Fleet cut alive: how the Black Sea heritage of the USSR was divided
Count pier During the years of acute political confrontation during Yushchenko’s rule, the patriots of Sevastopol raised a Soviet maritime flag over it, which still hangs. Photo: O. Buzina
From the Grafskaya quay in Sevastopol you can see several small boats painted in the “American” shade of gray with the Latin letters “U” on board. They stuck to the shore, which bears the symbolic name Chicken Pier. Sometimes these ships are three. Sometimes - one more. But they all fit into the lens of an ordinary non-professional camera, which is available to any tourist. This duck flock is officially called the “squadron of disparate ships” of the Ukrainian Navy (Naval Forces of Ukraine). Simply speaking, this is the entire Ukrainian fleet, except for several boats and the submarine Zaporizhia, which recently, finally, installed a battery to teach her not only to hang around the wall, but also to dive. However, this is also a problem - the human factor. During the years of independence, Ukraine did not have enough submariners that could not only take the boat into the sea, but also push it into the abyss.
In Sevastopol, you will definitely not be told a joke, but a genuine history with the purchase of the ill-fated battery for "Zaporozhye". The boat is over forty years old! It was built in 1970 in Leningrad for the USSR Navy. Then she wore a modest number B-435 and was part of the 14th submarine division of the Black Sea fleet. At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was an obsolete ship in need of major repairs. His main problem was the “dead” battery, without which the diesel-electric submarine could not go under water. In 1997, after a five-year saga of the division of the allied Black Sea Fleet, the B-435 went to Ukraine and was renamed to the western style (oh, this is the desire to become Europeans!) In U01 with the addition of nostalgia for the mythical “submarines of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks” called “Zaporozhye”.
However, the battery is not charged. I repeat, he was completely killed by the previous glorious service, when the B-435 made long hikes up to Cuba. Ukrainian admirals, quickly converted from former Soviet captains (often with very Russian surnames ending in “ov” and “in”) decided to show their independence and “Ukrainianness” to buy a battery for “Zaporozhye” not anywhere , and in Greece! Indeed, in Greece, as the hero of Chekhov’s story said, everything is there!
Of course, it was still easier to buy a “battery” in Russia, since Zaporizhia belonged to one of the most widespread series of Soviet submarines of the 641 project (according to the NATO classification Foxtrot). From 1958 to 1971 their year was built neither more nor less - 75 pieces! Naturally, the Russian battery (the former Soviet) ideally entered the building of "Zaporozhye". But for a mysterious reason (you naturally guess which one, and believe that it had nothing to do with corruption), you bought a battery from a certain Greek company for 3,5 million dollars. It turned out that the battery has a square cross-section and does not climb into the Ukrainian section of the Ukrainian ex-Soviet boat, which gathered to swim in the “new Zaporozhtsi”. To stuff it there, you had to cut the durable hull of the boat, and then brew it again. But Ukraine does not have such qualifications. They remained only in Russia in Severomorsk, and they receive a salary for their art, approximately, for 3000 dollars per month. You can imagine what kind of specialists they are if their salary is higher than the official salary of the Ukrainian admiral. The same welders that the Ukrainian defense industry possesses, “Zaporizhia”, of course, could “weld”, but it is possible that at the first immersion it would flatten it together with the battery and, what is most regrettable, with ALL personnel of the submarine fleet of Ukraine among about 80 people, not counting the numerous commands, ballast perched on his neck!
The “wrong” Greek battery was lying on the beach for a long time, until it was replaced by the relying “Zaporozhye” according to the Russian project. Three and a half million green American rubles flew to the wind! I wonder what kind of square admiral's head got a otkatik for this brilliant "equipment", what is the name of such a commercial operation on "sovereign move"? And was it really square?
If you translate the view from the Chicken Pier to the middle of the Sevastopol Bay, you can see the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet - the cruiser "Moscow". Its powerful body, decorated with high settings and characteristic containers for missiles on the sides, recalls the past greatness of the Soviet fleet. Once “Moscow” was called “Glory” and belonged to one of the best types of Soviet cruisers, which, in common parlance, was called “aircraft carrier killers”.
Cruiser can carry nuclear weapon and, quite likely, carries it, although officially it is not advertised. Its 16 “Vulcan” smart missiles find their targets themselves at a distance of more than five thousand kilometers without a miss. This precision weapon is a modernization of the Soviet system "Basalt". Rockets are flying the so-called flock, snapping at the enemy aircraft carrier grouping, like wolves on the victim. Any American aircraft carrier in reality was a defenseless lohan against such ships. What a pity that the toothless Soviet agitpropists of the era of stagnation did not tell us anything of this, preparing the great country for defeat in the cold psychological war of the end of 80!
"Moscow" and today is good in any weather. In the fog, when its silhouette merges with the darkened sky of Sevastopol. On a clear day, when with powerful binoculars from the shore, you can even see the face of the sentry at the flag. Often in the morning instead of it, Sevastopol sees an empty space. This means that the cruiser once again took off from the anchor and left somewhere, dissolving into the sea distance, which remembers the sails of the squadrons of Ushakov and Nakhimov.
His combat capability is maintained at a high level, and officers are approaching their duty station on expensive cars, eloquently demonstrating that Russian sailors are getting high salaries again and can fully give themselves to the service, and not start up “Gendeliks” on the coast, as one of the former commanders Soviet Black Sea Fleet in the troubled years of perestroika. Then this sea wolf (and, as colleagues recalled, a good naval commander) was rearranged to such an extent that it turned from an admiral into a tavern — the holder of a port tavern. After that, and drowned for history in the turbid waters of the perestroika. That's how it is! There was a sailor, and he became a restaurateur. However, many other Soviet officers and admirals of the Black Sea Fleet of that period of trouble cannot be said. On the contrary. They were at their best, having endured a long-term battle with internal collapse and all kinds of tempters from the outside, who promised a higher position and a new star on the fleet that had now become the "conquerors" of the Chicken Pier, for refusing to take the oath.
We are sitting in the office of Rear Admiral, retired Vladimir Solovyov. In 1991, he headed the intelligence of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR. According to the old military habit, the admiral made an appointment at 9 in the morning, although today he no longer has to adhere to strict military regulations.
- Tell me, what was the real strength of the Black Sea Fleet? After all, in the 90-e years we were convinced that it was a bunch of old vessels that do not have military significance.
- The fleet was big. There was the 5th squadron, which operated in the Mediterranean, conducted large exercises, large ships and submarines arrived from the Northern and Baltic fleets. All of them were concentrated in the Mediterranean Sea and practiced various tasks. In Tripoli (this is Libya) was ours aviationthat flew over the Mediterranean Sea - anti-submarine, missile ...
- That is, then the French would not dare to go to Libya, as today?
- Of course, if there are other forces there, then they need to be considered, right? The Emergency Committee, of course, has become a tragedy for us. The main core of the fleet understood that this was not being done - a group of people gathered and decided. It is necessary to collect the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and decide the future fate of the country. According to law. And although the Flag of the Homeland newspaper wrote that “sailor Ivanov, sailor Sidorov support the State Emergency Committee”, we still had such hope that they would solve all the issues in a constitutional way and would not allow the fleet to be drawn into the confrontation. on the humiliation of the Armed Forces. Practically, they began to recommend us to walk in civilian clothes and put on some kind of civilian lapzerdak on top of the uniform. It began with 1990 year. I remember, I came to the academic courses from Sevastopol to Leningrad. And we (to the Academy!) Were advised to come in a civilian raincoat over the uniform so that they would not be insulted on the street. It was already difficult with gasoline. Company cars did not drive us. I was in the form of riding in a trolley bus and laughed at me: "Well, what, Admiral, has served?"
And when the State Emergency Committee happened, we understood that some regime would be established, that there would be no coups. We knew that Gorbachev, when it happened, we could get it by any means. I personally had a special forces brigade. It was based on Maysky Island. These were people prepared "from air to water and to the shore." They had a good mountain training - both extra riders and conscripts. They walked from Kiev to Sevastopol! In the forests, in the mountains. Militia cordons were specially exposed to be detected and not found! It was a pure reconnaissance special forces.
- So there was no problem to free Faros Gorbachev?
- No! We built this cottage. She built a fleet! All inputs and outputs were known to us. I will say this: when in Mukhalatka after the collapse of the USSR in 1992, there was a meeting of two presidents - Yeltsin and Kravchuk - my undercover guys came in as if the meeting participants!
- But when in December 1991 of the year the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the liquidation of the USSR was concluded, for the fleet it was news? Have you previously been informed by anyone from Moscow or Kiev about this possibility of development of events?
- Of course not. I will even tell you so. The State Emergency Committee has already ended, but in the Fleet newspaper “The Flag of the Motherland”, it was supported by inertia. She was under the auspices of the military council of the Black Sea Fleet.
- Has the Belovezhskaya Fleet Agreement yet said anything?
- They fit like this: what's on “your” territory is yours.
- So, Yeltsin was initially going to give the fleet to Ukraine?
- He did not think about it at all. He had nothing in his head about the fleet! Neither about the Crimea, nor about the fleet.
Solovyov’s colleague, Rear Admiral Alexander Kovshar, a former commander of the 30 Division of surface ships, the strongest unit of the then Black Sea Fleet, enters the conversation. This is one of the most picturesque Black Sea naval commanders, known for his complete frankness and love for keen words: “When, after the Belovezhskaya Accords, Kravchuk went to Yeltsin to Moscow, he carried documents on the transfer of the fleet. Once again, there they “croaked” (the admiral makes a gesture imitating the tipping of a glass into Yeltsin's throat), and Yeltsin: “Yes, what is there ... Take it all!”
The dispute between Russia and Ukraine over the Black Sea Fleet almost put the two countries on the brink of war.
The end of 1991 — the beginning of 1992 — was one of the most troubled periods in relations between Ukraine and Russia. Much of this cockfighting was determined by the fact that representatives of provincial party elites came to power in Moscow and Kiev. Two rural guys. One - from the Urals. The other is from Volyn. Having collapsed a union state in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, both overgrown children floundered in the sea of problems generated by their activity, grabbing the fragments of the ship of the lost great power in their hands. Moreover, both of them immediately acquired the status of Supreme Commanders. And what are the "supreme" without fleets? Since Yeltsin, as if by themselves, geographically turned out to be the Baltic, Northern and Pacific fleets, Kravchuk also wanted to have the warmest Black Sea fleet. The problem was only in the fleet. He suddenly healed his own life, not wanting to recognize Kravchuk and go under his jurisdiction.
In the Black Sea Fleet, unlike Leonid Makarovich, they well understood that Ukraine simply would not pull such an armada. At the time of the collapse of the Union of Black Sea Fleet counted 833 ship! Only submarines were 28, cruisers and large anti-submarine ships 1-th rank - eight, 20 anti-submarine ships 2-go rank and destroyers, almost four dozen patrol boats, 30 missile boats, 400 aircraft, 50 landing ships. Minesweeper was around 70! Almost 100 of thousands of officers and sailors served in the fleet, and 60 of thousands of civilian workers and civil servants providing his life activity. Add to this the naval bases in Odessa, Balaclava, Kerch, Izmail, shipyards in Nikolaev ... And this is an incomplete list!
Three weeks after the Bialowieza Agreement, Yeltsin and Kravchuk met again in Minsk on December 30 1991 at the summit of the heads of the newborn CIS. The result was a vague decision that the Black Sea Fleet performs tasks that reflect the interests of the entire Commonwealth of Independent States. But each interpreted it in his own way. Yeltsin did not notice the problem at all, mired in the struggle for power with the parliament in Moscow. And Kravchuk demanded that the fleet take the oath of Ukraine 3 on January 1992, together with the entire group of former Soviet troops in Ukraine, numbering 700 thousand people.
"NO MORE CALLING!"
District commanders had a choice. For example, the commander of the Odessa district, I. F. Morozov (not to be confused with another general, Morozov, Konstantin, who was already appointed at the time by the defense minister of Ukraine) suddenly felt himself a Ukrainian. And the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Kasatonov, decided to oath Ukraine not to accept and save the fleet for Russia. The vast majority of sailors fully supported him.
Undoubtedly, the higher generals were pre-psychologically processed from Kiev. Most were easily processed. Some rested. Thus, on the eve of the oath, the Commander of the Carpathian Military District, General Skokov, was replaced. But the most tough position was taken precisely by Admiral Kasatonov. The new Ukrainian Morozov even began to avoid him, apparently fearing for the purity of his newly acquired self-identification. In his memoirs, Kasatonov writes: “I. F. Morozov surrendered himself, passed the district, and at my next call he said: "Do not call again."
Agree, a ridiculous situation. "Ethnic" conflict of two people with Russian surnames! It seems that the discussion here was primarily about career considerations. Morozov was promised a high post, and he was “Ukrainized”. And Kasatonov could not sacrifice principles. The generals-philistines entered into confrontation with the admiral of the empire.
Subsequently, Kasatonov recalled: “No one ever (neither then, nor later) set targets for the preservation of the fleet, did not set me up for anything, did not set any conditions, did not promise awards ... No one ever called me to anything. Of course, these bosses fought before the force and the will of circumstances, feared for themselves, wanted to survive ... I had to make a decision, and I made it, declaring 5 in January that “the Black Sea Fleet is the Russian fleet, subordinate to E. Shaposhnikov (the then CIS Minister of Defense. - Avt .) and V. Chernavinu (Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the united armed forces of the CIS. - Auth.). Need for a fleet political decision. We are ready to cooperate with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine! ”Sailors fulfilled my order:“ Do not take the Ukrainian oath! ”The American newspaper The New York Times first announced this. In support, I received from Russia hundreds of telegrams from ordinary people, from management - zero. In form it was a rebellion. And quite unexpectedly for everyone, including Russia. ”
INTERVIEW WITH EXECUTIVE CHAIR OF PRIVATE FIRM
We are talking with the then chief of intelligence of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Soloviev.
- Kravchuk wanted to take away the whole fleet?
- If there was a desire at the top, the fleet would remain all Russian. There would be no division. But from Kiev there were commands to call for sailors in the 1992 year, only sailors from the Ukrainian territory. We immediately understood: if sailors are only from Ukraine, the oath is Ukrainian, which means that the ship automatically becomes Ukrainian. From Novorossiysk ships brought here Russian sailors with a Russian oath. There was a team from Kiev in January to take the oath to Ukraine. But nobody took the oath, as we all had a thought: let's wait until the moment when the two Supreme Commanders, Yeltsin and Kravchuk, decide the fate of the fleet. And only after that everyone has the right to decide whether he wants to serve in the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation or in the fleet of Ukraine.
For us it was very important. But there were people who, as they say, ahead of the locomotive: “We want to serve Ukraine, take the oath!” The all-Ukrainian meeting of officers led by Armenian Martirosyan, commander of the communications regiment and chairman of the public organization Union of Officers of Ukraine, influenced them. They recommended that Kravchuk take the oath as quickly as possible and decide on the composition of the armed forces. From that moment it began. In Sevastopol send directives to take the oath. Everyone was starting to think for himself.
- Kasatonov arrived to command the Black Sea Fleet in September of 1991, after the State Emergency Committee, when the Union was breathing its last. How would you characterize him as a person?
- The first thing that Igor Vladimirovich did when he arrived in Sevastopol was that he brought the fleet into the Mediterranean Sea. I was also on this trip. Already returning home, in the Bosphorus Strait, we received a telegram that he was given the third star of the admiral.
- It was a prestige step? The exit of the fleet was to show that it exists as a combat unit and, in spite of everything, is present in the Mediterranean?
- Sure!
- The campaign was carried out by order of Kasatonov?
- Usually such exits are coordinated with the commander-in-chief of the Navy. He reports to the Minister of Defense. And if the trip is connected with entering ports of foreign countries, then this is coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each ship exit is a big approval procedure. Igor Vladimirovich, of course, was a politician. He assumed many functions of the state. He sometimes acted according to the principle: “I think so!” And if it turned out or not, it was difficult to say. Because, as soon as he began to act by political methods, dissatisfaction immediately came from the leadership of Ukraine: “Remove him! What is he so brash! Commands! ”
- What political decisions did he make?
“They say they take the oath from Kiev, and he says:“ We will not take it! ”They say:“ Do not go out! ”And he comes out ...
An old colleague of Solovyov, Admiral Kovshar, enters the conversation: "The commandant's office took the oath of office, he came - he canceled this oath as illegal."
- This is a naval commandant?
Soloviev: “No, the commandant of the city. There was a general incident. The commandant of the city of Sevastopol took the oath of allegiance to Ukraine. Sits on the second floor. Below are people who have not taken the oath, are pro-Russian. I myself was present there. There is a litigation: what to do next? He does not leave. Commandant of dual subordination. In the end, the commander insisted that this would be the commandant's office of the Russian Federation. That officer, who was at the top, eventually left it. Since that time, the commandant still submits to the Russian fleet. Kasatonov was persistent. He understood: since he is a commander, he must be engaged in a fleet. We also had a meeting of officers, led by the captain of the 1 rank Volodin. Gathered. Kasatonov listened to what was said. By the way, and when the question arose of appointing the commander of the Ukrainian fleet, Kasatonov held a military council and suggested: "If anyone wants this post, please come and consult." We sat on this expanded military council, and Kozhin, who later became the commander of the Ukrainian fleet, also sat with us. Kasatonov asked: “Someone wants? Have you already spoken to anyone? ”(Meaning in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. - Auth.) And Kozhin sat and was silent. We then told him: “I could tell my comrades. We are still admiral friends, ”...
“SO YOU ARE ALL UKRAINIANS?”
Admiral Kovshar introduces a clarification on the motives for the transfer of officers to the Ukrainian service: “In Moscow, the 5 squadron was reduced. The commander of the fleet chief of staff was found, but sixty officers were not. And tomorrow is December 31. And they all build - in the Navy of Ukraine! Graduated from the Academy of the General Staff. And the names are: Kostrov, etc. There was such a case in 93 year. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine Morozov arrived in Sevastopol. I, as the division commander, met him at the pier. I report: “Comrade Minister, Commander of the 30 Division of Surface Ships, Rear Admiral Kovshar!” Nearby is Rear Admiral Avramenko, Chief of Staff of the Brigade. Next - the deputy for work with the personnel Chumak and the commander of the flagship "Kerch" captain 2-rank Demidenko. Morozov: “So you are all Ukrainians?” “So for sure!” “Where are the Russians then?” And I say: “And you have Russians in the Naval Forces of Ukraine! Kozhin, Kostrov, Kuzmin and further on the list. He somehow reacted sluggishly, only someone behind him laughed. ”
The confrontation between the two “great powers,” led by the geniuses of democracy, peaked in the spring of 1992. 5 April, President Kravchuk signed a decree "On urgent measures for the construction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine." This document prescribed the formation of the Ukrainian Navy based on the Black Sea Fleet. That is, in fact, tried to subordinate the Black Sea Fleet to Kiev, and to remove the recalcitrant Kasatonov. But exactly two days later, Boris Yeltsin issued a decree “On the transition to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation of the Black Sea Fleet”. The two countries were almost on the verge of war. But exactly a day later - 8 of April - both presidents, having talked to each other by phone, withdrew their decrees and after several months of exacerbations of the chronic black sea disease of 3 August ambitions in Mukhalatka announced a “transition period in the history of the fleet”, promising to share it "In fairness" between the two fraternal peoples.
The tedious work of intergovernmental delegations has begun. The fleet continued to stand in the harbor under the former Soviet flag until 1997, when the St. Andrew’s flag was raised on its Russian part, and the sea flag of the Hetman Skoropadsky era on the Ukrainian part. Ukraine received 138 ships and vessels. Including the missile cruiser Admiral Lobov, completed by more than 90 percent. This ship was first given the name "Galicia", then renamed the "Ukraine". But the essence of the matter is not changed. The rusting, unarmed tub, and stuck near the plant wall in Nikolaev, while the “Moscow” of the same type with it, having undergone a major overhaul, became the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Most of the Ukrainian ships cut into metal, enriching someone’s pockets with scrap metal. The part of the naval forces that survived the cutter got off into the plucked flock at Chicken pier in Sevastopol.
ONLY ON GOD'S HOPE
The future showed the correctness of Admiral Kasatonov and the senselessness of Kravchuk's greed, from which Leonid Makarovich himself, who had flown from his chair in the 1994 year, did not have time to get anything. If Kasatonov and his officers had broken, then the entire former fleet of the Soviet Union on the Black Sea would have become scrap metal under the flag of Skoropadsky.
The events during the hurricane in Sevastopol 11 in November 2007 of the year can become the symbol of the brilliant state of the Naval Forces of Ukraine and the level of their naval commanders who reached peak of form during the Yushchenko era.
The Ukrainian ships, in contrast to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia, were not delivered on time to protected parking. As a result, the Ukrainian corvette “Vinnitsa” rammed the Ukrainian ship of management “Slavutych”, and the tug “Korets” smeared its starboard on it. The ship of the management of "Donbass" had to urgently save the Russian tug MB-160. The tragedy that took place in the Donbass (according to eyewitnesses, it “twisted like a chip”!) Is testified by a snapshot from the wheelhouse - the seat of the ship’s commander, to whose back the icon of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of navigators, was urgently tied with a rope. It is still not clear who, at that moment, was driving the “ship of command” —the captain or the saint personally? But do not be near the Russian tug, I'm afraid, and the saint would not help.
Information