Mysterious explosions
RESOLUTION No. 516
COUNCIL OF LABOR AND DEFENSE
November 13 1931 city
(excerpts - author's note)
Moscow – Kremlin
On the organization of the state trust for road and industrial construction in the Upper Kolyma region "Dalstroy".
In order to carry out road and industrial construction in the Upper Kolyma region, the Council of Labor and Defense decrees:
1. To organize, under the direct jurisdiction of the Council of Labor and Defense, a State Trust, abbreviated as “Dalstroy”.
2. Dalstroy is responsible for:
a) development of subsoil resources, with the extraction and processing of all minerals of the region and
b) colonization of the development area and organization of all kinds of enterprises and works in the interests of the successful completion of the first task.
...
Chairman of the Council of Labor and Defense - V. Molotov (Skryabin)
For the Secretary of the Council of Labor and Defense - I. Mezhlauk
Thus, in the east of the USSR a powerful administrative entity emerged, a “special type of plant”, a kind of state within a state (since 1938 – the Main Directorate for Construction of the Far North of the NKVD of the USSR “Dalstroy”, since 1945 – the Order of the Red Banner of Labor Main Directorate for Construction of the Far North of the NKVD of the USSR “Dalstroy”, since March 1946 – subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, since March 1953 – reassigned to the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry of the USSR, liquidated through reorganization on May 29, 1957).
Initially, Dalstroy's area of operations encompassed the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk from the mouth of the Taui River to the village of Gizhiga. It extended within the borders of the Koryak and Chukotka National Okrugs, the border of the Yakut ASSR, and the upper reaches of the Taui's right tributaries, covering a total area of approximately 400 square kilometers. This territory subsequently expanded steadily. The final border was established on January 29, 1951, by a special decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, increasing the area to 3 million square kilometers. Dalstroy's territory included the entirety of today's Magadan Oblast, the Chukotka National Okrug, parts of Yakutia, Khabarovsk Krai, and Kamchatka Oblast, as well as individual settlements (state farms) in Primorsky Krai, comprising approximately one-seventh of the entire territory of the USSR.
On November 14, 1931, E. P. Berzin was appointed director of the Dalstroi trust. On February 4, 1932, the Dalstroi management, led by E. P. Berzin, along with other civilian workers and paramilitary guards, arrived at Nagayev Bay aboard the steamship Sakhalin, which had broken through the ice of the Sea of Okhotsk with the help of the icebreaker Litke. At the same time, the same flight transported at least one hundred of the first prisoners to Kolyma. It was that year that large-scale construction of roads, river ports, airfields, villages, and the region's capital, Magadan, began in Kolyma.
The development of the territory, gold, ore, and coal mining, and infrastructure development were carried out primarily by civilian workers employed by Dalstroy, and after its subordination to the NKVD in 1938, also by prisoners from various forced labor camps (ITL) scattered across the vast territory under the Directorate's jurisdiction. As of August 18, 1948, 219,392 people worked at all Dalstroy enterprises and institutions. Of these, 85,041 were civilian employees, 29,523 were special settlers, and 104,828 were prisoners.
Foreign and domestic liberal media and scribblers like the "great liar" Solzhenitsyn sent at least a quarter of the Soviet population to Kolyma and covered the land there with the bones of tens of millions of dead. However, according to the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), the total number of prisoners brought to Dalstroi from 1932 to 1956 was 876,043, of whom 127,792 died. And the majority of them were not "illegally convicted," but criminals, Vlasovites, policemen, Banderites, Baltic "forest brothers," Japanese prisoners of war, and other elements clearly hostile to the Soviet regime, as well as former Soviet prisoners of war held by the Germans.
"The first Kolyma governor, wielding supreme party, soviet, and trade union authority in the region, the founder of Kolyma, executed in 1938 and rehabilitated in 1956, former secretary of Dzerzhinsky, former commander of the Latvian Riflemen's division, who exposed the infamous Lockhart conspiracy—Eduard Petrovich Berzin attempted, and quite successfully, to resolve the problem of colonizing the harsh region and simultaneously the problems of "reforging" and isolation. Credits allowed ten-year prisoners to return after two or three years. Excellent food, clothing, a four- to six-hour workday in winter, ten hours in summer, colossal wages for prisoners, allowing them to support their families and return to the mainland after their sentences as wealthy people. Eduard Petrovich did not believe in the reformation of the gangsters; he knew this shaky and vile human material too well. It was difficult for thieves to get into Kolyma in the early years—those who did manage to get there never regretted it. The prisoner cemeteries of those days were so sparse that one might have thought the Kolyma residents were immortal.
V. Shalamov. "The Green Prosecutor" (1959)
Director of Dalstroy (1931–1937) Eduard Petrovich Berzin
Head of Dalstroy (1939–1948) Ivan Fedorovich Nikishov
Dalstroy's production base was colossal even by the standards of the USSR and included 450 enterprises by 1953. These included 89 mines, pits, and factories, which employed 6 dredges, 183 excavators, 157 bulldozers, 23 power plants, and 1600 km of high-voltage power lines, 84 oil depots, 14 communication centers, 17 radio centers, 6 maritime points, 9 airfields, 4 narrow-gauge railways in Kolyma, and 2 railways in Vanino and Nakhodka. Dalstroy had its own sea and river fleet.
Due to Kolyma's isolation, food and logistics supplies for Dalstroy, as well as the transportation of passengers, including prisoners, from the mainland, could only be carried out by sea. Shipments leaving ports in the Far East (Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Vanino, Sakhalin) and the Northwest (Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk) went in two directions: the main one to the port of Nagayevo, and a smaller one to Chukotka and the river ports at the mouths of the Kolyma, Indigirka, and Lena rivers, from where cargo and labor were transported to their destinations by river.
At various times, Dalstroy was assigned seven seagoing vessels, of which three steamships purchased in Holland in 1935 (the Kulu with a capacity of 7000 tons, the Dzhurma with a capacity of 7040 tons, and the Yagoda with a capacity of 8375 tons) were the largest in the Far East. In addition, Dalstroy chartered a large number of vessels from other agencies. For example, in 1937, four vessels from Dalstroy's fleet delivered 42,884 passengers and 174,694 tons of cargo to the port of Nagayevo. In 1941, Dalstroy's river fleet consisted of 54 self-propelled vessels.
For its mining and construction work, Dalstroy required a huge quantity of explosives, which were also delivered by sea. These were primarily inexpensive and safe-to-handle industrial explosives based on ammonium nitrate (ammonal, ammonite, and dinaphthalite) and, in smaller quantities, TNT. Dalstroy also received explosive initiating devices, such as blasting caps, fuses, and detonating cords.
In 1946–1947, a series of mysterious explosions occurred on ships of Dalstroy, the Far Eastern Shipping Company, and a number of coastal facilities.
USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Kruglov to Stalin, Beria, Mikoyan, July 24, 1946
According to a report from the head of the Primorsky Krai Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, yesterday at 8 p.m. in Nakhodka Bay, near Vladivostok, a fire broke out in the Dalstroy temporary port warehouses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; ammonite and two warehouses containing food and industrial goods burned.
This morning, a fire and explosion occurred on the Dalstroy steamship "Dalstroy" in the same port, which was loaded with ammonite and food supplies. There are casualties; warehouses and other structures in the port were damaged by the explosion.
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Shishkarev, went to the scene with a group of workers to take urgent measures.
Deputy Minister for General Affairs Mr. Ryasnoy and Deputy Minister Mr. Mamulov will fly to the scene tonight to investigate the circumstances of the fire and explosion and to take measures to eliminate the consequences.
The results of the preliminary investigation and the losses will be reported later.
On July 24, 1946, Nakhodka was rocked by a powerful explosion: the steamship Dalstroy, which belonged to the Dalstroy trust and was preparing to depart for the port of Nagaevo in Kolyma, was blown up at the port pier on Mys Astafieva.
Almelo, the future Dalstroy
In March 1935, Dalstroy purchased the steamship "Almelo" from Holland, which was renamed "Yagoda" in honor of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR. After the People's Commissar's dismissal and execution, it was renamed "Dalstroy." The 13,500-ton deadweight vessel, with four double-deck holds, was built in 1918 at the NV Koninklijke Maatschappij "De Schelde," Scheepswerf en Machinefabriek shipyard in Vlissingen. A triple-expansion steam engine provided speeds of up to 14 knots, and the boilers ran on liquid fuel.
The Dalstroy operated between Vladivostok-Nakhodka and Nagayevo, delivering various cargoes and passengers, including prisoners, to the Trust. Its holds carried such famous figures as Sergei Korolev, Georgy Zhzhenov, and others to Kolyma.
During the Great Patriotic War, the steamship delivered automobiles and other cargo from the United States to Nagayevo. In August 1945, during the war with Japan, the Dalstroy (Captain V. M. Bankovich) was used by the Pacific Fleet as a landing transport. On the morning of August 16, during the Seishin landing operation, the steamship was blown up by an American bomber. aviation bottom mine and lost momentum.
At this point, the support vessel, towing the steamship Nogin, which had also hit a mine, failed to stop the Nogin in time, and its bow slammed into the port side of the Dalstroy. This resulted in a hole from the deck to the water. But the ships were lucky: aircraft and artillery The samurai force had already been suppressed, and the enemy could not take advantage of the confusion. Another ship arrived, and the Dalstroy was brought to the pier.
The soldiers ran down the gangway and rushed into battle, while the deck crew began unloading the ship manually, as the winches were inoperative due to a lack of steam. The engine room crew extended spare pipes, and through them, steam was supplied to the winches. Unloading began in full force. At midnight, having completed unloading, the Dalstroy left the pier and, unescorted and with dimmed lights, departed at low speed for Vladivostok. Later, it departed for overhaul in Canada.
Dalstroy in the USA during the Great Patriotic War
After repairs, the ship arrived in Vladivostok and, after several days of anchorage, proceeded to the port of Nakhodka for loading. The loading was carried out by prisoners. Among the various cargoes were explosives: approximately 500 tons of ammonal were loaded into the first hold, and 400 tons of TNT into the second.
Here is how the senior mate of the captain of the Dalstroy, Pavel Pavlovich Kuyantsev, describes the subsequent events in his book “I Would Choose the Sea Again...”:
"Bankovich (the ship's captain – author's note) was planning to go to Vladivostok and leave the first mate in charge for the time being... It was lunchtime. All was quiet on the ship and in the port. The crew was dining on board, and the stevedores were on shore.
The captain gave Pavel instructions for the time of his departure:
"And don't let those who come here just to get in the way," he meant the coastal administration and especially Vasya Duba, as they called Vasily Korablin, the head of the local Dalstroi department, "on board the ship. If they try to climb in, confiscate their matches and cigarettes on the gangway, just like you did with the stevedores."
The captain had barely finished when a desperate cry was heard from below:
— Fire in the first hold!
Without waiting for orders, the first mate rushed down the stairs. Even as he ran, he heard the captain calling the car phone:
— Water on deck and open the seacocks, flood the forward holds!
Ten seconds later, Pavel was at the first hold. The hold sailor, stationed there to guard the cargo, shot up the ladder. Right in the middle of the hatch, a thin wisp of smoke rose innocently from beneath various cargo crates. Everyone who ran to the hold hatch grabbed the barrels of four hoses and directed powerful streams into the hold; men with fire extinguishers ran up.
But the wisp of smoke, unaffected by the water, instantly grew, blackened, and suddenly burst forth in a black plume. Behind it rose a column of yellow flame higher than the masts. The deck heaved, the flames cramped in the hold, and with a roar and roar, it shot up into the sky. The men with the hoses began to retreat. The boatswain, the doctor, the sailors… All of them, battle-hardened, knew there would be an explosion. But no one flinched or ran.
Burning ammonal produces a temperature of 2000°C, and the men backed away from the flames toward the second hold, which held the TNT. They tore off the ventilator vents and directed jets of water there. They thought about pouring TNT on top, but forgot that this even more dangerous cargo was in rubber bags and wouldn't get wet. Damn those rubber bags! If not for them, the TNT might have gotten wet. (After prolonged heating, soaking in water, and melting, TNT can retain its explosive properties, but a constant supply of water would have reduced its temperature to a safe level – author's note).
At that moment the captain approached the hold and ordered:
"Guys! Abandon the ship immediately, run to the stern, the ladders are already lowered there. Pavel, go through all the rooms quickly, wake the people. Everyone ashore!"
Eight minutes after the fire started, a powerful explosion rocked the ship. Six of the Dalstroy's 48 crew members were killed, and another sailor died the following day from his injuries.
“Pavel turned and began looking for the steamship and his comrades. He didn’t see the steamship. The sun still shone in the blue sky, the distant hills were still green, and the quiet bay sparkled. But here, on Cape Astafieva, everything was bare. No ship, no warehouses, no buildings, no trees. Only the piles jutted out of the water where the pier had been, and the sunken stern of the steamship was visible. And on it, neatly side by side, lay two steam boilers, ejected from the stokehold, two of the five thirty-ton cylinders thrown there by the explosion. And all of this seemed to be covered in a black varnish—fuel oil, of which the ship had 1800 tons in bunkers. It all rose into the air and then covered the site of the disaster... The stern of the ship was surrounded by flames. It was the burning fuel oil floating on the water. The people were loaded onto a truck and taken to a new port. Along the road, parts of the ship, warped by the heat and scattered by the explosion, lay scattered for more than a kilometer, and a five-ton anchor was thrown some five hundred meters. In the village near Mys Astafieva, roofs were torn off every house and windows were shattered.
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