clash
Hearing the name "K-10", someone may remember the metal doors - this is the name of the brand of one of them; some are ceramic capacitors; some are microprocessors: some of them have the same abbreviation ... Submariners will immediately think about the Pacific nuclear powered ship fleet, commanded by the captain of the 1st rank Valery Medvedev. And, of course, rumors about how Medvedev sank a Chinese submarine will immediately be remembered, as a result of which about a hundred people allegedly died. Do not try to "google" the Internet - there are no details of this catastrophe. Because she did not leave any noticeable traces either in the articles or in the documents. And the Chinese did not specifically report it to the world. And the Russians preferred to pretend that nothing happened. At best, you will come across an article in Wikipedia, where there is such a paragraph: “21.01.1983. K-10. Project 675, Echo-II. THE USSR. Nuclear missile submarine. In a submerged position collided with an unknown object. After the ascent, nothing but the spots of the diesel was found. None of the countries of the Pacific region reported any accidents of their submarines. Only two years later an obituary appeared in the Chinese press about the death of a group of submarine scientists on that day. Officially, these events were not compared. ”
How Medvedev sank the Chinese submarine
We will try to compare. If only because Medvedev himself has been living with this memory for years already 28.
Cold War Secrets
Recently, we met with the former captain of the K-10 submarine Valery Nikolayevich. Moscow Obninsk. The usual apartment with the usual furnishings. Paintings on the walls depicting the sea and submarines report that the seaman’s family lives here. A thick piece of metal can be seen on the coffee table — part of the sheathing of a solid hull: apparently, the commander was preparing for a meeting with a journalist. Valery Nikolaevich in an officer's uniform. For courage?
To begin with, we recall that the collision of “K-10” with “some” boat was neither the first nor the last. If you list all the underwater collisions, you may get the impression that the World Ocean is teeming with submarines floating in it, like minestroni soup - boiled vegetables. By the way, among the recent versions of the accident of the passenger liner "Concordia" on the Italian coast, there is also a version of a collision with a submarine. Of the other memorable rumors: Americans were repeatedly accused of the fact that it was the fault of the Kursk catastrophe: they say, two Los Angeles submarines of the Los Angeles project - Memphis and Toledo - were in the area of the 12 August 2000 Northern Fleet exercises. And after the disaster, Memphis went to the Norwegian port of Bergen for repairs. But the US Department of Defense did not allow the Russian side to inspect these ships in order to make sure that none of them was damaged.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Vice-Admiral Yevgeny Chernov recalled a case when our K-306 rammed the American Patrick Henry so much that it surfaced and its crew began to vigorously fight for survivability.
Admiral Igor Kasatonov, in his memoirs, “The fleet went out to the ocean” writes: “20 underwater collisions, mostly due to the fault of the Americans, have happened lately. The hardest was a K-19 ram 15 in November 1969 of the year, which put the American boat “Gatou” on the bottom of the Barents Sea. Then only a miracle saved the Americans from death. "
... There are dozens, if not hundreds of such examples. Accidents and disasters, as a rule, were not described in the press - during the Cold War, and even after them it was customary to classify everything. And then there was the Internet and Wikliks. And the sailors, by virtue of habit, are not inclined to stir up the past. But albeit with a big delay, but the truth is trying to emerge. So the oily stain emerges, signaling that an accident has occurred somewhere deep in the sea. And only short-sighted will wave, looking at this spot. Truth is needed after all not to rummage in an old wound. It is necessary at least in order to learn the lessons and prevent a repetition of the tragedy.
My friend, a submariner, now a pensioner, Anatoly Safonov, wrote in his website: “... the captain of the 1 rank, Valery Medvedev, is a patriot of his country, to whom he has served his whole life wholeheartedly. He showed his love for the Motherland in exemplary performance of official duties ... "
It looks like a line from the party characteristics. But, according to Safonov himself, who is not inclined to sentimentality or to great respect for party political bodies, these words with reference to Medvedev are fair and accurate.
The only thing that Safonov didn’t stick in the exemplary characteristics of a brave sailor was a dumb question. stories: why so long was silent and did not dare to tell the truth about what happened? Looking ahead, I note: it seemed to me that during our conversation, Valery Nikolayevich said far from everything.
So, before me sat a tall sturdy pensioner. He spoke quietly, not in the way the commanders usually say in the fleet.
Valery Nikolaevich recalled ...
Chinese ram
22 January 1983 of the year “K-10” was located in the South China Sea. The combat service went on as usual, and, as they say in such cases, “nothing foreshadowed trouble.” Depth under the keel - 4500 meters (submariners joke: "Five minutes by bus"). It was Saturday. After bathing, the personnel of the submarine watched a feature film in the first compartment.
The area designated for contact was approached eight hours before the deadline. The district itself was required to enter at a strictly designated time.
Commander Medvedev decided to check the absence of tracking by the US and Japanese anti-submarine forces. When turning on the reverse course I received the relevant reports from the hydroacoustics. Everything was clean! Immersion depth - 54 meters. Suddenly there was a push: a feeling that the boat was facing some kind of obstacle. The blow was soft but powerful. From the collision, the entire hull of the submarine strongly shuddered. "K-10", as if having linked with an unknown object, for some time moved along with it. Then they uncoupled. Instantly an alarm was declared. The first three nasal compartments were sealed together with the people inside them.
Speakerphone Medvedev requested the first compartment. In response - silence. Deafening. You can imagine the feelings of the commander in these moments. Meanwhile, the boat was on its course and given depth, with a slight drop in speed. Slightly increased the trim on the nose.
Medvedev says: “I constantly requested the first compartment. The sailors probably got a lot of stress from a collision, it was necessary to find out the situation ... Two minutes later, which seemed to me eternity, the report passed from the first one: the compartment was sealed! ”
In the 21 hour, 31 minute surfaced in the surface position. A typhoon raged over the sea. The monstrous power of the wind and huge waves threw the boat like a small chip. The nights in those latitudes are dark, which may, therefore, when looking at the sea through periscope optics, Medvedev, he said, did not see anything. He gave the command to return to the point of collision. Arriving there, they with the navigator and signalman saw the orange flashing light of the departing submarine. After about 30 – 40 seconds, the fire disappeared.
Medvedev repeated several times: “I’m talking about the flashing lights of a submarine for the first time now ...”
Valery Nikolayevich was silent. Apparently, he recalled those difficult moments. He mentally returned to that area hundreds of times and tried to figure out with which particular boat the collision occurred. I came to the conclusion that the Chinese. And that's why. In accordance with the Decree of the USSR Government on 9.01.1959, TsKB-16 from March to December 1959 prepared working drawings and technical documentation for the 629 project with the D-1 complex with the R-11М missiles for transmission to the People’s Republic of China. By the fall of 1960, the first Chinese submarine of the 629 project was laid at the shipyard in Dalian (PRC, formerly the city of Dalniy). To speed up its construction, Soviet constructions were widely used, as well as equipment and mechanisms with the K-139 submarine (launched in May 1960). The construction of the Chinese submarine was completed at the end of the 1961 of the year and received the tail number 200. At the same time, the submarine under the serial number 138 was laid in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
After construction, the ship was transported in parts to the People's Republic of China and at the end of 1962, it was put into operation under the number 208. Later, two years after the incident with K-10, it became known that in 1983, this Chinese PL No. 208 had died with the entire crew and a group of scientists and engineers during the tests of the Chinese JL-1 ballistic missile.
Given that the crew of the 629 boats is about 100 people and that there was another group of civilian specialists, we can only assume the exact number of casualties.
It is noteworthy that the Chinese side did not officially associate the collision with the death of this boat. Now one can almost say with absolute certainty that the submarine of the People's Republic of China has died as a result of a collision with K-10. Had the K-10 submarine been at a collision point five seconds earlier, it might have been lying at a depth of 4500 meters now.
... Of course, Medvedev immediately reported to the fleet about the collision. In response, it was ordered to follow the surface position on the Cam Ranh base, located in South Vietnam. Escorted them approached BOD "Petropavlovsk." When inspecting the boat (for this, a trim was created on the stern), it turned out that its bow was severely damaged. Among the ruined bow of the "K-10" pieces of foreign metal were found. The K-10 steel keel path, 30 mm thick and about 32 meters long, was cut off like a razor during a collision.
After inspecting the submarine, the fleet command decided that, in an emergency condition, she could overcome 4500 kilometers to the submarine main base, forcing the passage of Bashi, Okinawa and the Korea Strait to surface. Of course, it was almost insane: with such and such damage - and in a submerged position! But the order is an order. Without acoustic stations, almost to the touch, but 4500 km passed normally. Medvedev was confident in his crew. And the crew did not disappoint their commander. For such a transition in a different situation, the sailors would shine rewards.
But not at this time. This time, the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy S.G. Gorshkov announced Medvedev punishment.
"Blind" and "dead"
Not only the details of that case come to light, but also questions: how could this happen? Complex hydrology in the area? Poor sonar capabilities? Bad preparation of hydroacoustics? The presence of so-called blind or dead zones? Why did the crew of the PRC boat make the same mistakes?
It is known that there was an investigation into the causes of the accident by specialists from the technical administration commission of the Pacific Fleet and the Navy. Why in that case even the submariners of the Pacific Fleet did not know about him?
There is a member of those events. Alexander Dobrogorsky served on the K-10, and that day he served as watch engineer-mechanic. Here is what he wrote to me: “As far as I remember - and a lot of time passed, - we began to circulate to the left, and a blow followed. That is a collision. So, they (the Chinese submarine. - Approx. Aut.) Sat on our tail. Either this is a fatal accident, in which I do not believe: the oceans are too large for such accidents.
... Why the Chinese did not unravel our maneuver, i.e. circulation? God only knows. Most likely they had poorly trained underwater acoustics. As far as I know, when tracking the submarine for the submarine, the depth must be different and there must be a certain distance to the object, so that in case of anything you can manage to complete the maneuver. But this time it did not happen: two grains of sand met in immense depths, it is just a phenomenon of some kind ...
... Upon arrival in Cam Ranh, members of the State Commission were already waiting for us. We were not allowed to go to the pier, anchored. The boat came up with members of the commission and divers. No one was allowed upstairs. Specialists examined everything. Inspection findings were not reported to us. Medvedev seems to have been crushed by the academy, not given kapraz (the rank of captain of the 1 rank. - Ed.) And reprimanded on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.
... After returning to Pavlovsk, we began to cut out the mutilated torpedo tubes, the covers of which were torn off at the moment of impact, and there after all there were torpedoes with nuclear warheads (nuclear ammunition).
After talking with some other submariners, it turned out that the chief aboard the K-10 was the chief of staff of the submarine division's 29-1, captain of the 2 rank, Krylov. After the collision of boats, an employee of the special department arrested the watch logs of the central post and the navigator. Krylov had a long talk with the special person. As a result of a private conversation, it was decided to rewrite these journals. They even rewrote the magazine of the main power plant, because the speed of the submarine when it was in the area of combat duty was severely disrupted and the boat arrived in the area 3 hours earlier. It was impossible to enter the area of duty earlier. Therefore, hanging around him until they ran into the Chinese. "
But the opinion of the former submarine commander Viktor Bondarenko, whom we met there in Obninsk:
- Valery Nikolayevich did everything right. Why he came to the area earlier on 8 hours, apparently, there were some reasons for this, but these are his problems. The bad thing is that there are no time parameters - when they collided, when they returned to the place of collision, what were the speeds, etc.
Tracking a Chinese diesel submarine for a nuclear-powered ship - only an amateur can argue this way. The Chinese conducted the next stage of testing, the crew has not been worked out, they are generally prohibited from being distracted by unusual tasks, except for tests. Even if they discovered the Soviet atomic-powered icebreaker, they were supposed to broadcast it to the shore and continue their work. What the submarines had in common was that they had practically identical acoustic stations in terms of their technical characteristics.
The crew on the K-10 was tested, and the maneuver to check the feed course angles is very responsible, and the acoustics are very attentive to this.Let's think. Once the boats collided, it means they were at the same depth - the 54 meter. Further Medvedev says that at that time a storm raged above. And if so, then the noise of both submarines was disguised by the sounds of the sea. In this situation, even good acoustics and excellent hydro-acoustics will not emit the sound of a submarine from the sound of the sea - this is an axiom.
Medvedev notes that after surfacing, he discovered an orange flashing light. So, the boat of the Chinese also surfaced, and why after that she sank - this is a question. If she did not drown after a collision, but surfaced, and then drowned, then this is completely incomprehensible. It means that they did something wrong, because miracles do not happen, if everything was so difficult, then after the collision they would have gone to the bottom with a stone, remembering Mao. So Valery Nikolayevich has no reason to hang all the dogs on himself.
Acoustic shade
In 1981, at one of the ranges of the Northern Fleet near the Kola Bay, a clash of Soviet and American nuclear submarines occurred. Then the American submarine, with its cabin, rammed the stern part of the Soviet newest strategic missile submarine K-211, which had just become part of the Northern Fleet and was working on elements of combat training. The American boat in the area of the collision did not surface. But a few days later, in the area of the English naval base Holly-Loch, a US nuclear submarine appeared with pronounced damage to the cabin. Our boat surfaced and came to the base under its own power. Here she was awaited by a commission consisting of specialists from the fleet, industry, science and the designer.
The Commission, having modeled the maneuver of the two boats, examining the damage sites, established that the American boat was following our boat in its feeding sectors, staying in the acoustic shadow for it. As soon as our boat changed course, the American boat lost contact and blindly crashed into the stern of the Soviet boat with its cabin. She was put in the dock, and there, during the inspection, they found in two feed tanks of the main ballast of the holes, damage to the blades of the right screw and the horizontal stabilizer. In the damaged tanks of the main ballast were found bolts with hidden heads, pieces of metal and plex from the cabin of the American submarine. Moreover, by individual details, the commission was able to establish that the collision took place precisely with the American Sturgeon class submarine, which later was confirmed by the appearance of a boat of the same class in Holy Loch.
... Projecting this case in case of a collision with a Chinese boat, one involuntarily comes to the version that the cause of the collision could be these notorious “fodder sectors with acoustic shadows”.
We can also recall another case: the collision of a nuclear submarine of the Sierra class (Northern Fleet) with the nuclear submarine Baton Rouge (US Navy) 11 February 1992 of the year. The Soviet nuclear torpedo submarine (presumably it was K-239 Karp) was located in the combat training range near the Rybachiy Peninsula, in the territorial waters of Russia. Commander of a submarine captain 2-th rank I. Loktev. The boat followed the depth of the 22,8 meter. The American nuclear-powered icebreaker was tracking its Russian “brother”, following at a depth of about 15 meters. In the process of maneuvering the acoustics of the American boat lost contact with the Sierra, and since there were five fishing vessels in the area, the noise of the screws was similar to the noise of submarine screws, the baton rouge commander decided to ascend the periscope depth to 20 hours in the setting. The Russian boat at this moment was lower than the American one and also began to ascend for a communication session with the coast. A submarine collision occurred. In the event of a collision, the Sierra rammed the bottom of the American submarine with its cabin. Only a small speed of the Russian boat and shallow depth during ascent allowed the American submarine to avoid death.
... This is an example of seemingly randomness. But accidents at sea, as we know, do not happen. Statistics show: from 1968 to 2000, the year occurred around 25 collisions of foreign submarines (mostly American) with Soviet and Russian submarines submerged. Of these, 12 is near our shores, on the approaches to the main bases of submarines in the Northern (nine collisions) and Pacific Fleets (three collisions). As a rule, incidents occurred in combat training grounds (BP), where submarines, after changing part of the crew, fulfill the tasks of a combat training course.
According to the Defense Express Research Center, in the history of the fleet, seven cases of nuclear submarine submersion were recorded: two American (“Tresher” and “Scorpion”) and five Soviet (“K-8”, “K-219”, “K-278” "Komsomolets", "K-27", submarine "Kursk"). Four USSR nuclear submarines died as a result of the accident, and one was flooded in the Kara Sea by decision of the responsible government departments because of the impossibility of recovery and the high cost of disposal.
In most cases, if it was not possible precisely to determine the causes of the death of any submarine, the perpetrators preferred to deny their involvement in this. And sometimes, even despite the obvious evidence, using the good old principle of “Not caught, not a thief”.
The silence figure
Once I met a US naval attache in Russia. Small, strong, with a bunch of premium slats on a snow-white uniform shirt ... It seemed that he radiated joy from his successful life. Straightened shoulders this joy, in fact, demonstrated. It turned out that he - the former commander of a nuclear submarine such as "Los Angeles". “I was already a commander for four years!” He said with genuine pride.
“Just think, four years,” I replied, “we have 8 – 9 years old commanders ...” He looked at me with disbelief. But I called a friend admiral, also a former submarine commander, and asked him to confirm my words. He confirmed.
The American was very surprised. “Why,” he could not believe to the end, “because I know how hard it is ... Eight years ... It is impossible.”
Well, yes, yes ... What is death for a German (an American in this case), then it is quite possible for a Russian.
And I remembered Medvedev, who was the commander of the Premier League for nine (!) Years. Pensioner Medvedev looked good. But his shoulders in the moments of our conversation about the prestige of the service were not turned from a sense of pride. I remember that well. As well as the fact that the former commander did not say anything about that collision to me ...
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