History of one photo
For many years now, in memoirs, in analytical publications, in articles of the respected newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, etc. etc., devoted to catastrophes and accidents of submarines, the authors regularly use a photograph of the Soviet submarine missile cruiser of project 667-B, according to the NATO classification "MURENA", with a remarkably damaged nose and a well-wrinkled wheelhouse. Everywhere it is presented as a collision of a submarine with an American submarine in the training ranges of the North Fleet. Neither the time nor the place of this episode, indicated in these sources, coincides with the essence of what happened. It is also intriguing that in no documentary list of accidents and collisions of submarines known to me there is any information about this episode. As if "the sea keeps its secrets."
Let the sea keep a lot of secrets, but this strategic nuclear-powered nuclear vessel crumpled by military labor somehow disagrees with that role similar to that determined by some specialists.
Submariners and those interested history submarine fleet, unwittingly because of the scarcity of information, there are very far from the truth assumptions and speculations about this mysterious episode of the cold underwater war. But inside the crumpled iron were 144 submariner, and none of them respected authors have thought to somehow clarify what was in fact. It would not be a sin to talk with the captain of the ship, he is still alive. On my attempt to prompt the author of the books where this photo regularly looks to the reader, to Mr. Mormul NG about the true state of things, I received a wonderful reply: “I have already forgotten about this incident!” You forgot this, dear Nikolai Grigorievich, because you were not present there, but let me remember this to the crew and, sorry, the nuclear-powered ship commander.
So here. Let the respected submariners forgive me for the intriguing beginning of my introduction. I will try to clarify how things really happened.
I, Captain I rank Batayev Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, now retired, commanded this ship in the same campaign when there was a collision with something unknown, but less massive than my underwater vehicle, the external consequences of which are recorded in this photo. In the capacity of the commander of this project of the SSBN, this was my eighth military service. I have been in command of this ship for six years.
Our crew was an experienced, well-rallied team, and I still bow low to all sailors, midshipmen, officers for having the honor and the fortune to command them and successfully go to any latitude wherever the Battle Command brought us. Thank you guys!
In that year, 1982, our ship was supposed to enter combat service in the month of March according to the cyclical schedule of the combat service of strategic submarines. The crew fully worked and passed all the required coursework tasks. He performed practical, rocket and torpedo firing with excellent assessments and was completely ready to go to sea for combat service. Military patrol areas and crossings were not known to us, because they were determined by the Battle Order of the General Staff and the Civil Code of the Navy. Usually, our ships (SSBNs) carried combat service singly, observing maximum secrecy, being in the command preparedness of the missile weapons.
By the time the preparations for the departure to the sea were completed, we learned that by decision of the General Staff of the Navy, our boat will have to go part of the march as part of the tactical group of submarines. According to the plan, our submarine cruiser at the transition was supposed to protect the submarines of the 705 "K-123" project. This is an atomic-powered vessel from a series of semi-automatic machines with a liquid-metal reactor and a crew almost entirely composed of officers. Its task was to divert the antisubmarine forces of a potential enemy, to destroy them with the start of hostilities, to help the SSBN to detach from the enemy's TAP forces in order to further accomplish the strategic task. This idea is not new, but it was tested very rarely, only on the scale of naval exercises. It did not exist and, I am afraid, does not exist and, until today, there is no clear technical possibility by our hydroacoustic tools when detecting a noisy underwater object: “I am My own.” This is called an identification system. The pilots did not have such a problem, they also have a technique, but also their eyes, but we only have completely non-musical ears and a stamped list of classification acoustic signs of noisy targets.
Any noisy object became the subject of careful analysis and was considered as a possible adversary. Question for the sixth grader: There were two, three became. Who is a stranger? How to determine the "Cossack"? Shore, Moscow will give all the answers, but then in the conclusions, having scouted the truck with the same naval documents, they will catch some inconsistencies and then at the Arbatskaya or Lermontovskaya metro will scream about the stupidity of the commander of the “samotope” when his acoustics and he himself could not recognize the noisy object. Experts are illiterately classified, and the commander, without chewing, swallowed their report. And the acoustics, by the way, are qualified engineers-engineers, graduates of the All-Russian Academy of Pedagogical Education named after Popova, but they do not have daily training, and only a person whom the Lord or nature has noted with this gift can listen and distinguish between noises. I’m not even talking about the radio operator’s rumor, a good acoustics from a different incarnation, this phenomenon is a piece of talent. The draft commissions in the military registration and enlistment offices sent the guys not always distinguishing the noise of a locomotive from the roar of a jackhammer to this military specialty. How many such bulldozers in civilian specialty had to be called acoustics. A commander may trust an experienced hearing officer - a foreman or a midshipman, but he is not free to ignore the report of their commander - the head of the Radio Engineering Service. In the underwater language, this is called a target classification. And the commander approves or does not approve what the head of the RTS reports to him, complying with his knowledge, experience and tactical situation at the moment and making his decision.
Upon the arrival of the K-123 PLA to our base of Gremikha, the unforgettable memory of the commander of the 11 submarine flotilla, Vice Admiral Ustyantsev Alexander Mikhailovich invited me and the commander of the K-123, Captain I rank Bulgakov V.T. for instructing and resolving tactical issues raised by the boat commanders. The commander of the SSBN was appointed senior in the tactical group, i.e. I. For the sake of safety, the submarines were echeloned in depth: the upper echelon for SSBNs and the lower one for SSNs. Required to observe the complete radio silence. Communication - if necessary, acoustic (ZPS - sonar communication) in the code mode, using the table of conditional signals. When driving, if possible, be in the zone of acoustic audibility of mutual noise. In this mode, and follow to the point of divergence. Further, each submarine follows its own plan.
The database checked the practical compatibility for the mutual work of sonar systems SSBM MGK-100 "Kerch" and PLA SAC "Yenisei". Everything worked great.
After going out to sea and meeting at the designated point, the group, having conducted identification by the LPS, moved as a general direction to the Arctic Ocean. Swimming was calm. Periodically SSBN listened for PLA noises. that is, “spinning” at different distances around SSBNs. performed its security functions.
The chronological moments and some details are somewhat blurred in my memory, but the sequence of actual events has been preserved clearly and distinctly.
Unexpectedly, on the third day the same digital coded signal was received from the PLA four times. In our particular case, each codogram was not decoded, but out of the four codograms, the information was obtained using the matching method: “Crash. I need help! It is worth noting that the speed of an acoustic signal in water is 200.000 times slower than a radio signal. In this case, the unpredictable involvement of objective interference increases dramatically.
Noise PLA was not heard for about one and a half hours. Our requests in the direction of incoming signals remained unanswered. The situation demanded taking measures to clarify the situation, and I made a decision, breaking the secrecy, to surface under the periscope. I am a sailor, and the received codogram is a signal similar to SOS. The time is peaceful, and the staffs will survive this decision that violates my secrecy.
I assumed that the submarine in a severe emergency floated to the surface position and gave an emergency radio signal through the fleet. SSBN emerged under the periscope and opened radio watches in general and emergency radio networks. In the first networks, the usual work was going on, while in emergency the complete radio silence reigned. Surfacing under the cabin, repeatedly examined the horizon by a radar station on all distance scales. No surface targets were found.
This calmed me somewhat and I, staying at the periscope depth, continued to follow my route synchronously with the planned moving point. A few hours later, at first we heard faint, then intensifying noises of our precious disappearance. Acoustics classified the noise as the noise of the K-123 PLA. Our requests for the ZPS PLA did not respond, but nevertheless the alarm subsided: the smoking-room is alive!
Sighing with relief, plunged and went on. Already closer to the point of separation the contact was finally lost, and the SSBN went its own route. Only after returning to the rumor base they learned that the submarine had serious problems with the nuclear power plant and was towed to Severodvinsk. In 2002, after meeting with the commander of K-123, I asked him to clarify the past episode. The commander was very restrained, and I understand him.
Further, the Franz-Victoria chute went into the Arctic Ocean under powerful ice fields and continued combat patrols, shifting towards the north towards the general direction.
The crew in previous combat patrols had accumulated a considerable experience of swimming under the ice (my periscope photographs of the surface ice situation illustrate well the memoirs of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Chernavin VN and Mormul NG), and I was well aware that the ice shell over my head was two to three thirty meters requires a respectful attitude towards oneself, and only a competent and precise fulfillment by each submariner of his professional duties will help to exclude even minor blunders and unpredictable accidents.
Started patrolling in the Arctic Ocean. I will not consider the entire system of navigation support navigation in these areas. Own inertial system of the navigation complex "Tobol-5" and partly space navigation allowed to swim with sufficient accuracy. I will stop on one.
After crossing the course to the north of a certain latitude, the navigational road maps for patrol areas ended. They simply do not exist in our hydrography. But it does not matter. Transferred to the number of maps grid. Not to me first, not to me last it was necessary and it is necessary to swim on them. This is a blank sheet of chart paper with a designated latitudinal scale. Longitude causes the navigator, depending on the longitude of the navigation area. This is a common practice when crossing the oceans, where the depths have long been measured, and sailors in the ocean are free from the possibility of finding themselves in unexpected shallow water.
Another thing is the Arctic Ocean. If near the northern islands, measurements were made over the course of a century, and they can be trusted with a certain degree of caution, then closer to the polar regions such confidence decreases significantly. Repeatedly including an echo sounder, you expect the depth of 1000 m on the GenCard, and you get 300 m at your own depth of immersion 150 m. They say correctly that “the ocean is fraught with itself ...”, but the ship with crew is “fraught with itself ...” that our hydrographs and oceanographers decided that the Lomonosov Ridge was found, named, and then do not worry, it was deep all around. So, not so. Ask live commanders and submariners for this. Probably, you will hear something interesting and folklore. Of course, it is more convenient for our oceanologists and hydrographs to work on the Great Barrier Reef from Australia than in the fourth ocean, which is called the Arctic Ocean, taldych from primer to encyclopedias, that it is ours, my dear, Pomor. Well, swim native underwater people without maps, and for only one sovereign fishing. I agree, if only for ice-cold fish, but where to put these “Mom, do not spoil” in rocket mines and torpedo tubes. But what to do, where sent, there and spin! Caution and caution again. Therefore, the choice of immersion depth was dictated by the optimal 90-120 range. The echo sounder and echo sounder were used quite often, and the MT-70 television system was used to observe what was above the boat all the time. We should not forget that swimming under the ice began at the very beginning of April, when the polar day is short, the horizon's illumination is low, and the winter ice is still strong. According to the task set by the SSBN, it is necessary, especially before a communication session, to actively search for openings or thin ice and emerge into a connection in this place to receive orders or information.
The organization and method of approaching such a heavy ship was worked out flawlessly, and the touch of the bow of the ship and felling on the ice occurred tremulously and tenderly. The commander of the BS-5 captain 2 rank Guzhov Boris Petrovich always did it masterfully, and I am a joke: “Petrovich! Upon returning from me, 150 with a trailer and a Pyatnitsky chorus ”, which meant: 150 of vodka, a beer mug and a jar of spiced salted beer - noted this skill.
In the interval between communication sessions when the boat was moving, careful observation of the ice situation was carried out; thin ice, polynya and divorces, their size and configuration were plotted on the map. But it should be noted that within an hour after fixation, when returning to this place, we did not find them, because the movement of the ice completely changed the picture. The accuracy of swimming in this time span was high. The navigator, led by experienced navigator captain 3 rank Kuznetsov Mikhail Mikhailovich, the kindest man with unusually smart hands, summed up the change in the ice situation as a "Brownian movement."
Here I would like to dwell on the hydroacoustic monitoring tools available on the ship, which will make it possible to understand the subsequent course of events.
As already mentioned, on the SSBN, a hydroacoustic complex (SAC) of the MGC-100 "Kerch" is installed, which consists of several hydroacoustic stations of various purposes, logically combined and controlled from one command and information console. At the time of development and its installation on the first ships, this was a significant step forward, and operation in marine and oceanic conditions showed good results: the range of detection of noisy objects increased dramatically, which means that the freedom of maneuver of our submarines increased when attacking surface and submarine targets or deviations from anti-submarine forces of the enemy.
By the 80 years, it was significantly out of date, and our technical and technological lag in the field of underwater acoustics was obvious (I don’t presume to say this in terms of scientific research), but the fact that we were technologically in a very soft place is for sure. The complex did not have a technical classifier of targets. The classification of moving targets was carried out by acoustics by frequency ranges, propeller turns, the nature of the engines, the pitching period, and was approved by the submarine commander, consistent with the tactical situation. By the way, our opponent already had the technical ability to record and keep in memory the “acoustic portraits” of all our ships, even of the same type, with their individual acoustic features.
No matter how bitter it may be to admit, the enemy’s detection range of our submarines was 2 - 5 times higher than the capabilities of the Soviet submarine fleet, which allowed foreign submarines to follow our submarines absolutely calmly. And since the acoustic complex on the submarine is more than the ears (paradoxically, but the submariners "look" with their ears), then our nuclear-powered vessels received from the enemy unflattering definitions for us: "roaring cows", "gangsters blindfolded" - due to the unpredictability of maneuvers during checks for lack of tracking or other maneuvers - “mad Ivan”. And "Ivan" neither by dream, nor by spirit does not know that his boat is "pastured."
This brief excursion into the world of the technical capabilities of our hydroacoustics was carried out in order to make more clear the distinction between swimming in the open sea and in the arctic and polar regions. Ice fields are not stationary. In motion, the floes and the fields rub against each other, horny, turn over, split and all this is accompanied by an acoustic disturbance of the aquatic environment, i.e. noise. The display of noise on electronic indicators GAK turns on the screens into a continuous illumination on all frequency ranges. On the electrothermal paper recorders is a thick spotted strip. The audible indicator of the central post produces sounds in the entire range of audibility frequencies of the human ear: from a mosquito peep to a puffing locomotive through a nightingale trill, howling of a pack of wolves, gnashing of teeth, a storm of applause, turning into an ovation, and so on. Acoustics shift the headphones to the back of the head, change on the watch after 2 hours instead of 4-x, the audio indicator turns off. Only the paper of recorders obediently tolerates everything, being covered with blackness, and the Kometa tape recorder winds up this acoustic chaos to the best of its chances. Here there is a real 99% chance of not hearing the “useful noise” i. noise from the target.
According to the accepted provisions, the submarines, while on patrol, should conduct reconnaissance of the hydrological profile along the depth, dive to the depth and measure the speed of sound propagation in water with a special station, but it is different at different depths and the pattern of its change is not fully understood. Based on the obtained measurements, a graph is constructed, the type of hydrology is determined, and the optimal depth of navigation is selected depending on the tactical need (its stealth, detection of surface ships, submarines, attacks, etc.). Our SSBN also performed this legitimized action document, and we were given sharp jumps in the speed of sound. The pen of the recorder ran from edge to edge of the scale, fixing the speed of sound propagation (these are changes up to 50 m / s) for a few meters of immersion. After the depth of 60 and more, the changes became less abrupt and chaotic, but the ice kingdom continued its endless concert and the cacophony that became a “conscious need” did not diminish.
Swimming continued calmly. The acoustic riot kept the central post in tension, while the rest of the warriors gulped. The charter schedule of underwater camping life, and she was following the routine. In accordance with the schedule established by the Battle Order, we sighed to communication sessions, if possible, to thin, from 3-4 meters thick, ice, if found in preparation for icing, and received current operational and political information from the command.
Zampolit spent the day ideological and educational work with the people and wrote his report on PolMorSose (political and moral status) of this people in the Political Department.
The Specialist, mostly on nights, did his even more difficult work and also wrote his report to the Special Section.
A start-up wrote to the commander of the ZHUS (event log), previously this document was called ZhBD (combat log), since we are doing the Battle Service, then you should not confuse Events with Actions, because the first thing that happened and the second manifestation of energy activities. And so would not be cunning. And daily training plans.
The rest wrote and read each his own. Both readers and writers sailed in this way until April 9. These and subsequent events memory tenaciously and forever preserved in us.
In 03 hour. 57 min. on training anxiety prilegnilis on the next communication session. Ice thickness 4.5 - 5.0 m. Under the keel of the 1000 m. They accepted the information and began to dive, making a reconnaissance of a hydrological section. Speed boat 9.0 knots. Somewhere in the 4 hour. 26 min. operator BIUS capitalist Alexander Georgievich Minaev reported: “Tov. Commander, depth 96 m, isothermal with 60 m "(the speed of sound in water is constant). I ordered the boatswain: “Keep the depth of 100 m. Right rudder” and set the course for the route. A little earlier, the special person Vanya Ryakhovsky, a very decent man, came to the central post and, may God bless him for many years, sat down in a safe next to the commander’s seat and jokingly said: referring to the training training emergency alarm). I replied to him jokingly: “That you are upset, now we will play!”.
The boat has already laid down on the course, the depth of 99 is m. We are sitting, waiting from radio operators for forms with received radiograms. Seconds through 30 after my humorous response from a strong double blow in the bow, I flew out of the chair into the open door of the central post. Hours showed 4 hour. 31 min.
It took me a few seconds to “fly in” back into the CPU and grab onto the cable of the astronavigating periscope. The boat sank with a trim of 18 degrees on the nose. The depth of immersion increased. Speed dropped to 7.0 nodes. He commanded: "Turbines reverse (full back), bubble in the nose, steering on the ascent." At that moment I had, as a test pilot Mikoyan SA, aptly defined his condition during an emergency. "Transparency of thought." Everything around was seen sharply and distinctly. Time, it seemed, was impermissibly slowed down; manipulations of the boatswain and the operator of the control panel of the ship's systems were made as if the film was scrolled slowly, people talked was stretched. I physically wanted to speed things up. I had the same feeling later, in a different place and time, during rocket shooting, when the rocket with the engines already working in the mine began to think longer than the allotted time before parting with the ship and crew. Submariners will understand what this can mean. In the current situation, there were also enough fears.
Most of all, I was afraid that an emergency, including 1 of the kind, protection of reactors, turbines and turbine generators could have worked against impact. But due to the vibration of the boat, according to the testimony of tachometers and a drop in speed, I felt that the turbines were working on the reverse. Later it turned out that the emergency protection signals had been dropped, but the officers-managers of the BC-5 had correctly blocked them and excluded the creation of a catastrophic situation. Especially distinguished cap. lt Butsaev Vasily Nikolaevich. Long life to him.
The boat got stuck at a depth of 186 m, leveled the trim and began to slowly emerge. At a depth of 45, the commander of the BCh-5 cap.2 of the rank Guzhov B.P. kept the boat almost on the "foot". Echoledomer showed the thickness of the ice 1.5 - 2.0 m. It was possible to priladnyatsya to look around carefully in the compartments. I did not want to move far from the place of collision, because The first thought about the cause of the blow was: iceberg.
Slipping and blowing the middle group of ballast tanks, cutting ice broke. From the place of impact the boat moved to 4.5 - 5.0 cable. After accepting reports from the compartments and from the commanders of the combat units on the condition of the material part and not receiving particularly disturbing reports, I decided to visually inspect the horizon through the commander’s periscope.
With caution, very slowly, controlling the tension of the cables with their hands, they raised the commanding periscope. Inspected the horizon. It was an early morning. The sun height 6-7 degrees shone through the frosty haze. Icebergs across the horizon were not observed.
He gave the command to flush the middle group in order to rise higher, not to risk a periscope break, and to look more thoroughly on the horizon. Dropped the top manhole, went to the bridge. It was very frosty, and somehow completely north silence rang. Only the cabin was raised above the ice; no bow and stern could be seen. On the rocket deck, such “little house” piled up ice flocks weighing tens of tons. The upper part of the nose of the fencing of the cabin was heavily wrinkled, fragments of window leaves and top fire littered. Powerful covers covering the shafts of sliding devices remained closed, but had dents with a deflection up to 3's, see. Icebergs were not observed. Around there were ice rutting fields.
To document the surface situation, I asked our good amateur photographer cap. Let Levchuk Rostislav make a panoramic survey of the entire horizon through a periscope with fixing the limb of course angles and a compass scale. Part of the submariners through the periscope admired the "white silence".
Staying long in this position because of the compression of the ice was dangerous and, "knocking out" the air reserves, plunged to a depth of 90 m, following the plan.
From the reports of commanders of combat units, it became clear that there were no serious damage to weapons and mechanisms. The fourth torpedo with a very serious torpedo was filled with water, but the flow was insignificant, from 15 to 50 l / min, depending on the depth of the dive. The underwater acoustic environment was still the same. Native cacophony lived.
The thought didn’t come out of my head: what did we “kiss”? In perplexed interrogative views, the political officer and the special person felt that they were haunted by the professional question: “When will YOU give radio to the command of what happened? After all, there are documents according to which you are obliged to do this! ” I understand that they are also “Tsar's people” and also bear their own measure of responsibility. Yes, I answer, there are documents, and I will violate them under my responsibility, and here's why:
You know that there is no serious damage. The crew is both physically and morally healthy. Report on the collision at this latitude, at a depth of 100 m with an unknown object in the absence of, as you have seen, icebergs, just for the requirements of the documents? We will certainly be returned to the base, even if we indicate that we do not need help and are ready to continue the performance of the combat mission.
Imagine how much trouble there will be in the Ministry of Defense, the Navy, the Kremlin, how many questions will be sprinkled from all team bags. Answers should be given while on the surface. Crush ice to hell. The submarine is an egg, it withstands great outboard pressure, but it can crack from compression with ice floes. And then no atomic icebreaking fleet will help us; it will not break through here. Duplicate "Chelyuskin" and Chelyuskin residents do not want either in tragic or heroic terms.
At best, ordered to return on their own. Let's go back in shame. Themselves. We will do a little fad, we will arrange the universal alarm, but in the eyes of smart and competent submariners we will look like a non-commissioned officer widow. Do not worry. We will come - we will report. And there let them decide who we are and what we stand for. For now we will consider, analyze, prepare reporting documents for this bad luck. Both understood me and agreed with me. And they began to analyze.
To begin with, I asked the whole crew to write a report in my name and indicate their location at the time of the collision, which teams were sent from the central post and in the compartments, how they were performed and everything that everyone considers necessary to report.
After reviewing the reports, we did not find the wrong actions of the personnel. This is the crew's fusion, when the teams are executed correctly, and the crew competently acts in an unusual situation.
Further. The personnel of the stern compartments did not mark any blows in the stern of the ship. When surfacing, I already noted that the absence of any icebergs even more confirmed me that the subject of the “kiss” was different. The serviceability of the electric chains of the stern anchor light at the top of the stabilizer of the vertical steering wheel also indicated that the stabilizer had not touched anything. And the most important thing. A blow even on the lower part of the iceberg, as a slightly deformable object, would be crushing for SSBNs, as If this colossus is motionless, then with the resulting trim a stabilizer strike would be inevitable.
Some time after the immersion, the foreman of the hydroacoustics team midshipman Alexander Shcherbakov reported (how did he manage to hear !?): "I hear the sound of screws, I suppose, of a submarine." The recorder against the background of blots and stains over a period of 3-4 minutes drew a regular trajectory of bearing change. Then the noise and target mark disappeared. The noise was recorded on a tape recorder, and later, on returning to the base, the films were transferred to the acoustic laboratory of the Fleet headquarters in Severodvinsk.
I, together with the navigator, art. lt Petrov and Andrei Vladimirovich, later commander of the newest submarine strategic missile carrier (TYPHOON), who at that time had a sophisticated calculator and his own bright head, sat down for calculations and analysis of previous events, surrounded by governing documents.
Two days later, in a regular communication session, he received an intelligence report of the following content: “Time, Latitude. Longitude (District of North Cape). British nuclear submarine should be on the surface. Course 210, speed 6 nodes. It was here that I remembered about where the little dog might be buried, and what happened began to appear at a slightly different angle.
The following looked through: the half-forgotten "Cossack" recalled. A foreign submarine found our tactical group back in the Barents Sea. Taking advantage of her hydroacoustic complex, she identified for herself the main goal - the SSBN and set behind it a covert surveillance, the purpose of which was to identify the routes and areas of our patrols and destruction in the event of the outbreak of hostilities. Thoughts are inscrutable. Continuing tracking already under the ice, the commander of a foreign submarine somewhere did not calculate the distance. It is possible that due to the same acoustic cacophony. And on foreign submarines, the sonar complexes are also not perfect. In addition, he probably forgot that “Mad Ivan” is also deaf-blind, and therefore did not have time to dodge.
The dynamics of the collision looms next for me. SSBN hit the PLA (it is two times smaller with a displacement) in the lower part of the hull and added fencing and a deckhouse roof. PLA, having received a push up, began to emerge, and SSBN dive. The actions of the SSBN are described above. Then, the submarine, obviously having damage, emerged from under the ice to clear water and moved towards the ports of its ally Norway or home in a surface position.
Our submarine cruiser continued its combat cruise in the polar region and, according to the Combat Directive, on the 78 day from the start of the cruise surfaced in the surface position in the area of its base and moved to its native pier. After entering the internal raid from the bridge, we noticed that the tug, meeting the boat to assist with mooring, abruptly darted to the side, and a team led by the cook poured onto its deck, pointing in our direction. When mooring to the pier, the orchestra, playing joyful music, corresponding to the solemn moment of the meeting, choked and fell silent. The clear line of officers of the two headquarters, the rear and others, led by the chief of staff of the Flotilla, Rear Admiral Loginov Vladimir Pavlovich, crumbled, and each was personally dumbfounded.
Mooring and getting off the ship, I briefly reported on the arrival, on the fulfillment of the mission, on the health of the crew. There were few ordinary hugs and handshakes; a dumb question stood on their faces: “How did you manage to do that, dear?”. Vladimir Pavlovich asks me: “Glory, did you see your face?” Having understood it correctly, I replied that I could not see anything from the bridge. "Get in tow and admire." Together with the photographer, the same cap. L-volume Levchuk RP we walked around the boat in tow and took pictures of our sufferer. So this photo appeared. All the documentation, photos, and maybe even someone's thoughts, took my favorite department, and I have a few pictures left from the number attached to the report.
This was followed by "debriefing." Reporting documents were ready, a detailed analysis of navigation is also ready for submission.
The next day, a commission headed by Deputy Admiral Ryabov, Deputy Commander of the Fleet, flew in from Severomorsk. and began an almost weekly trial of the incident. The Vice-Admiral Ustyantsev Alexander Mikhailovich, the Flotilla Commander, said: "Glory, the ship has led, I have not lost people, the rest is our life." During the week, the crew answered all sorts of clever, and not so, commission questions. As a result, the chairman of the commission, Vice-Admiral Ryabov, asked me one single question: “Commander. Do you consider yourself guilty? ”, To which I replied:“ Neither I nor the crew consider ourselves to be guilty. ” "We also came to the same opinion," summed up the chairman of the commission. The commander of the flotilla was brief: "Hand over the report, hand over the ship, just put it in the dock and go with the crew on vacation."
After the commission’s work, all reporting documents, recorder tapes, tape recordings, coursegrams tapes, part of damaged metal structures were sent to the Fleet headquarters, Rubin Design Bureau and to the General Staff and the General Staff of the Navy.
While on vacation in Moscow, I met a friend who attended the report on this very serious incident, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral of the Fleet of the USSR Gorshkov SG As usual in such cases, organizational conclusions follow for the commander first. The pens of personnel officers as a means for cutting off the head and something else significant for the peasant were on “get it!”. The commander said three words: "Do not touch the commander!". Obviously, he owned more extensive information on this fact. I will not hide that, perhaps, this decision was also influenced by my lack of report from the sea.
After the vacation, the crew took on another SSBN and, after the usual training and testing of the tasks and practical shooting already mentioned, he again went to the next military service in the Atlantic, along with me, the newly appointed commander of the RNSCN went to work with me. my former senior assistant Kryzhevsky Alexey Alekseevich. Upon returning from this hike, the crew received their native SSN K-1983 from factory repair in the fall of 465 and in the summer of 1984 we left for the next, my last, tenth commander's military service, partially also under ice, but to the shores America. I will try to tell about this campaign some other time. It was a very difficult trip.
But the attention of the fleet headquarters to me in the form of a reprimand for the above-described under-ice cases was rendered to me. With the wording: "For the wrong choice of the depth of the dive." Well, in headquarters, the choice of depths in the Ice Ocean is always determined easily and always accurately. The higher the headquarters, the safer the choice. That's the whole story of this photo.
Information