K-129: questions remain ...
The special operations of the US Navy during the years of the Cold War and now performed by special-purpose atomic submarines are covered with secrecy, few people know and write about them. In the course of one of these special operations at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the submarine K-1968 was killed in 129. The death of this submarine with the whole crew is a separate sad event in stories underwater fleet USSR and Russia. The reason for the death is still unknown, as well as the circumstances of the death in the same unfortunate year of the American submarine Scorpio. There are still many dark spots in this underwater epic, in which the US Navy special forces Halibat, Sea Wolf, and Brocade lit up. The author of this article nevertheless tried to uncover some of them.THE DEATH OF THE ROCKETNESS
The death of the crew of the submarine missile K-129 remains one of the most dramatic in the history of the Cold War. Newspapers have already written about this tragic incident, and more than once, a series of documentaries has been shot. I could not help but tackle this topic because I have accumulated a lot of reliable information. Besides the fact that I myself am a submariner veteran, I have developed a partnership and personal relationship with one of the best producers of world documentary films Michael White, the creator of the famous film Azorian. Lifting K-129. This is an extraordinary film, which is well known in the system of Internet shows. It was watched by viewers from many countries.
In Russia, the film was not shown. However, with the consent of Michael, I showed the film in Kaliningrad at the Museum of the World Ocean for veterans of the submarine fleet and thus found out the opinions and opinions of honored submariners of Russia, including those who served on this submarine project. The film company MICHAEL WHITE FILMS allowed a copy of the film to be transferred to Moscow by Irina Zhuravina, the widow of the senior assistant to the commander of the K-129 submarine, Alexander Zhuravin, so that she and the relatives of the deceased crew could watch it and discuss it.
The history of the film deserves a separate accent. It became possible because one of the crew members of the American ship Glomar Explorer, who in 1974 was trying to secretly raise our sunken submarine to the surface before dying, gave the filmmakers a secret film that had lain under his bed for more than 30 years. This is a kind of film know-how, because before that there was no documentary evidence of the reality of the event. Documentary footage accompany the entire film, and this is its value. Michael White, producer and owner of the film company MICHAEL WHITE FILMS, is in itself an indifferent person, he very much respects the dead crew and still finds out for himself the reason for his death. He spends his own money and, perhaps, will make another film “K-129. Last Days ”, where he will talk about the causes of the disaster.
NTV and Sonalist Studios (USA) have created their own joint version of a film on this subject called Operation Jennifer. The mystery of the death of K-129 ". Further, GTRK and other companies were taken for a similar film, but they do not have these unique film frames from one of the eyewitnesses of the events. The shooting was carried out with 12 cameras mounted in special claws lowered to the bottom, with the help of which the Glomar Explorer captured the K-5 submarine at the depth of the Pacific Ocean at the depth of 129.
The dead submarine Kursk was at a depth of just 107 m, and we remember how difficult it was to lift it. And here 5km !!! And it was 1974 year !!! It was a special operation unique from the point of view of technological developments. They even engaged German scientists who developed a special system of hydrostabilization to hold a huge ship in the ocean exactly above the crash site of K-129. In terms of financial costs, she also had no analogues, except with comparable costs for a flight to the moon. But the American military very much wanted to get our cipher codes and fragments of the P-21 ballistic missile that was new for that period of time, so they went on this costly adventure. By the way, Michael White has the name of this secret operation: the real Azorian, and not Jennifer, as it is commonly called in the media.
MEMORABLE MEETING
Everything connected with the death of the X-NUMX submarine K-1968 with three ballistic missiles in 129 - the tail number 629 deserves special attention. It is clear that the relatives and friends of the deceased crew know this story best of all. Therefore, in due time I immediately accepted the offer of Rear Admiral Stanislav Belyaev to meet the widow of the first assistant of this submarine, Irina Georgievna Zhuravina, who later provided me with a part of my archive. During her first trip to the Kaliningrad region in the Museum of the World Ocean, aboard the submarine B-574 and RV Vityaz, we discussed one of the chapters of my recently published e-book “Fight at the bottom ...”, which dealt with K-413 and how the Americans discovered her at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Imagine the vast Pacific Ocean, for some unknown reason, K-129 is dying, and it is very quickly discovered by the Americans. It is very strange…
I read to Irina Georgievna and to all those present the fourth chapter of “K-129 -“ Golf ”, paying particular attention to the places where it was about her husband, the senior assistant of the submarine Alexander Mikhailovich Zhuravin, captain of the second rank. In the fifth chapter, I read the episodes about the detection technology of the K-129 submarine at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean using a deep-sea device, controlled from the US Navy “Halibat” special purpose submarine. Irina Georgievna listened to me attentively, occasionally correcting the text, where it was about the crew and ... depth (I indicated the depth of 5500 in my book), because she, despite all the difficulties and sometimes mischief of some military officials, visited her husband’s death Pacific, saw the navigation map. So, according to her words, the depth there is exactly 5000. M. Famous Russian marine painter Nikolai Cherkashin wrote remarkably about herself, her female feat, in the article “The Wreath of the Iron Lady”. My story is only a small addition.Irina Georgievna listened attentively, nodded her head, commented. She had the liking of the fact that I was “Kamchadal” and presented everything in real light. For some time I lived in the village of Elizovo, where the airport is located. It was there that she last saw her husband. I read to her the words of the divisional commander V.A. Dygalo, who allegedly asks the submarine commander Vladimir Kobzar about her:
“- A senior maid how? I spent my Irina ...
- Yes. He just returned from the airport. He says he escorted to the ramp ... "
Irina Georgievna commented: “My little son stayed with his mother in Vladivostok. I hurried to him. Sasha was among the mourners. Surprisingly, he suddenly pushed everyone and broke into the airfield to the plane. Standing under my porthole and ... crying. I did not see him cry at all, but here he stands and cries. I thought to myself: “Maybe I won't reach the end?” I show him: they say, go away! Get out! So we broke up ... forever. I will not forgive myself for thinking then about my fate. ”
Irina Georgievna listened to my story to the end, noting that she did not know that the eldest were the submarine commander Vladimir Kobzar and his deputy for political affairs Fyodor Lobas - both were born in 1930. She also said that she was shown an American cassette about the burial of the submariners of the first compartment of the K-129 submarine, raised to the surface, and she didn’t like the chaplain, who called the dead submarine "broken" in broken Russian ...
"SELF-LIQUIDATION"
The e-book "Fight at the bottom ..." just appeared. But the documentary film on this book, considering that everything is based on real events, I have already shot and won 1-e in a difficult competition at the 10th Baltic Film Debut international film festival in the Baltic View documentary film nomination. The film was named "Self-liquidation". This is my unique and personal response to the wonderful American film “K-19” and, in fact, the continuation of the Michael White film Azorian. Lifting K-129. I recently showed “Self-Liquidation” to Michael - he is in shock ...
In general, I undertook to write and shoot about Americans for two reasons. First, they do not always truthfully write and make films about our submariners. Secondly, I was struck by the news that their special purpose submarines had an explosive in the fore and aft parts. And in the cabin of the captain was ... self-destruction button. Can you imagine it? What you need to have composure, composure to serve on such submarines. Proving that this was the case is not easy. In the film, I cite the text of the letter of one of the crew members, from which it follows that it was ...
I want to emphasize that all this happened in peacetime. I know firsthand that on our submarines such terrible devices were not. Although the Soviet submariners to such scenarios were morally prepared much better than the Americans. I began to respect American submariners from special-purpose submarines, such as the Halibat, Sea Wolf, and Parch. In order not to be admired only by Americans, it should be noted that our special purpose submarines are no worse than American ones, and in some respects they are superior. But we don’t have to talk about their activities, let alone write.At meetings with readers, where we will definitely watch the film “Self-liquidation”, I often get asked the question “How can I talk about American submariners without serving on their submarines?”. I, who had a direct connection to the underwater service, does not make it particularly difficult to describe the life, lifestyle, and professional features of American submariners. The essence is the same. There are some differences in terminology. We have a commander - they have a captain. We have a central post - they have a bridge and so on. In addition, there have been quite a few films about this lately, and the Internet will show you everything in detail and from the inside. While working on the film, I did a lot of research and I think that I will not disappoint either our or American submariners. All episodes, incidents, taken as the basis of the book and film, are real. At various times, they took place on the American nuclear submarines of the special purpose "Halibat", "Parch", "Sea Wolfe" and were combined in my one submarine with the name "Ghost", which translated from English means ghost.
ADVENTURES OF "GHOST"
The crew of the American special-purpose submarine "Halibat" was assigned a specific task: to arrive in a given area of the Pacific Ocean and search for K-129 using a remote-controlled deep-water apparatus, called submariners "fish." After the discovery of our submarine at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, this “fish” took photographs that formed the basis of a report by naval intelligence leaders and now living Henry Kissinger to the US President to make a secret decision about conducting a unique operation to lift our submarine K- 129.
The operation was classified. There are many nuances, including moral ones. They did not have the moral right to disturb the ashes of the dead - after all, any submarine with a crew at the bottom is a “mass grave”. The Americans, when everything finally came to light, justified their illegal actions to infiltrate our “mass grave” by the fact that the USSR did not officially announce the death of K-129. In this regard, another episode is relevant, which is practically not covered in the media. In one of the photographs taken by the deep-water vehicle, next to the sunken submarine K-129, the remains of our submariner were captured. Could his dust be disturbed? But they were disturbed - the temptation to get our secret documents, the cipher-machine with codes, samples of the nuclear weapons.
In this case, many questions arise in general, but the answers to them can only be obtained from the direct participants of certain actions. And they are as dumb today as fish. Clarence Moore, commander of the American submarine "Halibat", famous for his epic K-129, visited our country during the meeting of the widows of the dead submariners K-129 and the American submarine "Scorpion" in St. Petersburg. Irina Zhuravina talked with him. But he did not say anything to her, but only crossed his fingers at his lips, showing by this sign that he would never tell anything. He allegedly is still under oath ...
I would also ask him a technical question: how did they manage to find "a needle in a haystack"? Imagine the vast Pacific Ocean, and they clearly come to the place of the death of K-129. Incredible! Allegedly, they calculated the coordinates of the sounds characteristic of the submarine crash, recorded by a special stationary underwater tracking and detection of underwater targets. If this system were so effective, then they would quietly monitor our submarines in all the open spaces of the sea. In fact, the American submarines sneak up to the stern of our submarines, believing that they cannot be detected on the feed heading corners. Thus, they are moving closer to dangerous distances, risking a collision with Russian submarines when our crews are checking for tracking. In this case, the Russian submarine produces complex underwater maneuvering on the reverse course. This maneuver is known to Americans, and they are always afraid of him. Perhaps the cause of the death of K-129 is a collision when checking the absence of tracking with the more successful American nuclear-powered ship in this situation. At the moment, the most suspicious of the submarine "Suordfish", which went to the repair in the Japanese port of Yokosuka. But it could be another American submarine. It becomes clear where they got the exact coordinates of the place of death of our submarine: the northern latitude 40 degrees 05 minutes, the eastern longitude 179 degrees 57 minutes.
To prove the version of the submarine submarine collision, a similar situation can be brought up with the K-219, which sank after a collision with an American nuclear submarine in 1986, off the coast of the USA. The place of death of K-219 is also known for sure. Michael White approached the next version of the reasons for the death of K-129, but at the moment neither the US nor the Russian side shows interest in disclosing official information. Maybe this is due to the fact that a short time after the death of the Russian K-129 in the same 1968 year, the US submarine Scorpion died in still unknown circumstances ...
Allegedly, there is an agreement between our countries not to touch both of these stories. This does not suit the relatives of the deceased K-129 crew. It remains to rely only on such enthusiasts as Michael White, as a proof of which I exclusively cite here his latest work. Namely, the photograph of K-129 at the bottom.
PHOTO TESTS
This photo has already allowed us to get the opinions of specialists from the submarine fleet who served on the 629 project. They note that the destruction in the aft part of the fencing of the submarine felling is very significant, that the rocket mines 2 and 3 were completely destroyed, and the mine 1 was deformed and crushed. Most likely, such damage was caused by an external impact - impact on the aft part of the cabin by the stem of the ship (vessel) or the hull of a submarine. Thus, the photo confirms or does not exclude the possible causes of the death of K-129 from a collision with a ship (vessel) or a submarine. It is also possible the death of a submarine from the destruction of one of the rocket mines and the entry of water into a solid hull through this mine, as was the case at K-219 after a collision with an American submarine off the coast of the United States.
Can there be any damage of this nature when torpedo weapons are used against a K-129 American submarine that has been tracking? Information about “long-lasting acoustic signals” fits this version: having taken them for the work of the K-129 rocket’s starting engine, the enemy could use a torpedo weapon to defeat a missile attack. This is a bold version, as is the case with the submarine Kursk, where one of the unofficial versions suggests that the commander of the American submarine, not realizing that the Kursk is conducting routine training fire with a torpedo in the combat training range, thought that the underwater sound from opening the covers of torpedo tubes means a torpedo attack on an American submarine, and launched its torpedoes in the Kursk to preempt ...
Documentary filmmakers give the right to speak to any specialist, as did Rear Admiral Vladimir Dygalo, the former division commander, which included the K-129 submarine, and former Soviet Naval Chief Navigator Valery Aleksin, in the Michael White film. Both of them hold an opinion about the unintentional collision with her American submarine "Suordfish", with the result that the K-129 and sank. Here it is - short and clear.
Michael White showed in detail in his film the technology of lifting our submarine from a depth of 5 km. It can be seen that the aft part of the K-129 is torn off and lies separately from the main body. When lifting at the surface of the ocean, there was a breakdown of the “underwater claws” of the vessel “Glomar Explorer”. The submarine hull with ballistic missiles slipped out ... and sank back to the bottom to a depth of 5 km. Everyone was waiting for a nuclear explosion from the impact of the warheads on the ocean floor, but it did not follow - the Soviet technology was always very reliable, even in this extraordinary case. Only the nose of the K-129 with six submariners on board, which the Americans buried in the ocean ... remained in the claws.
NEW TURN
At this point, you can put an end, but, as it turned out, there is a continuation of the plot, which allowed the film “Self-liquidation” to be made. After publishing one of the interviews in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper about my work, a former deputy head of the Semipalatinsk test site, reserve colonel Anatoly Korchagin called me and said that once in the 70 of the last century two underwater containers left by an American submarine were delivered to him the Sea of Okhotsk. They were 6 m long and had a diameter of 1 m 40 cm. Metal skis were welded to the bottom of the bottom of the container for a stable location. The side bar was attached, on which was a plutonium battery moving up and down, which we had not yet been armed with. The battery moved up the foam structure so that it did not get into the sludge and could always be above the container. At the ends of the cylindrical surface of the containers there were hemispheres, fixed with special washers, which could be unscrewed to penetrate inside. The colonel showed me one of these washers, stuck in memory of this story, as well as the coupling to the container of the cable from the plutonium battery, as well as the main material evidence - a fragment of the container itself, 10 mm thick, commenting: “See, a fragment of the container looks today as good as new, doesn't rust. ”
On the containers it was clearly written: "The property of the US government." It must be said that the Americans have declassified themselves more than once by their branding. So it was this time. This container for downloading secret information was placed near the submarine cable of the navy by divers of the US Navy Halibat submarine, which, as I said earlier, before this special operation, discovered K-129 at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Communication with the colonel allowed me to make him the main witness of the events in the film “Self-liquidation”. The fact is that media representatives, as well as many submarine commanders, perceived my plot as fiction. Well, you never know that the writer Samoilov has imagined. But when Anatoly Korchagin appeared in the plot with material evidence and meticulous knowledge of all the details and nuances of Operation Flounder to open an American special operation in the Sea of Okhotsk, all doubts were dispelled.
The Semipalatinsk landfill for disassembling containers, raised by our Navy and KGB specialists from the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk, was not chosen by chance. A metal cylindrical device similar to these containers was found off the coast of Libya. During disassembly in the presence of officers of the General Staff, it exploded. There were human casualties. Planned arrival of Muammar Gaddafi, but he was delayed and late, and therefore was not injured. It was probably an attempt intended for the curiosity and extraordinary behavior of the head of state.
At first, our military specialists perceived the containers as a hydrogen bomb and took appropriate demining precautions. It was decided to disassemble the containers one by one in a horizontal mine for testing nuclear weapons. The experts involved in this complex operation represented various institutions of the Ministry of Defense and were very professional. They were immediately given the nicknames: “hearing” - those who identify the first common signs of the internal structure of the container, and “sniffers” - those who detect explosives. “Hearing Aid” drilled a hole in the container body and launched a microvideo camera into it. Making sure that visually inside the container nothing dangerous was detected, they expanded the opening. Immediately took up the case "Scent". They recorded the absence of chemical components of explosive devices and offered to open the case, having unscrewed all the washers of the hemispheres. At the last moment of separation from the main body, welding was observed on hemispheres, which did not fit into the overall super-modern structure. It was assumed that there was built an explosive device that would work when separating hemispheres. Everyone expected the worst consequences, but the explosion did not happen, which allowed access to the internal electronic units, on each of which, just like everywhere else, the “Property of the US Government” was clearly written. First of all, the power supply unit made of plutonium, which allowed the equipment to be offline, was a surprise for everyone ... 20 years. All this was told to me by Colonel Anatoly Korchagin, who lives quietly and peacefully in the glorious city of Kaliningrad. Without his story there would not have been my film “Self-liquidation”, which, as I said, is a continuation of the epic about K-129 ...
Years go by. Questions about the death of the submarine missile carrier K-129 still remain. It seems to me that everyone who can find out at least some new information about the relatives of the deceased crew is obliged to do so. It is a sacred duty to them and the dead crew.
Information