The sunken nuclear submarines of the USSR and Russia are a topic of ongoing debate. During the Soviet and post-Soviet years, four nuclear submarines (K-8, K-219, K-278, Kursk) were lost. The sunken K-27 was sunk independently in 1982 following a radiation accident. This was done because the nuclear submarine could not be restored, and dismantling was too expensive. All these submarines were assigned to the Northern Fleet.
Nuclear submarine K-8
This sunken submarine is considered the first officially recognized loss in the Union's nuclear fleet. The cause of the ship's death on April 12, 1970 was a fire that broke out during its stay in (Atlantic). Crew for a long time fought for the survivability of the submarine. The sailors were able to shut down the reactors. Part of the crew was evacuated on board a Bulgarian civilian ship that arrived in time, but 52 people died. This sunken submarine was one of the first nuclear-powered ships of the USSR.
Submarine K-219Project 667A was at one time one of the most modern and survivable ships of the submarine fleet. It sank on October 6, 1986 due to a powerful ballistic missile explosion in its silo. As a result of the accident, 8 people died. In addition to two reactors, the sunken submarine had at least fifteen and 45 thermonuclear warheads on board. The ship was badly damaged, but demonstrated amazing survivability. It was able to emerge from a depth of 350 meters with terrible damage to the hull and a flooded compartment. The nuclear-powered ship sank only three days later.
This sunken Project 685 submarine died on April 7, 1989 as a result of a fire that broke out during a combat mission. The ship was located near the (Norwegian Sea) in neutral waters. The crew fought for the survivability of the submarine for six hours, but after several explosions in the compartments, the submarine sank. There were 69 crew members on board. Of these, 42 people died. Komsomolets was the most modern submarine of that time. His death caused great international resonance. Before this, the sunken submarines of the USSR did not attract so much attention (partly due to the secrecy regime).
This tragedy is probably the most famous disaster involving the loss of a submarine. The "Aircraft Carrier Killer", a formidable and modern nuclear-powered cruiser, sank at a depth of 107 meters, 90 km from the coast. 132 submariners were trapped at the bottom. Efforts to rescue the crew were unsuccessful. According to the official version, the nuclear submarine sank due to the explosion of an experimental torpedo that occurred in the mine. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty about the death of the Kursk. According to other versions (unofficial), the nuclear-powered submarine sank due to a collision with the American submarine Toledo, which was nearby, or due to being hit by a torpedo fired from it. The unsuccessful rescue operation to evacuate the crew from the sunken ship was a shock for all of Russia. 132 people died on board the nuclear-powered ship.
The Soviet submarine K-19 became the first nuclear submarine to crash.
TOP 5 worst submarine accidents
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K-19 received the nickname "Hiroshima" from the sailors© wikimedia.org
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Exactly half a century ago, the first accident occurred on the nuclear submarine K-19, which sailors later nicknamed “Hiroshima.”
Although the ship survived and was later repaired, its crew received a large dose of radiation, and eight sailors died in agony from radiation sickness.
And after July 4, 1961, K-19 was not the only submarine to survive a major accident.
Over the next half century, sunken nuclear boats contaminated the world's oceans with nuclear fuel.
And thanks to the Chinese submarine Ming III, a ghost submarine appeared in the sea.
K-19: first accident at depth
The first Soviet missile carrier powered by the K-19 nuclear reactor went to the North Atlantic in 1961 for training shooting ranges.
However, near Norway arose on board emergency. The reactor cooling systems failed.
The sailors began to make new system cooling. The radioactive background in the submarine increased catastrophically, which is why 42 sailors received a large dose of radiation.
A day after the accident, all crew members were evacuated, and the boat itself was towed to military base for decontamination and repair.
Within 24 hours, 6 exposed sailors died, and in the next few weeks, two more men died. The K-19 accident was the first submarine disaster in history.
Thresger: first fatality nuclear boat
The American nuclear submarine Thresher was lost during a failed strength test in 1963. The submarine was supposed to dive 360 meters under water.
However, already at the 270th meter the boat crew did not get in touch. As it turned out, the submarine did not pass the test and broke into several parts.
129 people, including 16 officers, 96 crew members and 17 engineers who did not serve in the US Army, died.
Thresher became the first nuclear submarine, remaining on the ocean floor. The death toll in the submarine disaster remains a record to this day.
K-431: submarine explosion
In 1985, the USSR nuclear submarine with cruise missiles K-431 was undergoing repairs in Chizhma Bay, 55 kilometers from Vladivostok.
When loading nuclear fuel, due to a personnel error, a powerful explosion occurred, which tore off the reactor lid and threw out all the spent nuclear fuel.
The radioactive background in the boat increased to 90 thousand roentgens. Soviet authority established an information blockade. However, after the collapse of the USSR, it became known that 290 people were injured during the disaster, of which 10 died due to the explosion itself, and 39 people suffered from radiation sickness.
Kursk: nuclear disaster
On August 12, 2000, the nuclear submarine Kursk participated in exercises in the Barents Sea, which ended with two explosions and the death of the giant submarine.
According to the official version, the first explosion occurred due to a leak of torpedo fuel through a rusted shell. Due to a reaction with copper in the coating of the torpedo tube, a chemical explosion occurred.
The submarine began to sink and fell to the seabed. At this time, several more shells exploded on board, causing a two-meter hole to appear in the hull.
23 sailors who survived the explosions locked themselves in the 9th compartment and waited for rescue. However, they did not receive help. In total, 118 people died as a result of the sinking of the Kursk.
Ming III: Ghost Submarine
The diesel-electric submarine Ming III in 2003 became the biggest loss of the Chinese fleet. During the dive, the diesel engine did not stop for unknown reasons and burned all the oxygen on board.
As a result, all 70 crew members were killed, and the boat itself went missing. A month after the incident, she was accidentally discovered by Chinese fishermen whose nets were caught on the periscope. The submarine swam autonomously in the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea.
She took part in the Ukrainian-Russian exercises "Peace Fairway 2011".
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The idea of a submarine itself appeared in the 15th century. This idea came to the brilliant mind of the legendary Leonardo da Vinci. But, fearing the devastating consequences of such a secretive weapon, he destroyed his project.
But this is always the case; if an idea already exists, then sooner or later humanity will realize it. For more than half a century, submarines have been plying the seas and oceans. And, of course, they occasionally 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 sank back in 1963. It was built three years earlier and was the first Thrasher-class submarine of its kind.
On April 10, USS Thresher was put out to sea to conduct test deep-sea dives and test the strength of the hull. For about two hours, the boat submerged and periodically transmitted data on the state of its systems to headquarters. At 09:17 USS Thresher stopped communicating. The last message read: “...maximum depth...”.
When she was found, it turned out that she had broken into six parts, and all 112 crew members and 17 researchers were killed. The cause of the boat's death is said to be a factory defect in the welding of the hull, which could not withstand the pressure, cracked, and the water that got inside caused short circuit electronics. The investigation will establish that at the shipyards where the USS Thresher was serviced there was extremely low quality control, and in addition, deliberate sabotage may have occurred. This was the reason for the death of the submarine. Its hull still rests at a depth of 2,560 meters east of Cape Cod.
USS Scorpion
In its entire history, the US Navy has finally and irrevocably lost only two submarines. The first was the USS Thresher mentioned above, and the second was the USS Scorpion, which sank in 1968. The submarine sank in Atlantic Ocean near the Azores Islands. Literally five days after the accident, she was supposed to return to the base in Norfolk, but she did not get in touch.
60 ships and aircraft went in search of the USS Scorpion and found a lot of interesting things, including a sunken German submarine from World War II. But the desired boat was discovered only five months later at a depth of 3000 meters. The entire crew of 99 people died. The causes of the disaster are not fully known, but there is a theory that one of the torpedoes could have exploded on board the boat.
USS San Francisco
But the case of the American boat USS San Francisco is exactly 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 pierced the ballast tanks, so the ship could sink very quickly. But with the joint efforts of the team, they managed to maintain buoyancy and raise the USS San Francisco to the surface. The hull was not broken, and the nuclear reactor was not damaged.
At the same time, there were casualties. Ninety-eight crew members received various injuries and fractures. Machinist's Mate Second Class Joseph Allen died of head injuries the next day.
Let's move on to Soviet submarines. The K-8 submarine, which sank 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 sonar room, which began to quickly spread through the air ducts and threatened to destroy the entire ship. But simple human heroism saved him. When the sailors from the first shift of the main power plant realized that the fire was continuing to spread, they shut down the nuclear reactors and battened down all the doors to other compartments. The submariners themselves died, but did not allow the fire to destroy the submarine and kill the others. But the nuclear reactor did not release radiation into the ocean.
The surviving sailors were taken on board by the Bulgarian motor ship Avior, which was just passing nearby. Captain 2nd Rank Vsevolod Bessonov and 51 members of his crew died fighting the fire.
K-278 "Komsomolets"
The second sunken Soviet nuclear submarine. The K-278 Komsomolets was also destroyed by a fire that broke out on board on April 7, 1989. The fire broke the seal of the boat, which quickly filled with water and sank.
The sailors managed to send a signal for help, but due to damaged electronics, they were able to receive and decipher it only the eighth time. Some crew members managed to escape and swim to the surface, but they found themselves in ice water. As a result of the disaster, 42 sailors died, and 27 survived.
K-141 "Kursk"
About the mysterious death of the Kursk submarine, strange behavior Russian authorities and questions to which no one has yet given answers, we have already written. Therefore, now let’s focus on the main points.
On August 2, 2000, at 11:28, the systems of the cruiser "Peter the Great" recorded a strong bang, after which the ship shook a little. The Kursk participated with the cruiser in Northern Fleet exercises and was supposed to get in touch with it six hours later, but disappeared.
Almost two days later, 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 still remain unclear, since the official version of a fire in the torpedo compartment raises too many questions.
Ukraine is beyond competition
If there is one conclusion that can be drawn from all these stories, it is that the work of submariners is harsh and dangerous. And Ukrainians know how to cope with any dangerous work. Therefore, despite the fact that we do not yet have a submarine fleet, it is a matter of time. As soon as Ukraine has free resources for its creation and development, it will be created.
And the strong sailors, whose Cossack ancestors sailed on seagulls all the way to Turkey, and whose fathers and grandfathers served on Soviet submarines, we have plenty. Ukraine usually has no shortage of heroes.
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 detonation caused the remaining combat torpedoes to explode. 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 area Hawaiian Islands, and since March 8 she 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 the explosion batteries and the 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.
Post-war losses of the USSR submarine fleet
After the end of the Second World War, a new confrontation began - the Cold War. The guns did not fire, the planes did not bomb the enemy, and the ships did not exchange artillery and missile salvoes, but this did not protect against dozens of losses human lives. And some of the biggest losses on the fronts " cold war" suffered the submarine sailors.
In the post-war period, the Soviet fleet lost nine boats, including three nuclear-powered ones. In addition, many boats were seriously damaged, and the nuclear-powered K-429 sank, but was subsequently raised and put back into operation. At first, the destruction of submarines in the USSR concerned only diesel submarines. Between 1952 and 1968, six boats died from various causes, including one at the base, and several more boats were damaged in the explosion. A total of 357 people died. Accidents also occurred on nuclear boats during this period, but all of them were accomplished without “irretrievable losses” in technology.
The sunken submarines of the USSR belonged to different fleets: two boats each from the Northern, Pacific and Baltic fleets. On April 12, 1970, the Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 was lost, on board of which there was a fire during a military campaign. It was fires that became the main problem of Soviet submariners, regularly breaking out on boats of various projects. The crew fought the fire for four days, but were unable to save the boat, and the flames “took” the lives of 52 crew members.
On next year It was a miracle that the nuclear submarine K-56, which was holed as a result of a collision with the scientific vessel Akademik Berg, did not perish. The accident cost the lives of 27 sailors who battened down the compartment and saved the lives of others. This was followed by a long period of calm. Largest quantity The number of sunken submarines in the USSR dates back to the 1980s, marked by glasnost and perestroika. And if the death of the diesel boat S-178 on October 21, 1981 did not cause a resonance (collision with a cargo ship), then the death of the nuclear-powered K-219 in October 1986 had great publicity. For three days in the Sargasso Sea, the crew fought the fire, but the boat could not be saved. Fortunately, only four people died.
In the interval between the two accidents, on June 24, 1983, the K-429, which went out for testing after repairs, sank. As a result, the boat took on water during the dive, and incorrect actions by the crew led to the boat sinking to the bottom. 104 people made it to the surface, and another 16 died. The boat was later raised and returned to service.
But the most famous death of a submarine in the USSR occurred on April 7, 1989, when, as a result of a fire and subsequent flooding, the newest submarine “Komsomolets”, returning from combat duty, sank. 42 sailors were killed in the accident. It is worth noting that the death of submarines in the USSR occurred much more often than in the United States, which lost only two of its nuclear submarines.
There were also losses in Russian time. And if the K-159 towed for scrapping cannot be considered a full-fledged combat boat, then the death on August 12, 2000 of the Project 945A nuclear submarine cruiser Kursk was a real tragedy, which led to the death of 118 submariners.
Finally, we note that sunken Soviet submarines are located in all parts of the world, from their native shores to the Sargasso Sea, Hawaii and the Bay of Biscay, indicating the location of the Cold War front line.