On April 7, 1989, a Soviet nuclear power plant perished in the Norwegian Sea. Submarine K-278 "Komsomolets". After the fire and the subsequent dramatic struggle with the elements, out of 69 submariners, only 27 sailors remain alive.
The K-278 Komsomolets submarine was a unique and only Plavnik-class submarine, the titanium hull of which allowed it to reach unprecedented depths.
Commissioned in 1983, already in August 1985 it set a diving record that is still relevant today - 1020 m.
Such a diving depth made it possible to consider Komsomolets as a possible command post for controlling all Soviet submarines in the event of war.
On February 28, 1989, the boat departs from the pier of the Zapadnaya Litsa base on its third military campaign. The purpose of the K-278 voyage was to secretly monitor the aircraft carrier America. In addition, the tasks of Komsomolets included the detection of foreign submarines.
April 7, 1989, on the 37th day of the voyage, at 11:03 in compartment 7 
For an unknown reason, a fire breaks out, from which the sailor on watch immediately dies. Gradually, fire and acrid smoke spread throughout the compartments of the submarine, increasing the number of victims.
Soon, commander Evgeniy Vanin makes a decision about an emergency ascent. The air supplied to the ballasts for ascent also enters the burning compartments, intensifying the fire, but the boat still manages to surface and send a distress signal with damaged antennas. At this time, the Norwegians discover the boat in distress, but refuse their help. At 11:54 the Northern Fleet aviation was alerted.
Arriving aircraft notice a list on the boat, standing in ice water. The depth of the Norwegian Sea in this place exceeds 1.5 km, and the Soviet coast is 900 km. Gradually the boat sinks under water. The last message from Komsomolets was sent in 16 minutes. until the submarine was completely flooded and looked like this: “The trim is increasing sharply. All personnel are at the top.”
Having assessed the situation, Commander Vanin decides to evacuate the crew from the submarine to life rafts, but there are not enough places on them. They try to load fire victims onto the rafts first. The remaining submariners find themselves in the icy April waters of the Norwegian Sea. It’s unthinkable, but in water with a temperature of +4°C, submariners, clutching slippery rafts, together sing the song “Varyag” with the last of their strength, thereby supporting each other. Later, this fact will form the basis of a song dedicated to the death of Komsomolets.
At 17:08 boat K-278 (tactical number of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets") is coming 
to the bottom. However, inside the sinking submarine there are sailors who kept the boat afloat all the previous time. The horror of the sensations of submariners on a boat falling like a stone to a depth of one and a half kilometers is conveyed by the story of midshipman Slyusarenko, who managed to use a rescue capsule and literally escape from the hands of death. “The boat was sinking and you could hear the bulkheads cracking. The depth gauge showed 400 m and the needle was going off scale. I asked: “What is the depth of the sea?” Someone answered 1,500 meters. And the commander said that if we reach the bottom, the camera will be crushed.”1 .
At 18:20, the ship "Alexei Khlobystov" arrives at the site of the submarine's death, which picks up the sailors on the surface. In total, there were 69 submariners on board the K-278, of which 42 died. The surviving sailors spent an hour and a half in icy water, while according to doctors' calculations, the maximum stay in such water is approximately 20 minutes. The death of Komsomolets occurred already in the era of glasnost and therefore was actively discussed in the Soviet media. (“Pravda”) Moreover, remembering the recent Chernobyl, the newspapers tried to emphasize the absence of radiation contamination at the accident site.
In May 1989, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On awarding the crew members of the submarine “Komsomolets” with the Order of the Red Banner was published. And since 1995, the Day of the sinking of the nuclear submarine “Komsomolets” - April 7, will become in Russia the Day of Remembrance of all submariners who have ever died. Today in St. Petersburg there is a society in memory of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets".
On April 17, 1989, the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences G.I. Marchuk decided to send the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh with the Mir-1 and Mir-2 deep-sea vehicles on board to the area of the sinking.
This decision was associated with an appeal from the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral Chernavin, to the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Among the main tasks of the first expedition were: survey technical condition boat, its location, identifying possible radiation leaks from the reactor and nuclear torpedo warheads.
In total, from 1989 to 1995, 6 expeditions were sent to the area where the Komsomolets nuclear submarine sank.
Information on the topic:
Markova R.A. Memory. In memory of the sailors who died in April 1989 on the nuclear submarine "K-278" - "Komsomolets".
The book gives biographies of all 42 dead crew members of the Komsomolets nuclear submarine. The descriptions are based on the memories of relatives and friends, and there are also photographs from the personal archives of the families of the deceased submariners.
Romanov D.A. The tragedy of the submarine "Komsomolets". Author 
- Deputy Chief Designer of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets". The book explores possible reasons destruction of the submarine from various aspects: crewing, specifications submarines, etc.
In the book you can find excerpts from documents (logbook, conclusions), drawings of devices. In fact, thanks to extracts from the logbook, it is possible to reconstruct the chronology of the tragedy second by second.
Oceanological research and underwater technical work at the site of the sinking of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets".
The book describes in some detail the research work 
sunken boat, essentially representing basic research question. Moreover, the book deals not only with issues related to the direct inspection of the hull of a sunken submarine.
The authors focus on such aspects as: the hydrological regime of the Norwegian Sea basin, climate characteristics in the research area, oceanographic conditions in the area of the sinking of the Komsomolets nuclear submarine, etc. Therefore, characterizing this book, we can say that it gives a comprehensive view of the problem.
Documentary"Nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets. Stay alive." Film produced by Channel One. Quite dramatic, interesting, and basically keeps the viewer in suspense. There are interviews with participants in the events.
Release of the program "Serving the Soviet Union" 1989, dedicated to "Komsomolets". The program contains unique footage of interviews with 
by submariners THREE days after spending an hour and a half in icy water. Transcending Limits human body sailors desperately criticize the means of salvation they had at that time, but the atmosphere of publicity still allows the material to be broadcast.
1 Mormul N.G. Disasters under water. SPb.: Publishing House Polytechnic. Univ., 2010 p.203
27 years ago, due to an error in the design, a submarine with an effective crew rescue system sank [video]
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The mystery of the death of the Komsomolets submarine. KP-TV plot
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Everyone who served in the navy invariably raises the third toast to those at sea. Today, on the Day of Remembrance of Dead Submariners, this toast will be the first. And they will drink after it without clinking glasses. Silently. A quarter of a century ago, the Komsomolets submarine sank in the Norwegian Sea. Of the 69 crew members on board, 42 officers and sailors died from fire and hypothermia.
THE MOST INVULNERABLE
The death of the Komsomolets is one of the most mysterious pages in the history of the Russian submarine fleet. The cause of the fire on the nuclear-powered ship has not yet been established. But a boat with an effective crew rescue system became a mass grave for sailors. And it was this submarine, four years before the tragedy, that was the first in the world to dive to a depth of more than one kilometer.
The history of Komsomolets began in 1966, when High Command Navy The USSR issued a directive to develop a submarine capable of diving a kilometer. The maximum depth to which nuclear submarines could descend at that time was only three hundred to four hundred meters. Why was it so important to dive deeper? The answer is simple: at a kilometer depth, any submarine was invulnerable to surface ships.
Several closed design bureaus have been working on the project, codenamed “Fin,” for more than ten years. Soviet engineers managed to do what their Western colleagues accomplished with a significant delay. Our scientists developed a unique submarine, the titanium hull of which was able to withstand pressure when diving up to a thousand meters.
Construction of a large nuclear submarine, designated K-278, began on April 22, 1978 in Severodvinsk. Five years later, the ship was solemnly taken out of the workshop and launched into the water. And on August 4, 1985, the nuclear-powered icebreaker set an absolute world record for diving depth - 1027 meters. During the ascent, having reached the eight hundred meter mark, the submarine successfully fired several training torpedoes.
The submarine, based in the Murmansk region, left on its last voyage on February 28, 1989. Where and why - state secret. By the way, shortly before this, at the end of January, it acquired the name “Komsomolets”.
FOR THE COMMANDER THIS WAS THE FIRST CAMPAIGN
Every time on the eve of April 7, I still relive that terrible day,” says retired captain 1st rank Boris Kolyada with bitterness.
Boris Grigorievich was included in the crew as an experienced officer who was supposed to advise the submarine captain if necessary. After all, for Evgeny Vanin this was his first trip as a submarine commander.
A few days before the tragedy, we received a telegram from the command of the Northern Fleet,” recalls Boris Kolyada. - It was reported that a fire occurred on a submarine that was heading to the Mediterranean Sea, and a person died. And although that submarine was diesel, and Komsomolets was a nuclear-powered submarine, we were ordered to check all the systems once again fire safety and fire fighting.
On the night of April 7, Boris Kolyada handed over the watch to the commander and went to rest in his cabin. He woke up from a piercing signal. Anxiety!
It turned out that in the seventh, aft, compartment there was a fire at eleven o'clock three minutes - Kolyada remembers the events of that day to the minute. - The compartment did not respond to the call from the central post. We decided that the senior sailor on duty there most likely died. It was not possible to extinguish the fire. The fire spread to the neighboring sixth compartment, where the midshipman died. And soon the emergency protection of the reactor was activated, stopping its operation. The submarine lost speed...
THE COMMANDER WAS THE LAST ONE TO LEAVE THE BOAT
There was nothing left to do but rise to the surface of the stormy sea. At eleven o'clock sixteen minutes the boat surfaced. By this time, five compartments were already burning.
When it became clear that it would not be possible to cope on our own, Komsomolets sent an SOS signal. The plane headed to the scene of the incident. He had to report the coordinates of the submarine to the Alexey Khlobystov floating base, which was supposed to pick up the sailors from the distressed ship.
After some time, a trim formed (a maritime term that denotes the difference between the draft of the stern and the bow of the vessel. - Author's note.) to the stern, says Boris Kolyada. - The bow of the boat rose. For several hours, waiting for help, the crew fought the fire, trying to save the boat.
There was no panic. Everyone clearly did what they were supposed to do according to the established regulations.
But the trim grew. The commander decided that it was time to prepare for evacuation. Two rafts were lowered into the sea. One of them turned over. And the water has already approached the base of the conning tower.
Commander Vanin decided not to leave the boat - there were not enough places on the life rafts. But this did not mean that he gave up hope of being saved. The Komsomolets had a so-called pop-up chamber that could accommodate all crew members. The captain was counting on her.
At seventeen eight minutes the boat sank...
After some time, the pop-up camera jumped to the surface. There were five people in it, including Evgeny Vanin. Due to the difference in pressure, the cap of the capsule was torn off and it was flooded with water. Only midshipman Viktor Slyusarenko survived.
Sixty sailors found themselves in the icy water. The crew was scattered by the waves, few managed to get to the only surviving raft, and it was designed for only twenty people.
The floating base approached the accident site just an hour after the death of the Komsomolets. This hour cost the lives of four dozen sailors.
On May 13, 1989, Pravda, the main newspaper of the country at that time, published information about the awarding of the Order of the Red Banner to the entire crew of the Komsomolets submarine.
WHY THE FIRE OCCURRED - UNKNOWN
Members of the commission that investigated the causes of the accident came to the conclusion that the boat was destroyed by design errors:
“The fire that broke out in the seventh end compartment due to the ignition of the electrical equipment of the steering system drive led to the ignition of flammable finishing materials. Within two to three minutes, the temperature in the compartment reached almost a thousand degrees, which, due to design flaws, led to depressurization of the air line high pressure. Air flow into the compartment high pressure increased the intensity of the fire, which could not be extinguished. The insufficient temperature resistance of the ship’s structural elements and fire fighting equipment did not allow the crew to effectively withstand the growing accident.”
But what caused the fire itself? This is still unknown. There are only versions.
Perhaps the fact is that oxygen was supplied to the compartments of the boat in much larger volumes than required, says Captain 1st Rank Igor Kurdin, Chairman of the Board of the Club of Submariners and Navy Veterans. - In such conditions, any accident could lead to a fire.
Igor Kurdin draws attention to this fact. On Komsomolets, the crew had clearly outdated wetsuits at their disposal. Putting them on required a lot of time, and sometimes the help of a friend. And when an emergency situation arose, the sailors simply did not have time to do it. They found themselves in icy water without wetsuits. Only after the death of Komsomolets Soviet authorities We bought much more comfortable suits in France.
INSTEAD OF AN AFTERWORD
Serafimovskoe cemetery in St. Petersburg. Many soldiers, sailors, officers and generals who died in the line of military duty are buried here. Among them are three Komsomolets sailors. Including the boat commander, captain 1st rank Evgeny Vanin. But this is a symbolic grave. After the tragedy, the commander’s body was never found...
REMEMBER
List of dead Komsomolets crew members
1. AVANESOV Oleg Grigorievich, captain 2nd rank, senior assistant commander of the submarine. Born in Leningrad in 1955. Committed to the earth.
2. APANASEVICH Igor Olegovich, senior sailor, commander of the steering-signalman squad. Born in the village of Pobedonosny, Kletsk district, Minsk region, in 1969. Taken by sea.
3. BABENKO Valentin Ivanovich, captain 2nd rank, commander of an electromechanical combat unit. Born in the village of Zamostye, Chernigov district, Zaporozhye region in 1950. Committed to the earth.
4. BONDAR Sergey Stefanovich, midshipman, turbine technician. Born in the city of Lipetsk in 1954. Taken by sea.
5. BRODOWSKY Yuri Anatolyevich, midshipman, hydroacoustic technician. Born in the city of Nikolaev in 1954. Committed to the earth.
6. BURKULAKOV Talant Amitzhanovich, captain 1st rank, head of the political department of the submarine formation. Born in the village of Vandyshevo, Sudislavsky district, Kostroma region in 1947. Committed to the earth.
7. BUKHNIKASHVILI Nadari Otarievich, senior sailor, bilge operator. Born in the village of Gantiadi, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1968. Taken by sea.
8. VALYAVIN Mikhail Nikolaevich, midshipman, turbine technician. Born in the village of Novo-Dashla, Kuvandyk district, Orenburg region in 1959. Taken by sea.
9. VANIN Evgeniy Alekseevich, captain 1st rank, submarine commander. Born in the city of Donetsk in 1947. Taken by sea.
10. VERSHYLO Evgeniy Edmundovich, senior sailor, electrician. Born in the village of Myadel, Myadel district, Minsk region in 1968. Taken by sea.
11. VOLKOV Nikolay Alekseevich, captain-lieutenant, commander of the electrical engineering group. Born in the city of Pestovo, Novgorod region in 1958. Committed to the earth.
12. VOLODIN Alexander Vasilievich, captain 3rd rank, commander of a combat communications unit. Born in the city of Novomoskovsk, Tula region in 1958. Taken by sea.
13. GOLOVCHENKO Sergey Petrovich, foreman of the 2nd article, cook-instructor. Born in the city Dnepropetrovsk in 1968 Interred.
14. GRUNDUL Alexey Alexandrovich, sailor, torpedo operator. Born in the city of Rybinsk Yaroslavl region in 1968 Interred.
15. ELENIK Mikhail Anatolyevich, senior midshipman, senior cook-instructor. Born in the city of Valuiki, Belgorod region in 1942. Committed to the earth.
16. ZAMOGILNY Sergey Vasilievich, midshipman, foreman of the electricians team. Born in the city of Zhmerynka, Vinnytsia region in 1959. Committed to the earth.
17. ZIMIN Vadim Vladimirovich, lieutenant, engineer of a combat communications unit. Born in the city of Voronezh in 1983. Taken by sea.
18. ISPENKOV Anatoly Matveevich, captain 3rd rank, commander of the electrical division. Born in the village of Khvostovo, Shumilinsky district, Vitebsk region in 1956. Taken by sea.
19. CABBAGE Yuri Fedorovich, midshipman, head of the secret unit. Born in the city of Zaporozhye in 1957. Taken by sea.
20. KOVALEV Gennady Vyacheslavovich, midshipman, technician of the combat communications unit. Born in the city of Severomorsk, Murmansk region in 1956. Taken by sea.
21. KOLOTILIN Vladimir Vasilievich, midshipman, technician of the remote control group. Born in the village of Prilepy, Khomutovsky district, Kursk region in 1964. Taken by sea.
22. KRASNOBAEV Alexander Vitalievich, midshipman, technician of the electronic computing group. Born in the village of Zolotoye Pole, Kirov district, Crimean region in 1964. Taken by sea.
23. KRASNOV Sergey Yurievich, sailor, radiometrist. Born in Riga in 1970. Taken by sea.
24. KULAPIN Vladimir Yurievich, sailor, turbine operator. Born in the city of Alma-Ata in 1968. Committed to the earth.
25. MAKSIMCHUK Yuri Ivanovich, captain of the 3rd rank, deputy commander of the submarine for political affairs. Born in the village of Ekaterinivka, Nikopol district, Dnepropetrovsk region in 1957. Taken by sea.
26. MANYAKIN Sergey Petrovich, captain of the 8th rank, commander of the movement division. Born in the city of Taganrog Rostov region in 1954 Interred.
27. MARKOV Sergey Evgenievich, senior lieutenant, engineer of the electrical engineering group. Born in Leningrad in 1963. Committed to the earth.
28. MIKHALEV Andrey Vyacheslavovich, sailor, bilge operator. Born in the village of Dmitrievka, Nikiforovsky district, Tambov region in 1970. Taken by sea.
29. MOLCHANOV Igor Aleksandrovich, lieutenant, commander of a mine-torpedo warhead. Born in the city of Lomonosov, Leningrad region in 1964. Committed to the earth.
30. NAUMENKO Evgeniy Vladimirovich, captain-lieutenant, commander of the computing group. Born in the village of Sergeevka, Pogranichny District, Primorsky Territory, in 1960. Taken by sea.
31. NAKHALOV Sergei Vasilievich, midshipman, foreman of the radiotelegraph team. Born in the village of Novinka, Kirov district, Leningrad region in 1964. Committed to the earth.
32. NEZHUTIN Sergey Aleksandrovich, lieutenant commander, commander of the communications group. Born in Arkhangelsk in 1962. Committed to the earth.
33. SMIRNOV Mikhail Anatolyevich, captain-lieutenant, commander of the navigational combat unit. Born in the village of Vyritsa, Gatchina district, Leningrad region. in 1962 Interred.
34. SPERANSKY Igor Leonidovich, captain-lieutenant, hydroacoustic group engineer. Born in Severouralsk, Sverdlovsk region. in 1962. Captured by sea.
35. SUKHANOV Valery Ivanovich, senior sailor, cook-instructor. Born in Vyksa, Gorky region. in 1968. Taken by sea.
36. TKACH Vladimir Vlasovich, senior midshipman, foreman of the team of helmsmen and signalmen. Born in the village of Sychevka, Khristinovsky district, Cherkasy region. in 1948. Captured by sea.
37. TKACHEV Vitaly Fedorovich, sailor, helmsman-signalman. Born in the village of Bankovka, Slavyanoserbsky district, Voroshilovgrad region. in 1970. Taken by sea.
38. FILIPOV Roman Konstantinovich, sailor, electrician. Born in Gorky in 1968. Committed to the earth.
39. CHERNIKOV Sergey Ivanovich, midshipman, chemical technician. Born in Vyborg, Leningrad region. in 1956 Interred.
40. SHINKUNAS Stasis Klemensovich, senior sailor, radiometrist. Born in the village of Banishkiu, Kaisiadorsky district, Lithuanian SSR in 1968. Taken by sea.
41. SHOSTAK Alexander Alexandrovich, lieutenant, engineer of the remote control group. Born in Sevastopol in 1965. Committed to the earth.
42. YUDIN Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich, captain of the 3rd rank, commander of the survivability division. Born in Grozny in 1953. Taken by sea.
A Soviet nuclear torpedo submarine of the Northern Fleet was lost in the Norwegian Sea as a result of a fire. Of the 69 team members, only 27 were saved.
K-278 (“Komsomolets”) was a unique nuclear submarine (SSN), which was ahead of its time by a quarter of a century. The hull is made of titanium, the diving depth is more than 1000 meters, the underwater displacement is 8500 tons, the speed is more than 30 knots, the ammunition load is 22 torpedoes, some of which could be replaced with Granat cruise missiles. This boat, despite being somewhat noisier than the American ones, was not detected by any means at its working diving depth and was inaccessible to any weapon with a conventional explosive. Subject to the successful completion of its trial operation, a decision should have been made to build a series of such submarines.
The general concept, called “Plavnik” in the outlines of the design idea, then “Project 685” and widely known as “Komsomolets”, was born in the 1960s in the context of growing confrontation between the USSR and the USA. At that time, the US Navy's submarine forces had an overwhelming advantage. The Americans have not only reliably tested the missiles and reactor in a durable submarine hull, having survived the disaster of the Thresher nuclear submarine and the death of its crew during sea trials in the Atlantic in 1963, but also surfaced at the geographic point of the North Pole on the Skate submarine.
To eliminate the backlog, the USSR began construction of third-generation submarines. According to the designers, the deep-sea nuclear submarine “Project 685” was intended to combat enemy submarines and protect their ships. Its secrecy and maneuverability were ensured by an unprecedented working diving depth of 1000 meters and a maximum depth of 1250, previously available only to bathyscaphes. Despite the enormous costs, domestic developers decided to prepare the so-called durable case entirely from titanium. Five years of trial operation of the ship fully confirmed the correctness of this decision. The titanium case demonstrated a number of undeniable advantages: the strength-to-weight ratio of titanium is much better than that of steel, in addition, titanium is non-magnetic, which, given the low noise of the Komsomolets, reduced the possibility of its detection to almost nothing.
The technical design was approved in December 1974. The construction of the boat was carried out at the largest military shipyard “Sevmashpredpriyatie” in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region. In August 1983, the boat was launched, and on August 5, 1984, upon completion of the outfitting work afloat, it was transferred to the 1st Flotilla of the Northern Fleet. Even during the period of sea trials, with designers and builders on board, the boat plunged to 1040 meters, establishing absolute record in depth for submarine warships.
The nuclear-powered icebreaker was built in a single copy in order to test the ship and its crew - main and replacement - at great depths. In the future, based on “Project 685,” it was planned to create deep-sea submarines of a more advanced modification.
During the five years of service as part of the Komsomolets association, the main crew repeatedly dived to a depth of 1000 meters. No one had any doubts about the reliability of the ship.
On February 28, 1989, the K-278 boat, which along with its main crew received the highly respected navy title of “excellent ship” with the right to wear the corresponding sign on the superstructure and the name by which it is now known, took on board a replacement crew and set out on its next autonomous voyage.
On April 7, 1989, while in combat service, the K-278 was traveling at a depth of 386 meters at a speed of 6-8 knots. In the morning the combat shift kept watch as usual.
At 11.00 the watchman, captain-lieutenant Alexander Verezgov, received reports from the compartments. From the seventh, sailor Nodari Bukhnikashvili reported: “The seventh has been examined, the insulation resistance and gas composition of the air are normal. There are no comments." These were his last words.
Between 11.00 and 11.03 a fire started in the aft compartment. At 11.03, a signal came on on the watch mechanic’s console: “The temperature in the seventh compartment is more than 70 degrees.” The mechanic on watch, captain 3rd rank Vyacheslav Yudin, immediately announced: “Emergency alarm.” At the main command post, mechanical engineer, captain 2nd rank Valentin Babenko, tried to contact the emergency seventh compartment via shipwide communications. The seventh did not answer. The commander of the submarine, captain 1st rank Evgeniy Vanin, in a matter of seconds made the only correct decision in this situation: to use the boat’s volumetric chemical fire extinguishing system (LOX) in the emergency compartment. But the system, which in theory should neutralize a high-intensity fire, turned out to be powerless in the face of the elements. The sudden increase in temperature broke the seal of the high-pressure pipeline, and the emergency compartment immediately turned into something like an open-hearth furnace.
The fire spread to the sixth compartment. The steam generator was immediately stopped. The left turbogenerator switched off on its own. It worked automatic protection reactor. In addition to this, the vertical rudder jammed, the inter-compartment communication was interrupted, and the system of hose breathing apparatus was damaged, as a result of which part of the crew received severe poisoning.
The boat, increasing its speed, began to emerge. However, at a depth of about 150 meters, the emergency protection of the reactor was activated, and the K-278 lost speed.
At 11:16 a.m., after the main ballast tanks had been purged, she surfaced. From 11 hours 20 minutes to 12 hours 17 minutes, the boat transmitted the established emergency signal eight times, but the first of them was heard at the General Headquarters of the Navy and at the Northern Fleet command post only at 11 hours 41 minutes. However, the signal was unintelligible. A clear signal about the accident was received on shore only at 12:19 p.m. From that moment on, measures began to be taken at all levels to provide assistance and rescue the boat and its crew.
This is what the head of the chemical service, Vitaly Gregulev, said: “When the fire broke out, I was sleeping. Hearing the alarm, he ran to his post. My task is to ensure a normal level of gas composition in the boat and control the radiation situation. He ran up to the air gas installation, which affects people’s life, and tried to start it. In vain. She turned out to be de-energized. I looked at the radiation monitoring instruments - normal, no deviations. Then a short circuit happened here too. The radiation level was normal. My colleagues, Igor Orlov and Sergei Dvorov, personally verified that atomic reactor securely muffled. As for the torpedoes with a nuclear charge, they were not armed, so they do not pose any danger.”
When Komsomolets surfaced, the crew managed to localize the fire in the seventh compartment, supply freon to the sixth compartment and seal the rest. One by one, the emergency parties pulled out the burned and poisoned sailors to Fresh air. The doctor, senior lieutenant Leonid Zayats, did not stop for a minute and performed artificial respiration on the sailors. Most of the crew was taken upstairs. Many were brought back to life. But they, weakened and not yet recovered, will die later in cold water, when superhuman efforts will be required from everyone. They smoked on deck in silence, swallowing the smoke with tears. Steam continued to pour thickly from the seventh compartment. “Apparently, a gap formed there,” says sailor Semyon Grigoryan, “through which water poured. In that place, I think, the cable cables that came out burned out.”
It seemed that the worst was over. No one thought that in a few hours everyone would find themselves in the icy water of the Norwegian Sea. Coming out of the compartments of the submarine, everyone was sure: the titanium hull of the Komsomolets was the most durable in the world, as the designers assured. The sailors were confident that the nuclear-powered ship would not sink, because they knew that in the entire history of the development of the world’s nuclear fleets, not a single nuclear-powered ship on which there was a fire sank, especially in a matter of hours. It was for this reason that submariners went up without diving suits. For many, this was a fatal mistake.
From high temperature the oil seals of the pipelines connecting the interior spaces boats with outboard environment. Water began to quickly spread through the compartments adjacent to the emergency ones. It became clear that the seal of the durable casing had been broken. Probably, the titanium casing could not withstand the temperature difference (several hundred degrees in the seventh compartment and only plus two degrees outside). The boat surfaced, but its position became more and more dangerous every minute: the stern part was sinking into the water before our eyes, and the bow was rising higher and higher. It became clear that there was no hope of saving her.
“Everyone leave the compartments! Rafts on the water! - ordered the ship's commander. Semyon Grigoryan began to disconnect them from the hull of the boat - this took too much time. The fastenings did not budge. The ship was sinking, its stern part falling down. The sailors rushed into the icy water. Finally they managed to detach the raft, but it was carried away from the boat by a wave.
The sailors began to jump into the icy water. Those who were lucky managed to climb onto the life raft. The rest could only hope for the arrival of rescue ships.
Commander Evgeny Vanin went down inside to hurry those remaining in the compartments.
The cabin was half in the water when Alexander Kopeiko shouted: “The commander and several other people are in the boat. What to do?" They answered him: “Close the hatch, they will be saved in the auxiliary chamber!”
Kopeiko still did not close the hatch. He shouted for people to hurry out. When it was already dangerous to wait, he realized that if he did not close the hatch, those remaining in the boat would not get out. And he hermetically closed the chamber.
At 17.08 the boat sank.
It was possible to enter or exit the submarine only through the rescue pop-up chamber. This rather extensive steel capsule, withstanding the pressure of extreme depth, was designed to rescue the entire crew. If the boat sank and lay on the ground, then all 69 people would be able to fit in the chamber, sitting in a circle in two tiers, pressing closely together. After this, the mechanics would give away the mount, and the camera, like a huge balloon, would soar through the sea to the surface. But everything happened differently...
Vanin slipped along a multi-meter ladder to the central post. Five more remained in the abandoned compartments: captain 3rd rank Ispenkov, who was starting the diesel generator, captain 3rd rank Yudin, midshipmen Slyusarenko, Chernikov and Krasnobaev.
Everyone, except Ispenkov (he did not hear the command to go upstairs in the roar of the diesel generator), climbed the ladder through the pop-up camera. And then the submarine began to sink. At first she stood upright. Everyone who was on the ladder fell down into the rescue chamber. In the next seconds the boat went down into the water.
Midshipman Slyusarenko was the last to enter the cell. More precisely, he was dragged there. Through the haze of smoke, he could hardly distinguish the faces of Vanin and Krasnobaev - both were sitting on the upper tier. Below, Captain 3rd Rank Yudin and Midshipman Chernikov were pulling with all their might on a line tied to the hatch cover, trying to slam it shut - a quarter of a ton! - as tight as possible. Through the unclosed gap, air flowed in forcefully, expelled by water from the compartments. With every hundred meters the pressure increased, everything around was covered in cold steam. Still, the lid was pulled up and the hatch was battened down.
Deserted, with only corpses on board, with flooded compartments, the nuclear submarine was completing its last dive. “Comrade commander, how far is it to the ground?” - Slyusarenko shouted upward. “One thousand five hundred meters,” responded Vanin.
Midshipman Chernikov read aloud the instructions for separating the camera from the body: “Give it up... Open it... Disconnect it...” But the stopper did not budge. Yudin and Slyusarenko bent the key into an arc...
The depth was rapidly increasing, and with it the monstrous pressure. Suddenly the hull of the boat shook - water rushed into the last compartment.
"Everyone join in breathing apparatus! - Yudin shouted.
Slyusarenko and Chernikov hung bibs with canisters on themselves, put their heads into the “clamps” of the breathing bags, pulled on the masks and opened the valves for the oxygen-helium mixture. And the next second Yudin, who had hesitated with the apparatus, wilted and sagged. The midshipmen immediately picked him up and laid him on the lower tier.
Slyusarenko began to pull the breathing apparatus mask on Yudin, but it was not easy to do this without the help of the victim himself. Together with Chernikov, they suffered for several minutes until they realized that they were trying to pull it onto a corpse. They looked back at the commander - Vanin was sitting, slouched on the top tier, wheezing. Next to him, the computing technician, midshipman Krasnobaev, who had closed his eyes forever...
“If Yudin had not shouted: “Get on the machines!”, I would not have done anything, I would not have moved my hand. “I would have become stupefied by the smoke and died,” Slyusarenko later said. - But he shouted, and like a robot, I began to act. But I messed something up..."
Later, doctors would come to the conclusion that Yudin, Vanin and Krasnobaev died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The chamber was filled with smoke, and carbon monoxide under pressure kills in seconds...
And yet the camera suddenly broke away from the submarine and flew upward, piercing the monstrous water column! “I hardly remember what happened next,” Slyusarenko continued his story. - When it was thrown to the surface, the pressure inside the chamber tore out the top hatch. After all, he was only on the latch... I saw how Chernikov’s legs flashed - a stream of air threw him out of the cell. Then they threw me out, but up to my waist. The cylinders, air bag, hoses were torn off by the edge of the hatch... And Chernikov died - half of his skull was blown off by the edge of the hatch...”
Slyusarenko was saved by the fact that he put on his apparatus incorrectly, so he held his breathing bag in his hands. With it, which served as his life preserver, the fishermen lifted him out of the water. Slyusarenko became the only person in the world who managed to escape from a boat lying at a kilometer depth... The camera stayed afloat for five to seven seconds. The open hatch was overwhelmed by waves, and the titanium capsule sank forever into the depths of the Norwegian Sea...
The first to surface was an Orion patrol plane from the Norwegian Air Force. The torn conning hatch of the Komsomolets was still smoking with white smoke.
Help arrived only 40 minutes later. The floating base "Alexei Khlobystov" picked up sailors one after another.
The commander of the electronic navigation group of the Komsomolets navigator combat unit, Andrei Stepanov, recalled:
“The fire started in the aft compartment. The watchman of the compartment, senior sailor Nodar Bukhnikashvili, died immediately. It started burning in the sixth. Then it came to the fifth: oil vapors suddenly flared up, and fire (it was something like an explosion) doused everyone who was there. People's clothes burned like paper.
It was a real furnace. The emergency party pulled two unconscious and several wounded from the compartment. Everyone was badly burned. Those from the fifth who were still on their feet climbed to the upper deck, where they set up an “infirmary,” with great difficulty: their hands were so burned that they could not touch the ladder. They were bandaged and dressed. They tried to revive those who were unconscious. I remember that our doctor Lenya Zayats gave the sailor Volodya Kulapin artificial respiration and an injection in the heart. Kulapin and midshipman Sergei Bondar “turned on” to the stationary respiratory system and became poisoned: it depressurized and carbon monoxide entered it. They died.
In the fourth, reactor compartment, the only protective equipment was portable breathing devices; no other equipment was allowed to be stored there. When the smoke started, Lieutenant Andrei Mahota and midshipman Mikhail Valyavin tried to get out into the neighboring compartments. It was impossible to go to the fifth, so we rushed to the third - and through the viewing window we saw a veil of smoke. Remained in the fourth. They hid from the smoke in a sealed equipment enclosure located directly above the reactor, but they had little air supply. Then the emergency party got them out of there just in time.
I remember someone said: “The mother ship is coming now.” By that time we had already surfaced. We wait. They began to look for warm underwear and prepare for evacuation. Then, when it became clear that the boat was sinking, the order came to prepare the rafts and abandon the ship. The rafts were heavy and tightly fastened to the hull of the boat. With great difficulty, several people pulled one out.
I went downstairs and still couldn’t collect my “secrets.” Andrei Zaitsev, an engineer in the survivability division, came up (he was monitoring the roll and trim of the boat) and said: “We are sinking... Decide what is more important to you: secrets or life. Otherwise, in about five minutes you’ll be here forever.”
I went upstairs, and the water was already along the lower edge of the cabin. And the boat is sinking so quickly! A few seconds later I come out of the wheelhouse door onto the upper deck, and the water is waist-deep. At that moment, a wave threw the raft from the left side to my side: six people held it there, but could not hold it. Well, I think if I can’t fit on the raft, I can immediately order a cross for myself. He swam up to him and strengthened himself.
The raft was constantly covered by waves, we all lay in the water. Many fainted from the cold, the water was icy. Several people were simply washed away from the raft. Those who lost consciousness in the water were doomed, most of them drowned.
They helped each other, but everyone had little strength. While we were waiting for the mother ship, we held on as best we could. Andrei Zaitsev was hanging on board the life raft, and when his hands went numb, he grabbed someone’s overcoat with his teeth... Finally, they waited for the mother ship. As soon as I saw her on the horizon, I immediately passed out. I don’t remember how the fishermen approached, how they lifted us on board.
I came to my senses already at Khlobystov. I had five blankets and three hot water bottles. They warmed us up, rubbed us down, and gave us French cognac. Brought hot soup, but I refused: my body was warm, but my hands were shaking so much that I couldn’t get the spoon into my mouth. My sister looked at my torment and ran away somewhere. She brought a can of condensed milk with two holes in the lid: well, she said, maybe you can at least eat this. Then the people slept a little and began to walk. Three - Nezhutin, Molchanov and Grundul - went out to smoke and then died. Then doctors determined that due to severe hypothermia, irreversible changes had occurred in their bodies.
On the Khlobystov, and then on the Kirov, they spent a long time clarifying the lists of the dead. There were misunderstandings, such as with Igor Kalinin, who was counted among the dead. During the evacuation from the boat, Kalinin went upstairs wearing only a sweater. He gave all the documents to Misha Smirnov for safekeeping. Smirnov died at sea. When his body was lifted to the floating base, they found documents in his pocket and radioed to fleet headquarters: Kalinin was dead. And his mother at that time worked in Severomorsk at the naval hydrometeorological center. I accidentally caught conversations between the floating base and the headquarters via radio communication. And for almost a day I considered my son dead..."
27 rescued sailors were being treated at the Northern Fleet naval hospital, and 19 guys who died from hypothermia, injuries and heart failure were in the morgue. Not all sailors managed to survive.
What condition were the Soviet submariners brought to Severomorsk from the disaster site in? This is what the chief therapist of the USSR Armed Forces, Major General of the Medical Service Professor V. Ivashkin, said:
“Immediately, as soon as the crew members were lifted aboard the Alexey Khlobystov mother ship, the ship’s doctors began fighting to save the sailors, ten of whom were without signs of life. Three could not be saved, although qualified doctors transported to the scene on the cruiser Kirov did everything possible. On the way to Severomorsk we used everything medical supplies, suitable in such a situation. They did a thorough rubbing. The sailors were placed in warm baths. Doctors were on duty around the clock.
The condition of the three sailors was moderate. They were treated in the intensive care unit. The condition of the remaining 24 team members is quite satisfactory. All the guys underwent thorough medication, psychotherapy, and reflexology treatment. Only one of the victims had a slight burn.”
Military doctors and sailors, who had been through various troubles and emergency situations, were shocked by the resilience of the team. They admired people such as sailor Yuri Kozlov and midshipman Semyon Grigoryan, captain-lieutenant Alexander Verezgov and senior sailor Arthur Savin... It is incomprehensible how they managed to spend almost an hour and a half in icy water!
The work of the government commission to investigate the causes of the disaster on the Komsomolets, chaired by the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Oleg Baklanov, during the year revealed a tangle of unresolved problems in the theoretical, technological, constructive and information support of the survivability of the ship, especially its explosion and fire safety, stability and unsinkability.
The commission found that the fire that broke out in the seventh end compartment of the boat due to the ignition of the electrical equipment of the steering system drive led to the ignition of flammable finishing materials. Within two to three minutes, the temperature in the compartment reached almost 1000 degrees, which, due to design flaws, led to depressurization of the high-pressure air line. The entry of high-pressure air into the compartment increased the intensity of the fire, which could not be extinguished. The insufficient temperature resistance of the ship's structural elements and fire fighting equipment did not allow the crew to effectively withstand the growing accident.
During the first 30 minutes of development emergency situation The control of the rudders and the communication between the compartments failed, it became impossible remote control general ship systems of the aft compartments, the main power plant stopped working, a fire developed in the sixth and local fires arose in the fifth, fourth and third compartments, in almost all compartments the carbon monoxide content far exceeded the maximum permissible norm. In addition, the intense heat caused the loss of tightness of a number of systems and the structure of the seventh and sixth compartments and the adjacent main ballast tanks, which led to the entry of sea water into the aft ballast tanks and inside the pressure hull of the submarine. Because of this, at 17:08, she sank at a depth of 1,685 meters, 106 miles southwest of Bear Island, having exhausted her buoyancy reserve.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the criminal case initiated by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office was extremely difficult, since the submarine is located in the Norwegian Sea at a depth of 1,655 meters. It is impossible to lift her and examine her now. Firstly, the cost of raising the boat from the bottom of the Norwegian Sea is estimated by various sources from 300 million to 2 billion dollars. Secondly, raising the Komsomolets will not help establish the cause of the fire, since the seventh compartment is a cooled blast furnace, where everything was sintered into one lump. Thirdly, regular inspection of the boat using the Mir deep-sea submersibles shows that its titanium hull has large cracks caused by the detonation of torpedoes with conventional explosives. When you try to lift the Komsomolets, its body will break and self-launch will become possible. nuclear reactor. Then the actual danger of the boat for all living things will increase hundreds of times. I agree with this conclusion CEO Central Design Bureau "Rubin" (where it was created) academician Igor Spassky. Fourthly, the radiation situation around Komsomolets is still calm. In the unlikely event of a successful recovery of the boat, a complex, lengthy and dangerous towing to the White Sea will be required. In this case, the Norwegian, Barents, Kara and especially the White Seas will be contaminated with radiation. Fifthly, the worst thing will begin when this radioactive trash is brought to Severodvinsk. There are already about 100 submarines there, withdrawn from the Northern Fleet, awaiting disposal. Dismantling the Komsomolets will take all the meager funds that would be required for these submarines over several years.
Therefore, the option proposed by Vice Admiral, Doctor of Technical Sciences Tengiz Borisov back in 1991 is quite justified - a method of preserving Komsomolets on the ground - where it lies now. Titanium plugs installed during one of the first surveys of the boat (using Mir devices) on the torpedo tubes, where two torpedoes with nuclear warheads are located, significantly reduced washout weapons-grade plutonium of them. Next, the PLA compartments must be filled through pipelines from the surface with a liquid special composition, which, upon contact with sea water, crystallizes and hardens, isolating everything that is inside the boat from the external environment.
As a result, the investigation was suspended on January 26, 1998 due to the “failure to identify the person to be charged as an accused” and the fact that “it is not possible to establish the true causes of the fire and flooding before lifting the submarine and inspecting it.”
The Komsomolets submarine, which still holds the world diving record of 1032 m, suddenly sank, as they say, out of the blue.
More than 90% of the world's oceans have depths of over 200 m. And the development of these depths is tantamount to conquering heights in aviation. However, the task of creating a deep-sea submarine posed problems even more complex for scientists and designers than in aviation. After all, water is 800 times denser than air and the pressure at depth is by no means a joke.
In 1966, the command of the USSR Navy issued tactical and technical assignments to the designers to create an experimental submarine of Project 685 (code “Plavnik”) with a maximum diving depth of 2.5 times greater than that of other boats. Design began at TsKB-18 (now TsKB MT Rubin) under the leadership of N.A. Klimov, and in 1977 he was replaced by Yu.N. Kormilitsyn. Employees of the Central Research Institute named after Academician A.N. also made a huge contribution to the creation of the Project 685 ship. Krylov and the Central Research Institute of Structural Materials “Prometheus”.
The boat, which received the index K-278, was laid down on April 22, 1978, and was launched on June 3, 1983. At the end of December of the same year, she entered service.
The submarine had two hulls. The strong one in the middle part was a cylinder with a diameter of 8 m, at the ends there were truncated cones ending in spherical bulkheads. To minimize holes that reduce strength, a large loading hatch was abandoned. For emergency ascent from great depths, a system was installed to blow out one of the tanks in the middle group with powder gas generators. The outer, also titanium, hull consisted of 10 kingless main ballast tanks, bow and stern ends, and fencing for retractable devices. The torpedo tube niches, cutouts for the bow horizontal rudders and scuppers were equipped with shield covers.
The boat was equipped with a pop-up rescue chamber that could accommodate the entire crew and was designed to rise from depths of up to 1500 m. In the 2nd and 3rd compartments, a so-called rescue zone was formed, limited by transverse bulkheads that can withstand high pressure. All seven compartments had fire extinguishing means.
What happened on April 7, 1989 on a submarine? The chronology of the day will help you follow the events:
11.54. The aircraft commander, Major G. Petrogradsky, was informed that a fire had broken out on the submarine in the area of Medvezhiy Island. She surfaced, the crew is trying to save the ship. We need to go to the disaster area, contact the submarine commander and report the situation and the sailors’ requests to headquarters.
12.43. Petrogradsky tore the heavy vehicle off the runway. Preparatory time for departure is 1 hour 20 minutes. The pilots completed it in 49 minutes - they removed their weapons and took emergency rescue equipment.
14.20. Having reached Medvezhye, which is approximately 980 km from the coast, Petrogradsky contacted the submarine and broadcast a message to the base: “The fire is controlled by the crew. There are no requests."
14.40. Having broken through the lower edge of the clouds, the aviators saw the Komsomolets. The boat stood with a slight list to starboard, and from the conning tower there was White smoke, on the left, at the 6th - 7th compartments sea water foamed. Petrogradsky transmitted a weather report to the shore: visibility 5 - 6 km, the lower edge of the clouds 400 m from the sea, waves 2 - 3 points, swell, snow charges from time to time.
14.50. There are already three planes in the air, their crews are broadcasting negotiations between Komsomolets commander E. Vanin and fleet headquarters, and pointing surface ships at the boat. The estimated time of their arrival is 18.00.
By three o'clock in the afternoon it seemed that the worst was over. Three Soviet planes were circling over the area, ships were racing at full speed to the scene of the accident, and the fire, although not extinguished, was localized. Help should have arrived soon.
Most of the crew were on the upper deck without life jackets. The people who got out of the smoke-filled compartments were confident that the Komsomolets was unsinkable and did not imagine that they would soon have to leave the ship.
15.20. Vanin asks for tugboats because the boat lost speed and the reactor had to be shut down due to the fire.
16.00. Vanin unexpectedly requested freon. Petrogradsky contacted the ships coming to help - they promised to find him.
16.35. The pilots noticed that the boat was landing with its stern.
As a result of a powerful fire, the tightness of the boat’s durable hull was broken, and the Komsomolets began to flood. It happened quickly.
16.38. The trim to the stern and the list to starboard increase.
16.40. The stem appeared from the water.
The boat commander gave the order to prepare for the evacuation of the crew, prepare a pop-up rescue chamber (ESC), and leave the compartments. The personnel began to hand over life rafts, but only one of them was able to be launched.
16.44. The waves are already washing the base of the cabin.
16.47. The cutting is half in water.
16.50. Radiogram from Vanin: “I am preparing 69 people for evacuation.”
17.00. The crew, without personal life-saving equipment, began to evacuate onto a life raft. Two life rafts float next to the boat, each holding 20 people. Petrogradsky dropped them a container with an inflatable boat (there was no way he could land on a land vehicle), and the submariners began to board it. On the next approach, the pilots did not see the boat; one raft turned out to be overturned. Containers were dropped from the second plane, but no one could use them.
17.08. At 17:08, K-278 Komsomolets quickly went into depth. 61 people were caught in the icy waters of the Norwegian Sea. People who did not even have life jackets, were poisoned by carbon monoxide during the fire, burned, held on with all their strength.
About an hour later, the first group of submariners was picked up by the fishing mothership "Alexei Khlobystov", which hurried to the aid of the military sailors. The rest were caught one by one from the cold water. 27 people were saved.
K-278 was equipped with a pop-up rescue chamber, which allows the entire crew of the boat to escape from the depths. At the moment when the Komsomolets sank, five people were in the VSK: the boat commander Evgeny Vanin, captain 3rd rank Yudin, midshipmen Slyusarenko, Chernikov and Krasnobaev.
Captain Vanin rushed inside the boat, hearing the voices of people in it. Those who remained on the surface barely had time to batten down the hatch behind it - only this left a chance for those remaining inside to escape with the help of a rescue chamber. Yudin, Slyusarenko, Chernikov and Krasnobaev, who were climbing the ladder at the time of flooding, were literally thrown down due to the fact that the sinking boat stood almost vertically. Midshipman Slyusarenko was the last to be dragged into the cell. Yudin and Chernikov desperately tried to close the bottom cover of the chamber, which weighed more than 250 kg. They managed to do this with incredible difficulty.
The chamber, filled with smoke, sank along with the boat to the bottom, which in this place was at a depth of more than one and a half kilometers. The divers tried to disconnect the camera from the boat.
Captain 3rd Rank Yudin suddenly shouted: “Everyone put on breathing apparatus!” Only Slyusarenko and Chernikov managed to do this - the rest, including Yudin himself, died. Submariners died due to carbon monoxide, whose effect increases many times with increasing pressure.
The camera separated from the boat almost at the bottom when the Komsomolets hull was damaged under the pressure of the water column.
The escape capsule was thrown to the surface like a champagne cork. The top hatch cover, secured with one latch, was torn off, and Chernikov and Slyusarenko were thrown out with it. But the first died after hitting his head, and only Slyusarenko survived, ending up in the water. The rescue chamber was overwhelmed by waves, and after a few seconds it finally sank to the bottom.
Midshipman Slyusarenko was picked up by rescuers some time later. Viktor Fedorovich Slyusarenko is the only person in the world to survive from a submarine that sank at a depth of one and a half kilometers.
The dead were honored, the crew of the Komsomolets were awarded, and the deputy chief of the Navy's emergency rescue service lost his position. The State Commission began to work, which included Minister of Defense D. Yazov, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee O. Baklanov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR I. Belousov. It was expected that it would be she who would dot the i's in the death of Komsomolets. But when the commission completed its work, only a short message appeared in the press: “...The cause of the disaster was a fire in the aft compartment of the submarine. It was most likely caused by an electrical fire.”
Meanwhile, passions raged on the pages of the press. It all started, perhaps, with the fact that the former commander of the nuclear submarine A. Gorbachev told readers that such a case was by no means the first, only before everything was hidden behind a veil of secrecy.
The four surviving sailors wrote open letter, dismissing suggestions that the fire ended in tragedy due to poor training of the crew, and shifting the emphasis to the design flaws of the ship.
Now we are unlikely to know why the fire broke out. The bilge engineer, senior sailor N. Bukhnikashvili and the technician of the remote control group, midshipman V. Kolotilin, who were on watch in the ill-fated 7th compartment, will not say anything either - they remained at their posts forever.
The date of the death of "Komsomolets" was proclaimed in the Russian Federation as the Day of Remembrance of Fallen Submariners. Eternal memory to them!
A quarter of a century ago, one of the most major disasters in the history of the Russian submarine fleet - on April 7, 1989, the nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets sank in the Norwegian Sea. And even after 25 years, debate continues about the causes and culprits of that terrible tragedy.
The submarine "Komsomolets" was unique, the only representative of the "685" project "Plavnik".
Back in 1966, the command of the USSR Navy set the designers the task of creating an experimental submarine with an increased diving depth.
The design of the unique nuclear submarine took eight years. To solve this problem, the designers used titanium to create a lightweight and durable body.
The laying of the boat at the enterprise in Severodvinsk took place in 1978, and K-278 was launched in 1983.
Due to the use of ultra-expensive titanium, as well as the length of time it took to design and build, the boat was nicknamed the “goldfish” in the navy.
But the K-278 was truly a unique ship. It could operate at depths where it was not detected by any enemy surveillance means and was inaccessible to any weapon with a conventional explosive. The nuclear submarine was armed with torpedoes and Granat cruise missiles. The weapon system allowed the K-278 to attack enemy ships and submarines from the depths of the ocean in a submerged position, remaining out of reach of them.
Since 1984, K-278, included in the Northern Fleet, has been operated as an experimental submarine and a base for experiments in the field of ultra-deep diving.
It was assumed that the operation of the K-278 would allow one to gain experience to create a whole series of the latest next-generation submarines.
On August 4, 1985, K-278, under the command of Captain 1st Rank Yuri Zelensky, set an absolute world record for diving depth - 1027 meters. When surfacing at a depth of 800 meters, successful shots were fired from the torpedo tubes.
These tests showed that the Soviet Union received a submarine that has no analogues in the world. Captain Zelensky presented himself for the title of Hero Soviet Union, however, the award was not approved.
At the end of 1986 - beginning of 1987, K-278, under the command of Yuri Zelensky, made its first autonomous combat campaign. In the summer of 1987, the boat changed its status from “experienced” to “combat”. In August - October 1987, the boat successfully completed the second "autonomy". Under the command of Captain Zelensky, she received the very prestigious title of “excellent ship” in the navy.
Submarine "Komsomolets", January 1, 1986. Photo: Public Domain
In January 1989, the submarine K-278 was given the name “Komsomolets”. A month later, K-278 set off on its third autonomous voyage, this time with a replacement crew, led by 1st Rank Captain Evgeniy Vanin.
Since the first voyage with a new crew is an extremely important event, representatives of the naval command in the person of the deputy commander of the submarine division and the head of the political department were also on board.
The autonomous campaign was successful until the return home, when it seemed that nothing extraordinary could happen.
On April 7, 1989 at 11:03, while the Komsomolets was sailing at a depth of 380 meters at a speed of 8 knots, a powerful fire broke out in the 7th compartment of the boat for an unknown reason. The main version is considered to be an electrical equipment fire.
The fire quickly engulfed the entire 7th compartment and claimed the life of the sailor on watch Nodari Bukhnikashvili. When the fire was signaled to the central console, an attempt was made to use the boat's volumetric chemical fire extinguishing system (VOC), but this did not yield any results.
The temperature in the 7th compartment reached 1000 degrees, the fire penetrated into the 6th compartment, where midshipman Vladimir Kolotilin died.
By this time, an emergency alarm was announced on the boat, and Komsomolets began to ascend. At a depth of 150 meters, due to damage caused by the fire, she lost speed, and further ascent occurred due to the purging of the main ballast tanks. At 11:16, 13 minutes after the fire started, the boat reached the surface.
When later the search for the culprits begins and the Komsomolets crew begins to be accused of incompetence, the same deputy division commander who was on the boat, Captain 1st Rank Kolyada, will notice that if the crew were incompetent, the boat would not have risen to the surface.
Reproduction of the drawing “Norwegian Sea. Nuclear boat." Photo: RIA Novosti / Sergey Kompaniychenko
The situation on Komsomolets was very difficult - the 6th and 7th compartments were on fire, the 2nd, 3rd and 5th were filled with smoke. There are many burnt and poisoned people in the crew. The emergency protection activated, automatically blocking the boat's nuclear reactor, and Komsomolets switched to using batteries.
The first signal about the accident was sent at 11:37, but due to increasing problems at the headquarters, it was received only at 12:19. An Il-38 aircraft with rescue containers was sent to the scene of the accident.
The IL-38 cannot land on water, so in this situation it could only observe and guide ships coming to the rescue to the scene of the accident.
Navy helicopters and seaplanes could not reach the accident site, located 980 kilometers from the Soviet border.
In addition, the first messages from Captain Vanin were quite calm - the ship has surfaced, the crew is fighting for survivability.
The IL-38, under the command of pilot Gennady Petrogradsky, took up a position over the accident area at 14:20. By this time, the Alexey Khlobystov floating base was coming at full speed to help Komsomolets, which was supposed to arrive at the site by 18:00.
By three o'clock in the afternoon it seemed that the worst was over. Three Soviet planes were circling over the area, ships were racing at full speed to the scene of the accident, and the fire, although not extinguished, was localized. Help should have arrived soon.
Most of the crew were on the upper deck without life jackets. The people who got out of the smoke-filled compartments were confident that the Komsomolets was unsinkable and did not imagine that they would soon have to leave the ship.
At 16:35, the Il-38 crew noticed that the K-278 began to settle to the stern. As a result of a powerful fire, the tightness of the boat’s durable hull was broken, and the Komsomolets began to flood. It happened quickly.
At 16:40, the boat commander gave the order to prepare for the evacuation of the crew, prepare a pop-up rescue chamber (PSC), and leave the compartments. The personnel began to hand over life rafts, but only one of them was able to be launched.
Seven minutes later, the conning tower was half submerged in water. At 17:00, the crew without personal life-saving equipment began to evacuate onto a life raft. A rescue container was dropped from the Il-38, but it malfunctioned and the sailors were unable to use it.
At 17:08, K-278 Komsomolets quickly went into depth. 61 people were caught in the icy waters of the Norwegian Sea. People who did not even have life jackets, were poisoned by carbon monoxide during the fire, burned, held on with all their strength.
Captain 3rd rank Anatoly Ispenkov remained inside the strong hull of the boat. The commander of the electrical division until the last ensured the operation of the diesel generator of the dying Komsomolets. He did not have time to get out of the sinking boat...
K-278 was equipped with a pop-up rescue chamber, which allows the entire crew of the boat to escape from the depths. At the moment when the Komsomolets sank, five people were in the VSK: the boat commander Evgeny Vanin, captain 3rd rank Yudin, midshipmen Slyusarenko, Chernikov and Krasnobaev.
Captain Vanin rushed inside the boat, hearing the voices of people in it. Those who remained on the surface barely had time to batten down the hatch behind it - only this left a chance for those remaining inside to escape with the help of a rescue chamber. Yudin, Slyusarenko, Chernikov and Krasnobaev, who were climbing the ladder at the time of flooding, were literally thrown down due to the fact that the sinking boat stood almost vertically. Midshipman Slyusarenko was the last to be dragged into the cell. Yudin and Chernikov desperately tried to close the bottom cover of the chamber, which weighed more than 250 kg. They managed to do this with incredible difficulty.
The chamber, filled with smoke, sank along with the boat to the bottom, which in this place was at a depth of more than one and a half kilometers. The divers tried to disconnect the camera from the boat.
Captain 3rd Rank Yudin suddenly shouted: “Everyone put on breathing apparatus!” Only Slyusarenko and Chernikov managed to do this - the rest, including Yudin himself, died.
Submariners died due to carbon monoxide, whose effect increases many times with increasing pressure.
The camera separated from the boat almost at the bottom when the Komsomolets hull was damaged under the pressure of the water column.
The escape capsule was thrown to the surface like a champagne cork. The top hatch cover, secured with one latch, was torn off, and Chernikov and Slyusarenko were thrown out with it. But the first died after hitting his head, and only Slyusarenko survived, ending up in the water. The rescue chamber was overwhelmed by waves, and after a few seconds it finally sank to the bottom.
Midshipman Slyusarenko was picked up by rescuers some time later. Viktor Fedorovich Slyusarenko is the only person in the world to survive from a submarine that sank at a depth of one and a half kilometers.
About 70 minutes passed from the moment the Komsomolets was scuttled until the mother ship "Alexei Khlobystov" arrived at the scene of the disaster. These minutes turned out to be fatal for most crew members. 16 people drowned, another 16 died from hypothermia, and their bodies were brought on board along with the remaining 30 sailors.
Three more died on board the mother ship, although at first glance their condition did not cause concern. Doctors later explained that being in cold water had already triggered irreversible changes in their bodies, and it was impossible to save them.
As a result, out of 69 crew members, 42 died and 27 survived. May 12, 1989 Presidium Supreme Council The USSR issued a decree awarding all members of the Komsomolets crew - living and dead - with the Order of the Red Banner.
Funeral procession during the funeral of sailors of the Komsomolets submarine, 1989. Photo: RIA Novosti / V. Kuznetsov
The Komsomolets submarine has been resting at a depth of 1,650 meters at the bottom of the Norwegian Sea for a quarter of a century. From 1989 to 1998, seven expeditions were carried out using the Mir deep-sea submersibles, during which the condition of the boat was monitored, as well as work to ensure radiation safety. It was determined that the boat's reactor was securely shut down and it currently does not pose a threat to the environment.
In 1998, the investigation into the death of the Komsomolets submarine was suspended due to the “failure to identify the person to be charged as an accused” and the fact that “it is not possible to establish the true causes of the fire and flooding before lifting the submarine and inspecting it.” .
