М-200 Месть (Mest, meaning "vengeance" or "revenge") was a Project 615 (also known by the NATO reporting name

NATO reporting name

NATO reporting names are classified code names for military equipment of the Eastern Bloc...

 of "Quebec"-class

Quebec class submarine

The Quebec-class submarine was the NATO reporting name of the Soviet Project 615 submarine class, a small coastal attack submarine of the late 1950s.-Background:...

) short-range, diesel

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

 attack submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 of the Soviet Navy

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

.

On 21 November 1956 while returning to port after transit to Paldiski near Tallinn, Vengeance was to rendezvous with the destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 Статный (Statnyj, meaning "stately"). At about 1945, after spotting the destroyer, the boat's commanding officer, Captain Second Rank Yuri Pavlovich Shtikov, gave the conn to Captain Third Rank Shumanin, and went below for supper. Shumanin had previous experience in Щ-type (щука, shchuka, "pike") and С-type (средняя, srednyaja, "medium") boats, but was new to М-type (малая, malaya, "small") boats such as M-200.

At 1953, while attempting to take station alongside the destroyer, the submarine cut across the destroyer's bow, which struck the boat on the starboard side aft, flooding the two after compartments immediately and killing the six men stationed there. Eight men escaped in the six or eight minutes before the boat sank, but two of them drowned before they could be rescued. Twenty-eight survivors were trapped in the compartments one, three, and four of the sunken submarine.

The submarine's emergency buoy was located at 2105, and communications were established with the remaining survivors in compartment one, the forward torpedo room. The men in compartments three and four had already died. Rescue forces began quickly arriving at the accident scene, but were unable to provide air to the survivors.

By 0400 the next morning, 22 November, the men in the submarine were prepared to use their escape equipment to leave the wreck, but were ordered to remain aboard while the senior officers on the surface developed plans to lift the boat with a floating crane. Numerous meetings occupied those officers until about 1800 that evening, when the rescue attempt actually began. However, the weather had deteriorated, and when the rescue vessels began to drag anchor and the telephone cable to the sunken wreck parted, the attempt was abandoned.

At 0347 the next morning, 23 November, divers located the wreck, and learned that the previous evening, after the telephone line parted and communications were lost, the survivors had decided to disobey orders, and escape on their own. However, the first man to use the escape hatch had died in the attempt, blocking the hatch for the rest.