Missing submarines. The mystery of the death of the submarine "Eridis" haunts the death of the submarine

The idea of ​​the combat use of an underwater vessel was first expressed by Leonardo da Vinci. He subsequently destroyed his project because he feared the devastating consequences of submarine warfare. The idea of ​​using a submarine in combat was popularized in Jules Verne's novel 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, written in 1870. The novel describes the Nautilus submarine, which rams and destroys surface ships.

Although the most important tactical property and advantage of a submarine is stealth, until 1944 all submarines spent most of their time on the surface and were essentially submersible boats - surface ships.

Today we will remember the largest submarine disasters, because sometimes these metal monsters go under water forever...

US Navy submarine SS-109 (1927)

40 people died when the US submarine SS-109 (USS S-4) sank after it was rammed by a US Coast Guard ship off Cape Cod.

An amazing fact: the submarine returned to service a year after this accident and served actively until its decommissioning in 1936.

Soviet submarine S-117 "Pike", 1952

"Shch-117" is a Soviet diesel-electric torpedo submarine from the Second World War, belongs to the V-bis series of the Shch - "Pike" project. On June 10, 1949, renamed S-117.

Shch-117, 1930s:

By the early fifties, the S-117 was no longer a new ship, but it successfully performed the tasks assigned to it. In December 1952, in the Sea of ​​Japan, the Pike was supposed to take part in exercises. On the way to the maneuver area, its commander reported that due to a breakdown of the right diesel engine, the submarine was going to the designated point on one engine. A few hours later he reported that the problem had been fixed. The boat never made contact again.

The exact cause and place of death of the submarine are unknown. It was as if she had disappeared.

There were 52 crew members on board the boat, including 12 officers. Searches for the C-117, carried out until 1953, yielded nothing. The cause and place of the boat's death are still unknown.

US Navy submarine USS Thrasher, 1963

An American submarine sank during a training exercise off the Cape Cod Peninsula off the coast of Massachusetts, killing 129 crew members.

Mechanical failure caused the boat to quickly sink and explode. According to the conclusions made by expert Bruce Rule, who examined the death of the boat, the final destruction of the Thresher’s hull occurred at a depth of 732 m and took no more than 0.1 seconds. Its wreckage was discovered at a depth of more than 2,500 meters. The boat's hull split into six main parts - the bow section, the sonar dome, the wheelhouse, the tail section, the engine room, and the command compartment, all located within a radius of 300 meters.

Photo of the Thrasher's vertical rudder lying on the bottom:

The sinking of the Soviet submarine K-129, 1968

The diesel submarine of the USSR Navy K-129, which, according to various sources, carried from 96 to 98 crew members, went on combat duty in the North Pacific Ocean in February 1968.

On March 8, 1968, the diesel-electric missile submarine K-129 from the Pacific Fleet, equipped with nuclear warheads, was lost. The submarine carried out combat service in the Hawaiian Islands, and since March 8 it has stopped communicating. According to various sources, there were from 96 to 98 crew members on board the K-129, all of them died.

The cause of the disaster is unknown. There are a number of theories regarding the accident, including a collision with an American ship, but Washington has consistently denied this, and, according to the official US Navy report, the sinking of the Soviet submarine was blamed on a “tragic explosion on board.” Subsequently, the Americans discovered K-129 and recovered it in 1974.

The Soviet side organized a search for the missing submarine, which did not bring any results. Subsequently, K-129 was discovered by the Americans, who organized its recovery.

Submarine K-129 at the bottom:

During the rise, the submarine broke in two, but several of its compartments were delivered to one of the US Navy bases. During their examination, the bodies of six Soviet submariners were discovered. The Americans gave military honors to the dead and buried the dead submariners at sea.

American USS Scorpion (SSN-589), 1968

The keel of the US Navy ship took place on August 20, 1958. The boat sank on May 21, 1968, 740 km southwest of the Azores at a depth of 3,000 meters, 5 days before returning to base in Norfolk. 99 people died.

They searched for the sunken boat for 5 months; more than 60 ships and vessels, and up to 30 aircraft were involved in the search. A week after the search began, a German submarine, sunk during the Second World War, was discovered 100 miles from Norfolk. The search was in vain for a long time.

Soon the boat was found at a depth of 3047 meters and photographed by the Mizar vessel. The cause of the ship's death has not yet been established; the most likely version is a torpedo explosion. But there are other versions...

For almost 40 years, by mutual agreement, the United States and Russia have been carefully concealing the fact of the destruction of the American nuclear submarine Scorpion by a combat torpedo fired by a Soviet submarine, says the author of the new investigative book “Scorpion Down” published in the United States, military journalist Ed Offley.

Offley claims that the destruction of the Scorpion was the “revenge” of Soviet submariners who believed that the United States was involved in the death of the Soviet submarine K-129, which sank to the bottom after an explosion on board with its entire crew of 98 people in the Pacific Ocean in March 1968.

The tragedies of 1968 were part of an underwater “reconnaissance war,” many of the details of which are still classified, the author of the book believes.

Fragment of a boat hull. Visible deformations from excessive pressure:

Soviet submarine K-8, 1970

The Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 of Project 627A “Kit” joined the Northern Fleet on August 31, 1960.

The submarine, which was on combat duty in the Mediterranean Sea, was sent to the North Atlantic region to participate in the largest exercise in the history of the Soviet Navy, Ocean-70, in which the forces of all USSR fleets participated. Its task was to designate the “enemy’s” submarine forces breaking through to the shores of the Soviet Union. The start of the exercises was planned for April 14, the end - for the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin - April 22, 1970.

The last hours of the life of K-8 and part of her crew:

The nuclear submarine K-8 was lost on April 12, 1970 in the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean as a result of a severe fire, which led to the loss of buoyancy and longitudinal stability. The submarine sank at a depth of 4680 meters, 490 km northwest of Spain. 52 crew members were killed. While dying, they managed to shut down the nuclear reactors.

Monument to the K-8 crew:

The death of K-8 and 52 crew members was the first loss of the Soviet nuclear fleet.

Nuclear submarine K-278 "Komsomolets", 1989

The Soviet 3rd generation nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets was the only submarine of Project 685 Plavnik. The boat holds the absolute record for diving depth among submarines - 1027 meters (August 4, 1985). The boat had six bow 533-mm torpedo tubes with a quick loader. Each TA had an autonomous pneumohydraulic firing device. Shooting could be carried out at all diving depths.

The nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets sank on April 7, 1989 in the Norwegian Sea. The submarine was moving at a depth of 380 meters at a speed of 8 knots. As a result of a fire in two adjacent compartments, the main ballast tank systems were destroyed, through which the boat was flooded with sea water. 42 people died, many from hypothermia.

Russian submarine "Kursk, 2000"

K-141 "Kursk" is a Russian nuclear submarine missile-carrying cruiser of Project 949A "Antey". Laid down at Sevmash in 1990 and put into operation on December 30, 1994.

The Russian submarine Kursk sank on August 12, 2000, at a depth of 108 meters during naval exercises in the Barents Sea, in waters between Norway and Russia, after two explosions occurred on board caused by a torpedo motor fuel leak.

Most of the 118 people on board were killed instantly. 23 people managed to get out into the rear compartment, but died of suffocation the next day.
In terms of the number of deaths, the accident became the second in the post-war history of the Russian submarine fleet after the explosion of ammunition on a B-37.

All stages of the operation to raise the Kursk were carried out over the course of a year. About 120 companies from 20 countries were involved in it. The cost of the work was estimated at 65 - 130 million US dollars. As a result of the operation of raising the Kursk boat, 115 bodies of dead submariners were found and buried. Three bodies were never found. A boat's potentially dangerous ammunition and two nuclear reactors were evacuated from the bottom of the Barents Sea

Chinese submarine "Min 361", 2003

The submarine was launched in 1995. Assigned to the Eastern Fleet of the People's Republic of China Navy

On April 16, 2003, during an exercise, the diesel engine of the Min 361 submarine broke down while it was in Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea off the northeastern coast of China. The breakdown led to a sharp decrease in oxygen on board and suffocation of all 70 crew members.

This was the first time China has made public the death of its diesel-electric submarine. According to Xinhua on May 2, 2003, the boat was discovered by Chinese fishermen on April 25, 2003, when they caught its periscope with nets. The submarine was later raised to the surface and towed away.

Argentine submarine "San Juan", 2017

The Argentine Navy submarine San Juan stopped communicating on November 15 while en route from the Ushuaia naval base to Mar del Plata. At the time of the last communication session, the submarine reported an accident. There were 44 people on board.

15 days after the disappearance of the submarine, the Argentine Navy announced that the operation to rescue the 44 crew members of the San Juan submarine was being stopped, but the search for the submarine itself would continue.

The captain of the missing Argentine Navy submarine San Juan promised his mother that this would be his last voyage. That's how it happened.

As for nuclear submarines, a total of 8 nuclear submarines sank from 1955 to 2017: 4 Soviet, 2 Russian, 2 American. All of them died as a result of various accidents: three due to technical malfunctions, two as a result of fires, two due to problems with weapons, the cause of the death of one boat is not reliably known.

Since their inception, submarines have been and remain formidable weapons. The submarine is capable of passing undetected at a depth of several hundred meters, delivering a fatal missile or torpedo strike, laying a minefield and leaving unnoticed.

However, secrecy is not always beneficial - submarines often disappear along with their crews, and the reasons for their disaster remain unclear. Thus, on March 4, 1970, under unusual circumstances, the French submarine S-644 Eurydice and all 57 members of its crew perished. the site recalled the four most mysterious disasters of diesel-electric submarines.

Bermuda Triangle in the Mediterranean Sea

On September 23, 1952, the submarine Sibylle disappeared near the site of the sinking of 2326. Rescuers were only able to find an oil slick, but the boat itself could not be found. No less mysterious was the death of the S-644 Eurydice on March 4, 1970, the search for which lasted about 1.5 months, although the place from where the submarine transmitted its last radiogram was known exactly.

Scientists still cannot explain what happened and put forward any logical version of the boat’s death.

Perhaps a UFO is to blame?

The death of the Dakar submarine is no less mysterious, given the testimony of eyewitnesses. On January 26, 1968, sailors who were nearby a fishing vessel observed a strange phenomenon: a large and brightly glowing oval object was floating over the sea, which came close to their ship, passed near the right side and flew away to the northeast.

Immediately after the discovery, several versions were put forward: the Dakar was sunk during Soviet-Egyptian exercises, collided with a mine from World War II, or was a technical error by the crew. The first two versions are disputed by many experts, if only because the hull of the submarine does not show signs of damage typical of deep-sea bombing. And the third - the crew was already ahead of schedule, so the captain gave the order to slow down: everything on the boat was going as normal.

The Dakar's wheelhouse at the Naval Museum, Haifa

As a result, when K-129 did not make contact on March 8, 1968, there was not even a crew list at the squadron command post. The submarine was searched by dozens of ships of the Kamchatka flotilla and aviation of the Northern Fleet, while, attracted by the maneuvers of Soviet ships, the Americans accurately indicated the coordinates of the oil slick that formed after the sinking of the boat. But the USSR Navy was unable to find the boat; after 73 days, the rescue operation was stopped, and the relatives of the submariners received a funeral with the inscription “recognized dead.” The Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, S.G. Gorshkov, refused to acknowledge the death of the crew and the submarine, which de facto made the boat an ownerless property, and the country simply forgot about the existence of the K-129 and its sailors.

Later, the Americans took advantage of this (“Project Azorian”), who, after seven years of preparatory work and spending about $350 million, were able to lift the K-129 from a depth of 5000 meters. The operation took almost 40 days; during the rise, the submarine broke into two parts. In the bow were found the bodies of six submariners, whom the Americans buried according to maritime custom: the sarcophagus with the bodies was covered with the flag of the USSR Navy and lowered into the sea to the sounds of the national anthem of the Soviet Union.

The "Curse of K-129" affected all three high-ranking people involved in the operation to raise the boat: billionaire Howard Hughes went crazy, President Richard Nixon was removed from office, and CIA Director William Colby left intelligence for unknown reasons.

Today it is not known for certain why K-129 died. There are several versions of what happened: a collision with the US submarine USS Swordfish (SSN-579), the firing of the RD-21 missile engines, a hydrogen explosion while charging the batteries and the sinking of the boat through the RDP shaft while charging the batteries - according to the official version of the USSR Navy.

China remains silent

The Project 629 submarine, named No. 208, built for the Chinese Navy, sank in the South Korean Sea for unknown reasons. The boat's crew numbered more than 100 people, plus civilian specialists were on board. The exact number of deaths is still unknown - the Chinese authorities remain silent, and all information about the incident is still classified.

The presence of Chinese scientists and engineers on board the submarine is associated with the testing of the latest Chinese ballistic missile JL-1 at that time. The Chinese side did not put forward any versions of the death of submarine No. 208, nor did they provide details. But there is a version that a Chinese submarine collided with the Soviet nuclear submarine K-10. This is indirectly confirmed by the entry in the K-10 logbook about a collision in the South China Sea with an unknown submarine.

The death of submarines. In the first half of this century, submarine sailing was a very risky undertaking. Before the war in 1939, they were lost every year mainly due to oversights or design flaws, and even excluding those that went to the bottom clearly due to hostilities in the Second World War, at the same time more than a hundred of them disappeared.

Over the past fifty years, however, technology has advanced greatly, and as a result, two dozen submarines have sunk since 1945. This is good news.

Now comes the bad news: some of these disappearances appear to have been linked to forces beyond humanity's understanding - alien forces lurking deep within the ocean.

The year 1968 gives us three of the clearest examples of this series. Launched in December 1959, the American submarine Scorpion was a 3,000-ton nuclear-powered leviathan of the deep. The pride of the American Navy, the ship performed its service unblemished and was considered one of the most reliable in the entire Navy.

In February 1967, after eight years of work, Scorpio was slightly patched up. Norfolk shipyard and, after successfully completing a number of post-repair inspections, was assigned to the US Mediterranean Flag Group in March 1968.

She served honestly until May, when, along with the entire crew of ninety-nine people, she suddenly disappeared on the way back to Norfolk. The route was simple and usual, and on May twenty-fifth, being two hundred and fifty miles from the Azores, the Scorpio transmitted standard movement signals - and it turned out that this was the last contact with the submarine. In the following days, all attempts to establish radio contact with the submarine failed.

At first they decided that the whole thing was due to some technical problems, no one believed that an accident had occurred, but time passed, and “Scorpio” never showed up on the surface. He was officially declared to have failed to arrive at the port of destination on time and an intensive search began.

Several weeks passed and no traces of the submarine were found. The ship was classified as lost, and the search was abandoned at the end of June.

After the official announcement of the loss of the ship, rumors began to circulate among American newspapermen about magnetic tapes in the hands of the Navy, on which radio conversations with the Scorpion were recorded, and from them it allegedly appears that shortly before its disappearance the submarine was pursuing some unusual target, moving at a speed exceeding the capabilities of any ship made on Earth.

The fleet refused to comment on these rumors and at the same time supported rumors about the possible participation of Russians in the entire tragedy. When the search vessel Mizar announced in August 1966 that it had photographed and identified the crumpled wreck of the Scorpio lying on the shelf in 10,000 feet of water four hundred miles west of the Azores, the Navy refused to comment on that or even report whether they previously knew about the location of the ship's sinking.

Press unrest increased when, at the trial that followed the investigation, some of the material was classified and never released, which clearly indicated that the Pentagon did not want public participation in this case.

At the end of the trial, no final decision was made, although the Navy itself was quite satisfied with the conclusion that the death of the ship was the result of a tragic combination of human oversight and mechanical failure.

All assumptions about alien intervention in this tragedy and speculation about the unusual object that was mentioned in the last report from the submarine were carefully suppressed.

Even if the last voyage of the Scorpion was the only one in the register of oddities of 1968, it would still remain quite remarkable for history. But in reality, the American submarine was only the third to disappear under almost identical circumstances - the other two disappeared within two days of each other at the beginning of the same year.

On the morning of January twenty-sixth, the Israeli submarine Dakkar, with a crew of sixty-five sailors, contacted its home port and its destination, Haifa, reporting that it was moving on schedule and would arrive on time. The ship had only recently undergone successful repairs and refitting in the English Don of Portsmouth and was now returning to Israel via the Mediterranean Sea.

As it turned out, the Dakkar never returned and this optimistic message was its last news.

Searches involving thirty ships and a dozen aircraft from five countries yielded nothing, and the Israeli maritime court was unable to make a conclusion on the reasons for the death of the ship.

However, at exactly midnight on the twenty-sixth of January, on a fishing vessel from the Greek part of Cyprus, fishing forty miles northeast of the last location of the Dakkar, a large luminous oval object was seen silently gliding under the bow on the starboard side.

It is absolutely certain that it was not an ordinary submarine or some huge sea animal, and the fishermen, having learned about the fate of the Israeli submarine, became convinced that what they saw was somehow connected with its disappearance.

The disappearance of the Dakkar with its entire crew was only the first part of a double tragedy, which seems completely nonsensical if you do not take into account the version of the participation of aliens. At almost the same time, in the Mediterranean Sea, 1000 miles to the west, the French submarine Minerva disappeared during a combat exercise.

The vessel was only forty feet deep when it radioed a French plane circling the exercise site on January 27 that it was about to dive in order to find out what the strange object that had appeared on radar had apparently been stalking the submarine for several minutes. .

At a depth of one hundred and ninety feet, the submarine suddenly became silent. Together with a crew of fifty-nine people, she was considered lost, presumably sank in a place where the depth reached eight thousand feet. Even less has been said about the strange object.

Considering all the circumstances of the case, the idea of ​​​​a connection seems completely logical - the only problem is that then you will have to admit something completely unpleasant: the intervention of unknown forces, the existence of which, at least officially, is still not recognized by any government in the world.

Death of submarines

A quarter of a century ago, one of the largest disasters in the history of the Russian submarine fleet occurred - on April 7, 1989, the nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets perished 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.

Failed Hero

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 was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but 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

Fire in the depths

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 fight for survivability

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.

The boat sank in a few minutes

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...

Abyss Survivor

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.

Last refuge

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. On May 12, 1989, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 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.” .

The K-129 submarine, tail number 574, with three underwater-launched ballistic missiles, high-power nuclear warheads, and two nuclear torpedoes, left Krasheninnikov Bay and headed for the Pacific Ocean, towards the Hawaiian Islands.
It was an unplanned trip for the crew. From October 1 to November 30, 1967, submarine 574 carried out combat service in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Upon their return, the sailors carried out navigational repairs. Then half of the officers went on vacation. The personnel in two shifts rested in the sanatorium. Next, the crew had to undergo the usual training and maintenance of the ship. But then the unexpected happened. The higher headquarters checked one of the submarines preparing for combat service and removed it from the voyage, giving it a “fail” rating. We checked the second boat - the same result. Then the question arose about the submarine 574. It turned out to be combat-ready. The command decided to send her to unscheduled combat service.
Due to vacations, the officers arrived at the submarine some 15 and some 5 days before going to the ocean, which could not but affect the preparation for the voyage. By the way, the crew was never fully assembled. The boat left with 14 officers and 83 sailors and petty officers on board, of which only 58 were full-time, 15 were assigned to replace those on leave, and 10 were sent for training.
When making a decision, the command relied on the professionalism of the main core of the crew, first of all, on the command staff. And these were truly high-class specialists.
The commander, Captain 1st Rank Vladimir Ivanovich Kobzar PL 574, commanded for about four years. Before that, he led the crew of a “baby” for two years, and drove an “esku” in the depths for four and a half years. On the eve of the campaign, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star for exemplary service. The senior assistant commander, captain 2nd rank Alexander Mikhailovich Zhuravin, served on submarine 574 although recently, since September 1967, but before that he successfully handled a similar position on the same submarine for three years. The commanders of combat units and service chiefs were no less experienced. Apparently, therefore, despite the crumpled preparation and having no other options due to the small number of combat-ready submarines, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral N. Amelko, and the chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral G. Bondarenko, signed a combat order for this crew on February 15, 1968. It noted that the carrier forces of the US 7th Fleet were conducting combat operations against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Pacific Fleet submarines carry out combat patrols in the ocean. PL 574 was tasked with conducting covert patrols in readiness for action upon a signal from the General Staff in the manner outlined in a special package... The boat was assigned a combat patrol area and time... The return to base was planned for May 5, 1968 at 12.00.
For twelve days the crew carried out their assigned secret patrol tasks, but on March 8 they did not make contact. On that day, K-129 was supposed to give a control radio message - a short signal. Retired Admiral V. Dygalo, who at that time commanded the formation that included the submarine, recalls: “In accordance with combat orders, V. Kobzar regularly sent reports to headquarters about the progress of the voyage. But on March 8, we were all alarmed - the boat did not respond to the control radiogram transmitted by the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet to check communications. True, this did not give reason to assume a tragic outcome of the voyage - you never know what reasons prevented the commander from getting in touch! But the report never arrived. This was a serious cause for concern." At this time, at the height of the fighting in Vietnam, the US Navy carefully monitored the course of any Soviet warship in a strategically important part of the Pacific Ocean. The submarine missile carrier could not disappear into the ocean without a trace. But the exact location of the death of the ship and 98 crew members was not known to the Soviet command at that time. According to intelligence data, around the same days, the American submarine Swordfish arrived at the Japanese port of Yokosuko, which was damaged. The Americans took unusual security measures when this boat entered the port: only American personnel were involved in the repairs. The thought arose of a collision under water. Preparations for a search and rescue operation began urgently.”
Airplanes, warships, and auxiliary vessels were sent to the ocean. The depth in the search area is 5000-6000 meters. The distance from Kamchatka is about 1230 miles.
The search involved 2 destroyers, 3 patrol ships, 3 minesweepers, 4 submarines, 2 mother ships, 10 auxiliary ships... A total of 36 pennants.
Ships and vessels ironed the ocean day and night, rummaging in the depths with parcels of hydroacoustic stations and echo sounders, examining the surface of the sea. Long-range reconnaissance aircraft patrolled along the submarine's route, capturing the ocean kilometer after kilometer with photographic lenses, listening to the signals of sonobuoys. At first they hoped to find the emergency boat on the surface, then - at least traces of the disaster. However, a two-month search in the area where the submarine could have sunk ended in failure.
The State Commission, headed by twice Hero of Socialist Labor, State Prize laureate, Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers for Defense Industry and Armament Leonid Vasilyevich Smirnov, which included representatives of the Navy Civil Code, shipbuilding and missile industries, after a thorough study of all materials and circumstances, no shortcomings and I did not find any significant comments in the preparation of the submarine for the combat mission. It was concluded that the death of the K-129 occurred due to the loss of buoyancy of the submarine with the impossibility of keeping it at a safe depth due to the influx of water when moving under the RDP (a device for operating a diesel engine under water) through a float valve, which led to rapid immersion of the ship to an incredible depth of more than 5000 m.
On July 30, 1968, the K-129 submarine (Project 629A) was expelled from the Navy by appropriate order.
On the territory of the submarine base in Vilyuchinsk, a stone was laid for the installation of a monument, which was opened a few years later.

Monument to the K-129 crew in Vilyuchinsk. Kamchatka.
In the fall of 1968, mournful notices were sent to the relatives of the missing sailors from the crew of “K-129” throughout the cities of the Soviet Union, where in the column “cause of death” it was written: “recognized as dead.”
The military-political leadership of the USSR hid the fact of the disappearance of the submarine from the whole world, quietly expelling the K-129 from the Navy.
The only one who remembered about the lost boat was the US Central Intelligence Agency.
In June 1968, after making sure that the Soviet rescue services had stopped searching for the lost boat, the US Navy and the CIA began a secret operation to locate and recover the K-129. Their interest was obvious: to gain access to Soviet ballistic missiles, ciphers, codes, communication systems, control systems, technologies for constructing a durable hull, etc.
This was also facilitated by the fact that the Soviet Union did not officially announce the death of its submarine indicating the estimated area of ​​the disaster. As a result, the K-129 became an "orphan asset", thus any country that discovered the missing submarine would be considered its owner.
Operation Jennifer
First, it was necessary to locate the lost submarine and inspect it. This mission was assigned to the special operations nuclear submarine USS Halibut. The former missile carrier was modernized, oceanological equipment was installed on it: side thrusters, an anchor device with a bow and stern mushroom-shaped anchor, a diving camera, long and near side sonars, as well as a deep-sea towed module “Fish”, equipped with photo and video equipment and powerful spotlights.
The Americans knew the approximate coordinates of the death of K-129, this was facilitated, according to their information, by data from the acoustic stations of the SOSUS system. When listening to the recording of sounds made by the hydrophones of this system, it was possible to find a fragment where a “clap” was recorded. The signal came from a bottom station installed on the rise of the Imperial Mountains (a section of the ocean floor) at a distance of over 300 miles from the supposed site of the disaster. Considering the SOSUS direction finding accuracy of 5-10°, the position of “K-129” was determined as a “spot” measuring 30 miles. The Soviet submarine sank 600 miles northwest of the island. Midway (Hawaiian archipelago), in the middle of an ocean trench at a depth of 5000 meters.
Once the Helibat reached its target point, days of hard work dragged on.
Even knowing the coordinates of the disaster, the Helibat crew spent several weeks searching. Every six days, the deep-sea submersible was raised to reload the film in the cameras. And again the days of agonizing waiting.
And then one day a photograph with a clearly defined rudder feather of a submarine lay on the commander’s desk. It was K-129. After its discovery, Helibat took another 22 thousand shots of the Soviet submarine lying at a depth of five kilometers.

Photo K-129

The camera captured a ten-foot-wide (about three meters) gap just beyond the wheelhouse. In addition, two aft missile launchers in the wheelhouse fence were severely damaged. Their lids were torn off. The shaft closest to the stern was severely bent, and the missile's head section was missing. The second missile also did not have a warhead. Only the third launcher remained untouched - the one closer to the nose.

Destroyed K-129 launchers
One photo series captured the skeleton of a sailor, in the fence of the wheelhouse, dressed in a storm raglan, quilted trousers and heavy naval boots. Thousands of tiny sea worms swarmed in the remains of the submariner.
K-129 lay on the ocean floor, according to unofficial information, at 38°5"N and 178°57"E. (according to other sources - 40°6" N and 179°57" E). The exact coordinates of the location of K-129 are still a US state secret. After the discovery of K-129, Helibat took another 22 thousand photographs of the Soviet submarine.

Approximate place of death of K-129
Initially, it was planned to use remote-controlled underwater vehicles to open the hull of the K-129 and remove the materials needed by the American intelligence services from the side of the submarine without lifting the boat itself. But during the Helibat mission, it was established that the hull of the K-129 was broken into several large fragments, which made it possible to lift entire compartments of interest to reconnaissance from a depth of five kilometers. Of particular value was the 138-foot (42-meter) nose section of the K-129. The CIA and Navy turned to Congress for financial support, Congress turned to President Nixon, and Project AZORIAN became a reality.
Glomar Explorer
The fantastic project required special technical solutions. In April 1971, at the Shipbuilding Dry Dock Co. shipyard. (Pennsylvania, East Coast of the USA) the MV Hughes Glomar Explorer was laid down. The giant, with a total displacement of 50,000 tons, was a single-deck ship with a “central slot” above which was a giant A-shaped derrick, a stern engine room, a bow bunk and a stern
four-tier superstructure.

Glomar Explorer

Almost a third of the ship was occupied by the “Moon Pool”
measuring 60.65 x 22.5 x 19.8 m, which served as a dock to accommodate the deep-sea grapple, and then parts of the raised submarine. Filled with water, it looked like a giant swimming pool, except for the taps at every corner. From below, the pool was closed with doors with rubber seals (The dimensions of the “Moon Pool” indicate that the Americans initially did not plan to lift the entire boat (the length according to the waterline is 99 meters)).
Along the center plane, forward and aft of the central slot, movable columns were installed, designed to receive a gripping device from a submerged barge. They resembled in appearance the retractable supports on offshore drilling rigs and, according to the authors’ plans, were supposed to mislead observers of this strange vessel, which they initially succeeded in doing. Thus, on May 11, 1975, the magazine Parade published a photograph of the MV Hughes Glomar Explorer with the statement that these columns rest on the bottom. Later, an analysis of foreign publications allowed Soviet specialists to determine their true purpose.
The CIA awarded the contract for the design of the vessel to Hughes Tool Co. The choice of this company was not accidental. It was its head, Howard Hughes, a billionaire and adventurer, who was best suited to play the role of the main organizer and creator of this ambitious undertaking. It was very opportune that Hughes had recently shown interest in extracting minerals from the ocean floor: in this regard, the start of his construction of a special vessel for underwater surveys and work would hardly have caused an unwanted resonance.
At the same time, at the shipyards of National Steel Shipbuilding Corp. in San Diego (California, West Coast of the USA), the HMV-1 barge (Hughes Marine Barge) and the deep-sea capture Clementine were built. Such dispersal of production ensured complete secrecy of the operation. Even the engineers directly involved in the project individually could not understand the purpose of these
devices (ship, grapple and barge).

Clementine Deep Sea Capture Projection
For two years, while construction was underway and
tests of the Glomar Explorer, the CIA, using numerous channels, actively disseminated information that the ship was designed to search for and extract minerals from the seabed. In 1972, the Glomar Explorer was launched and set off on its maiden voyage. In order to even more reliably disguise the true purpose of the ship, to divert the attention of newspapermen and the public who were inclined to question the official version, it was decided that the Glomar Explorer would take part in an expedition to search for minerals in the ocean. The vessel has truly proven itself to be indispensable in solving such problems.
After a series of tests on the East Coast, on August 13, 1973, the Glomar Explorer set off on a 12,000-mile cruise around Cape Horn and arrived safely in Long Beach, California, on September 30. There, in a quiet bay of Santa Catalina Island, the HMB-1 barge with grippers and mounting structures installed on it was waiting for him.
The barge was sunk, the Glomar Explorer stood above it, the divers started the engines which opened the roof doors (the appearance of the barge resembled a floating house). On the Explorer, the doors of the “moon pool” opened and hydraulic lifting devices were released from it onto the barge, with the help of which the Clementine deep-sea gripper weighing 2000 tons was moved into the “moon pool”.

After July 4, 1974, the Glomar Explorer went to sea to carry out the main phase of the operation, called Project Jennifer. Upon arrival at the scene, a unique operation began to recover a fragment of K-129. A column began to descend into the ocean waters, which was assembled from twenty-meter pipes that were screwed together; at the end of this column there was a Clementine grab. Screwing together a 5 km column took several days (the total mass of the assembled entire column was 4000 tons). Finally, on the morning of July 29, the capture was 70 m from the submarine lying on the bottom. With the help of thrusters mounted on the grab frame, it was lowered onto the boat. The open “claws” clenched, clasping the hull of the boat. Lifting has begun (total weight of load being lifted
(capture + boat fragment) amounted to 3129 tons).

Projection of Clementine gripper with K-129 body

Here it is necessary to clarify that the hull of the boat was broken into several fragments, and the Americans initially planned to lift only the bow (the most valuable for them) part of the K-129, about 43 m long, and not the entire boat, as noted in some publications. This is also indicated by the discrepancy between the length of the “lunar pool” (61 m) and the length of the submarine (length according to the water line - 99 meters).
However, when the boat rose to a height of about a kilometer from the bottom, the unexpected happened - the lifted fragment broke, leaving only the bow of the boat, 10 m long, in the grip.
The remains of the “prey” were safely introduced through the open doors into the “lunar pool”.
A few days later, the Glomar Explorer set course for the Hawaiian Islands, which were about 700 miles away. On August 16, having traveled 500 miles, the ship stopped to free itself from the raised unnecessary and radioactive fragments, having traveled another 130 miles, the Glomar Explorer stopped again in order to bury the bodies of six sailors found in the raised fragment of the boat.
Their bodies were placed in one container, which, with appropriate honors and under the USSR Anthem, was lowered into the ocean.
In 1975, then US Secretary of State Kissinger told our ambassador the names of some of the dead sailors who were identified from documents: Viktor Lokhov, Vladimir Kostyshko, Valery Nosachev.
In October 1992, CIA Director Robert Gates, at a meeting in Moscow, gave B. Yeltsin a videotape recording the ritual of burying the bodies of 6 Soviet submariners from the K-129 crew.
(A video is posted on YouTube in which the marine painter N. Cherkashin claims that the Americans wanted to transfer the bodies of the dead sailors to the Soviet Union, but the Soviet leadership allegedly refused, while he does not cite any witnesses or documents as proof of his statement. From the analysis of Operation Jennifer “which was carried out in the strictest secrecy, it becomes clear that the Americans were unlikely to make a statement like: “Soviet, we raised your submarine the other day, found the bodies of your guys, will you take them for yourself?” Moreover, they planned to repeat the operation to raise the conning tower with ballistic missiles, therefore, “shine” was not in their interests. So, we will leave the unfounded statements of Mr. Cherkashin on his conscience).
The Soviet intelligence services learned about Operation Jennifer only after a leak of information that got into the American press (Here it is necessary to explain that Soviet reconnaissance vessels “spotted” the Glomar Explorer, which was engaged in lifting a boat, and were near it for some time, but without understanding what they were doing Americans left).
On March 20, 1975, a reference review from the American press landed on the desk of the head of intelligence of the USSR Navy, from which it followed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with the help of a special vessel built on its order, managed to lift part of a Soviet submarine from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, sunk seven years earlier. On the same day, this information was reported to the Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Grechko. In order to prevent further attempts to raise the submarine, as well as to obtain complete information from the American side regarding the causes of the death of the K-129, the USSR Minister of Defense sent a note to the CPSU Central Committee. In it, he proposed instructing the Soviet ambassador to the United States to express outrage at the CIA’s activities and demand the cessation of the operation. Having considered this note, the CPSU Central Committee decided: “To approve the proposals of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Approve instructions to the Council of Ambassadors in Washington on this issue.”
An acute political scandal broke out and raged until the end of 1975. In the end, the American side was forced to admit the fact that the CIA carried out the top secret Operation Jennifer, as a result of which it was possible to raise from the bottom of the ocean not only part of the submarine, but also the well-preserved bodies of six Soviet sailors. Under pressure from the USSR, the operation was stopped.

Probable causes of death of K-129

First reason- an underwater collision with the American nuclear submarine Swordfish, which was tracking the K-129. This version is supported by the fact that shortly after the disappearance of our submarine, Swordfish reached the Japanese port of Yokosuka and, in an atmosphere of extreme secrecy, began repairing the bow and wheelhouse with periscopes and antennas. An atomic ship could only receive such damage in a collision with another ship, and while being under it (Americans explain the damage on the Swordfish as a collision with an iceberg approx.).
The second reason- (this reason is put forward by the Americans) a hydrogen explosion as a result of a leak from the battery pit (the battery pit was located just under the hole).

Conclusion
(criticism of versions)
The presence of the sailor's corpse in the wheelhouse fence clearly indicates that at the time of death the boat was on the surface, so it could not have collided with the Swordfish submarine. Moreover, the location of the hole also confirms this. Based on the location of the hole, one can most likely assume that the K-129 collided with a surface vessel.
As for the second reason - the death of the boat from the accumulation of hydrogen, it is also untenable. All calculations show that a hydrogen explosion could not lead to such great destruction as was present on the K-129. This conclusion is also confirmed by statistics: during the entire operation of submarines around the world, not a single boat died from a hydrogen explosion.