Submarine accidents in the USSR and Russia. Six submarines lost under unclear circumstances

November 8, 2008 occurred during factory sea trials in the Sea of Japan, built at the Amur Shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and not yet accepted into the Russian Navy. As a result of the unauthorized activation of the LOX (boat volumetric chemical) fire extinguishing system, freon gas began to flow into the boat compartments. 20 people died, another 21 people were hospitalized with poisoning. In total, there were 208 people on board the submarine.

August 30, 2003 in the Barents Sea while towing to the city of Polyarny for disposal. There were ten members of the mooring crew on board the submarine, nine of them died, one was rescued.
During a storm, with the help of which the K‑159 was towed. The disaster occurred three miles northwest of Kildin Island in the Barents Sea at a depth of 170 meters. On the nuclear submarine nuclear reactor was in a safe condition.

August 12, 2000 during naval exercises of the Northern Fleet in the Barents Sea. The disaster occurred 175 kilometers from Severomorsk, at a depth of 108 meters. All 118 crew members on board were killed.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, "Kursk" is inside the fourth torpedo tube, which resulted in the explosion of the remaining torpedoes located in the first compartment of the APRK.

April 7, 1989 upon returning from combat service in the Norwegian Sea in the area of Bear Island. As a result of a fire in two adjacent compartments of K‑278, the main ballast tank systems were destroyed, through which the submarine was flooded with sea water. 42 people died, many from hypothermia.
27 crew members.

October 6, 1986 in the area of Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea (Atlantic Ocean) at a depth of about 5.5 thousand meters. On the morning of October 3, an explosion occurred on board the submarine. missile silo, and then a fire started that lasted for three days. The crew did everything possible to prevent a nuclear explosion and a radiation disaster, but they were unable to save the ship. Four people died on board the submarine. The surviving crew members were lifted onto the Russian ships "Krasnogvardeysk" and "Anatoly Vasilyev", which came to the aid of the submarine in distress.

June 24, 1983 4.5 miles from the shores of Kamchatka, the nuclear submarine K‑429 from the Pacific Fleet sank during a dive. K‑429 was urgently sent from repair to torpedo firing without checking for leaks and with a prefabricated crew (some of the staff were on vacation, the replacement was not prepared). During the dive, the fourth compartment flooded through the ventilation system. The boat lay on the ground at a depth of 40 meters. When trying to blow out the main ballast, due to the open ventilation valves of the main ballast tank, most of the air went overboard.
As a result of the disaster, 16 people died, the remaining 104 were able to reach the surface through the bow torpedo tubes and the aft escape hatch shaft.

October 21, 1981 diesel Submarine S-178, returning to base after a two-day trip to sea, in the waters of Vladivostok with a transport refrigerator. Having received a hole, the submarine took on about 130 tons of water, lost buoyancy and went under water, sinking at a depth of 31 meters. As a result of the disaster, 32 submariners were killed.

June 13, 1973 occurred in Peter the Great Gulf (Sea of Japan). The boat was on the surface heading to the base at night after performing firing exercises. "Akademik Berg" hit "K-56" on the starboard side, at the junction of the first and second compartments, making a huge hole in the hull into which water began to flow. The submarine was saved from destruction at the cost of their lives by the personnel of the second emergency compartment, who battened down the bulkhead between the compartments. The accident killed 27 people. About 140 sailors survived.

February 24, 1972 when returning to base from combat patrol.
At this time the boat was in the northern part Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 120 meters. Thanks to the selfless actions of the crew, K‑19 surfaced. Navy ships and vessels took part in the rescue operation. In conditions strong storm managed to evacuate most of the K-19 crew, supply electricity to the boat and tow it to the base. As a result of the boat accident, 28 sailors were killed, two more died during the rescue operation.

April 12, 1970 in the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean, which led to the loss of buoyancy and longitudinal stability.
The fire started on April 8 almost simultaneously in two compartments, when the boat was at a depth of 120 meters. K-8 floated to the surface, the crew courageously fought for the survivability of the boat. On the night of April 10-11, three vessels of the USSR Marine Fleet arrived in the area of the accident, but due to a storm, it was not possible to take the submarine into tow. Part of the submarine’s personnel was transported to the Kasimov ship, and 22 people, led by the commander, remained on board the K-8 to continue the fight for the survivability of the ship. But on April 12, the submarine sank at a depth of more than 4,000 meters. 52 crew members were killed.

May 24, 1968 occurred, which had two reactors using liquid metal coolant. As a result of a violation of heat removal from the core, overheating and destruction of fuel elements in one of the submarine's reactors occurred. All the boat's mechanisms were taken out of action and mothballed.
During the accident, nine people were injured lethal doses radioactive exposure.

March 8, 1968 from the Pacific Fleet. The submarine carried out combat service in the area Hawaiian Islands, and since March 8 she stopped communicating. According to various sources, there were from 96 to 98 crew members on board the K-129, all of them died. The cause of the disaster is unknown. Subsequently, the Americans discovered K-129 and recovered it in 1974.

September 8, 1967 In the Norwegian Sea, on the submarine K-3 Leninsky Komsomol, a fire occurred in two compartments while underwater, which was localized and extinguished by sealing the emergency compartments. 39 crew members were killed. The submarine returned to base under its own power.

January 11, 1962 at the Northern Fleet naval base in the city of Polyarny. A fire started on the submarine standing at the pier, followed by an explosion of torpedo ammunition. The bow of the boat was torn off, the debris scattered over a radius of more than a kilometer.
The nearby S-350 submarine suffered significant damage. As a result of the emergency, 78 sailors were killed (not only from the B-37, but also from four other submarines, as well as from the reserve crew). There were also casualties among the civilian population of the city of Polyarny.

July 4, 1961 during the oceanic exercise "Arctic Circle" of the main power plant. A pipe in the cooling system of one of the reactors burst, causing a radiation leak.
For an hour and a half, the submariners repaired the emergency cooling system of the reactor without protective suits, with their bare hands, and wearing military gas masks. The crew members said the ship remained afloat and was towed to base.
From the received doses of radiation in a few days.

January 27, 1961 The diesel submarine S-80, part of the Northern Fleet, sank in the Barents Sea. On January 25, she went to sea for several days to practice improving the tasks of solo navigation, and on January 27, radio contact with her was interrupted. The S-80 did not return to the base in Polyarny. The search operation yielded no results. S‑80 was found only in 1968, and was later raised from the bottom of the sea. The cause of the accident was the flow of water through the valve of the RDP (a retractable device of a submarine for supplying when the submarine is in a periscope position atmospheric air into its diesel compartment and removal of diesel exhaust gases). The entire crew died - 68 people.

September 26, 1957 in the Tallinn Bay of the Baltic Sea from the Baltic Fleet.
A fire broke out on a submarine that was measuring underwater speeds on a measuring line at the training ground of the Tallinn naval base. Having surfaced from a depth of 70 meters, M‑256 anchored. The crew, brought to the upper deck due to heavy gas pollution in the interior, did not stop fighting for the survivability of the boat. 3 hours 48 minutes after surfacing, the submarine suddenly sank to the bottom. Most of the crew died: out of 42 submariners, seven sailors survived.

November 21, 1956 Not far from Tallinn (Estonia), the M-200 diesel submarine from the Baltic Fleet sank as a result of a collision with the destroyer Statny. Six people were immediately rescued from the water. As a result of the accident, 28 sailors were killed.

In December 1952 The diesel-electric submarine S-117 from the Pacific Fleet was lost in the Sea of Japan. The boat was supposed to take part in the exercises. On the way to the maneuver area, 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 fixed. The boat never made contact again. The exact cause and place of death of the submarine are unknown.
There were 52 crew members on board the boat, including 12 officers.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

October 7th, 2014 , 01:21 pm

On October 6, 1986, the K-219 submarine 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.

The pier is quiet at night.
You only know one
When the submarine is tired
Coming home from the depths

In December 1952, the diesel-electric boat S-117, 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 went to the designated point on one engine. A few hours later, according to the commander’s report, the malfunction was fixed, but the crew no longer contacted us. The cause and place of the submarine's death are still unknown. Presumably sank during a test dive after poor or unsuccessful repairs at sea due to faulty air and gas valves, due to which the diesel compartment was quickly filled with water and the boat was unable to surface. It should be taken into account that this was 1952. For the failure of a combat mission, both the commander of the boat and the commander of the BC-5 could be put on trial. There were 52 people on board.

On November 21, 1956, near Tallinn (Estonia), the M-200 submarine, part of the Baltic Fleet, collided with the destroyer Statny. 6 people were saved. 28 died.

Another accident in the Gulf of Tallinn occurred on September 26, 1957, when the diesel submarine M-256 from the Baltic Fleet sank after a fire started on board. Although she was initially able to be raised, she sank to the bottom four hours later. Of the 42 crew members, 7 people were saved. The A615 project boat had a propulsion system based on a diesel engine operating underwater in a closed cycle through a solid chemical absorbent to remove carbon dioxide and enrichment of the flammable mixture with liquid oxygen, which sharply increased the risk of fire. A615 boats were notorious among submariners; due to their high fire hazard, they were called “lighters.”

On January 27, 1961, the diesel submarine S-80 sank in the Barents Sea. She did not return to base from the training ground. The search operation yielded no results. Only seven years later the S-80 was found. The cause of death was the flow of water through the valve of the RDP (a retractable device of a submarine for supplying air to diesel engines in the periscope position of the submarine) into its diesel compartment. To date, there is no clear picture of the incident. According to some reports, the boat tried to evade the ramming attack of the Norwegian reconnaissance ship "Maryata" by urgently diving in circulation and, being heavily weighted so as not to be thrown to the surface (there was a storm), fell to depth with the shaft raised and the air flap of the RDP open. The entire crew - 68 people - died. There were two commanders on board.

On July 4, 1961, during the Arctic Circle exercise, a radiation leak occurred on the failed reactor of the K-19 submarine. The crew was able to fix the problem 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 Northern Fleet naval base in the city of Polyarny. As a result of the explosion of ammunition in the bow torpedo compartment, everyone on the pier, on the submarine and at the torpedo-technical base - 122 people - were killed. The nearby S-350 submarine was seriously damaged. The commission to investigate the emergency concluded that the cause of the tragedy was damage to the fairing of the combat charging compartment of one of the torpedoes during loading of ammunition. After which the commander of the warhead-3, in order to hide the incident on list No. 1 of emergency incidents in the fleet, tried to solder the hole, which is why the torpedo caught fire and exploded. The others exploded due to detonation. combat torpedoes. The commander of the boat, Captain 2nd Rank Begeba, was on the pier 100 meters from the ship, was thrown into the water by an explosion, was seriously injured, was subsequently put on trial, defended himself and was acquitted.

On August 8, 1967, in the Norwegian Sea, on the nuclear submarine K-3 Leninsky Komsomol, the first nuclear submarine of the USSR Navy, a fire occurred in compartments 1 and 2 while 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 base under its own power.

On March 8, 1968, the diesel-electric missile submarine K-129 from the Pacific Fleet was lost. The submarine carried out combat service in the Hawaiian Islands, and since March 8 it has stopped communicating. 98 people died. The boat sank at a depth of 6000 meters. The cause of the disaster is unknown. There were 100 people on board the boat, discovered in 1974 by Americans who unsuccessfully tried to raise it.

On April 12, 1970, the nuclear submarine K-8, Project 627A, from the Northern Fleet, sank in the Bay of Biscay as a result of a fire in the aft compartments. 52 people died, 73 people were saved. The boat sank at a depth of more than 4,000 meters. There were two nuclear weapons on board. Two nuclear reactors were shut down by standard means before the flooding.

On February 24, 1972, while returning to base from a combat patrol in the North Atlantic, a fire occurred in the ninth compartment on the K-19 Project 658 nuclear submarine. Later the fire spread to the eighth compartment. More than 30 ships and vessels of the Navy took part in the rescue operation. In conditions of a severe storm, it was possible to evacuate most of the K-19 crew, supply electricity to the boat 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, Project 675MK, collided with the research vessel Akademik Berg. The boat was on the surface heading to the base at night after performing firing exercises. 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 K‑56, the commander of the boat decided to land the submarine on a coastal sandbank in the area of Cape Granitny. 27 people died.

On October 21, 1981, the diesel medium submarine S-178 Project 613B sank in the Sea of Japan as a result of a collision with the large refrigerated 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 off the Kamchatka Peninsula. The disaster occurred when trimming the boat in an area where the depth was 35 meters, due to water entering 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 saved, but 16 people had previously died as a result of an explosion of batteries and a struggle for survivability. If the boat had reached great depths, it would definitely have perished along with the entire crew. The death of the ship occurred due to the criminal negligence of the command, which ordered a faulty submarine with a non-staff crew to go to sea for shooting. The crew left the sunken boat using the locking method through torpedo tubes. The commander, who completely objected to the decision of the headquarters and only went to sea under the threat of deprivation of his position and party membership card, was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison, amnestied in 1987 and soon died. The direct culprits, as always happens with us, escaped responsibility. The boat was subsequently 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, the nuclear submarine K‑219 project 667AU sank as a result of a rocket explosion in a mine. Both nuclear reactors were shut down with standard absorbers. On board were 15 ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads and two nuclear weapons. 4 people died. The remaining crew members were evacuated to the rescue ship "Agatan" that arrived from Cuba.

On April 7, 1989, in the Norwegian Sea, as a result of a fire in the tail sections at a depth of 1700 meters, the nuclear submarine K‑278 "Komsomolets" pr. 685 sank, receiving severe damage to the pressure hull. 42 people died. On board were two normally shut down nuclear reactors and two nuclear weapons.

On August 12, 2000, during naval exercises of the Northern Fleet in the Barents Sea, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk suffered a disaster. 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 nuclear submarine K‑159 sank in the Barents Sea while being towed for dismantling. There were 10 crew members on board the boat as an escort team. 9 people died.

On November 8, 2008, during factory sea trials in the Sea of Japan, an accident occurred on the nuclear submarine Nerpa, built at the Amur Shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and not yet accepted into the Russian Navy. As a result of the unauthorized activation of the LOX (boat volumetric chemical) fire extinguishing system, freon gas began to flow into the boat compartments. 20 people died, another 21 people were hospitalized with poisoning. In total, there were 208 people on board the submarine.

Water and cold. Darkness.
And somewhere above there was the sound of metal.
I don’t have the strength to say: we are here, here...

Hope is gone, I'm tired of waiting.

The bottomless ocean reliably keeps its secrets. Somewhere out there, under the dark arches of the waves, lie the wreckage of thousands of ships, each of which has its own unique fate and tragic death.

In 1963, the thickness sea water crushed the most modern American submarine "Thresher". Half a century ago, it was hard to believe in this - the invincible Poseidon, drawing strength from the flame of a nuclear reactor, capable of circumnavigating without a single ascent. Earth, turned out to be weak, like a worm, before the onslaught of the ruthless elements.

“We have a positive increasing angle... We are trying to blow through... 900... north” - the last message from the Thresher is unable to convey all the horror that the dying submariners experienced. Who could have imagined that a two-day test voyage accompanied by the rescue tug Skylark could end in such a disaster?

The cause of the Thrasher's death remains a mystery. The main hypothesis: when diving to the maximum depth, water entered the durable hull of the boat - the reactor was automatically shut down, and the submarine, unable to move, fell into the abyss, taking with it 129 human lives.

Rudder blade USS Tresher (SSN-593)

Soon terrible story was continued - the Americans lost another nuclear-powered ship with its crew: in 1968 it disappeared without a trace in the Atlantic multi-purpose nuclear submarine "Scorpion".

Unlike the Thrasher, with which sound underwater communication was maintained until the last second, the death of the Scorpion was complicated by the lack of any clear idea of the coordinates of the disaster site. Unsuccessful searches continued for five months until the Yankees deciphered data from deep-sea stations of the SOSUS system (a network of hydrophone buoys of the US Navy for tracking Soviet submarines) - on the records dated May 22, 1968, a loud bang was discovered, similar to the destruction of the durable hull of a submarine. Next, using the triangulation method, the approximate location of the lost boat was restored.

Wreck of USS Scorpion (SSN-589). Deformations from the monstrous water pressure (30 tons/sq. meter) are visible.

The wreckage of the Scorpio was discovered at a depth of 3,000 meters in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 740 km southwest of the Azores. The official version connects the death of the boat with the detonation of torpedo ammunition (almost like the Kursk!). There is a more exotic legend, according to which the Scorpion was sunk by the Russians in retaliation for the death of the K-129.

The mystery of the death of the Scorpion still haunts the minds of sailors - in November 2012, the Organization of Veteran Submariners of the US Navy proposed launching a new investigation to establish the truth about the death of the American boat.

Less than 48 hours had passed since the wreckage of the American Scorpio sank to the seabed, and a new tragedy occurred in the ocean. On experimental nuclear submarine K-27 The Soviet Navy's reactor with liquid metal coolant went out of control. The nightmare unit, in whose veins molten lead was boiling, “contaminated” all the compartments with radioactive emissions, the crew received terrible doses of radiation, 9 submariners died from acute radiation sickness. Despite the severe radiation accident, Soviet sailors managed to bring the boat to the base in Gremikha.

K-27 turned into an ineffective heap of metal with positive buoyancy, emitting deadly gamma rays. Resolving the issue of future fate The unique ship hung in the air; finally, in 1981, it was decided to scuttle the damaged submarine in one of the bays on Novaya Zemlya. As a keepsake for posterity. Maybe they will find a way to safely dispose of the floating Fukushima?

But long before the “last dive” of K-27, the group of nuclear submarines at the bottom of the Atlantic was replenished submarine K-8. One of the first-born of the nuclear fleet, the third nuclear submarine in the ranks of the USSR Navy, which sank during a fire in the Bay of Biscay on April 12, 1970. For 80 hours there was a struggle for the survivability of the ship, during which time the sailors managed to shut down the reactors and evacuate part of the crew on board the approaching Bulgarian ship.

The death of K-8 and 52 submariners became the first official loss of the Soviet nuclear fleet. Currently, the wreckage of the nuclear-powered ship rests at a depth of 4,680 meters, 250 miles off the coast of Spain.

In the 1980s, the USSR Navy lost a couple more nuclear submarines in combat campaigns - a missile submarine cruiser strategic purpose K-219 and the unique “titanium” submarine K-278 “Komsomolets”.

K-219 with a torn missile silo

Most dangerous situation developed around the K-219 - on board the submarine, in addition to two nuclear reactors, there were 15 R-21 submarine-launched ballistic missiles* with 45 thermonuclear warheads. On October 3, 1986, missile silo No. 6 depressurized, which led to an explosion ballistic missile. The crippled ship demonstrated fantastic survivability, managing to emerge from a depth of 350 meters, with damage to the pressure hull and a flooded fourth (missile) compartment.

* the project assumed a total of 16 SLBMs, but in 1973 a similar incident already occurred on the K-219 - the explosion of a liquid-propellant rocket. As a result, the “unlucky” boat remained in service, but lost launch shaft No. 15.

Three days after the rocket explosion, the heavily armed nuclear-powered submarine sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 5 kilometers. The disaster killed 8 people. It happened on October 6, 1986
Three years later, on April 7, 1989, another Soviet submarine, the K-278 Komsomolets, sank to the bottom of the Norwegian Sea. An unsurpassed ship with a titanium hull, capable of diving to depths of over 1000 meters.

K-278 "Komsomolets" at the bottom of the Norwegian Sea. The photographs were taken by the Mir deep-sea submersible.

Alas, no exorbitant performance characteristics saved the Komsomolets - the submarine became a victim of a banal fire, complicated by the lack of clear ideas about the tactics of fighting for survivability on kingless boats. 42 sailors died in the burning compartments and icy water. The nuclear submarine sank at a depth of 1,858 meters, becoming the subject of a furious debate between shipbuilders and sailors in a bid to find the “culprit.”

New times have brought new problems. The orgy of the “free market”, multiplied by “limited funding”, the destruction of the fleet supply system and the mass dismissal of experienced submariners inevitably led to disaster. And she didn’t keep her waiting.

August 12, 2000 no contact Nuclear submarine K-141 "Kursk". Official reason tragedy - a spontaneous explosion of a “long” torpedo. Unofficial version– from the nightmarish heresy in the style of “Submarine in muddy water"from the French director Jean Michel Carré to quite plausible hypotheses about a collision with the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov or a torpedo fired from the American submarine Toledo (the motive is unclear).

The nuclear submarine cruiser is an “aircraft carrier killer” with a displacement of 24 thousand tons. The depth where the submarine sank was 108 meters, 118 people were locked in the “steel coffin”...

The epic with the unsuccessful operation to rescue the crew from the Kursk lying on the ground shocked the whole of Russia. We all remember the smiling face of another scoundrel with admiral’s shoulder straps smiling on TV: “The situation is under control. Contact has been established with the crew, and air supply has been provided to the emergency boat.”
Then there was an operation to raise the Kursk. The first compartment was sawn off (for what??), a letter from Captain Kolesnikov was found... was there a second page? Someday we will know the truth about those events. And, for sure, we will be very surprised at our naivety.

On August 30, 2003, another tragedy occurred, hidden in the gray twilight of naval everyday life - it sank while being towed for cutting. old nuclear submarine K-159. The reason is loss of buoyancy due to bad technical condition boats. It still lies at a depth of 170 meters near the island of Kildin, on the approach to Murmansk.
The question of lifting and disposing of this radioactive pile of metal is periodically raised, but so far the matter has not moved beyond words.

In total, today the wreckage of seven nuclear submarines lies on the bottom of the World Ocean:

Two American: “Thrasher” and “Scorpio”

Five Soviet: K-8, K-27, K-219, K-278 and K-159.

However, this is not a complete list. In the history of the Russian Navy, there are a number of other incidents that were not reported by TASS, in each of which nuclear submarines were lost.

For example, on August 20, 1980, a serious accident occurred in the Philippine Sea - 14 sailors died fighting a fire on board the K-122. The crew was able to save their nuclear submarine and bring the burnt boat in tow to their home base. Unfortunately, the damage received was such that restoring the boat was deemed impractical. After 15 years of storage, K-122 was disposed of at the Zvezda Shipyard.

Another severe incident, known as the “radiation accident in Chazhma Bay,” occurred in 1985 at Far East. During the process of recharging the reactor of the nuclear submarine K-431, the floating crane swayed on the wave and “teared out” the control grids from the submarine’s reactor. The reactor turned on and instantly reached an extreme operating mode, turning into a “dirty atomic bomb", so-called "fizzy" In a bright flash, 11 officers standing nearby disappeared. According to eyewitnesses, the 12-ton reactor cover flew up a couple of hundred meters and then fell again on the boat, almost cutting it in half. The outbreak of a fire and emissions of radioactive dust finally turned the K-431 and the nearby nuclear submarine K-42 into unsuitable floating coffins. Both damaged nuclear submarines were scrapped.

When it comes to accidents on nuclear submarines, one cannot fail to mention the K-19, which received the telling nickname “Hiroshima” in the navy. The boat became a source of water at least four times serious problems. The first combat campaign and the reactor accident on July 3, 1961 are especially memorable. K-19 was heroically saved, but the episode with the reactor almost cost the life of the first Soviet missile carrier.

Having read the list of dead submarines, the average person may have a vile conviction: the Russians do not know how to control ships. The accusation is serious. The Yankees lost only two nuclear submarines - Thresher and Scorpion. At the same time, the domestic fleet lost almost a dozen nuclear submarines, not counting diesel-electric submarines (the Yankees have not built diesel-electric boats since the 1950s). How to explain this paradox? The fact that the nuclear-powered ships of the USSR Navy were controlled by crooked Russian Mongols?

Something tells me that there is another explanation for the paradox. Let's try to find it together.

It is worth noting that an attempt to “blame” all failures on the difference in the number of nuclear submarines in the compositions of the USSR Navy and the US Navy is obviously useless. In total, during the existence of the nuclear submarine fleet, about 250 submarines passed through the hands of our sailors (from K-3 to the modern Borey), while the Americans had slightly fewer of them - ≈ 200 units. However, the Yankees had nuclear-powered ships earlier and were operated two to three times more intensively (just look at the operational stress coefficient of SSBNs: 0.17 - 0.24 for ours and 0.5 - 0.6 for American missile carriers). Obviously, the whole point is not the number of boats... But then what?
Much depends on the calculation method. As the old joke goes: “It doesn’t matter how you did it, the main thing is how you calculated it.” A thick trail of accidents and emergencies fatal stretches through the entire history of the nuclear fleet, regardless of the submarine’s flag.

February 9, 2001 multi-purpose nuclear boat The USS Greenville rammed the Japanese fishing schooner Ehime Maru. Nine Japanese fishermen were killed, and the US Navy submarine fled the scene without providing any assistance to those in distress.

Nonsense! - the Yankees will answer. Navigation incidents are everyday life in any fleet. In the summer of 1973, the Soviet nuclear submarine K-56 collided with the scientific vessel Akademik Berg. 27 sailors died.

But the Russians' boats sank right at the pier! Here you are:
On September 13, 1985, K-429 lay down on the ground at the pier in Krasheninnikov Bay.

So what?! - our sailors may object. The Yankees had the same case:
May 15, 1969 nuclear submarine The USS Guitarro sank right next to the quay wall. The reason is simple negligence.

USS Guitarro (SSN-655) lay down to rest at the pier

Americans will scratch their heads and remember how on May 8, 1982, the central post of the nuclear submarine K-123 (“underwater fighter” of the 705th project, a reactor with liquid liquid fuel) received an original report: “I see silvery metal spreading across the deck.” The first circuit of the reactor ruptured, the radioactive alloy of lead and bismuth “stained” the boat so much that it took 10 years to clean up K-123. Fortunately, none of the sailors died then.

The Russians will only smile sadly and tactfully hint to the Americans how the USS Dace (SSN-607) accidentally “splashed” two tons of radioactive liquid from the primary circuit into the Thames (a river in the USA), “dirting” the entire Groton naval base.

Stop!

We won't achieve anything this way. There is no point in denigrating each other and remembering ugly moments from history.
It is clear that a huge fleet of hundreds of ships serves as rich soil for various emergencies - every day there is smoke somewhere, something falls, explodes or lands on rocks.

The true indicator is major accidents that lead to the loss of ships. “Thresher”, “Scorpion”,... Are there any other cases where nuclear-powered ships of the US Navy received heavy damage during military campaigns and were forever excluded from the fleet?
Yes, such cases have happened.

USS San Francisco (SSN-711) smashed to pieces. Consequences of a collision with an underwater rock at 30 knots

In 1986, the US Navy strategic missile carrier Nathaniel Greene crashed on rocks in the Irish Sea. The damage to the hull, rudders and ballast tanks was so great that the boat had to be scrapped.

February 11, 1992. Barencevo sea. The multi-purpose nuclear submarine Baton Rouge collided with the Russian titanium Barracuda. The boats collided successfully - repairs on the B-276 took six months, and the story of the USS Baton Rouge (SSN-689) turned out to be much sadder. The collision with a Russian titanium boat led to the appearance of stresses and microcracks in the submarine’s durable hull. "Baton Rouge" hobbled to the base and soon ceased to exist.

"Baton Rouge" goes to the nails

It's not fair! – the attentive reader will notice. The Americans had purely navigational errors; there were practically no accidents on US Navy ships with damage to the reactor core. In the Russian Navy, everything is different: compartments are burning, molten coolant is gushing onto the deck. There are design flaws and improper operation of the equipment.

And it is true. The domestic submarine fleet has exchanged reliability for exorbitant specifications boats. The design of submarines of the USSR Navy has always been distinguished by a high degree of novelty and big amount innovative solutions. Testing of new technologies was often carried out directly in combat campaigns. The fastest (K-222), deepest (K-278), largest (project 941 “Shark”) and most secretive boat (project 945A “Condor”) were created in our country. And if there is nothing to blame “Condor” and “Akula” for, then the operation of the other “record holders” was regularly accompanied by major technical problems.

Was this the right decision: immersion depth in exchange for reliability? We have no right to answer this question. History does not know the subjunctive mood, the only thing I wanted to convey to the reader: the high accident rate on Soviet submarines is not the miscalculations of the designers or the mistakes of the crews. Often it was inevitable. High price paid for unique characteristics submarines.

Project 941 strategic missile submarine

Memorial to fallen submariners, Murmansk

Launched in 1959, the Scorpion was intended primarily for anti-submarine warfare against Soviet submarine missile cruisers. It also housed a special group of Russian-speaking linguists who were engaged in listening to radio transmissions of Soviet ships and other military units.

The last mission began on May 17, 1968. Under the command of Commander Francis Slattery, Scorpion had just completed a three-month voyage in the Mediterranean with the American 6th Fleet and was returning to Norfolk when the coded order arrived. Vice Admiral Arnold Schad, commander of the Atlantic Submarine Force in Norfolk, handed over a new assignment for the Scorpion. The submarine was to proceed at full speed to the Canary Islands, located 1,500 miles off the east coast of Africa, to observe a formation of Soviet ships maneuvering in the eastern Atlantic southwest of the island chain.

The submarine sank five days later. More than five months later, the remains of the wrecked Scorpion were discovered on the ocean floor in the Atlantic, at a depth of about two miles. All 99 crew members on board were killed.

Press Secretary Commander Frank Thorp on Tuesday announced the position of the US Navy: the Scorpion nuclear submarine sank as a result of an accident while returning to its home port of Norfolk. "While the exact cause of the submarine's sinking remains unclear, there is no basis to suggest 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, Scorpio was at the center of a high-tech surveillance network, the Cold War was going on, and a military clash could not be ruled out, which presumably ended with an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, which was intended to hide the true picture of what happened. An examination of hundreds of documents and interviews with numerous eyewitnesses to the events and military personnel suggests a scenario that differs dramatically from the official Navy version:

A few privy Soviet admirals made contact with senior U.S. Navy officials, and the United States and the Soviet Union agreed never to reveal details of the sinking of the Scorpion and the Soviet missile submarine K-129, which had sunk in the Pacific two months earlier. . The publication of all the facts, they believed, could seriously complicate American-Soviet relations. The admiral, who was the top Pentagon admiral at the time of the Scorpion's sinking, said in a recent interview that the CIA had expressed concerns that the submarine might be in danger based on interception of radio communications from Soviet naval ships in the Atlantic. “There was some analysis of the communications...suggesting that the Scorpion was discovered by the Soviet force, they were looking for the submarine, and apparently they were on her trail...” said retired Vice Adm. Philip Beshany. “There was some speculation that they not only followed the submarine, but also attacked it. "

Beshani was at the time a staff officer in charge of submarine warfare programs and had access to the most sensitive intelligence data. However, in his memoirs, Beshani noted that intelligence never received data confirming the attack. There is evidence that indirectly supports Beshani's claim that the US intelligence community was considering the possibility of a confrontation between the Scorpion and Soviet warships. The Navy command organized a secret search for the submarine within 24 hours of its sinking, some retired admirals told the Post-Intelligencer. The search was so secret that the rest of the Navy, and even the Naval Inquiry Board that investigated the accident later in 1968, were not notified of it. Friends and relatives of the Scorpio team knew nothing at all; they still assumed that the submarine 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 Scorpio on the reconnaissance mission - knew at the time how deep Soviet intelligence penetrated US secrets. Submarine communications codes, thanks to Warrant Officer Walker, who is associated with the loudest spy scandal in the history of the US Navy, may have played a role in the Scorpio tragedy. Thorpe declined to comment on a possible connection between Walker and the Scorpio accident.

The commission described the Soviet presence as unspecified sonar surveys carried out by two research vessels and a submarine rescue vessel as part of a group of other ships. The findings implied that the Soviet unit was conducting a study of sound effects in the ocean environment rather than carrying out a military mission. However, Beshani, who was in charge of submarine warfare at the time, stated in a recent interview that officials The Pentagon was aware that the Soviets were developing ways to maintain 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 transmitted a message to the Scorpion's commander on May 20, which indicated the course and speed for the submarine to return to base immediately after completion of the mission. Also in 1968, Navy officials reported that Only after 03.00 on the morning of May 22 - the day the Scorpion was lost - Commander Slattery sent Shad a response message that the Scorpion would arrive in Norfolk on May 27 at 01.00 in the afternoon. Later that year, 1968, after it was learned that the submarine had been on a "high-class mission" before it sank, Navy officials reported that Slattery reported completing the mission and returning home. The texts of both messages were classified as “top secret”. But was the Scorpio mission really completed?

One Navy officer holds a key position in contradicting the official Navy statement made in 1968 that the submarine was not in direct contact with Soviet ships when it sank. Lt. John Rogers, a liaison officer at Submarine Forces Atlantic Headquarters stationed in Norfolk in 1968, was the officer on duty the night Slattery's message was received. Rogers gave an interview to journalist Pete Earley in 1986, in which he stated that Slattery's message actually contained a report that Soviet ships were beginning to track the Scorpion, rather 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 told her that the Scorpion had disappeared while actually on a mission to spy on a Soviet compound." My husband was the duty officer at the Submarine Forces Communications Center that night when the message came from Slattery,” said Bernice Rogers. “He knew what was happening. We've been talking about this ever since. "

What is known is that fifteen hours after the final message was sent, the Scorpio exploded at 06:44 pm and sank in over 2 miles of water approximately 400 miles southwest of the Azores. What happened to Scorpio? For nearly three decades, the Navy continued to say that it was not possible to identify “some of the reasons” for the loss of Scorpion and refused to release the Commission of Inquiry's findings, citing Cold War tensions. The commission, composed of seven senior naval officials, held hearings throughout the summer and late fall of 1968 and completed a report in January 1969 that was kept secret for 24 years.

In early 1993, the Navy declassified most of the commission's findings. Vice Admiral Bernard Austin, who headed the commission, concluded that the most convincing and probable evidence was that the Scorpion torpedo was malfunctioning, which circulated and exploded near the submarine’s hull. The panel's conclusion was based in part on evidence pointing to a similar incident that occurred on the Scorpion in 1967 with an unarmed training torpedo that suddenly launched and had to be thrown overboard. The evidence included photographs of the crash site, audio recordings of the disaster, and detailed examination of paper documents, including documents and reports sent by mail from the Scorpio during the initial part of the operation in the Mediterranean. In its 1,354-page final report, the Commission of Inquiry rejected two alternative versions of the Scorpion's demise - the claim by Vice Admiral Schad and his staff that an unspecified technical accident triggered a chain of events that led to a massive influx of water into the submarine, and the claim that that the death of the Scorpion was caused by an explosion on board the submarine. The commission also concluded that the possibility of the Scorpion’s destruction as a result of enemy actions was excluded.

In 1970, another Navy panel completed another secret report that negated the Board of Inquiry's conclusion. Instead of the theory that the torpedo exploded accidentally, the new group suggested that a mechanical failure caused an uncontrollable influx of water. This report provided much of the evidence and the assumption of an internal battery explosion, which led to water entering the pressure hull and sinking the submarine. However, two senior Navy officers involved in the original investigation into the Scorpio disaster in the summer of 1968 told the Post-Intelligencer that the Board of Inquiry's conclusion that the torpedo hit was an accident remains the most realistic reconstruction, supported by available evidence. acoustic recordings moment of the accident.

Recordings from three Atlantic hydroacoustic stations - one in the Canary Islands and two near Newfoundland - recorded a single sharp sound (noise), then after 91 seconds of silence, a series of rapidly alternating sounds followed, corresponding to the sound of the destruction of the hull compartments and tanks of the submarine from water pressure. John Craven, then the Navy's top civilian and undersea technology expert who led the team that discovered the Scorpion wreckage, said the acoustics all but confirmed the explosion of (one of) the torpedoes (not hull destruction due to water penetration) sank the Scorpion, killing 99 people in it. “Once the hull begins to compress, the remaining compartments immediately follow, compressing sharply,” Craven said. “There is no way you can have the hull crumple and then have 91 seconds of silence while the rest of the hull decides whether or not to try and hold it together.”

Retired Adm. Bernard Clarey, who was the commander of the Navy's submarine forces in 1968, also rejected the theory that the battery exploded. Such an accident could not have generated the released and acoustic energy recorded on sonar recordings, he told the Post-Intelligencer. 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 over the years that the Scorpion was waylaid and sunk by a Soviet submarine, no evidence of a deliberate attack has emerged. The Navy's 1968 investigation concluded that there was no evidence of any Soviet preparations for military action or a crisis such as might be expected in the event of a premeditated attack on the Scorpion. The Commission of Inquiry's report was silent on whether the submarine could have sunk after an accidental collision. At the same time, Thorpe, a spokesman for the Navy, said that the commission found that the Scorpion was 200 miles away from the Soviet ships at the time the disaster occurred.

The death of the Scorpion still remains a mystery to the families and friends of its crew members.

The last seconds of the Scorpio (based on sonar recording of the Scorpio disaster made by the SOSUS station in the Canary Islands. Source: Additional recording of the hearings of the Commission of Inquiry of the Commander-in-Chief of the US Navy Atlantic Fleet)

18:59:35 — 1. The explosion of a torpedo warhead from the port side in the middle of the submarine causes rapid flooding of the central post and other compartments in the middle part of the submarine. 2. Water enters the reactor and engine compartments through the transition tunnel.

19:01:06 — 3. The torpedo compartment bulkhead collapsed, causing rapid flooding.

19:01:10 - 4. The aft bulkhead of the engine compartment is destroyed, the 85-foot aft section of the submarine is sequentially destroyed in the direction of the additional mechanisms compartment and the reactor compartment.

AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST CLAIMES THAT A US NAVY SUBMARINE WAS DESTROYED BY A SOVIET SUBMARINE.

(Article in the newspaper “Vzglyad” 2012)

American war journalist Ed Offley's 25-year investigation, during which he concluded that the US Navy nuclear submarine Scorpion was destroyed by a Soviet submarine, has caused a scandal in the United States. According to the publicist, this was “revenge” of Soviet submariners for the death of the diesel-electric submarine K-129. After which the governments of the USSR and the USA agreed to keep the death of both boats secret, attributing it to an accident.

A high-profile presentation of the investigative book Scorpion Down by military journalist Ed Offley, who spent 25 years researching the disaster of the American nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589), took place in the United States.

“The sinking of the Scorpion was an act of retaliation on the part of the Soviets, as they believed that the US Navy was responsible for the loss of K-129 in March 1968,” Offley writes. In his opinion, the USSR (and now Russia) and the USA have been hiding this fact for more than 40 years, fearing complications in bilateral relations.

The official story of the death of Scorpio goes like this. In May 1968, the submarine crew, returning from combat duty in the Mediterranean Sea to a base in Norfolk (Virginia), received a new assignment - to follow Canary Islands, where “a mysterious formation of Soviet ships came to the attention of Navy intelligence.”

The submarine sank five days later. More than five months later, the remains of the wrecked Scorpio were discovered at a depth of 3,047 meters in the Atlantic using the Triest II deep-sea submersible. All 99 crew members on board were killed.

An authoritative commission was created to investigate the causes of the submarine tragedy, which in 1968 completed its work and stated that the submarine exceeded the maximum diving depth and sank “for an unknown reason.” However, such a verdict did not satisfy either the relatives of the dead sailors or the public.

Dozens of versions have been 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 unknown reasons, one of the torpedoes in the torpedo tube became operational. The commander ordered it to be shot overboard, but the torpedo fell into the circulation around the submarine and homed in on it. As a result, an explosion occurred that destroyed the strong hull of the boat.

US Navy spokesman Commander Frank Thorpe then said that the Scorpion submarine sank as a result of an accident while returning to its home port of Norfolk. "While the exact cause of the submarine's sinking remains unclear, there is no basis to suggest 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 have categorically denied the version of a collision with Soviet ships and unanimously claim that there were no Soviet nuclear-powered ships within a radius of 400 km in the area where the Scorpion sank.

The version of a torpedo explosion was later confirmed when a re-examination of the remains of the nuclear submarine was carried out. The Trieste's video camera captured the hatches of the torpedo tubes, torn 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 sinking of the Russian nuclear submarine K-149 Kursk).

Yet on Wednesday, at the launch 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 may have broken out as an isolated local skirmish that got out of control,” Offley writes. He emphasizes that “in any case, after the Scorpion ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, both sides reached an unprecedented agreement to bury the truth about both K-129 and the Scorpion.”

By the way, the journalist himself believes that the United States was not involved in the death of K-129 (for which, allegedly, Soviet submariners “revenged” the Americans), but “many aspects of the incident with 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, during combat duty in Pacific Ocean(that is, three months before the Scorpio submarine sank).

Then 97 Soviet sailors died, 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 no one from the Pentagon or the US Navy has yet officially responded to the release of the new book, but, as RIA Novosti reports, 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 Scorpio were not a secret.

Meanwhile, several veterans of the Russian submarine fleet, who were interviewed by a journalist from the newspaper VZGLYAD, gave almost identical comments to the “Offley version”, boiling down to two points: “The author is a conspiracy theorist who wants to “cut down cabbages” on old tragedies. We can only talk speculatively about the reasons for the death of Soviet and American submarines.”

August 30, 2003 in the Barents Sea while towing to the city of Polyarny for disposal. There were ten members of the mooring crew on board the submarine, nine of them died, one was rescued.
During a storm, with the help of which the K‑159 was towed. The disaster occurred three miles northwest of Kildin Island in the Barents Sea at a depth of 170 meters. The nuclear reactor on the nuclear submarine was in a safe condition.

October 6, 1986 in the area of Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea (Atlantic Ocean) at a depth of about 5.5 thousand meters. On the morning of October 3, an explosion occurred in a missile silo on board the submarine, and then a fire started that lasted for three days. The crew did everything possible to prevent a nuclear explosion and a radiation disaster, but they were unable to save the ship. Four people died on board the submarine. The surviving crew members were lifted onto the Russian ships "Krasnogvardeysk" and "Anatoly Vasilyev", which came to the aid of the submarine in distress.

October 21, 1981 diesel submarine S-178, returning to base after a two-day trip to sea, in the waters of Vladivostok with a transport refrigerator. Having received a hole, the submarine took on about 130 tons of water, lost buoyancy and went under water, sinking at a depth of 31 meters. As a result of the disaster, 32 submariners were killed.

February 24, 1972 when returning to base from combat patrol.
At this time, the boat was in the North Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 120 meters. Thanks to the selfless actions of the crew, K‑19 surfaced. Navy ships and vessels took part in the rescue operation. In conditions of a severe storm, it was possible to evacuate most of the K-19 crew, supply electricity to the boat and tow it to the base. As a result of the boat accident, 28 sailors were killed, two more died during the rescue operation.

March 8, 1968 from the Pacific Fleet. The submarine carried out combat service in the Hawaiian Islands, and since March 8 it has stopped communicating. According to various sources, there were from 96 to 98 crew members on board the K-129, all of them died. The cause of the disaster is unknown. Subsequently, the Americans discovered K-129 and recovered it in 1974.

January 27, 1961 The diesel submarine S-80, part of the Northern Fleet, sank in the Barents Sea. On January 25, she went to sea for several days to practice improving the tasks of solo navigation, and on January 27, radio contact with her was interrupted. The S-80 did not return to the base in Polyarny. The search operation yielded no results. S‑80 was found only in 1968, and was later raised from the bottom of the sea. The cause of the accident was the flow of water through the valve of the RDP (a retractable device of a submarine for supplying atmospheric air to its diesel compartment during the periscope position of the submarine and removing diesel exhaust gases). The entire crew died - 68 people.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Submarine accidents in the USSR and Russia. Six submarines lost under unclear circumstances

AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST CLAIMES THAT A US NAVY SUBMARINE WAS DESTROYED BY A SOVIET SUBMARINE.

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