Tarybinių povandeninių laivų veikla II pasaulinio karo metais šiuo metu Lietuvai priklausančioje Baltijos jūros dalyje
Soviet Submarine Operations in the Years of World War II in the Present-day Lithuanian Waters of the Baltic Sea

Summary/Abstract: From the outbreak of World War II the present-day Lithuanian waters of the Baltic Sea witnessed Soviet submarine operations of enemy port mining and surveillance. Three ships could have been wrecked after striking the mines laid in June 1941 at the approaches to Klaipėda Port; their finding location corresponds to the minefield position. It was also the territory crossed on the way to more remote assignment areas. Afterwards, the course of the war determined the deteriorated situation of the Soviet fleet. After the loss of the fleet bases in Liepāja, Tallinn and other ports as well as the fortifications in Moonsund Archipelago, the fleet was confined to the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and retained only the ports of Leningrad and Kronstadt; the controlled area limited with Lavensaari Island. After the area under German occupation was surveyed, Soviet submarines exploited opportunities to renew their operations on the enemy’s territory. It discontinued the transportation of freight required by Germany and frightened seamen. Germany increased the number of mine barriers and nets thus interfering with the plans of the Soviet fleet. Between 1943 and 1944 Soviet submarines scarcely entered the enemy’s area until Finland withdrew from the war. The treaty between the Soviet Union and Finland signed in 1944 enabled Soviet ships to operate on the Finnish shipping lanes. Submarines took advantage of it by commencing an active fight with the German military and transportation fleet. It was the time when Germany sustained the greatest losses of naval warfare. German ships used to be wrecked by the mines of Soviet submarines; such large ships as Wilhelm Gustloff, Steuben and Goya were sunk in the course of the attacks. The Lithuanian waters were the battlefield and the transit route for Soviet submarines going to more remote German and Polish areas throughout all periods of operation of the Soviet fleet. In the course of its assignments the Soviet fleet incurred losses as well. The Soviet submarine Щ-319 had sunk in the area under discussion.

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