Soviet submarine S-56

S-56 was an S-class submarine of the Soviet Navy during and after World War II. She was laid down by shipyard #194 in Leningrad on 24 November 1936, shipped in sections by rail to Vladivostok where it was reassembled by Dalzavod. She was launched on 25 December 1939 and commissioned on 20 October 1941 in the Pacific Fleet. During World War II, the submarine was under the command of Captain Grigori Shchedrin and was moved from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern fleet across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans via the Panama Canal. After decommissioning, the submarine was turned into a museum ship.

Design
The Srednyaya or S-class submarine (Средняя), also called Stalinets class (Сталинец), was an ocean-going diesel electric attack submarine. Its pressure hull had seven compartments, and the Series IX-bis submarine's displacement was 856 t while on the surface and 1090 t while submerged. It had a length of 77.8 m, a beam of 6.4 m, and a draft of 4 m. It had two diesel engines to power it on the surface and two electric motors for when it was submerged, providing 4000 shp and 1100 shp, respectively, to the two propeller shafts. This gave it a speed of 18.85 kn on the surface and 8.8 kn while underwater, and the submarine had a range of 9500 nmi. Its test depth was 80 m, and as armament it had six 530 mm torpedo tubes, one 100 mm deck gun, and one 45 mm gun.

S-56 was part of the Series IX-bis, which was a modification of the original three boats of the S-class, the Series IX. The main difference between them was the replacement of German components used in Series IX with Soviet equivalents that could be manufactured domestically.

Commissioning
S-56 was laid down in Leningrad on 24 November 1936 before being shipped by rail to Vladivostok, where it was launched on 25 December 1939. The submarine was commissioned on 20 October 1941 with Grigory Shchedrin in command.

Service history
For her service, the submarine was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner and the Guards badge.

During the attack against Eurostadt, another torpedo hit and damaged the German freighter Wartheland (3,676 GRT) but the ship was saved because the torpedo was a dud.