person, books are written about such people. Vice Admiral Nikolay Akimovich Konorev. Once he was the head of the operational department of the Navy and, in fact, the third person in the Navy. In his military biography a lot of great facts. The most striking, perhaps, can be called combat service on the K-454 submarine at the height of the Cold War, in 1980. Then Nikolai Akimovich was in the rank of captain of the 2nd rank and commanded this submarine.

What made that trip so famous? And the fact that one of the combat missions performed then was to spy on American aircraft carrier"Costellation". At his native, American shores. Photographs of personnel and weapons were taken from the submarine ... And now the most interesting thing.

When the Cold War ended, Konorev visited the United States with one delegation. There he met with people who served on the "Kosteleishen" on that trip ... Guess? Yes, he showed them his photos :)

To say that the Americans were in shock is to say nothing... They learned that they were being followed and photographed by the Russians only at that moment...

Such were the times, such were the people. Now he is retired, but all the same, his activities are connected with what he devoted his whole life to - with the Navy. A man of good health, at the age of 65. By the way, read his interview on the topic of the current state of affairs in the Navy, very interesting (an article from the early 2000s).

The official part is over, you can go and rush to the historical part!

I will not comment much, and everything is clear :)

Not much different from what he saw in Severomorsk. Although it would be more correct to say that at first I saw this submarine, and then a year later, the North Sea.

Faucets, valves... Nothing turns. :(

It's about the same in our basement - a common house water meter ... Only the pipes are rusty.

Right-left... Point your finger!

Push Latrine:

Remember how to use? :) There is pressure - one wrong action and you're in poop :)

Here they spread the map and discussed plans:

And here, side by side, they rested:

There is even a mirror for aiming a marafet. The fleet is...

BP mechanisms:

Radio operator cabin:

Since then it has been sitting...

Torpedo compartment. Some sailors slept right in an embrace with torpedoes.

Bow torpedo tubes:

There are a couple more fodder.

Whoo-hoo-hoo...!

When the boat got fucked up, often the only way to get out was this red corridor... Not for the claustrophobic...

Ship's chronometer:

A very important instrument on a submarine. According to it, in particular, they tracked the hit of the torpedo on the target, calculating the time of passage by distance and speed.

Well, in principle, the whole museum. It is much more interesting to visit there than to read about it.

In the next part I will tell you about the defensive forts in the suburbs of Vladivostok. They are everywhere... The hills are pierced like cheese with holes in the underground passages. It will be interesting - I already climbed there :)

The history of the S-56 submarine, which is inextricably linked with Vladivostok, is not simple and heroic. Having set off on their maiden voyage in October 1942, the crew of the submarine had no idea what a legendary fate awaited them.

Creation

The history of the S-56 submarine began on November 24, 1936. On this day, she was laid down at the shipbuilding plant. Andre Marty located in Leningrad. There she was numbered under number 405. This one, consisting of several sections, was sent to Vladivostok to plant No. 202 by rail. It was there that the final assembly took place. The ship was launched three years after its laying down, and it entered service on October 20, 1941. The submarine as a combat unit was immediately credited to the balance of the Pacific Fleet.

Submarine "S-56" belongs to the middle class IX-bis series. It was designed by order of the Soviet government by one of the Dutch bureaus, which was part of the German company Deschimag in early 1934. As a rule, vessels of this class demonstrated reliability and excellent speed. It was they who were taken as the basis when work began on the project of the German boat of the VII series. By the way, this submarine was massively used during the Second World War. This suggests that the technical characteristics adopted at the time turned out to be the most successful.

In total, the Soviet Navy had just over forty C-type boats, produced in three series. The most productive of them were the IX-bis submarines. They managed to sink 19 enemy ships. Of the three dozen such submarines, only half were lost in naval battles.

Military campaigns

March 1943. The S-56 submarine is part of the Northern Fleet. During the war, the commander of the ship was Captain-Lieutenant G. I. Shchedrin. In mid-April, his crew returned from their first trip, where they managed to sink two enemy ships at once. At the end of the same month, the heroic submariners were awarded several orders and medals, and the number 2 appeared on the star depicted on the cabin of the submarine.

May 1943. Second military campaign. Its result was the destruction of the tanker "Oirstadt" and serious damage to the ship "Warteland". In just a year and a half, from April 1943 to autumn 1944, submariners sank 8 ships, including one destroyer, two tankers and patrol ships, as well as three transports. In addition, they had 4 more seriously damaged ships on their account.

The most dangerous trip

It took place in February 1944. According to the crew of the S-56 boat, this trip was the most extreme, since the submariners almost died during it. The fact is that after a successful attack by an enemy ship, the submarine went to a decent depth. However, she was spotted by enemy guards.

During the day, the S-56 submarine was pursued by seven ships. During this time, they managed to drop more than three hundred on it. At some point, the immersion depth became lower than critical, but the well-coordinated work of the crew helped to align the rudders and avoid danger.

In order to get away from the chase, it was decided to reduce the noise by moving the electric motors to half a turn with the ventilation turned off completely. Because of this, the hydroacoustics that were on the enemy ships could not detect our submarine. Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide on it approached the critical level of four percent.

Successful maneuver

In this situation, the S-56 commander turned to his crew with a speech in which he allowed the non-party people to go on vacation, and asked the communists to pack up as much as possible and keep watch both for themselves and for their comrades. The seventh torpedo compartment was the first to respond. The submariners all as one asked to be considered communists. Other departments followed suit.

In order to somehow hold out, the sailors poured the lime in the air regeneration cartridges onto the floor. She began to absorb carbon dioxide and, thanks to this, the crew managed to survive. Just think, instead of 10-15 minutes, the divers lasted more than 6 hours! Soon the enemy ships left, believing that the Soviet boat had been destroyed. When the danger passed, the submarine surfaced. The commander gave the sailors a day to rest, after which they quickly caught up with the same convoy, attacked it, and then sank another transport.

Achievements

The commander himself, and his crew, not without reason, believed that their boat was happy. Judge for yourself, during the transition to the Northern Fleet, during the next inspection, it turned out that there was a stabilizer and an unexploded enemy torpedo on board.

Over the entire war period, the S-56 submarine carried out 8 campaigns, in which she managed to win 14 victories, while destroying 10 and severely damaging 4 warships and other enemy vehicles. Thus, it turned out to be the most productive submarine of the USSR Navy for the entire period of the Second World War in terms of the number of documented targets sunk. At the end of March 1944, it was decided to award the boat with the Order for Successful Service. In November 1944, the commander of the S-56, as well as Captain G. I. Shchedrin, received the title of Hero of the USSR. In total, this glorious crew received more than 400 awards during the war. In addition, in February 1945 the boat was also awarded the title of Guards.

The submarine commander later recalled that there were many more victories, but quite often the data of the submariners themselves did not always coincide with intelligence reports. To be honest, it is not so important now how many military and transport ships were destroyed or shot down. The main thing is how people not only survived in such difficult conditions, but also successfully fought with a strong and cunning enemy, sometimes far outnumbering them.

In the post-war period

In 1954, the S-56 returned to Far East, where she continued her service, entering, as before, into the Pacific Fleet. Over time, the Navy was replenished with more and more modern submarines. Therefore, it was decided to withdraw the legendary "S-56" from combat strength. It was converted into a training base for training young sailors.

To create a memorial to the S-56 submarine and hoist it on Korabelnaya Embankment in Vladivostok, the submarine was dismantled into compartments and reassembled at the installation site. On May 9, 1975, the flag of the Soviet Navy flew over it again. The boat-museum was opened in a solemn atmosphere in the presence of three crew members: midshipman Yelin, minder Denisov and electrician Nazarov. In honor of each of the fourteen victories of this legendary ship, salutes sounded.

Museum

Today, in Vladivostok, the S-56 submarine, along with another patrol vessel, the Krasny Vympel, still stands on the same Korabelnaya embankment. First, tourists enter the seventh compartment, which used to be a stern torpedo and residential at the same time. An exposition is located here, where a model of the first combat submarine "Dolphin" is exhibited. This boat saw action during Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. It is worth noting that the presence of such vessels off the coast of Vladivostok greatly contributed to its protection from possible enemy shelling.

In the sixth compartment of the memorial Guards Red Banner submarine S-56, electric motors were once located, which were used only for its movement under water. Now there is an exposition dedicated to the development of the Soviet submarine fleet. It is represented by models of submarines of different classes: "L", "D", "K", "S", "M" and "Sch". All of them took part in the fighting during the war, and the last of the above was the first in the Pacific Fleet.

The fifth compartment contained a diesel engine. It was included only for surface movement. Now, one part of this compartment tells about the development of the Pacific Fleet after the war and up to the 80s of the last century, and the model of the diesel-electric submarine 641 of the project is installed on the other. Here, as exhibits, personal belongings of the commander and crew members of the S-56 submarine are also presented.

The museum doesn't end there. The fourth compartment previously housed a galley and a cabin for the foremen. Now there is an exposition dedicated to the Victory over Nazi Germany. It tells about the exploits of submariners both in the Pacific and in the Baltic, Black Sea and Northern fleets.

What did the boat look like from the inside?

In the middle of the submarine, three compartments have been restored and have their original appearance. The first of them is a bow torpedo-residential. There is a stock of torpedoes, devices for them, a loading and torpedo hatch, as well as bunks for personnel. The second compartment mainly served as a wardroom for officers. The hydroacoustic cabin was also located here.

The third compartment was the central control post, where the commander was located and from where the submarine was controlled. In this part of the submarine you can see the navigation table, the periscope, as well as horizontal and vertical rudders.

Conclusion

During the war years, submariners have experienced a lot, so it is difficult to overestimate the heroism and courage of the sailors who defended their homeland without sparing own lives. Now, after so many years, it is safe to say that the crew of this submarine was a real fighting family, since strong comradely mutual assistance, extraordinary solidarity and strong friendship were always present on the ship. In the submarine "S-56" is open to visitors daily from 10 am to 6 pm.

October 5, 1942 from Vladivostok to long hike the submarine was leaving. Those few of those who remained on the shore, who knew where and why she was going, looking after her, thought that she would never return back.

Ahead of the submariners was an unparalleled, full of danger transition, and then - heavy battles with the Nazis in the harsh waters of the northern seas.

But those who thought that the boat was leaving forever were wrong. She had a long life ahead and a return to Vladivostok already as a legend of the USSR Navy.

The diesel-electric submarine S-56 was laid down on November 24, 1936 at the Andre Marty shipyard. This boat project was licensed, acquired from Germany at a time when relations between the two countries were not yet openly hostile. However, when the situation began to change, the Germans delayed the delivery of key units. As a result, most of the “stuffing” of the boat was built at Soviet enterprises.

The S-56 was built for the needs of the Pacific Fleet. The finished sections of the boat were delivered by rail to Vladivostok, where they were finally assembled at plant No. 202.

The S-56 was launched in December 1939, and was commissioned into the Pacific Fleet on October 30, 1941.

Impossible but necessary

By the autumn of 1942, a very difficult situation had developed in the Northern Fleet. Warships for the protection of transports supplying allied cargo under Lend-Lease were sorely lacking. We needed reinforcements.

And at the beginning of September 1942 State Committee Defense decided to strengthen the Northern Fleet by transferring six submarines from the Pacific Ocean. These included two "Leninets" ("L-15" and "L-16") and four "esks" of the 3rd division of the 1st brigade of submarines of the Pacific Fleet: "S-51", "S-54" , "S-55" and "S-56".

The situation was complicated by the fact that it was impossible to transfer boats along the Northern Sea Route - due to the difficult ice situation, all powerful icebreakers capable of conducting them remained in the west of the country.

As a result, the Escams had to move along the route Vladivostok - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Dutch Harbor - San Francisco - Coco Solo (Panama Canal) - Guantanamo - Halifax - Rosyth - Lervik - Polyarnoe. The route of the "Lenintsev" differed only in that they left the base in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Such an ultra-long campaign looked like sheer madness, but the command had no other choice.

Among other things, the submariners had to fulfill two incompatible conditions - to maintain the secrecy of the mission and, in order to move faster, go on the surface.

five out of six

Six boats were divided into pairs, "S-56" was paired with "S-51".

Commanded "S-56" in the campaign Lieutenant Commander Grigory Shchedrin, in the future - admiral of the fleet of the USSR.

The campaign was difficult for both equipment and people. On the approach to the Panama Canal, the heat in the compartments reached sixty degrees, the crew suffered from conjunctivitis, almost losing their sight.

Boats in the campaign were battered by storms, they were hunted by the German Navy. On October 11, 1942, the L-16 submarine was torpedoed. Who exactly destroyed the boat is still unknown. According to various versions, she could become a victim of both a Japanese attack and "friendly fire" from the Americans.

The S-56 itself also got it. She was attacked several times by enemy submarines, in December 1942, off the coast of Canada, she survived a terrible storm, as a result of which she was half-flooded and lost her course. Having reached Halifax and having undergone repairs, the boat continued on its way.

However, in spite of everything, in March 1943, the S-56 reached the base in Polyarny.

During the 153-day trip, the submarine traveled 16,632 nautical miles and, upon arrival at Polyarnoye, was assigned to the 2nd division of the Northern Fleet submarine brigade.

In total, out of six boats that left the Pacific Ocean in the fall of 1942, five reached the Northern Fleet, the L-16 was the only victim of the transition.

Twenty Submarine Lives

For several decades after the war, only a few knew about the unique campaign of Soviet submarines of 1942-1943, but a lot was written about the military exploits of the S-56 in the Northern Fleet.

S-56 turned out to be the most productive Soviet submarine of the USSR Navy during the Great Patriotic War in terms of the number of reliably sunk targets. On her account, the sinking of two warships and two transports, as well as damage to one transport. "S-56" made 8 combat campaigns, in which she carried out 13 attacks with the release of 30 torpedoes.

The Germans hunted for the tenacious Soviet submarine with particular zeal. More than 3,000 depth charges were dropped on the S-56 during the war, and she was declared dead 19 times. “You won’t wait,” the S-56 crew members grinned in response.

In March 1944, the boat was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and in February 1945, it was declared "Guards".

Around the world

Having served faithfully in the North for nine post-war years, S-56 received a new task - to make the transition along the Northern Sea Route from Ekaterininskaya Harbor to Tarya Bay (Kamchatka), and then to Vladivostok.

Commanded "S-56" in this campaign Lieutenant Commander Viktor Kharchenko. Having overcome the most difficult route in the Arctic ice, the submarine returned to Vladivostok 12 years later. S-56 became the first submarine of the Soviet Navy to circumnavigate the world.

The combat path of the S-56 was coming to an end. In the spring of 1955, she was withdrawn from service, disarmed and reorganized into a floating charging station. In 1964, it became a damage control training station.

Glorious Flag

The next stage for many former warships is recycling. But the fleet legend had a different fate. By the 30th anniversary of the Victory, after the restoration repair, the S-56 was installed on the Ship Embankment of Vladivostok as a memorial ship and a branch of the Museum of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet.

The boat museum functions in Vladivostok to this day, being one of the most famous memorials in honor of the Russian fleet.

As a tribute to the heroism and courage of Soviet submariners, the S-56 carries out a daily ceremony of raising and lowering the Naval flag of the USSR. Not a single ship has been awarded such an honor today in Russia.

On May 9, 1975, in Vladivostok, on the embankment of the Golden Horn Bay, the Guards Red Banner submarine S-56 was installed - the first Soviet memorial submarine.

The submarine was laid down in 1936. Ships of type "C" - "Stalinets", of which only 17 were built, were subsequently recognized as the most effective submarines of the Great Patriotic War. Five of them - "S-13", "S-31", "S-51", "S-101" and "S-104" became Red Banner during the war years. "S-33" became Guards. And "S-56" - Red Banner and Guards at the same time. The number “14” is displayed in the red star on the S-56 wheelhouse - that is how many fascist ships experienced the power of her torpedoes. Ten enemy transports were sent to the bottom. Four more are seriously damaged.

In the autumn of 1942, it was decided to strengthen the combat strength of the submarines of the Northern Fleet, and six submarines, including the S-56, were sent from the Far East to the Polyarny. The boats arrived at the main base of the Northern Fleet in March 1943, covering 17.5 thousand nautical miles across three oceans and ten seas. The replenishment immediately became involved in active combat activity on enemy communications, which, together with other submarines of the Northern Fleet, seriously complicated the life of the Wehrmacht and the Kringsmarine, in whose plans the sea routes of communication in the Arctic were given exceptional importance. Through the ports of Northern Norway, strategic raw materials were delivered to Germany by sea, and the German mountain army was supplied. In addition, formations of the navy were based in Norwegian ports, operating against the Arctic polar convoys of the allies.

On March 29, 1943, the S-56 submarine went on its first combat campaign, and on April 19, two shots from the ship's "weave" rang out over Ekaterininskaya Harbor, announcing the opening of a combat account. In addition to the two sunk enemy transports, the crew of the submarine carried out a special task of landing scouts on the enemy coast and removing the group that had completed its "work" in the rear of the Nazi troops.

The first sunken transport got relatively easily. After the attack, the S-56 anti-submarine ships were not found, and their bombing was ineffective. But on the second transport, the enemy fought back on the Red Navy ... Clinging to the shore, there was a convoy of three transports guarded by six patrol ships. The Soviet sailors managed to get inside the convoy and take an advantageous position to attack the forward torpedo tubes of the transports, and the stern - the guard. At first, everything went exactly as planned. But either the eye of the periscope flashed in the sun, or the hydroacoustics of the enemy ships took direction finding the noise of the propellers. Two guards rushed to the submarine. All that could be heard was the noise of furiously spinning propellers, and then heavy slaps into the water. The ships dropped depth charges. From their explosions, the lights went out throughout the submarine, but the strong hull survived, there was no leak. So everything is in order... Next attack. Eight depth charges are nearby. What to do? Refuse to attack? Not! The decision quickly matured: dive under the transport, take cover under it from the bombing, emerge from the other side - attack the "tail" of the convoy with stern torpedo tubes. The enemy did not expect the "S-56" to continue the attack. The Germans bombed furiously from the port side of the transports, where they had previously found a submarine, and she cautiously approached from the opposite side and fired torpedoes at the end transport of the convoy. The distance to it is minimal. He hissed and hit the air in his ears, the propellers of departing torpedoes began to sing. Everyone heard the torpedo explosion. But there is no time to look at the work of one's own hands. Guards rushed to the submarine at full speed, but the submarine went into the depths and hid from pursuit.

March 31, 1943 "S-56" for the courage and stamina shown by the crew in battle was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The S-56 made its second combat campaign in May, meeting only one convoy, consisting of a transport and a tanker, guarded by eight guards and three Arado aircraft. The Soviet sailors managed to break through the guards and launch both fascist ships to the bottom of the Barents Sea with one salvo. In retaliation, the unlucky guard bombarded the submarine with depth charges. The water literally boiled from the explosions. The submariners would probably have had it even harder if they had not hidden under the ignited gasoline that had spilled over the surface of the sea. And a little later they were rescued by fellow pilots, who diverted the convoy. Without this, the submarine would hardly have been able to return to base ...

The third campaign was the shortest, lasting only ten days, and the most "productive" - ​​"S-56" managed to sink two patrol ships and damage, and possibly sink, two enemy transports. They bombed, as always, a lot and for a long time. In addition, deviating from the next bombing, the submarine got entangled in gear on the eve of the sunken transport. With difficulty, but still escaped from this trap ...

From campaign to campaign, the skill of the crew grew. In the fifth campaign, the number of ships sunk was brought to seven and damaged to three. Prior to this, the personnel were twice awarded high government awards, and now they have been presented for the third award. But the most joyful event for Soviet sailors was the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 31, 1944 on awarding the S-56 submarine with the Order of the Red Banner. The military work of the crew was marked by the Motherland ...

The war continued, and the enemy improved his anti-submarine defense: he put up new minefields, attracted more ships, armed them with electronic equipment. Getting close to convoys and sinking transports became more and more difficult. But the S-56 crew managed to sink and damage four more ships and transports, bringing the score to fourteen, for which by the day Soviet army and the Navy, on February 23, 1945, the Red Banner submarine "S-56" by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy was awarded the title of Guards ...

On October 5, 1954, 12 years after the S-56 left for the North, the Red Banner Guards submarine returned home to Vladivostok, thus making the world's first underwater circumnavigation.

Shortly after arriving in the Far East, the rather battered and aged submarine was "demoted" - from warship she became a helper. "S-56" became a floating charging station.

By the beginning of the 70s, the submarine was in one of the bays, performing the functions of a training and training station, where sailors trained in sealing holes, extinguishing fires and eliminating all sorts of other troubles that could get up in the sea in front of a warship. As the former commander of the "S-56" Grigory Ivanovich Shchedrin recalled, the mechanisms and equipment had already been dismantled from it by that time, the paint was peeled off, and the pride of the submarine - a unique teak deck, which was not like on any other submarine of the USSR - was half dismantled .

Soon it was decided to use the S-56 submarine in memorial complex on the ship embankment. To do this, the submarine had to be disassembled, transported and reassembled. The delivery of an almost 900-ton ship to Korabelnaya Embankment required the use of hitherto unseen engineering solutions. First, the boat was transferred to Dalzavod, at one of the quay walls of which it was cut into six sections. To deliver them to the assembly site, it was necessary to build a special railway line and design special railway platforms - the usual ones for transporting multi-ton structures of such dimensions were not suitable. After all the parts of the "S-56" were installed and welded together again, it was time for the interior decoration. By this time, the original "interior" of the boat was almost completely lost, so it was decided to restore only the first three compartments in their original form. The rest housed ordinary museum showcases.

The work on the memorial, which was largely carried out by the method of "people's construction", was completed by the 30th anniversary of the Victory. On May 9, 1975, the flag of the Guards again flew up over the sparkling fresh paint beauty "S-56". The branch of the Museum of the Pacific Fleet was put into operation.