Shchuka - class submarine The Shchuka class submarines ( ) , also referred to as Shch or SC class submarines were a medium - sized class of Soviet submarine s , built in large numbers and used during World War II . " Shchuka " is Russian for pike . Of this class , only two submarines ( 411 and 412 ) entered service after 1945 , although they were launched before war . Development . On January 23 , 1930 , the USSR Revolutionary Military Council ( Revvoensoviet ) adapted a proposed submarine concept that were to " execute positioning service on closed theatres " . Plans were made to construct up to 200 submarines in three main versions , the later ones would be larger and with longer range than the previous versions . However , due to the outbreak of World War II , only 88 submarines were commissioned . It was still to be the second most numerous submarine class of the Soviet Navy ( only the M class were more numerous with 111 built ) . Seven ship construction yards were involved in the program - No . 189 , 190 , 194 in Leningrad , No . 112 in Gorky , No . 200 in Nikolaev and No . 202 in Vladivostok . The name of the class was taken from the individual name of the first submarine Shch - 301 " Shchuka " . Their numbering depended on which Soviet fleet they belonged to : the 100 - series belonged to the Pacific Fleet , the 200 - series to the Black Sea Fleet , the 300 - series to the Baltic Fleet , and the 400 - series to the Northern Fleet . There were however some special cases , i . e . the Northern Fleet submarine Shch - 424 was renamed Shch - 321 when she was transferred to the Baltic Fleet via the Stalin Canal ( and later renamed back to Shch - 424 when returning ) . The conning tower had brass symbols as identifiers ( Щ - XXX , where the XXX is the number ) . Operational service . The Shchukas saw some great losses during the war . The Baltic , Black Sea and Northern fleet lost 60 - 70 % of their submarines . However , the submarines of the Soviet Pacific fleet did not suffer any losses to the Japanese due to the tranquil nature of the theatre ( war operations commenced first in 1945 when the Japanese fleet largely was defeated ) . 3 submarines were however lost here to other reasons ( non - battle damages and incidents ) . In all , 35 Shchuka class submarines were lost , the vast majority during World War II . The last surviving submarines of the class in the Soviet navy were decommissioned in the mid - 1950s and scrapped during the following years , but two submarines of this class , along with two Soviet M class submarine s ( S - 121 and S - 123 ) were supplied to People ' s Liberation Army Navy in June , 1954 , thus becoming the foundation of the submarine force of the People ' s Republic of China . However , the two Shchuka class submarines were not technically transferred to China , but instead , loaned to China for training Chinese crews , and technically , they were still Soviet naval property , and thus were not given Chinese names like the Soviet M class submarine handed to China . See also . " Shchuka " is a traditional Russian / Soviet submarine name , often given to the first submarine of a new class of a new generation submarines . For instance , the first submarine of the early 20th century " Som " class carried the name . Also at least two other , newer Soviet / Russian submarine classes carries the name , however , the NATO reporting names differ . These are the Project 671 " Shchuka " ( NATO : Viktor ) and Project 971 " Shchuka - B " ( Akula ) .