Idea combat use a submarine was first voiced by Leonardo da Vinci. Subsequently, he destroyed his project, as he feared the devastating consequences of submarine warfare. The idea of using a submarine in combat was popularized in Jules Verne's novel 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, written in 1870. The novel describes the Nautilus submarine, which rams and destroys surface ships.
Although the most important tactical property and advantage of a submarine is stealth, until 1944 all submarines spent most of their time on the surface and, in fact, were submersible boats - surface ships.
Today we will remember the largest submarine disasters, because sometimes these metal monsters go under water forever ...
US Navy submarine SS-109 (1927)
Forty people were killed when the American submarine SS-109 (USS S-4) sank after being rammed by a US Coast Guard ship off Cape Cod.
An amazing fact: the submarine returned to service a year after this accident and actively served until its decommissioning in 1936.
Soviet submarine S-117 "Pike", 1952
"Shch-117" is a Soviet diesel-electric torpedo submarine of the Second World War, belongs to the V-bis series of the Shch project - "Shchuka". On June 10, 1949, it was renamed S-117.
Sch-117, 1930s:
By the beginning of the fifties, the S-117 was far from a new ship, but it successfully performed the tasks assigned to it. In December 1952, in the Sea of Japan, the Pike was supposed to take part in an exercise. On the way to the area of maneuvers, its commander reported that due to a breakdown of the right diesel engine, the submarine was going to the designated point on one engine. A few hours later, he reported that the problem had been rectified. The boat did not get in touch anymore.
The exact cause and place of the sinking of the submarine are unknown. She seemed to have disappeared.
There were 52 crew members on board, including 12 officers. The search for the S-117, carried out until 1953, yielded nothing. The cause and place of the death of the boat is still unknown.
US Navy submarine "Thresher", 1963
An American submarine sank during a training exercise off Cape Cod off the coast of Massachusetts, killing 129 crew members.
Mechanical breakdown led to the fact that the boat quickly sank and exploded. According to the conclusions made by expert Bruce Rule, who investigated the sinking of the boat, the final destruction of the Thresher's hull occurred at a depth of 732 m and took no more than 0.1 seconds. Its fragments were found at a depth of more than 2500 meters. The hull of the boat split into six main parts - the bow section, the sonar dome, the wheelhouse, the tail section, the engine room, the command compartment, lying within a radius of 300 meters.
Photo of the Thresher vertical rudder lying at the bottom:
The death of the Soviet submarine K-129, 1968
Diesel submarine of the USSR Navy K-129, on board which were, according to various sources, from 96 to 98 crew members, went on alert in the North Pacific in February 1968.
On March 8, 1968, the K-129 diesel-electric missile submarine from the Pacific Fleet, equipped with nuclear warheads... The submarine was on combat service in the Hawaiian Islands, and from March 8 it stopped communicating. On board the K-129 were, according to various sources, from 96 to 98 crew members, all of them died.
The cause of the disaster is unknown. There are a number of theories regarding this accident, including a collision with a certain American ship However, Washington has consistently denied this, and according to an official US Navy report, the death of the Soviet submarine was due to a "tragic explosion on board." Subsequently, the K-129 was discovered by the Americans and in 1974 it was raised.
The Soviet side organized a search for the missing submarine, which did not bring results. Subsequently, the K-129 was discovered by the Americans, who organized its rise.
Submarine K-129 at the bottom:
During the ascent, the submarine broke in two, but several of its compartments were delivered to one of the US Navy bases. During their examination, the bodies of six Soviet submariners were found. The Americans paid military honors to the dead and buried the dead submariners at sea.
American USS Scorpion (SSN-589), 1968
The bookmark of the US Navy ship took place on August 20, 1958. The boat sank on May 21, 1968, 740 km southwest of the Azores at a depth of 3000 meters, 5 days before returning to base in Norfolk. 99 people died.
They searched for the sunken boat for 5 months, more than 60 ships and vessels, up to 30 aircraft were involved in the search. A week after the start of the search, a German submarine, sunk during the Second World War, was discovered 100 miles from Norfolk. The searches were in vain for a long time.
Soon the boat was found at a depth of 3,047 meters and photographed by the Mizar vessel. The cause of the death of the ship has not yet been established, the most likely version is the explosion of a torpedo. But there are other versions ...
The United States and Russia have, by mutual agreement, carefully concealed the fact of the destruction of the American nuclear submarine Scorpion by a combat torpedo fired by a Soviet submarine for almost 40 years, according to military journalist Ed Offley, author of the new investigation book "Scorpion Down" published in the United States.
At the same time, Offley claims that the destruction of the Scorpion was the "revenge" of Soviet submariners, who believed that the United States was involved in the death of the Soviet submarine K-129, which went to the bottom after an explosion on board with the entire crew of 98 people in the Pacific Ocean in March 1968.
The tragedies of 1968 were part of an underwater "reconnaissance war", many of the details of which are still classified, the author of the book believes.
Fragment of the boat's hull. Deformations from excessive pressure are visible:
Soviet submarine K-8, 1970
The Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 of project 627A "Kit" joined the Northern Fleet on August 31, 1960.
The submarine, which was on alert in the Mediterranean Sea, was sent to the North Atlantic to participate in the Ocean-70 exercise, the largest in the history of the Soviet Navy, in which the forces of all the fleets of the USSR took part. Its task was to designate the submarine forces of the "enemy" breaking through to the shores of the Soviet Union. The beginning of the exercises was planned for April 14, the end - for the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I.Lenin - April 22, 1970.
The last hours of the life of K-8 and parts of its crew:
The nuclear submarine K-8 was lost on April 12, 1970 in the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean as a result of a severe fire, which led to the loss of buoyancy and longitudinal stability. The submarine sank at a depth of 4,680 meters, 490 km northwest of Spain. 52 crew members were killed. Dying, they managed to drown out nuclear reactors.
Monument to the crew of K-8:
The death of K-8 and 52 crew members was the first loss of the Soviet nuclear fleet.
Nuclear submarine K-278 "Komsomolets", 1989
The Soviet nuclear submarine of the 3rd generation K-278 "Komsomolets" was the only submarine of the project 685 "Plavnik". The boat holds the absolute record for diving depth among submarines - 1027 meters (August 4, 1985). The boat had six bow 533-mm torpedo tubes with a quick-loading device. Each TA had an autonomous pneumohydraulic firing device. Shooting could be carried out at all diving depths.
The nuclear submarine K-278 "Komsomolets" was lost on April 7, 1989 in the Norwegian Sea. The submarine was sailing at a depth of 380 meters at a speed of 8 knots. As a result of a fire in two adjacent compartments, the main ballast tank systems were destroyed, through which the boat was flooded with seawater. 42 people died, many from hypothermia.
Russian submarine "Kursk, 2000
K-141 "Kursk" - Russian nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine cruiser of Project 949A "Antey". Laid down at Sevmash in 1990, commissioned on December 30, 1994.
The Russian submarine Kursk sank on 12 August 2000 at a depth of 108 meters during a naval exercise in the Barents Sea, in the waters between Norway and Russia, after two explosions occurred on board, caused by a fuel leak from a torpedo engine.
Most of the 118 people on board died instantly. 23 people managed to get into the rear compartment, but died of suffocation the next day.
In terms of the number of fatalities, the accident became the second in the post-war history of the Russian submarine fleet after the explosion of ammunition on the B-37.
All stages of the operation to raise the Kursk were carried out throughout the year. About 120 companies from 20 countries were involved in it. The cost of the work was estimated at USD 65-130 million. As a result of the operation of raising the Kursk submarine, 115 bodies of the dead submariners were found and buried. Three bodies were never found. Potentially dangerous ammunition of the boat and two nuclear reactors were evacuated from the bottom of the Barents Sea
Chinese submarine "Ming 361", 2003
The submarine was launched in 1995. Attributed to the Eastern Fleet of the PRC Navy
On April 16, 2003, during an exercise, the diesel engine of the Ming 361 submarine broke down while it was in Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea off the northeastern coast of China. The breakdown led to a sharp decrease in oxygen on board and suffocation of all 70 crew members.
This was the first time that China has made public the death of its diesel-electric submarine. According to Xinhua News Agency on May 2, 2003, the boat was discovered by Chinese fishermen on April 25, 2003, when they hooked nets on its periscope. Later, the submarine was raised to the surface and towed.
Argentine submarine "San Juan", 2017
Argentine Navy submarine San Juan stopped communicating on November 15 during the transition from the Ushuaia naval base to Mar del Plata. At the time of the last communication session, the submarine reported an accident. There were 44 people on board.
15 days after the disappearance of the submarine, the Argentine Navy reported that the operation to rescue 44 crew members of the San Juan submarine was terminated, but the search for the submarine itself would continue.
The captain of the missing Argentine Navy submarine "San Juan" promised her mother that this would be his last voyage. and so it happened.
As for nuclear submarines, in total, from 1955 to 2017, 8 nuclear submarines sank: 4 Soviet, 2 Russian, 2 American. All of them died as a result of various accidents: three - due to technical malfunctions, two - as a result of fires, two - due to problems with weapons, the cause of the death of one boat is not known for certain.
The very idea of a submarine appeared in the 15th century. This idea came to the brilliant head of the legendary Leonardo da Vinci. But, fearing the devastating consequences of such a secretive weapon, he destroyed his project.
But this always happens, if an idea already exists, then sooner or later humanity will embody it. For more than half a century, submarines have been sailing the seas and oceans. And, of course, they periodically get into accidents. Nuclear submarines equipped with nuclear power plants pose a particular danger in this case. Let's talk about them today.
USS Thresher
The first sunken nuclear submarine in history was the American USS Thresher, which was lost in the distant 1963. It was built three years earlier and was the first of its kind submarine of the "Thrasher" class.
On April 10, the USS Thresher was taken out to sea to conduct test deep-sea dives and check the strength of the hull. The boat sank for about two hours and periodically transmitted data on the state of its systems to the headquarters. At 09:17, USS Thresher stopped communicating. Last message read: "... ultimate depth ...".
When they found it, it turned out that it fell apart into six parts, and all 112 boats of the crew and 17 researchers were killed. The reason for the death of the boat is called a factory defect in the welding of the hull, which could not withstand the pressure, cracked, and the water that got inside caused a short circuit in the electronics. The investigation will establish that the shipyards where USS Thresher was serviced had extremely low quality control, and in addition, there could be deliberate sabotage. This was the reason for the death of the submarine. Her body still rests at a depth of 2,560 meters east of Cape Cod.
USS Scorpion
Throughout history, the US Navy has finally and irrevocably lost only two submarines. The first was the aforementioned USS Thresher, and the second was the USS Scorpion sunk in 1968. The submarine sank in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores. Literally five days after the accident, she was supposed to return to base in Norfolk, but did not get in touch.
In search of the USS Scorpion, 60 ships and aircraft set off, which found a lot of interesting things, including a sunken German submarine during the Second World War. But the boat I was looking for was discovered only five months later at a depth of 3000 meters. The entire crew of 99 was killed. The causes of the disaster are not fully known, but there is a version that one of the torpedoes could have exploded on board the boat.
USS San Francisco
But the case with the American boat USS San Francisco is just the story of a miraculous rescue. On January 8, 2005, a collision occurred 675 kilometers southeast of Guam. At a depth of 160 m, San Francisco collided with an underwater rock.
The rock broke through the ballast tanks, so that the ship could very quickly go to the bottom. But with the joint efforts of the team, it was possible to maintain buoyancy and raise the USS San Francisco to the surface. The hull was not punctured, and the nuclear reactor was not damaged.
There were also casualties. Ninety-eight crew members sustained various injuries and fractures. Second Class Driver Assistant Joseph Allen died of head injuries the next day.
Let's move on to Soviet submarines. The submarine K-8, which died in the Bay of Biscay on April 12, 1970, was the first such loss of the Soviet fleet.
The cause of death was a fire in the cabin of hydroacoustics, which began to quickly spread through the air ducts and threatened to destroy the entire ship. But simple human heroism saved me. When the sailors from the first shift of the main power plant realized that the fire was continuing to spread, they drowned out the nuclear reactors and closed down all the doors to the other compartments. The submariners themselves were killed, but they did not allow the fire to destroy the submarine and kill the rest. And the nuclear reactor did not release radiation into the ocean.
The surviving sailors were taken aboard by the Bulgarian motor ship "Avior", which was just sailing nearby. The captain of the 2nd rank Vsevolod Bessonov and 51 members of his crew were killed in the fight against the fire.
K-278 "Komsomolets"
The second sunken Soviet nuclear submarine. K-278 "Komsomolets" was also destroyed by a fire that broke out on board on April 7, 1989. The fire broke the tightness of the boat, which quickly filled with water and sank to the bottom.
The sailors managed to send a signal for help, but due to damaged electronics, they were able to receive and decipher it only from the eighth time. Some crew members managed to get out and swim to the surface, but they ended up in the icy water. As a result of the disaster, 42 sailors were killed, and 27 survived.
K-141 "Kursk"
We have already written about the mysterious death of the Kursk submarine, the strange behavior of the Russian authorities and questions to which no one has yet answered. Therefore, now we will focus on the main points.
On August 2, 2000, at 11:28 am, the systems of the cruiser "Peter the Great" recorded a strong clap, followed by a slight shake of the ship. "Kursk" participated with the cruiser in the exercises of the Northern Fleet and six hours later was supposed to get in touch with him, but disappeared.
After almost two days, the submarine will be found at a depth of 108 meters, already at the bottom. All 118 crew members were killed. The reasons for the death of the "Kursk" are still not completely clear, since the official version of the fire in the torpedo compartment raises too many questions.
Ukraine is beyond competition
If any conclusion can be drawn from all these stories, it is to understand that the work of submariners is harsh and dangerous. And Ukrainians know how to cope with any dangerous job. Therefore, despite the fact that we do not have a submarine fleet yet, this is a matter of time. As soon as Ukraine has free resources for its creation and development, it will be created.
And we have plenty of strong sailors, whose Cossack ancestors sailed on seagulls all the way to Turkey, and their fathers and grandfathers served on Soviet submarines. Ukraine usually has no shortage of heroes.
October 7th, 2014, 01:21 pm
On October 6, 1986, the submarine K-219 sank near Bermuda. The cause of the disaster was an explosion in a missile silo. This post is dedicated to the memory of all submariners who died in disasters.
It's quiet on the pier at night.
You only know one
When a tired submarine
From the depths goes home
In December 1952, the S-117 diesel-electric submarine, preparing for exercises as part of the Pacific Fleet, crashed in the Sea of Japan. Due to a breakdown of the right diesel engine, the boat was sailing to the designated point on one engine. A few hours later, according to the report of the commander, the malfunction was eliminated, but the crew did not get in touch anymore. The cause and place of the sinking of the submarine are still unknown. Presumably, she sank during a test dive after a poor-quality or unsuccessful repair at sea due to faulty air and gas slams, due to which the diesel compartment was quickly filled with water and the boat was unable to surface. It should be borne in mind that this was 1952. For the disruption of the combat mission, both the submarine commander and the BC-5 commander could be put on trial. There were 52 people on board.
On November 21, 1956, near Tallinn (Estonia), the M-200 submarine, which is part of the Baltic Fleet, collided with the Statny destroyer destroyer. 6 people were saved. 28 were killed.
Another accident in the Tallinn Bay occurred on September 26, 1957, when the M-256 diesel submarine from the Baltic Fleet sank after a fire started on board. Although initially it was possible to raise it, after four hours it sank to the bottom. Of the 42 crew members, 7 people were saved. The boat of the A615 project had a propulsion system based on a diesel engine operating under water on closed loop through a solid chemical absorbent to remove carbon dioxide and enrich the combustible mixture with liquid oxygen, which sharply increased the threat of a fire. A615 boats were notorious among submariners, because of their high fire hazard they were called "lighters".
On January 27, 1961, the S-80 diesel submarine sank in the Barents Sea. She did not return to base from the training ground. The search operation did not return any results. Only seven years later, the C-80 was found. The reason for the death was the flow of water through the RDP valve (a retractable device for a submarine for supplying air to diesels in the periscope position of the submarine) into its diesel compartment. Until now, there is no clear picture of the incident. According to some reports, the submarine tried to evade the ramming strike of the Norwegian reconnaissance ship Maryata by urgent diving on the circulation and being heavily weighted so as not to be thrown to the surface (there was a storm), fell to the depth with a raised shaft and an open air flap of the RDP. The entire crew was killed - 68 people. There were two commanders on board.
On July 4, 1961, during the Polar Circle exercise, a radiation leak occurred on the failed reactor of the K-19 submarine. The crew was able to fix the malfunction on their own, the boat remained afloat and was able to return to base. Eight submariners died from ultra-high doses of radiation.
On January 14, 1962, a diesel submarine B-37 from the Northern Fleet exploded at the naval base of the Northern Fleet in the city of Polyarny. As a result of the explosion of ammunition in the bow torpedo compartment, all who were on the pier, on the submarine and at the torpedo-technical base were killed - 122 people. A nearby submarine S-350 was seriously damaged. The emergency investigation commission concluded that the cause of the tragedy was damage to the fairing of the combat charging compartment of one of the torpedoes during the loading of ammunition. After that, the commander of the BCH-3, in order to hide the incident according to the list of emergency incidents in the fleet, tried to solder the hole, because of which the torpedo caught fire and exploded. From the detonation, the rest of the torpedoes exploded. The boat commander, Captain 2nd Rank Begeba, was on the berth 100 meters from the ship, was thrown into the water by an explosion, was seriously wounded, was subsequently put on trial, defended himself and was acquitted.
On August 8, 1967, in the Norwegian Sea on the K-3 Leninsky Komsomol nuclear submarine, the first nuclear submarine of the USSR Navy, a fire broke out in 1 and 2 compartments underwater. The fire was localized and extinguished by sealing the emergency compartments. 39 crew members were killed, 65 people were saved. The ship returned to the base under its own power.
On March 8, 1968, the K-129 diesel-electric missile submarine from the Pacific Fleet was lost. The submarine was on military service in the Hawaiian Islands, and from March 8 it stopped communicating. 98 people were killed. The boat sank at a depth of 6,000 meters. The cause of the disaster is unknown. On board the boat, discovered in 1974 by the Americans, who unsuccessfully tried to lift it, there were 100 people.
April 12, 1970 in the Bay of Biscay as a result of a fire in the aft compartments, the nuclear submarine K-8, project 627A from the Northern Fleet sank. 52 people were killed, 73 people were saved. The boat sank at a depth of over 4,000 meters. There were two nuclear weapons on board. Before the sinking, two nuclear reactors were shut down by standard means.
On February 24, 1972, upon returning to the base from a combat patrol in North Atlantic on the nuclear submarine K-19, pr. 658, a fire occurred in the ninth compartment. Later, the fire spread to the eighth compartment. More than 30 ships and vessels of the Navy took part in the rescue operation. In a severe storm, it was possible to evacuate most of the K-19 crew, supply the boat with electricity and tow it to the base. 28 sailors were killed, 76 people were saved.
On June 13, 1973, in the Peter the Great Gulf (Sea of Japan), the nuclear submarine K-56 pr. 675MK collided with the research vessel Akademik Berg. The boat was sailing at night on the surface to the base after performing firing practice. At the junction of the first and second compartments, a four-meter hole was formed, into which water began to flow. To prevent the final sinking of the K-56, the submarine commander decided to land the submarine on the coastal shelf in the area of Cape Granitny. 27 people were killed.
On October 21, 1981 in the Sea of Japan the diesel medium submarine S-178, project 613B, sank as a result of a collision with a large freezing fishing trawler "Refrigerator-13". The accident claimed the lives of 31 sailors.
On June 24, 1983, the nuclear submarine K-429, project 670A from the Pacific Fleet sank near the Kamchatka Peninsula. The disaster occurred when the boat was trimmed in an area where the depth was 35 meters, due to the ingress of water into the fourth compartment through the ship's ventilation shaft, which was mistakenly left uncovered when the boat was submerged. Some of the crew members were rescued, but 16 people had previously died as a result of the explosion of batteries and damage control. If the boat went out to great depths, it would definitely perish along with the entire crew. The death of the ship occurred due to the criminal negligence of the command, who ordered a malfunctioning submarine with a non-staff crew to go to sea for firing. The crew left the sunken boat by sluicing through torpedo tubes. The commander, who until the end objected to the decision of the headquarters and only under the threat of being deprived of his post and party membership card, went to sea, was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison, was amnestied in 1987 and died soon after. The direct culprits, as always happens with us, have escaped responsibility. Subsequently, the boat was raised, but it sank again in the factory at the pier, after which it was written off.
On October 6, 1986, in the area of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean, at a depth of 4000 meters, as a result of a missile explosion in a mine, the nuclear submarine K-219, project 667AU, sank. Both nuclear reactors were drowned out by regular absorbers. On board were 15 ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads and two nuclear weapons. 4 people were killed. The rest of the crew were evacuated to the rescue ship "Agatan" that had approached from Cuba.
On April 7, 1989 in the Norwegian Sea as a result of a fire in the tail compartments at a depth of 1700 meters, the nuclear submarine K-278 "Komsomolets" pr. 685 sank, severely damaged its strong hull. 42 people were killed. On board were two normally muted nuclear reactors and two nuclear weapons.
On August 12, 2000, during the Northern Fleet's naval exercises in the Barents Sea, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk crashed. The submarine was discovered on August 13 at a depth of 108 meters. The entire crew of 118 people died.
On August 30, 2003, the K-159 nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea while being towed for disposal. On board the boat, there were 10 crew members as an escort team. 9 people were killed.
On November 8, 2008, during factory sea trials in the Sea of Japan, an accident occurred on the Nerpa nuclear submarine, built at the Amur shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and not yet accepted into the Russian Navy. As a result of unauthorized operation of the LOH (boat volumetric chemical) fire extinguishing system, freon gas began to flow into the compartments of the boat. 20 people died, another 21 people were hospitalized with poisoning. In total, there were 208 people on board the nuclear submarine.
(Tragic chronicle of the atomic era based on domestic and foreign publications)
At shipyards
February 10, 1965. USSR, Arkhangelsk region, Severodvinsk, Zvezdochka shipyard
There was an uncontrolled launch of the reactor on the Soviet nuclear submarine K-11 "Leninsky Komsomol", which was at the shipyard. When the core of the aft nuclear reactor was overloaded, a radioactive vapor-air medium was released. A fire started in the reactor compartment, which they decided to extinguish sea water... With the help of fire engines, up to 250 tons of water was poured there, which spread to the adjacent and aft compartments through burnt-out seals. To avoid flooding the nuclear submarine, radioactive water was pumped overboard - right at the plant's water area. Seven people were overexposed. The emergency reactor compartment was later cut out and flooded in Abrosimov Bay off the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya Island at a depth of 20 meters (Osipenko, 1994).
Radiation accident at the nuclear submarine K-140 "Navaga", which was under repair. After the modernization work, an unauthorized exit of the left side nuclear reactor to a power exceeding the nominal by 18 times took place. As a result, the core and the reactor were disabled. The compartment with the spent nuclear fuel was cut out and flooded in the area of the Novaya Zemlya depression (Osipenko, 1994).
On the K-329 nuclear submarine under construction, an uncontrolled start-up of a nuclear reactor took place, on which at that time there was no removable sheet of a durable hull and blocks of dry biological protection. The spontaneous chain reaction lasted 10 seconds. At the time of the accident, there were 156 people in the shop. The total release of radioactive products amounted to about 25 thousand Ci (of which -1 Ci got directly into the shop). 787 people took part in eliminating the consequences of the accident (Ptichkin, 1995).
November 30, 1980. USSR, Arkhangelsk region, Severodvinsk, Zvezdochka shipyard
Accident on the Soviet nuclear submarine K-162 "Anchar". Workers in the process of repairing the submarine used unverified blueprints and reversed the phases of the power supply. The situation, one might say, was "saved" by the rupture of the compressor of the main pump, as a result of which several tons of weakly radioactive water got into an uninhabited room. The reactor core was destroyed (Greenpeace, 1994).
August 10, 1985 USSR, Ussuriisky Bay, Chazhma Bay, Zvezda shipyard
The most severe radiation accident in the entire history of the Russian nuclear fleet happened. On the nuclear submarine K-431, located at the pier of the Zvezda shipyard, due to the violation by the personnel of the rules for reloading nuclear fuel in one of the reactors, a spontaneous chain reaction occurred and an explosion occurred. As a result, the assembly with freshly loaded nuclear fuel was thrown out and a fire started, which lasted 2.5 hours. A radioactive plume formed in a strip of 5.5 kilometers, which crossed the Danube Peninsula in a north-western direction and reached the coast of the Ussuri Bay, passing another 30 kilometers along the water area. The total activity of the ejection was about 7 mCi. During the accident and during the elimination of its consequences, 290 people were exposed to increased radiation. Ten people died at the time of the accident, ten were diagnosed with acute radiation sickness, and 39 - radiation reactions (Radiation heritage, 1999; Sivintsev, 2003).
Under the water
The first serious accident at the nuclear power plant of a Soviet nuclear submarine. On the nuclear submarine K-8, a steam generator ruptured with a leak of radioactive steam and helium. The heating of the reactor began. The system for pouring it with water was inoperative. A similar non-standard system was urgently mounted, which made it possible to avoid core reflow. The entire nuclear submarine was contaminated with radioactive gases. Thirteen people suffered the most, their radiation doses amounted to 180-200 rem (Osipenko, 1994).
Accident on the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19 s ballistic missiles on board. As a result of the depressurization of the primary circuit of a nuclear power plant, the threat of a thermal explosion arose. After the submarine surfaced, a team of six people installed an emergency system for pouring the reactor with water to cool it down. After a while, she refused. All team members received radiation doses ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 rem.
A new team of three people rebuilt this system and also received significant doses of radiation. Soon after the accident, eight of the nine liquidator submariners died from radiation sickness. Later, due to the high accident rate, accompanied by the death of crew members, the K-19 received an ominous nickname among Soviet sailors - "Hiroshima" (Cherkashin, 1993; Cherkashin, 1996).
The American nuclear submarine SSN-593 Thresher sank during a test dive 160 kilometers from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA). All 129 crew members were killed, and the submarine, which has disintegrated into several parts over the past time, is at a depth of 2590 meters (Handler, 1998; KAPL, 2000).
The American nuclear submarine SSN-589 "Scorpion" sank 650 kilometers south-west of the Azores at a depth of 3,600 meters. There is a version that one of the torpedoes with a non-nuclear warhead suddenly triggered a mechanism to bring it into a combat position. The captain of the submarine decided to get rid of the dangerous projectile and gave the command to launch. A torpedo launched into the open ocean began searching for a target until the submarine itself was in the sight of its homing warhead. There is another version: allegedly, during the test launch of the torpedo, its warhead detonated. All 99 crew members were killed. On board were two torpedoes with nuclear warheads (Naval Nuclear Accidents, 1989; IB TsOI po AE, 1993).
Radiation accident at the Soviet nuclear submarine K-27 "Kit". There was a leak of liquid metal coolant, and it got into a nuclear reactor. More than 20 percent of the fuel elements were destroyed. All 124 crew members were overexposed. Nine submariners were killed. In 1981, a nuclear submarine with two reactors with unloaded spent nuclear fuel was sunk in the Kara Sea at a depth of 30 meters (Morskoy Sbornik, 1993; Facts and Problems, 1993).
The first catastrophe was suffered by the Soviet nuclear submarine K-8, equipped with two nuclear reactors. On April 8, almost simultaneously, a fire began in the third and eighth compartments. The submarine surfaced to the surface. It was not possible to extinguish the fire. The emergency protection of the reactors was triggered, the ship was practically without electricity. The surviving crew was evacuated to its upper deck and to the ships that came to the rescue.
On April 11, as a result of the loss of longitudinal stability, the submarine sank at a depth of 4680 meters, 300 miles northwest of Spain. She was armed with two torpedoes with nuclear warheads. 52 crew members were killed (Osipenko, 1994).
The Soviet nuclear submarine K-108 collided with the US Navy nuclear submarine "Tautog". According to American submariners, this happened after the Soviet submarine, avoiding pursuit of their nuclear submarine, made a dangerous maneuver (the Americans called it "Crazy Ivan"), namely: a series of several sudden turns (up to 180 °). Both submarines were damaged (Bussert, 1987).
Fire in the ninth compartment of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19 with ballistic missiles on board 600 miles northeast of Newfoundland. In the tenth compartment, 12 people were sealed, who were rescued only after 24 days. The accident killed 28 people (Osipenko, 1994; Cherkashin, 1996).
The Soviet nuclear submarine K-56 of the Pacific Fleet collided with the research vessel Akademik Berg. The second and third compartments were flooded. The emergency protection of nuclear reactors has been triggered. The boat was thrown onto the Nakhodka Bank. 27 people died (Drama, 2001).
The Soviet nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets sank after a fire under water at a depth of 1680 meters 130 kilometers south-west of Bear Island in the Norwegian Sea; 42 crew members were killed. The submarine was armed with two nuclear torpedoes (3200 grams of plutonium in each warhead). In 1990-1995, with the help of the research vessel "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh" and two manned deep-sea vehicles "Mir", a survey was carried out and work was carried out to localize radioactive materials that were in the first compartment of the boat in nuclear ammunition (Gladkov, 1994; Gulko, 1999).
Launched in 1959, the Scorpion was designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare against Soviet missile submarine cruisers. It also housed a special group of Russian-speaking linguists who listened to radio broadcasts of Soviet ships and other military units.
The last mission began on May 17, 1968. Under the command of Commander Francis Slattery, the Scorpion had just completed a three-month voyage in the Mediterranean with the US 6th Fleet and was returning to Norfolk when a coded order came in. Vice Admiral Arnold Shad, commander of the Atlantic Submarine Force in Norfolk, has handed over a new mission to the Scorpion. The submarine was to go at full speed to the Canary Islands, located at a distance of 1,500 miles from the east coast of Africa, to observe the connection of Soviet ships maneuvering in the east Atlantic southwest of the chain of islands.
The submarine sank five days later. More than five months later, the remains of the wrecked Scorpion were found on the ocean floor in the Atlantic, at a depth of about two miles. All 99 crew members on board were killed.
Press Secretary Cmdr. Frank Thorp on Tuesday announced the position of the US Navy: the nuclear submarine "Scorpion" sank in an accident while returning to its home port of Norfolk. "While the exact cause of the submarine's death remains unclear, there is no reason to believe that the submarine sank after an attack or collision with a Soviet ship or submarine," Thorpe said.
But in fact, at the time of its death, the Scorpion was at the center of a high-tech surveillance network, a cold war was going on, and a military clash was not ruled out, which, presumably, ended in an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, which was intended to hide the true picture of what happened. Examining hundreds of documents and interviews with multiple eyewitnesses and military personnel suggests a scenario that differs dramatically from official version Navy:
Few dedicated Soviet admirals made contact with senior U.S. Navy officials, after which the United States and Soviet Union came to an agreement never to disclose details of the death of the Scorpion and the Soviet K-129 missile submarine, which had sunk in the Pacific two months earlier. The disclosure of all the facts, they believed, could seriously complicate the US-Soviet relationship. The admiral, who was a senior admiral at the Pentagon at the time of the Scorpion's sinking, said in a recent interview that the CIA expressed concerns that the submarine might be in danger, based on intercepting radio traffic from Soviet naval ships in the Atlantic. "There was some analysis of the connection ... showing that the Scorpion was discovered by the Soviet compound, they were looking for a submarine and they obviously got on the trail ..." said retired Vice Admiral Philip Beshany. There was some speculation that they not only tracked the submarine, but also attacked it. "
Beshany was at the time a staff officer in charge of submarine warfare programs and had access to the most classified intelligence data. However, in his memoirs, Beshani noted that the intelligence never received data confirming the attack. There is evidence that indirectly supports Béchany's claim that the US intelligence community was considering a confrontation between the Scorpion and Soviet warships. The command of the Navy organized a secret search for the submarine within 24 hours after its death, some of the retired admirals told Post-Intelligencer. The search was so classified that the rest of the Navy, and even the Maritime Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the accident later in 1968, were not notified of it. Friends and relatives of the "Scorpio" team did not know about anything at all; they still assumed the sub was returning to base ...
The biggest secret, however, belonged to the Soviet side.
No one in the US Navy - including the senior officers who sent the Scorpion on a reconnaissance mission - knew at the time how deep Soviet intelligence infiltrated the secrets of the United States. Submarine communications codes, thanks to Warrant Officer Walker, who is associated with the most high-profile spy scandal in the history of the US Navy, may have played a role in the Scorpion tragedy. Thorpe declined to comment on a possible link between Walker and the Scorpion crash.
The Commission described the Soviet presence as undefined sonar studies carried out by two research vessels and a submarine rescue vessel as part of a group of other ships. The conclusions implied that the Soviet unit was conducting a study of sound effects in the ocean environment rather than carrying out a military mission. However, Béchany, who was in charge of the submarine war at the time, said in a recent interview that Pentagon officials were aware that the Soviets were practicing ways to maintain the high autonomy of warships and submarines in the absence of access to foreign seaports.
Navy officials stated as early as 1968 that Vice Admiral Shad on May 20 relayed a message to the Scorpion commander indicating the course and speed for the submarine to return to base immediately after completing the mission. Also in 1968, Navy officials reported that only after 0300 am on May 22 - the day of the death of the Scorpion - Commander Slattery gave Shad a response message that the Scorpion would arrive in Norfolk on May 27 at 01.00 pm. Later, in the same 1968, after it became known that the submarine was on the "mission of the highest classification" before being killed, Navy officials reported that Slattery reported the completion of the mission and return home. The texts of both messages were classified as "top secret". But was the mission "Scorpio" actually completed?
One of the naval officers occupies a key position in contradiction to the official statement of the navy in 1968 that the submarine was not in direct contact with the Soviet ships at the time of the sinking. Lt. John Rogers, a liaison officer from Atlantic Submarine Headquarters who served in Norfolk in 1968, was duty officer the night Slattery's message was received. Rogers in 1986 gave an interview to journalist Pete Earley, in which he stated that Slattery's message actually contained more a report that Soviet ships were beginning to track the Scorpion than a message about the completion of the mission. Rogers died in 1995, but his widow, Bernice Rogers, confirmed in a recent interview that her husband had informed her that the Scorpion had disappeared in an actual mission to track the Soviet compound. " My husband was the duty officer at the Submarine Force Communications Center the night Slattery's message came, ”Bernice Rogers said.“ He knew what was going on. We've talked about this ever since. "
It is only known that, fifteen hours after sending the final message, the Scorpion exploded at 06:44 pm and sank at a depth of over 2 miles about 400 miles southwest of the Azores. What happened to Scorpio? For nearly three decades, the Navy continued to claim that it was not possible to identify "some reasons" for the loss of the Scorpion and refused to publish the Investigation Commission's opinion, citing tensions. " cold war”. A commission of seven senior naval officials held hearings throughout the summer and through the fall of 1968, and in January 1969 completed a report that had been kept secret for 24 years.
In early 1993, the Navy declassified most of the commission's findings. Vice Adm. Bernard Austin, who chaired the commission, concluded that the most compelling and plausible evidence is that the Scorpion torpedo was malfunctioning as it circulated and exploded near the submarine's hull. The commission's conclusion is based in part on testimony pointing to a similar incident involving the Scorpion in 1967 with an unarmed training torpedo that suddenly fired and was to be thrown overboard. Photographs of the crash site, audio recordings of the crash, as well as detailed paper documents, including documents and reports sent from the Scorpion by mail during the initial part of the operation in the Mediterranean, were considered as evidence. In a 1354-page final report, the Investigative Commission rejected two alternative versions of the Scorpion's death - the assertion of Vice Admiral Shad and his staff that an unidentified technical accident triggered a chain of events that led to the massive inflow of water into the submarine, and the version that that the death of the Scorpion was caused by an explosion aboard a submarine. The commission also concluded that it excludes the possibility of the death of the "Scorpion" as a result of enemy actions.
In 1970, another Navy commission completed another classified report that denied the Inquiry Commission's conclusion. Instead of a version of an accidental torpedo explosion, the new group suggested that a mechanical accident caused a fatal inflow of water. This report provided much of the evidence and speculation for an internal battery explosion, causing water to enter the rugged hull and sinking the submarine. However, two senior naval officers involved in the initial investigation of the Scorpion crash in the summer of 1968 told Post-Intelligencer that the Investigative Commission's conclusion of an accidental torpedo strike remains the most realistic reconstruction, as evidenced by the available acoustic recordings of the crash.
Recordings obtained at three hydroacoustic stations located in the Atlantic - one in the Canary Islands and two near Newfowland - recorded a single sharp sound (noise), then after 91 seconds of silence, a series of rapidly alternating sounds followed, corresponding to the sound of destruction of the submarine's hull compartments and tanks from water pressure. John Craven, the naval chief civilian and underwater technology expert at the time who led the team that discovered the Scorpion wreckage, said the acoustics virtually confirm that the explosion of (one of the) torpedoes (and not the destruction of the hull due to water penetration) sank the Scorpion, killing 99 people in it. “As soon as the hull starts to squeeze, the rest of the compartments also immediately follow, contracting sharply,” Craven said. "There is no way you can get the body to crumple and then there is 91 seconds of silence, during which the rest of the body decides rather than try to keep them together."
Retired Admiral Bernard Clarey, who was commander of the Navy's submarine forces in 1968, also dismissed the version of a battery explosion. Such an accident could not generate the emitted and acoustic energy recorded on the records of hydroacoustic stations, he told the Post-Intelligencer correspondent. Both Craven and Clary said in interviews that the evidence supports the theory that one of the Scorpion's own torpedoes exploded inside the hull.
While rumors circulated among American submariners all these years that the Scorpion was pursued and sunk by a Soviet submarine, no evidence of a deliberate attack emerged. In the conclusion of the Navy, made after research in 1968, it is said that there is no evidence of any preparations by the USSR for military action or a crisis situation, as might be expected in the event of a deliberate attack on the Scorpion. The report of the Investigative Commission was silent about whether the submarine could sink after an accidental collision. At the same time, Thorpe, a spokesman for the Navy, said the commission had determined that the Scorpion was 200 miles from the Soviet ships at the time of the disaster.
The death of the "Scorpion" is still a mystery to the families and friends of his team members.
Scorpion's final seconds (based on the sonar recording of the Scorpion disaster made by the SOSUS station in the Canary Islands. Source: Additional transcript of the hearing of the Investigative Commission of the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet of the US Navy)
18:59:35 - 1. The explosion of a torpedo warhead from the left side in the middle of the submarine causes a rapid flooding of the central post and other compartments in the middle of the submarine. 2. Water flows through the transition tunnel to the reactor and engine compartments.
19:01:06 - 3. The bulkhead of the torpedo compartment collapsed, causing rapid flooding.
19:01:10 - 4. The aft bulkhead of the engine compartment collapses, the 85-foot aft section of the submarine sequentially collapses in the direction of the additional machinery compartment and the reactor compartment.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST STATES US NAVY SUBMARINE WAS DESTROYED BY SOVIET SUBMARINE.
(Article in the newspaper "Vzglyad" 2012)
A 25-year investigation by American military journalist Ed Offley, during which he concluded that the USS Scorpion nuclear submarine was destroyed by a Soviet submarine, caused a scandal in the United States. According to the publicist, it was the "revenge" of the Soviet submariners for the death of the diesel-electric submarine K-129. After that, the governments of the USSR and the USA agreed to keep the secret of the death of both boats, writing it off as an accident.
In the United States, there was a loud presentation of the Scorpion Down investigation book by the military journalist Ed Offley, who for 25 years investigated the disaster of the American nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589).
“The death of the Scorpion was an act of retaliation by the Soviets, as they believed the US Navy was responsible for the loss of the K-129 in March 1968,” Offley writes. In his opinion, the USSR (and now Russia) and the United States have been hiding this fact for more than 40 years, fearing complications in bilateral relations.
The story of the death of the "Scorpion" in the official presentation sounds like this. In May 1968, the team of the submarine, returning from combat duty in the Mediterranean to a base in Norfolk (Virginia), received a new assignment - to follow to the Canary Islands, where "a mysterious formation of Soviet ships fell into the field of view of the Navy's intelligence."
The submarine sank five days later. More than five months later, the remains of the wrecked Scorpion were discovered at a depth of 3,047 meters in the Atlantic using the Triest II deep-sea vehicle. All 99 crew members on board were killed.
An authoritative commission was created to investigate the causes of the tragedy of the submarine, which in 1968 finished work and stated that the submarine exceeded the maximum diving depth and sank "for an unknown reason." However, this verdict did not suit either the relatives of the deceased sailors or the public.
Dozens of versions were put forward, here are the most popular of them: the ship could have collided with a Soviet submarine or died from the explosion of its own torpedo. For unspecified reasons, one of the torpedoes in the torpedo tube has become operational. The commander ordered to shoot her overboard, but the torpedo went into circulation around the submarine and homing in on her. The result was an explosion that destroyed the solid hull of the boat.
US Navy spokesman Commander Frank Thorpe said at the time that the Scorpion submarine sank in an accident while returning to Norfolk. "While the exact cause of the submarine's death remains unclear, there is no reason to believe that the submarine sank after an attack or collision with a Soviet ship or submarine," Thorpe said.
Since then, Soviet and American senior military officials categorically deny the version of a collision with Soviet ships and amicably claim that there were no Soviet nuclear-powered ships within a radius of 400 km in the area of the Scorpion sinking.
The version of the explosion of the torpedo was later confirmed when a re-examination of the remnants of the nuclear submarine was carried out. Video camera "Trieste" captured the hatches of torpedo tubes, ripped out by a powerful explosion. That is, it turned out that the torpedo went off inside the nuclear submarine (as in the case of the death of the Russian nuclear submarine K-149 "Kursk").
Nevertheless, on Wednesday, at the presentation of his book in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, journalist Ed Offley said: "On May 22, 1968, there was a very short and very secret battle between our and Soviet submarine forces."
“It is possible that the confrontation between the Scorpion and the Soviet Echo-2 class submarine could erupt as an isolated skirmish local significance that got out of hand, ”writes Offley. He stresses that “in any case, after the Scorpion was at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, both sides reached an unprecedented agreement to bury the truth about both the K-129 and the Scorpion.
By the way, the journalist himself believes that the United States was not involved in the death of the K-129 (for which, allegedly, Soviet submariners "took revenge" on the Americans), but "many aspects of the incident with the K-129 remain controversial due to the continued secrecy on both sides. ".
According to one version, the K-129 diesel missile submarine, later raised to the surface by the Americans as a result of a secret operation, sank after a collision with the American submarine USS Swordfish (SSN-579) on March 8, 1968 while on alert in the Pacific Ocean (that is, for three months before the Scorpion submarine sank).
Then 97 Soviet sailors were killed, whose bodies were buried with military honors by the Americans. The documents and personal belongings of the victims, along with a video recording of the burial ceremony, were handed over to Boris Yeltsin by the US authorities in October 1992.
Answering questions at the presentation of his book, Offley said that none of the representatives of the Pentagon or the US Navy has yet officially reacted to the release of the new book, but, according to RIA Novosti, he has already received "a dozen messages" from American veteran submariners. who told him that for them the real reasons for the death of the "Scorpion" were not a secret.
Meanwhile, several veterans of the Russian submarine who were interviewed by the journalist of the VZGLYAD newspaper gave almost identical comments to the Offley's version, which boiled down to two points: “The author is a conspiracy theorist who wants to“ cut down cabbages ”based on long-standing tragedies. The reasons for the death of the Soviet and American submarines can only be speculatively discussed. "
