Submarines in fiction, film and reality
When did the first "real" serial submarines appear?
Let's not recall the legend about the underwater dive that Alexander the Great allegedly made near besieged Tyre.
The submarine of the Dutch engineer Cornelius Drebbel, created in 1620 by order of the King of England James I and even successfully tested in the River Thames.
Testing of Van Drebbel's submarine in a 17th-century drawing.
The unsuccessful "secret ship" that Efim Nikonov attempted to build in 1720 under Peter the Great.
The submarine "Turtle", built in 1775 by David Bushnell, and its unsuccessful attempt to sink (by drilling a hole in the side and attaching a mine) an English frigate during the American Revolutionary War.
Bushnell's submarine model
And even the submarine Hunley, which on February 17, 1864 actually sank the American screw sloop Housatonic... and itself perished from the explosion.
And others, powered by muscle power, were sometimes very curious individual examples.
Evolution of submarine architecture
The first mass-produced submarines appeared in the 1880s, developed in Russia by S.K. Dzhevetsky. But it wasn't until the early 20th century, with the advent of electric, gasoline, and diesel engines, that their practical application became feasible, and the mass production of submarines began. And as early as 1904, the Russian Navy added a submarine to its fleet. fleet The submarine "Dolphin" was accepted.
By the start of World War I, our navy had 15 submarines (according to other sources, 17). Germany had 28, England 76, and France 38. And until the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, neither side had a clear understanding of how to use them. Here's the opinion of Russian military theorist of the time, A. Bubnov:
Submarines are nothing more than underwater mine banks... they are a means of passive positional defense.
The commander of the submarine "Okun" V. Merkushov is also perplexed:
Submarines have never been used in the struggle of nations, no one really knows what they are capable of.
But even before the advent and actual use of real submarines, underwater vehicles gained widespread fame and popularity thanks to two novels by Jules Verne. The first, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," was published in the Parisian Journal of Education and Leisure (or Leisure) from March 20, 1869 to June 20, 1870; the second, "The Mysterious Island," was also published in the same journal from January 1, 1874 to December 15, 1875. Among other things, readers learned that submarine travel was quite pleasant and comfortable.
Prince Dakkar didn't hesitate to build himself a veritable underwater palace with several decks. There was even room for a museum featuring paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, Veronese, Murillo, Holbein, Velázquez, Rubens, Delacroix, Ingres, and Decamps, as well as suits of knightly armor, marble and bronze copies of ancient sculptures. There was also a huge harmonium with a keyboard nearly two meters wide and a fountain that spouted from a giant tridacna shell (the shell is about two meters in diameter). Incidentally, two such shells serve as holy water vessels in the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris—in the 16th century, the Doge of Venice gifted them to King Francis I.
Charles Bevalet. Tridacne of the Church of Saint-Sulpice, drawing 1868
Tridacna in Saint-Sulpice. Incidentally, this church is also home to the infamous copper strip known as the "Rose Line," which many learned about from Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (and the film based on it)—in fact, it's the Paris Meridian, the predecessor of Greenwich.
But let's return to the Nautilus and be amazed by the size of its cabin—10 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 5 meters high. However, that's not all: Prince Dakkar didn't forget the 12-volume library, which also served as a smoking room (cigars were made right on the ship, from seaweed). In the bow of the Nautilus, there was a cabin with wide underwater portholes. Overall, it was quite spacious and more than comfortable—but only for the captain and his guests. Considering the submarine's dimensions, as cited by Jules Verne (76,3 meters long and a midship diameter of 8 meters), there was little space for the sailors, and they clearly lived in extremely cramped conditions.
Proposed layout of the interior of the Nautilus:
And this is a model of the real Soviet submarine "B-440":
Very soon, films began to be made in different countries, in which viewers saw the internal structure of submarines with their own eyes.
Nautilus in the French-Italian-Spanish six-part series The Mysterious Island, 1973.
A still from the Soviet film "Captain Nemo," 1975. The submarine model was copied from classic book engravings for Jules Verne's novel. In addition to the heavy diving suits described by the author, modern scuba gear (called "light suits for short-term immersion"), and for communication between the “hydronauts” – communication devices not described by Jules Verne
In the USSR, G. Adamov's 1938 novel "The Mystery of Two Oceans" and the film of the same name, based on it and produced in 1955–1956 by the Gruzia Film studio, were popular. The fantasy submarine "Pioneer" is also impressive in size.
Inside the Pioneer submarine, a still from the film "The Mystery of Two Oceans"
And in many other films, submarines appear to be quite spacious—simply because the cramped conditions on real submarines make it impossible to conduct full-scale professional filming, forcing them to use mock-ups. In reality, even the most modern submarines are designed internally like a "claustrophobic nightmare."
In 2024, I had the opportunity to examine two Soviet submarines that had become museums and take some photographs.
The first of them is the diesel-electric submarine B-440 of Project 641 (NATO classification: Foxtrot), which is currently moored in the small town of Vytegra.
Vytegra, submarine "B-440"
75 of these submarines were built, 17 of which were exported: India, Libya and Poland probably bought them, and Cuba apparently received them for free.
The Vytegra submarine was built at the Novo-Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad in 1969. Until 1999, it served first in the Northern Fleet, then in the Baltic Fleet, carrying out combat missions in the Mediterranean, Barents, and Norwegian Seas, as well as in the Northeast Atlantic. In 2005, it became a museum in Vytegra.
By the way, a submarine of this project can be seen in Kaliningrad, and two more in the USA (in Long Beach and San Diego).
But why did a large combat submarine suddenly appear in this small town in the Vologda region? It's the birthplace of the renowned Soviet submarine designer Mikhail Alekseevich Rudnitsky—a veteran of World War I, the Civil War, and the Great Patriotic War, a rear admiral engineer, and head of the submarine department of the Main Directorate of Shipbuilding.
M. A. Rudnitsky
Moreover, during the Great Patriotic War, the headquarters of the Onega combat flotilla was located on the territory of the Vytegorsky district.
The second submarine I inspected was the multipurpose diesel-electric submarine Novosibirskiy Komsomolets (B-396). It was built at the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard to the Project 641B Som (NATO reporting name Tango).
Submarine "Novosibirsky Komsomolets"
Model of the Som project submarine
The submarine has a double hull: the outer (light) hull is lined with a special rubber coating, while the inner hull is divided into seven compartments. Two of these—the third (Central Post) and the fourth—have two decks. The first, or torpedo, compartment is the coldest, while in the fifth (Diesel) compartment, the temperature can rise to 50–60 degrees Celsius.
Three compartments are habitable: the second, fourth (Battery), and seventh (Aft). The fourth compartment of the Novosibirsky Komsomolets has now been converted into an exhibition hall dedicated to stories development of diesel submarines.
The bulkhead hatch on the Novosibirsky Komsomolets submarine (the hatches between compartments remain closed when submerged)
The only way to enter any submarine is through hatches on top, but now, for the convenience of visitors, doorways have been cut out (as well as inside the submarine).
By the way, the B-440 submarine was created on the basis of the Project 641 submarine.
But let's return to the Novosibirsky Komsomolets: this submarine served in the Northern Fleet from 1984 to 1992, conducting missions to the Mediterranean, Barents and Norwegian Seas, the North and South Atlantic, and the coast of West Africa. In 1998, it was decommissioned and purchased by the Moscow authorities (along with the patrol ship Druzhny). From Severodvinsk, it passed through the White Sea-Baltic Canal, Lake Onega, the Volga-Baltic Canal, the Rybinsk Reservoir, the Moscow Canal, and the Khimki Reservoir.
Since 2006, it has been housed in the Russian Navy Museum and Memorial Complex at Severnoye Tushino Park, opposite the Northern River Terminal. Incidentally, the Orlyonok ekranoplan (Project 904 Dragon) and the D-357 Skat air-cushion assault boat are also housed here.
Ekranoplan "Orlyonok"
Landing assault boat D-357 "Skat"
Let's look at the photographs I took and try to get an idea of the real conditions of service on these ships.
First, let's compare the technical characteristics of real and literary submarines.
Jules Verne's Nautilus resembled a huge whale.
The Nautilus as depicted by Neuville, circa 1875.
Adam's "Pioneer" was shaped like a sperm whale and was made of some kind of super-hard alloy. "recently discovered by Soviet metallurgists".
The submarine "Pioneer" in a Soviet illustration of the novel
As a result, this submarine received "the ability to withstand pressure in excess of one thousand atmospheres"The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is approximately 1100 atmospheres, meaning Pioneer could dive to a depth of 10 meters. This was also the case with the Russian autonomous underwater vehicle Vityaz-D and the bathyscaphe Trieste, designed by Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard, which both reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Jules Verne also let his imagination run wild: his "Nautilus" dives to 16 kilometers. It's worth noting that the maximum depth of the Mariana Trench (Challenger Deep) ranges from 10,028 to 11,034 meters.
But the real B-440 has a working diving depth of 250 meters, and a maximum diving depth of 400 meters, while the Novosibirsky Komsomolets has 240 meters and 300 meters, respectively.
But the autonomy of fantasy submarines is much worse: the Nautilus “dives” for only 5 days, the Pioneer for 15, the B-440 for 90, and the Novosibirsky Komsomolets for 80 days.
The Nautilus was approximately 76,3 meters long, with a mid-section diameter of 8 meters and a height above water of 3,05 to 3,76 meters. Its submerged displacement was approximately 1500 tons, with its surface displacement being nine-tenths of that. The Pioneer was 70 meters long and 10 meters wide. Real submarines are more impressive: the B-440 submarine from Vytegra is 91,3 meters long and 8,5 meters wide, while the Novosibirsky Komsomolets is 90,2 meters long and 8,6 meters wide, respectively. The surface displacement of the former is 1945 tons, while the submerged displacement is 2472 tons. The Pioneer has 2770 tons and 4600 tons, respectively.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the B-440
Jules Verne does not report the number of the Nautilus's crew, but it is mentioned three times that there were on board at the same time "at least twelve sailors"If the submarine was serviced in three shifts, that means there were at least 36 people. It is said once that the fishing nets were hauled in about twenty sailors.
The crew of Adamov's "Pioneer" was only 20 people, the Moscow "Som" had 78, and the "B-440" was serviced by 80 people.
The Nautilus has electric engines, powered by super-powerful sodium-mercury batteries.
Adamov's "Pioneer" had jet engines powered by oxyhydrogen gas, which was produced by electrolysis.
Submarines B-440 and Novosibirsky Komsomolets are diesel-electric.
Jules Verne and Adamov didn't limit their ships' speeds: the Nautilus could reach speeds of up to 50 knots, and the Pioneer, up to 80:
When it was necessary to achieve particularly high speeds, Pioneer, using its inexhaustible electrical energy reserves, heated the submarine's entire outer hull to a temperature of two thousand degrees. At this temperature, a thin layer of surrounding water instantly turned to steam. Due to the submarine's rapid motion, more and more layers of water came into contact with its heated surface, continuously creating a continuous gaseous envelope around it. This eliminated water friction and created friction in the gaseous medium.
The Soviet B-440 has a surface speed of 16,8 knots and a submerged speed of 16 knots, while the Soma has 13 and 15 knots, respectively.
Weapon The Nautilus, frankly speaking, has a rather dubious weapon—some kind of iron "tusk." Only a suicide could use it to ram enemy ships. But the Pioneer has an ultrasonic emitter, which causes "the destruction of the molecular bonds of matter""B-440" has 6 bow and 4 stern torpedo tubes of 533 mm, and can use 22 torpedoes or 32 mines.
Submarine "B-440", bow torpedo compartment
Submarine "B-440", aft torpedo compartment
Submarine B-440, air tanks for launching torpedoes
The Novosibirskiy Komsomolets has six 533mm torpedo tubes in the bow, with a capacity of 24 torpedoes or 44 mines. An additional 12 torpedoes (or 24 mines) can be stowed in the second compartment, but at the cost of reduced habitability.
Submarine Novosibirsky Komsomolets, first compartment, torpedo tubes
This is what the controls of the Pioneer from Adamov's novel look like:
And this is the duty sailor on the B-440. Keep in mind that the "helm" is used to control the engine thrust:
The dining room of the Nautilus in Jules Verne's novel "finished and furnished in strict taste"At both ends are tall oak sideboards inlaid with ebony, and on the shelves are tableware made of expensive earthenware, porcelain, crystal, and silver. And here's what it looks like on the "B-440":
And on Soma:
This is the wardroom of the Novosibirsky Komsomolets:
And the midshipmen's wardroom on the B-440:
If necessary, the wardrooms were converted into operating rooms.
And this is the workstation of the doctor on the submarine "Novosibirsky Komsomolets":
Jules Verne's novel states that:
The captain's (Nemo's) cabin was austere, almost monastic. It contained an iron bed, a desk, a few chairs, and a washbasin.
It also contained alternative submarine control systems—Captain Nemo could control the Nautilus without leaving his cabin.
Now look at the photo of the B-440 submarine commander's cabin:
What is the situation with food on board?
The novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea reports that Captain Nemo made a point of not using substances of land origin for his needs and even tried not to go on land. He seasoned his food "sauce made from seaweeds called porphyry and laurencia"He added a few drops of fermented Rhodimenia algae infusion to the water and spirulina to the tea. Here, Soviet submariners had a clear advantage; check out the menu on the Novosibirsky Komsomolets submarine:
Dry wine on submarines is issued at 50 grams per day - "to improve digestion and hematopoiesis"It is said that due to the abundance of canned food and the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, crew members often suffer from constipation. Another common problem for submariners is excess weight, as the limited space means many crew members can only cover 500–700 meters per day during a mission.
Next to the Nautilus's galley is a comfortable bathroom with hot and cold running water. The B-440 submarine has three bathrooms: two were operational when submerged, and one when surfaced.
Toilet (latrine) on B-440»:
And on Soma:
The sixth electric engine compartment of the Novosibirsky Komsomolets submarine contained a single shower. Crew members were allowed to use it once a week for no more than fifteen minutes. Crew members of Soviet submarines wore disposable cotton underwear, and their footwear consisted of leather slippers with holes for ventilation.
See what real sleeping conditions are like on real submarines.
B-440:
"Novosibirsky Komsomolets" (aft power unit compartment):
This is what the diving suit looks like in the film "The Mystery of Two Oceans":
And so - on the submarine "B-440":
And on the Novosibirsky Komsomolets submarine, there's a rescue diving suit for exiting through the torpedo tubes in emergency situations:
This is the Central Control Post of the Novosibirsky Komsomolets submarine:
The navigational cabin of the submarine "B-440":
In short, real submarines offer little comfort, and the service of a submariner is anything but easy. One can only hope that life is much better ashore, and that all is well with the romance of sea voyages.
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