The great day of the submariner has arrived! Our editorial team presents the third story of Captain 1st Rank Alexander Nadezhdin, who has served in nuclear submarines for ten years and congratulates everyone on this wonderful holiday!
In these stories, through separate stories, sometimes embellished, but generally true, I try to present the features of the naval life of the service. Seriously, but more often with irony.
After reading these stories, You may find random coincidences with events that occurred in other units of the army and navy. Therefore, please do not take it personally, but if you like it, then take it.
For being therewhere the author served or lived, he warrants. Surnames, in some cases, are intentionally shortened or others are invented so as not to inadvertently offend anyone. Military ranks are fully consistent with the titles of the heroes of these stories. Posts can sometimes be fictional. The images of political workers are collective. Just do not consider them bad. They were hostages of circumstances, however, like all of us.
“The army is a bad school, because war does not happen every day, and the military pretend that their work is constant”
Bernard Show
At sea, however, better
Submarine has the shape of a cigar: thickened at the beginning, it gradually reduces its size to the stern. It ends with screws and a vertical rudder to sail in the right direction. It also differs from the tobacco product in size and felling, located in the first third of the hull. At the wheelhouse there are horizontal rudders that allow you to keep a given depth. Some submarines carry missiles and all are torpedoes.
My native submarinethe size of a good multi-story and multi-apartment building, armed with sixteen ballistic missiles with a very long range. A few thousand kilometers. And it was at such a distance that we patrolled along the coast of the United States of America. And, if you look carefully at the map, you can understand that our path went somewhere in the center of the Atlantic, from northern Europe to the Bermuda Triangle and vice versa.
Inside the boat they serve live, rejoice, worry and homesick submariners. Sailors, warrant officers and officers united in combat units, services, groups, teams and squads. Everyone is on guard. In shifts. Four hours in eight. The first - from the beginning of the day until four in the morning and - from twelve to sixteen. The second after the first and, it is clear that the third shift serves in the remaining time.
I loved to go to sea.It is there that you feel like a real sailor, involved in something very important and significant. On the shore, too, you are proud that you are a submariner, but more often on vacation or in the company of charming women.
Everyday lifenot at all proud, because she is fussy and stupid. Combat training is often replaced by various jobs that are not always relevant. Well, there, for cleaning the territories, for painting everything for the arrival of the big bosses, for Saturdays on Saturdays and Sundays the next day, for combat exercises and for the same shows and for various outfits not related to the service and for some amateur performances invented by our political workers for revolutionary and state holidays. In general, a large and stupid variety of coastal services. Like, for example, this.
once, they even sent me to patrol the Murmansk airport for ten whole days. Then, in the seventies, it was located in the town of Kilpjavr. At the military airfield. As a young lieutenant, I received a pistol and sixteen rounds of ammunition for it, and taking two sailors with me, I left for Murmansk in early September 1973. At the commandant’s office, having received strict instructions from the commandant of the city and the forms for the protocols of inspection of military personnel, I headed to the place of my service. They settled us in some kind of hut with inconvenience, attached to the flight canteen of a military unit five kilometers from the airport. That is, you had to walk thirty kilometers three times a day. And, since the cars were not given to us, we, having gone a couple of times there and back, stopped doing this. They began to eat for their money in a local buffet. Kefir, tea, sausages and sandwiches. The sailors, of course, had no money, so I spent almost all of my salary on supporting the lives of my subordinates.
In general, the service went smoothly, without visible incidents. Normal patrol service. Control over the giving of military honor, a neat form of clothing, a brave and sober look. The military, of course. Valiant police watched the civilian passengers, with whom I was located in the same room. Then it was called a picket of police. Since those time immemorial, my attitude to law enforcement bodies has changed significantly. From strong disrespect to persistent hostility. Not embarrassed by my presence, they robbed drunken passengers. Money and valuables were collected. Without protocols and sanctions. Some of the money was drunk, the rest was sent to the authorities. They tried to attract me and my sailors to this mess, but we distanced ourselves from this. I was looking forward to the end of my link. It was boring and nasty. Everyday. Except two times.
In the first casei had to disarm a lieutenant from a local military unit. In the second - at the head of a commandant platoon, wait on the landing strip for an airplane that was captured by terrorists. With a cocked pistol in a trembling hand. But first things first.
First- about capture in the air. Just at that time, cases of hijacking of aircraft beyond the bounds of our vast homeland began to occur. Therefore, the pilots had a secret button in the cockpit, with which the earth received a special radio signal and prepared for the meeting in full readiness. In this case, in the form of a patrol chief, two sailors and a man of fifteen soldiers with machine guns. And since Alpha had not yet been invented, we were instructed to resolve the situation. I think that with a real capture, we would crumble the whole plane to shreds with terrorists and passengers. It’s good that the signal turned out to be false. Apparently, the button was placed in the place where it was easily touched by a foot.
But the situation with the lieutenantturned out to be more serious. Here was unrequited love. Experiencing, the young man got a gun and went with him to the airport restaurant to flood the mountain. As the bottle of vodka was emptied, his determination to shoot himself was transformed into hatred of everyone around him. And he began to think of shooting someone in his place. The waitress he was holding on to was as pale as a sheet of paper. In readiness to be without feelings. I was already ready to shoot to kill. And only the fear of getting into a girl kept me from doing this. Then I made another decision. Try to disarm the unfortunate lover. And I did it like that.
A restaurant was on the ground floor, and the height of the windows allowed to look into the hall from the street. To one window, the lieutenant sat with his back. And it was ajar. I very carefully entered through it into the hall, slowly got up and wrapped my arms around him, so that he could not swing the gun. The fight was short-lived. The sailors helped me quickly disarm him.
For our heroic deed, the command of the military unit, in exchange for silence for the remaining two days, allocated a car that drove us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I only regretted that the lieutenant decided so late on his act, otherwise all ten days we would have eaten healthy and tasty food, according to the flight ration.
Such, then, was the service of the submariner at sea and on the shore. But at sea, however, it was better.
To be continued...
Drawings: Oleg Karavashkin, kapraz
I, Buzuev Victor Vasilievich, was born on November 16, 1946 in the village of Dunaevka in the Petrovsky district (currently Kinel-Cherkassky) of the Kuibyshev region (currently Samara). In 1954, my family moved permanently to the city of Kuybyshev. In 1965 he graduated from high school No. 59 and received, in addition to the certificate of education, also a certificate of a second-degree fitter.
After graduation, he went to study at the Kuibyshev Polytechnic Institute, but did not go through the competition - only one point was missing. I went to work at the Aerodrome Equipment Plant, which patronized our school, or rather, the ski section. By this time I already had the first category in skiing and was a multiple champion of my area and had a good reputation in city and regional competitions. But I did not work long, because I was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet army.
How did I get to the fleet
At the end of November 1965, we, the recruits from Kuibyshev, were brought by electric train to the city of Syzran to the assembly point, where they were to be distributed to duty stations.
After passing the medical commission, I, as a promising athlete, decided to send me to the sports sector of the Volga Military District to serve. In total, seven people selected us, placed separately and said that representatives of the sports company would come for us, but we did not wait for this moment.
At this time, a team was formed at the assembly point to serve in the Northern Fleet in the amount of 100 people. The draft commission rejected five recruits, so the representative of the fleet demanded that the leadership of the recruitment center urgently need to find a replacement, since there were only a few hours left before the train left.
At this time, our group of athletes followed from the barracks to the dining room without a system, one might say a small crowd. The fleet representative asked the management of the item:
- "Who are they?"
“Athletes for the county sports community,” the answer sounded.
- “Urgently apply for my team. Such strong guys are needed by the fleet, and they will find others in the sports company. And no objections. Otherwise, I will call Moscow. I must comply with the norm of the USSR Navy, ”said a representative of the fleet. Since during their conversation, we were stopped nearby, we all heard what they were talking about.
We were again sent to undergo a medical examination in order to indicate in the questionnaire that we are suitable for military service in the Navy. Soon we got into the carriages and were taken through the European part of the country, as we later learned, to the city of Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Region. Cities flickered outside the windows of the car, then small villages and deciduous forests, then pine, and then the tundra. They arrived at their destination in two weeks at 23 hours. The North did not meet us affectionately: a blizzard, strong winds and heavy snowfall. Visibility no more than 20 30 meters. At the distribution point, we spent only two days. We were built, taken to a bathhouse, after which we were dressed in marine uniforms (robes), and then brought to a special school, where they trained specialists for the submarine fleet. They issued a complete set of uniforms, after which they distributed them by mouth and led them to the barracks.
Long months of study began. The technique was new and many knew about it only by hearsay. We studied the structure of the nuclear submarine (NPS) of 627 projects according to the drawings and the layout that was available at the school. “I am a cadet - special hold. I’ll study and then serve, as they said here, the heart of a nuclear submarine is a reactor. ” The training program was very rich and complex. At the same time, we are studying the easy-diving business and the struggle for survivability. There was practically no free time. And here he also causes a political officer and, in the presence of a school sports official, recommends me as a coach of a ski team, which needed to be prepared for performance at the competitions of the White Sea base of the Northern Fleet.
As a result, the team performed well, and I ended up in the base team for speaking at the Northern Fleet Championship in Severomorsk. But I couldn’t speak because I got sick and even lost my voice for several days.
Together with cadets of special schools, he visited the famous Severodvinsk nuclear submarine construction plant. It is difficult to convey in words the power and scope of production, where each workshop was a small plant.
Eight months later, having successfully passed the exams, I am graduating in the first category special hold with a red book and a diving specialist.
Farewell to Severodvinsk, although in the future I will visit this city twice more when we will load ammunition for long trips. We were taken by train to Severomorsk, and from there by boat to the place of permanent service in Zapadnaya Litsa.
On the way, we swayed great in the Barents Sea. Around the rocky hills. No sign of life. We go into a bay and go into the labyrinth of rocks. We pass several barriers. Finally, the rocks parted, and we entered a wide bay: on one side there were continuous hills, on the other - some structures and several piers. Two floating barracks (PKZ) were moored at one of them, in one of which I was to live with the crew of the nuclear submarine. At the other piers were nuclear submarines, their size was impressive. This was the Western Face, or as it was also called the Big Shovel. So, I, Project 675 sailor, about which we only heard from teachers in the special school, of the First Fleet of Nuclear Submarines of the Northern Fleet. Flotilla Commander Hero of the Soviet Union Vice Admiral A.I. Sorokin.
Met me affably. There was only a small part of the submarine crew at the floating base, since the main part was on the campaign. But I never got on the boat. Two months later, I, among the other eight sailors, was called to the training camp, where we began ski training for the upcoming Nordic Fleet skiing competition. I had to defend the honor of our flotilla. Of course, a month and a half is a short time in order to prepare at the proper level for such competitions, but there were no other options. As a result, we performed well, were in the top ten.
Upon my return to the base, a “surprise” awaited me. As soon as I reported to the management about my arrival, I was told that I should collect personal belongings and go to the neighboring floating base for further service on the K-131 submarine of Project 675, the commander of which was Captain 1st Rank V.P. Shekhovtsov. The boat was recently launched in Severodvinsk, and the crew, along with representatives of the plant, passed sea trials in the Barents Sea. Two weeks later, K-131 moored at the West Face pier, and I was introduced to the compartment commander and foreman of the special hold team. So began my full service in the Navy.
Our service is both dangerous and difficult
The command of the special holds on the boat was led by chief foreman Leonid Goreglyad, and the squad leader was the foreman of the 2nd article, Alexander Kulik, who was instructed to patronize me. Almost immediately, the submarine went to sea and harsh sea days began.
I needed to quickly master the entire economy of the compartment and pass the exams for admission to independent watch. Usually, according to A. Kulik, it took about two months, but it’s easier for me, since I already had the second category of a locksmith, i.e. with the "glands" was mainly on the "you", and the theoretical training corresponded to the required level. All my free time I devoted to the study of systems and mechanisms. I climbed all the corners of the compartment. On the twenty-fourth day, I passed the exams and was allowed to watch on my own, and on my chest the first sign “Specialist of the third class” flashed.
Together with L. Goreglyad I took up the shift, but I performed the main duties in the compartment, and the foreman periodically checked my actions. In addition, he already had a “suitcase” mood, as the deadline for the end of his urgent service had come. The boat constantly went to sea: either exercises, then torpedo or rocket firing, etc. The crew, like me, was mastering a new technique for myself, since the submarines of this project had just begun to descend from the slipways of the plants of Severodvinsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. As you know, from May 1961 to December 1968, 29 submarines of Project 675 were built for the Soviet Navy. For its time, this was a very large series, whose multiplicity only emphasized the importance attached to these submarines, which was almost the only force capable of Resist U.S. Navy carrier operations in the open ocean. The Northern Fleet consisted of 15, and the Pacific - 14 boats of Project 675.
Our boat was part of the eleventh division. We called our boat a “cot”, and according to the classification of NATO countries it had the name “Roaring Cow”. The armament of the nuclear submarine consisted of 8 P-6 cruise missiles and the ammunition of torpedoes, both bow and stern. The boats of this project were reliable, with good reactor protection and represented a real threat to enemy aircraft carrier formations.
The ship had a two-hull architecture, with well-developed superstructure, fencing retractable devices and conning tower. The rugged case was made of AK-25 high-carbon steel (2235 mm thick). For most of the length it was made in the shape of a cylinder, and in the extremities - in the form of truncated cones. He shared flat waterproof bulkheads designed for a pressure of 10 kg / cm2, into 10 compartments. The main power plant of two reactors was located in the sixth compartment. The lightweight body was made of low-magnetic steel and lined with anti-sonar coating.
Missiles could be launched both singly and by carrying out two four-missile salvos with an interval of 12 minutes, but all this happened in the surface position, which made the submarine vulnerable to the enemy, since it had to stay in the surface for a long time.
So, in constant short-term campaigns, exercises, firing, 1967 came, which the crew met on the shore. From the floating base we have already moved to the newly built barracks and are located on the last - 5th floor. But we were not able to settle in the barracks. The urgent preparation of the nuclear submarine for the long hike began. The crew loaded the products for two weeks, and special holds began preparing for the launch of the reactors. They loaded rockets and torpedoes (with nuclear warheads) and the submarine entered the Barents Sea, where at a certain point it plunged and headed, as it later turned out, into the Mediterranean Sea.
The crew of the submarine lives according to the approved schedule: shift, occupations by profession, training to prepare systems and mechanisms for launch, maintenance of the material, all kinds of training to combat survivability. Films are played in the first compartment; board games, especially backgammon, were used. All kinds of competitions were held. The life of the submarine units was brightly and in detail covered in the “Battle Sheets”. I was elected a Komsgrupporg, and since I drew well, I was commissioned to issue "Battle Sheets." At the end of the trip, our “Leafs” were recognized as the best, and the 6th compartment was almost always recognized as the best on the ship, so we transferred the challenge cup to the “Best compartment” only so that he would hand it to us again.
As we approached the coast of Portugal, the water overboard became warmer, and after changing the shift we could already take a shower with sea water.
In fact, bathing days were regular - after 10 days with a change of underwear and bedding. The deck of the sixth compartment was gradually heated to almost 100 ° C, and it was constantly impossible to be in it. Checking the operation of all mechanisms and systems every 30 minutes, the shift went into the fifth or seventh compartments.
The strait of Gibraltar was successful and arrived at the designated patrol area. On the way, they were floated only to the periscope depth for communication sessions.
The sixth fleet of NATO was in the Mediterranean Sea, and our task was to monitor the aircraft carrier-strike formations of the United States and NATO. At that time, there were three aircraft carriers: Saratoga, Midway, and I don’t remember the name of the third one. There was a game of "cat and mouse."
We left this square when it was necessary to bleed air from high-pressure cylinders, where air was pumped from the uninhabited premises of the sixth compartment. This safety measure is due to the fact that the ship left the "active" trail, it was possible to determine the location or range of the submarine. The combat duty was drawing to a close, the crew tuned in to return to their native shores, and there were vacations, etc.
The beginning of June 1967. We fly up to the last communication session before passing through Gibraltar. But suddenly an order came in: to urgently return to a certain area off the coast of Israel and be ready to launch a nuclear attack on Tel Aviv. The “six-day war” (June 5) of Israel with the Arab countries began. Moscow justifiably stated that if the hostilities of the Jewish state continued, radical measures would be taken. Western media called this demarche a bluff, but within three months the Americans were forced to admit: no, the Kremlin was not bluffing. Perhaps they received reliable data about our presence in the theater of operations.
Eight hours later, in the next communication session, we received an order: the target is the enemy’s carrier formations. Apparently, sober and competent specialists were found in the General Staff, as there were serious technical difficulties in the conversion of missiles for firing along the shore. Our squadron of surface ships, located in the Mediterranean Sea and led by the Hero of the Soviet Union Yu.A., also played a role. Sysoev. The nuclear submarine, which he commanded at the time, was the first to emerge at the North Pole. We continued to monitor the enemy’s carrier formations, but they didn’t doze, apparently they reported that the Soviet submarine was in the Mediterranean Sea. The game of “cat and mouse” continued, but in more severe conditions.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that the boat was running out of food (ration was reduced), but most importantly, there were practically no regenerative plates left. In some compartments, the carbon dioxide content approached the mark of 3%. Young sailors, not everyone could even step on guard. The command of the Navy took a risk. At the next communication session, we were ordered to follow the given square and take products and regeneration from the ship base. Safety for the operation was assigned to our squadron, which by the time X had taken a square in the ring. It was night, there was not even a moon, only the stars sparkled. Frankly speaking, it was hard to moor, as the crew members never loaded submarines, but only diesel submarines, and in the first seconds after our ascent, they were confused, because something black came close to them, almost one and a half times longer than their vessel. The experienced warrant officer of the mooring team of the floating base was rescued, who quickly accepted our mooring ends.
We had a watch on the mechanisms, of course, with the subsequent replacement - who do not want to look at the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and breathe fresh air. The rest of the submarine team begins loading products through the bow and stern hatches. The carcasses of cows and pigs were lowered directly into the hatches, and the boxes that did not go into the hatch were torn apart, and the contents were poured out into the hatches, at the bottom they were raked to the sides. Through the central hatch, boxes of regenerative plates were carefully loaded. 17 tons of cargo were moved in three and a half hours (instead of four).
Mooring lines are given and we go directly from under the side of the floating base to a depth. A signal came in that “Orions” American anti-submarine aircraft appeared in the air. It also turned out later that the American ship broke through the first ring of our cordon, but failed to break through the second, as our destroyer took its course on board.
We faced another, more serious threat, which could cost the life of the entire crew. During my movement through the compartments of the boat, I heard snippets of conversations from the crew that in the early days of the hostilities between Israel and the Arab states, a whole roundabout of unknown objects spun around us. The latter then approached our submarine, then rapidly moved away from it. At the same time, they moved at a tremendous speed, presumably more than 200 knots per hour, but the devices on the submarines could not fix a more accurate speed. One day, one of the objects began to rapidly approach the boat, and it seemed that a collision was inevitable, but approaching a few meters, he sharply took to the side and with great speed left the submarine. A similar situation has developed in the environment of aircraft carrier formations of the USA and NATO. Igor Prokopenko in 2013 spoke about these facts in detail on television in several of his programs “Military Secret”.
We continued to fulfill the assigned combat mission. Finally, a replacement came, but I did not have to take a course to the base right away. Squadron Commander Yu.A. Sysoev received permission from the Center to conduct his ships search exercises for the search for nuclear submarines. For two days they searched for our boat in a certain square, but did not find it. Yu.A. Sysoev thanked our crew. Now go home.
The transition to the base was successful. Moored to the pier in mid-July. Around the greenery, warmth and the bright sun was shining, and they went camping when there was snow and there were frosts. During the transition, we put all the mechanisms in order, replaced the parts that had expired, and were ready to hand the nuclear submarines to the second crew, which was clearly waiting for us. I want to dwell on a few more points. When replacing a number of parts and mechanisms, I learned that some of them were made at the factories of the hometown of Kuibyshev.
The food was excellent. A lot of meat dishes, even barbecue was on Wednesdays - this is the fruit of the culinary efforts of Coca from Abkhazia. Caviar, wine and ram, which many of the crew have never eaten. In relation to the latter, I asked the midshipman: “Where did this luxury come from?” He opened the can and handed me a small piece of paper. I read: 7 brigade of the fish farm "Suskansky" of the Kuibyshev region. And here my native region does not forget me - it feeds me.
The crew surrendered the boat and was free. According to the plan, we had to rest in the holiday home for 24 days after the hike, and then go on vacation, but since we had been sailing more than the prescribed month and a half, the arrival schedule there was disrupted. It took about a month to wait. The command offered us to go on vacation, and attach him to him for 24 days. No one objected. I got a vacation of about 90 days. Two more insignia flashed on my chest: "Navy Excellence Award" and "For Long Trip".
I already celebrated the day of the USSR Navy at home, with my friends, treating them with brought ram, caught in the Kuibyshev reservoir.
In October 1967, I was one of the first to arrive at the crew location. Most of the officers and sailors were still on vacation. We were assembled by the commander of the BS-5 and set the task: to equip and prepare the crew’s premises for review by the fleet commander in two weeks. Other crews of lower floors were also engaged in this task, which by this time had settled the barracks. According to the results of the review, we took first place. Especially A.I. Sorokin and the commissions liked the paintings that I painted at the entrance, on the landing and in the lobby.
When the crew was built and received a prize for first place, the commander asked: “Whose paintings are these?” I broke down and reported: "The foreman of 1 article Buzuev." “Ten days to leave,” the commander announced. “Serving the Soviet Union! But Comrade Admiral, I already had an incentive of ten days, but it was no longer necessary, ”I replied. What A.I. Sorokin replied: “I said it will be so. The chief of staff will control. ” So in February 1968, I was on vacation for the second time.
Before the arrival of the submarines from the campaign, we were engaged in theoretical exercises, put in order the barracks, engaged in the struggle for survivability on the simulator, carried out training exits through the torpedo tube and the conning tower. Participated in competitions in athletics, football and skiing. I again became a member of the ski division and flotilla, but I did not have the chance to speak for the second time in the Northern Fleet Championship. An order was issued by the Minister of Defense: service in the Navy is reduced from four years to three. Little by little, they began to prepare for the demobilization. But we, as they say, believe, and command disposes.
For some reason, one of the division’s boats could not go on a hike, and urgently we were ordered to prepare our submarine, which we had already taken with the second crew, on a hike in the Mediterranean Sea. By this time, I had already served as the foreman of the special hold team, and the squad leader was urgently transferred to another submarine, which went on a campaign. I was left almost without a replacement, as the team had two young still “unshooted” sailors. Therefore, I was among the other "years", according to which the dismissal was postponed and ordered to prepare their teams on a campaign.
This time we went swimming almost in the summer, and returned in February 1969. The campaign was successful, with the exception of three points.
First. When following the Tunis Strait, we touched the cable of a deep mine with a left side. Everyone sighed calmly when the words rang through the selector: "The tenth passed - no comments." What I experienced in these souls in those moments, I myself know those who served in the submarine fleet. Second moment. I was accepted as a candidate member of the CPSU. The deputy politician said: “Viktor Vasilievich! I heartily congratulate you on this event, which also happened at a depth of 101 meters. Remember this day! ” The third point. It was already established that when the nuclear submarine goes on a long campaign, the flagship specialists of the division and flotilla leave with the team.
This time the group was led by captain 1st rank V.N. Ponikarovsky, who previously commanded diesel, and then K-22 nuclear submarines. During the campaign, he repeatedly came to the sixth compartment. He was interested in the actions of special holds in various situations, the operation of the main power plant, its support systems, etc.
At the end of the campaign, when we were already leaving the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, after the next communication session, the commander of the boat V.P. Shekhovtsov on the "chestnut" announced: "Comrades! Maslov, the commander of our division, has been appointed deputy commander of the Pacific Fleet. The captain of the 1st rank V.N. was appointed commander of the eleventh division Ponikarovsky. On behalf of the entire crew, let me congratulate him on this appointment. ”
So I happened to communicate with the future admiral, one of the leaders of the Navy of the USSR, and later the Honorary President of the International Association of Public Organizations of Navy Veterans and Submariners. Another “surprise” was waiting at the base. The Murmansk regional committee of the Komsomol awarded me, the Komsgrupporg, an Honorary Diploma for active participation in public work and high performance in a socialist competition in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Komsomol. I also got a second Long Trip Campaign token.
Upon arrival at the base, all of my peers received documents and went to the reserve, and I remained waiting for the meeting of the party committee of the flotilla, which was supposed to approve the decision of the primary party organization to accept me as a candidate member of the CPSU.
And now this day has come. Party committee members did not “drive” me under the Charter. A few minor questions were asked. And then the floor was taken by the commander of the flotilla Hero of the Soviet Union, Vice Admiral A.I. Sorokin: “Viktor Vasilievich! You are one of the best and most experienced foremen of the teams, but is there any desire to devote yourself to service in the Navy? ”To which I replied:“ To be honest, I have no desire for the urgent. Sorry, but seen enough of their lives. “I will not pass the exams, because there will be little time for preparation” to enter the Higher Maritime College when it is already four years after graduation. The commander’s response was simply shocking: “Viktor Vasilievich! If you give your consent, then right now, in the presence of party committee members, I pick up the phone and call the head of the school in Leningrad and tell him that I have one of the best specialists who wants to devote himself to serving the fleet. The question of enrollment in the school will be resolved positively. "I have no doubt that you will justify my trust, and that you will be appointed even the foreman of the course."
I stood and did not know what to say in response to the commander of the flotilla. Seeing my embarrassment, A.I. Sorokin said: “Good. Go home, relax, consult with your parents and if you decide to serve in the Navy, then write to the commander of your boat, and the rest will be worked out by personnel officers. Thanks for the service. Bye". When the submarines arrived at the base with the party organization secretary, the boat commander immediately called to us. In his office there were already a senior officer, the commander of the BS-5 and the political officer. Everyone congratulated me on being accepted as a candidate member of the CPSU, and the political leader read out the order of the boat commander to put me on the K-131 NPS Book of Honor, and V.P. Shekhovtsov handed the Certificate of Honor.
Three days later I received a membership card. The hour of parting with the crew, which was in full force lined up in the barracks, came. There were parting words, gifts, handshakes ... My heart was hard, because so much was experienced ... That very day, in the evening, I was already at home.
Notorious human factor
These words have become a byword in recent years for Russia. I think that this is due to the state of our society as a whole, as well as the state of the Armed forces, including the Russian Navy. How can one explain the facts when a drunk pilot lands at the helm of an airplane, when the crew of the boat is staffed by poorly trained specialists. And the thought does not fit my head, how can I, with the sanction of the large management of the plant, make parts for space rockets in the garage ... The main causes of emergency in the fleet: negligence and negligence of crews or individuals, neglect of fire safety requirements, self-confidence, lack of control, etc. . etc. Much has been written about this.
Not ignored are such facts and our submarine. Here is some of them.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker was returning from a campaign from the Atlantic. We were in the waters of the Norwegian Sea. The crew dined. I was in the ninth compartment and, together with other crew members, had just started eating. An unexpected blow shook the boat, the bow of the boat went up. Hot cabbage soup, tea, and other food fell over on us. We received minor burns, as we were dressed in dense sailor robes. Many crew members received various injuries. Surfaced. We examined all the compartments, the upper deck and superstructures. All mechanisms worked as usual. We again plunged into the depths of the sea and continued on to the base. Upon arrival at the West Face at the pier, representatives of the Northern Fleet, led by Hero of the Soviet Union, Vice Admiral A.I., were already waiting for us. Petelin, who at that time was the first deputy commander of the Northern Fleet. The trial and investigation of the incident began. As a result, the following became clear. The commander of the acoustic group, an officer, went to the mess room for lunch. The foreman of the acoustics team and the young graduate of the submariners' school, who did not yet have admission to independent watch, remained at the watch only undergoing an internship. The foreman told the sailor that while the horizon was clear and everything was calm, he would leave for a minute in the toilet and leave, but didn’t return in time, but stopped at the other watchman who served on the floor above. At this time, the submarine collided with an underwater rock, as it turned out later.
As a result, the relevant persons received penalties. The foreman of the team was demoted and the rank, and from the young sailor what could be asked - not what. Then there was a repair of acoustic equipment in the dock of the city of Polyarny.
In 1968, another K-131 collision occurred in the Barents Sea, in our territorial waters, near the Kola Peninsula, but this time it was a foreign submarine (presumably the British Navy). After an emergency ascent, at a distance of about 300 meters, we saw a submarine in which the conning tower was almost demolished. Divers, when examining our submarine at the base, did not find any serious damage on it, and the crew continued to serve as normal.
Another example. At the very beginning of my service, there was such a case. During the already independent watch, it was necessary to go into the compartment (reactor) every 30 minutes and inspect it, as well as check the operation of all mechanisms. And finally, turn on the T2 pump and check for water in the uninhabited premises of the sixth compartment. And at one of these pump starts, water went into the inspection window of the pipeline, which should not have been, since the temperature in that room, as a rule, was 100 - 120 0С and any insignificant condensate on the pipelines evaporated. I immediately reported on the "chestnut" to the remote control and to the central post. A minute later, in the compartment were the boat commander, commander of BS5, the officer on duty at the reactor control console, foreman of the special hold team A. Kulik and the dosimetr. Restarting the pump after 15 minutes again showed the presence of water in uninhabited premises. The dosimetrist took water samples and after 10 minutes reported that it was outboard and the radiation content in it was negligible. To find out the cause of the appearance of water, it was decided to open the hatch and inspect the room. Sasha Kulik said: “When accepting the boat, when the reactors were not working yet, I climbed all the rooms and I know where this or that mechanism is located and therefore I will go down, not Buzuev.” It took at least 15 minutes to put Sasha in lead clothes and a special suit. By this time, the hatch was ready for opening and Kulik with a lantern went down to the first floor of the compartment. Three minutes later he went out and reported that the water comes from the primary side filter, which is cooled by sea water, and that all pipelines are covered with salt, formed as a result of the evaporation of sea salt water. A command was received to cool the right reactor, after which the hole on the filter was blocked by a clamp.
Later, when changing the filter at the base, it turned out that he had a factory defect. There was a void inside the walls, which was not noticed by the OTK staff when they carried out an X-ray check. The inner wall of the filter in this place was very thin and it was quickly corroded by sea water, and the outer wall could not withstand the pressure of the water and it burst.
An emergency work was organized to clean the pipelines in uninhabited premises, in which the crews of all the boats that were at the base took part, since although the reactors did not work, the chemists did not recommend being in the room for more than 15 minutes so as not to get the maximum radiation dose.
There were other minor problems, but they did not affect the crew's combat missions. The main thing is that during my service there were no human casualties.
Unfortunately, they were later on K-131. So, on June 18, 1984, when returning from military service in a boat under the command of Captain 1st Rank E. Selivanov, a voluminous fire occurred in the seventh and eighth compartments, which led to the death of 13 submariners. The reason is the same - the wrong actions of the foreman of the team of electricians in the eighth compartment. During work with a portable electric sharpener near the RDU installation on the foreman, a fire of the clothing occurred. In the process of extinguishing, fire occurred on other crew members, who transferred the fire to the seventh compartment.
Most of all, the fleet command is surprised by the long-term maintenance of the K-131, which has not undergone any modernization at all, like all other Project 675 boats. It has been in operation for almost 28 years. During this time, the ship undertook 12 autonomous campaigns for military service with a total duration of about 700 days. And only on July 5, 1994, K-131 was excluded from the lists of the Navy, practically the last of all boats built of this project.
Conclusion
Being on the "citizen", the first time I did not leave the thought of serving in the Navy. Sifted through textbooks, notes, consulted with friends, but a solid decision has not yet come.
He got a job at the Metallist plant in building 101, just recently built, where components were made for our famous space rocket, on which astronauts flew. It was very interesting to learn new things and be involved in outer space. But before I could get comfortable at the new place, they called me to the head of the personnel department of the plant. In his office was another man. The personnel officer left me alone with this person, who introduced himself as the senior detective of the KGB Department of the USSR in the Kuibyshev Region, Major Sorokin Evgeny Viktorovich.
I will not describe the content of this and our other conversations, but their outcome is a proposal to work in state security agencies. And since I am not yet married and do not have the necessary education, I was offered to start the service by studying at the KGB special school in the city of Leningrad. After some thought, I agreed. It so happened that two people by the name of Sorokin took part in my fate.
And on August 27, 1969, the train again takes me from Kuybyshev to the North, but already to Leningrad, where in February the commander of the flotilla, Vice Admiral A.I., suggested that I go. Sorokin.
Thus began my work in the state security organs, no less romantic and interesting, as well as the service in the Navy. I devoted about 35 years to this service.
But that's another story.
P.S. I always respected sailors, watched films with great interest and read books on the marine theme, i.e. heart and soul was there - in the Navy.
And now, already retired, fate again connected me with the sailors. I am currently a member of the Council of the Samara City Public Foundation for the Support of Veterans of the Navy, which provides support to veterans - sailors and carries out a lot of work on patriotic education among young people.
Veteran of the Navy of the USSR, foreman of the special hold team, chief foreman and veteran of the KGB-FSB of Russia, retired lieutenant colonel V.V. Buzuev
Samara city
"A ship is a special creature: living, affectionate, harsh, and grateful.
A ship is your house and a fortress, and a university and weapons, and a father and protection,
and the shelter of hundreds of your comrades and associates.
No naval heart can ever forget its own ship. "
Leonid Sobolev.
Nikolay Demidov
MEMORIES ABOUT SERVICE AT THE Navy OF THE USSR
My service, as it usually happens, began with a nightmare. They called me at the end of June 1965, and not, as usual at that time, after the first of September. This meant only one thing - the extra six months of service were provided to me. At that time, I was finishing my studies at the Moscow Fur-and-fur Technical School and there were final exams, but I was not supposed to postpone the draft. Thank God, the college management organized an early examination, and I received a diploma. But these circumstances led to the fact that I did not work for a day in the specialty I received.
At the military registration and enlistment office at the medical board, doctors unanimously determined that I was suitable for working with radioactive substances and serving in a submarine. We were sent a whole train of 10 people in a compartment of a common carriage to Severodvinsk. There we spent three days in the so-called “Buchenwald” (the conditions are comparable: two-story plank bunk without any supplies and lack of feeding), where, according to special signs, candidates were selected for the training squad of submariners in Severodvinsk.
So began my service in the Navy. The formation of the squad took place for five days. In June, it was warm enough in Severodvinsk, but it rained about ten times a day, and so that we would not fool around with idleness, the fathers-commanders forced us with brooms and shovels to disperse puddles on a huge asphalt parade ground. Do not have time to disperse, as the rain started again and everything repeats many times. In our company, the training squad was mainly Muscovites, and this should be noted as a special people - you don’t have time to put a cologne in the nightstand in the afternoon, and in the morning only an empty vial in the latrine from it, well, in general, they are quite normal people.
The training squad trained us as electric submarine mechanics - specialists in the service of P-5 cruise missiles; the P-35 missiles that Grozny was equipped with were their prototype, as well as the control systems: on the submarine - “Argument”, on “Grozny” “Bin”.
In 1965, 2 times more specialists were trained in this field than usual, and this circumstance changed my future fate. After completing training at the end of November, we were sent further north to Severomorsk for distribution among submarines. But there weren’t so many electricians needed, and eight of us left at the transit point, where we washed the dishes for days, because the dinner lasted all day there - so many people passed through this point. Then for ten days they turned around on the destroyer "Burning", waiting for the return of the RKR "Grozny" from the campaign.
Here is the background to my service at Grozny. As it turned out, they were not waiting for us at Grozny. They sent us understudies of the GURO radio mechanics, and for several months there were no permanent beds: we had to sleep in the dining room on the folded tables and even in the ventilation chambers on the tarpaulin (it didn’t bother father commanders).
Upon arrival in Severomorsk RKR “Admiral Golovko” most of the salag from the Moscow draft was transferred to him, only three of us remained on Grozny: me, Viktor Kopylov and Evgeny Filippov.
A few months after a conversation with the engineer of the warhead-2, Martynenko, I was asked to switch to an arsenal of the warhead-2 and I agreed. In this position, I served on Grozny until the very demobilization of December 19, 1968.
It should be noted that the attitude of the old-timers towards the young sailors on Grozny was mostly business, hazing was not mentioned in the modern concept of the word. Of course, the maritime hierarchy was strictly observed at work: the salagi worked, “funny guys”, that is, the third-year-olds were controlled, and the year-olds were preparing for a demobilization, and I did not notice any assault during the entire service.
In August 1966, Grozny went on a long trip to the Mediterranean Sea and became part of the CCF. My direct commander, engineer of the warhead-2, senior engineer-lieutenant Martynenko, also went on the promotion, and for some time I reported directly to the commander of the warhead-2 captain of rank 3 Ryabinsky. It should be noted that the service head. the ammunition depot, as my post was officially called, is rather routine and monotonous: providing the BC-2 with material and technical resources and keeping the ship's arsenal in proper condition does not abound with interesting episodes.
At the “combat alert” signal, I was supposed to be in the conning tower with my fathers-commanders, and my duties included introducing the current coordinates of the ship, its course and speed, into the Bin missile control system. My responsibilities ended there. Therefore, during live firing before the launch of the rockets, I was one of the few who had the opportunity to quietly get out of the conning tower and watch this unforgettable sight: the roar of a turbojet marching rocket engine drowning in the roar and whistle of the starting engine, a column of smoke and fire, the smell of gunpowder and coming from all this heat.
At one of the missile launches in combat shooting in the White Sea, I witnessed the loss of the P-35 missile. Firing was carried out in the summer, it was sunny, the White Sea, justifying its name, was white and everything around was white. And in this fabulous situation, after the launch of the marching engines, the commander of the warhead-2 gives the command to prepare for the launch of the missiles. I quietly go out of the conning tower, observe everything that I described above, and then the starting engine, as it is called pants, does not shoot from the rocket, the rocket itself falls on the starboard side, becomes vertical and begins to move towards the cruiser, but the truth falls a little and into the water. I also quietly return to the conning tower. Talking on the speakerphone with the GURO is underway in elevated tones: they cannot find K-0, i.e. establish a connection with the rocket. I report to the commander of the BS-2 Ryabinsky that the rocket fell into the sea, expecting him to fly a fly for unauthorized leaving the post, but nothing of the kind followed. Fortunately, the second missile hit the target and everything seemed to work out. It was rumored that the incident was the result of the headshots of the start-ups: before launching the rocket, the check was not removed from the locking device and the squib could not shoot the start-up. Whatever it was, but the combat mission was completed, the target was hit, and organizational conclusions did not follow.
One amusing incident in the life of a cruiser. One of the moorings of the ships of the "Mediterranean squadron" was off the island of Kythira, and then Italy was close at hand. Italy, as you know, is famous for its combat swimmers, and there is still tension in the Middle East. Therefore, the fleet command decided to organize an anti-sabotage service: at night, powerful brackets were mounted on special brackets on the sides of the cruiser, which illuminated the water around the ship, and armed submachine guns kept watch on the sides. The officer in charge had a certain supply of grenades. And at night one of the submachine gunners reported to the officer in charge that he noticed something swam under the keel. Without hesitation, he threw grenades into the sea from two sides and demanded another grenade from me. A grenade explosion in the water, it’s like a blow of a sledgehammer on board. In just a few seconds, the commander of the ship, Ushakov, flies in and covers with the last words of the officer in charge: what are you ... ... doing, wake the admiral. It turns out that the commander of the Mediterranean squadron stayed overnight at Grozny.
But, thank God, the commander did not appear, then he and the commander, no one overboard surfaced and everything worked out. True, whoever knew about this, laughed for a long time at the words "wake the admiral."
One more thing struck me. The passage through the Bosphorus was always carried out on alert and few could admire those beauties. But few people know that all the exits to the upper deck were blocked by people armed with a pistol and grenades, and with a grenade they do not shout “stand, I will shoot,” it will be used only for its intended purpose. Of course, isolated cases of escaping for a cordon in the Navy did occur, however, not on Grozny, but the distrust of the KGB's verified personnel from the KGB also took place in peacetime, as did the willingness to use weapons.
During the service in the navy everyone was waiting for it to end, and now you remember that time with warmth and some sadness.
ABOUT SHOOTING A NEUTRAL WATER MOVIE
During my service at the RKR “Grozny,” I was lucky enough to witness the filming of a feature film about the navy of our former large country. We are talking about the film "Neutral waters." The shooting of this film on the ship was carried out quite occasionally, during almost the whole of 1968. I say, I was lucky enough to be a witness, and not a participant in the filming of the film, because the participants were the actors of the film studio to them. Gorky and the three leading officers of the ship: the commander of the ship, the chief and the commander of the BS-2 (though in the film they were "demoted" in their posts). The rest of the ship’s personnel were in the crowd, and most of the film was shot in the studio. True, the director tried to take one shot with my participation: I was seated somewhere in the conning tower, put into my hands a piece of white getinax, as if it were a tablet, a pencil and told me to write something. The director’s idea was initially so stupid that naturally this frame did not enter the film.
At first, shooting the film gave the team some pleasure, but later they started to get us: as soon as the weekend, combat anxiety and going out to sea come up, which means that Sunday rest and dismissals for the whole team are covered with a “copper basin” and this was repeated several times. On one of these “Sunday” sea trips, something happened that could end tragically for the team, and even for Grozny itself. Due to the duty of my alarm service, I was supposed to be in the conning tower and therefore became a witness to what was happening. The day before, a storm passed in the Black Sea, and when we left the Sevastopol Bay on alarm in the morning, the weather was cloudy, and the sea, matching its name in color, was black.
In general, after about an hour, the signalman noticed a mine, which, most likely, was torn off the anchor by a storm, as black and horned as in films from the time of the Great Patriotic War. She was afloat in several cable rooms right at the heading of the ship. It was already too late to make any maneuvers, and the ship's commander probably made the most correct decision to reduce the ship's course to the smallest, without changing course. Everyone who was in the conning tower and on the navigation bridge froze. Some seconds passed, but there was no explosion, the mine, apparently, was thrown aside by the wave from the ship’s stem, and it sailed on the starboard side in a few centimeters from the ship’s hull.
The ship stalled a few cable from the mine and lay in a drift. The ship's commander ordered me to bring a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a couple of magazine rounds from him from the arsenal. At first they wanted to destroy a mine from a machine gun, but then they abandoned this idea and decided to shoot it from a gun. The gun was loaded and fired several shots on manual control, but the ship without swinging was swinging strongly in the wake, and the commandors had no experience in such shooting. In general, all the shell explosions were far from the target. Then they lowered the boat to the water and the miners already did what the commandors could not do. The explosion was not as strong as everyone expected, it is possible that the warhead at the mine did not detonate and the mine simply drowned.
This explosion, "filmmakers", in my opinion, was used somewhere in the film. Well, Grozny continued to carry out the tasks assigned to him.
In general, the film crew accompanied us everywhere and in the Mediterranean Sea, where the ship often served, even when calling at foreign ports.
There are shots in the film when the team receives guests from the civilian population of Kotor (Yugoslavia) and dances on the ship's utah were organized. There the intricate "pa" is performed by the commander of the ship, Ushakov (in the film, he is in the role of starpom). In fact, it was not quite like that. When the music began and the dances began, everyone became very frantic, and no one invited the ladies to the dance, and this continues for several minutes. Our commander undertook to eliminate this embarrassment, we all did not expect this from him, but he did it expertly and then everything went as it should.
I remember very well the shooting of one frame of the film, when the personnel of the third kubrick during songs sings songs with a guitar. This shot was shot all evening. Lighting equipment, filming equipment was dragged into the cockpit, but the director did not like the light - too harsh due to limited space. Then he brought several packs of the cheapest cigarettes “Surf”, distributed them to all those present. We had to light them, take the cigarette in our mouth with the mouthpiece out and blow out the smoke, thus softening the light. The smoke from the “surf” turned out to be so poisonous, and there was so much of it that even smokers had their eyes pinched, and the director’s light was not the same. In general, a shot for a couple - for three minutes was shot until the last light, and then the Kubrick did not want to get aired from tobacco smoke for a very long time.
In general, using this example, we were convinced that shooting a film at that time was not at all an easy task: first, playing a frame (training) until the director understands that everything turns out as it should. This can take a matter of minutes, or hours, and then shooting on film and in one take, or maybe two, three or more.
Filming ended late in the fall. I remember it was very cold in Sevastopol when the team gathered in the evening in utah, and the director of the film, Berenstein, decided to bring to court his creation, which was not yet fully assembled. He said that he was doing this for the first time in his life. We watched footage from a future film in small pieces with breaks, as was done at the dawn of Soviet power in rural clubs. In fact, the plot of the film is quite primitive and some shots often caused laughter from the team. For example, on alert in the Mediterranean, preparations for firing missiles are demonstrated, missile launchers with missiles on guides were moving, etc. So in the Mediterranean at that time this was never done - the regime of secrecy was strictly observed. Or a plot with a case from the “secretary”, and for such an initiative with top secret documents, more than one head would fly. Yes, and many other frames cause smiles and mixed reactions.
In general, everyone was very tired of watching, decently froze, but overall they were satisfied with the film. Many, of course, expected to see themselves in the frame, but fate is not visible.
Nikolay Demidov
1965-1968, radio mechanic, head of the ammunition depot
Despite the fact that our country is a land state, the Day of the Submariner - March 19, like the Day of the Navy, is celebrated by several tens of thousands of Belarusians who served in the submarine fleet of the USSR and Russia. At all times, service in the Navy was considered one of the most prestigious. I was lucky: he served with submarine war veterans. Their stories and memories are preserved in my memory.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 1979. A tired submarine from the depths goes home
Only during the period from 1930 to 1939 more than 20 large, 80 medium and 60 small submarines were built for the USSR fleet. By the beginning of World War II, there were 212 submarines in the four fleets (Baltic, Black Sea, Northern, Pacific). Soviet submarines during the war years were sunk 35% of naval transport and warships of the enemy. There were big losses on our part. During the Second World War, 90 Soviet submarines and 5.5 thousand submariners were killed.
... I began my service with a diesel medium submarine S-176 of the Pacific Fleet. An example for life was my first commander - captain of the 2nd rank I.I. Blumenson is an impeccable example of a naval officer. Under his command, the boat performed more than ten combat services in the harsh climatic conditions of the Japan and East China Seas, participated and became the winner in torpedo fire for the prize of the Navy Commander-in-Chief and the USSR Minister of Defense and so on.
In 1976, military service was held in the East China Sea. They carried out the reconnaissance task behind the actions of foreign warships. There was no air conditioning on the submarine; the supply of fresh water was 4.5 tons. The air temperature in the 6th compartment, where the sailors kept watch underwater, reached + 60 ° С. The shift was carried out for 15-20 minutes. In the same compartment, on the 21st day of sailing, a fire broke out, the control station of the left-side shaft line caught fire, which means that the boat is practically without progress. The submariners were left alone with the fire. Thanks to courage and courage, the fire was extinguished and the material part was put into operation within 8 hours.
Two fellow countrymen: submarine officer Yevgeny KRICHEVTSOV (left) and cavalier of the Order of the Red Star, marinist V.I. ORE (on the right).
Strategic missile submarine K-477, 1983
Fresh water was given twice a day - in the morning and before dinner. About ten people received thermal shock. High professional skills in this difficult environment showed a ship's doctor. The East China Sea is shallow, with an average depth of not more than 50 meters. I literally had to swim "crawling on my belly." The moral and physical stress of people reached the limit, since it was necessary to control all the ship's systems manually. Despite the difficulties, there was no case that any of the crew showed weakness or cowardice.
The next step in my career was the K-48 nuclear submarine - an atomic missile submarine with P-6 cruise missiles (8 missiles), placed in containers outside a solid hull. It is designed to destroy enemy carrier strike formations. Our boat has undergone modernization, P-500 missiles are in service, and new equipment is the Killer Whale B satellite targeting system. Rockets independently from the satellite not only found the target, changed the flight path, but also chose the main target of the enemy.
There were various situations on this submarine. So, due to the negligence of one of the young sailors, we fell to a depth of more than 400 meters, when the maximum depth of immersion was 300 meters. Instead of pumping water out of the tank, the young sailor, having mixed up the valves, began to take water - 47 tons of sea water. The ship began to quickly fall down ...
There were 6 kilometers under the keel. It is impossible to blow out the tank with compressed air at a depth below 100 meters, it will simply break. The only salvation is horizontal rudders for ascent and full speed ahead, which was done by the boatswain and operators of remote control of a nuclear reactor. With a differential of 15 degrees or more, the protection of a nuclear reactor is automatically triggered, the submarine is de-energized. Thanks to the skillful and competent actions of the remote control operators of the nuclear reactor, the desired course of the submarine was ensured. We stopped at a depth of 416 meters, surfaced to the periscope depth, blew the ballast. The chief of staff of the division, captain of the 1st rank, I. A. Krestovsky, went to sea with us. They opened the upper hatchway, went upstairs, lit a cigarette, and I looked at the chief of staff - a man who had a magnificent black head of hair turned gray in a few minutes. The vast majority of crew members did not understand what happened ...
Kamchatka, 1976. Meeting after a successful trip.
According to the tradition of divers, the crew is handed a pig
On this submarine in 1979, they served an 8-month service in the Indian Ocean.
Then I was transferred to a new duty station - RPK SN (strategic missile submarine K-477). The submarine was armed with 12 R-29 intercontinental missiles with a range of 9100 kilometers. It was the creation of such a project of the PKK SN that served as the basis for believing that the nuclear forces of the USSR and the USA were aligned. My fellow countryman, Vasily Iosifovich Rudoi, served on this ship. Together we served from 1980 to 1985. In 2014, he passed away.
The military services in 1983-1984, when the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Yu.V. Andropov gave an order in response to deployed American Tomahawk missiles in Western Europe to send strategic missile submarines to the US shores so that the flight time of the missiles was adequate to the US 1.5-2 minutes. This was the height of the Cold War. We knew that as far back as 1968, the NATO High Command approved the Regulation on entry into battle, which, if unidentified submarines were found in territorial waters, was required to use warning signals with explosions, forcing the submarine to surface. If the boat did not come up, it should be attacked by anti-submarine weapons and destroyed. In these conditions, we carried out combat patrols. The staff was in constant readiness.
Now, after more than thirty years, it’s scary to think about it, but the reality of the time of the Cold War was such that at any moment it could turn into a "hot" one. In the guiding documents for military service, everything was clearly described: how and what to do, where to strike and so on. But not a word was said about how to act after striking. Both the command of the Navy and the command personnel of the submarines were well aware: there were very few chances of return. The probability of death was close to 100%.
On the eve of the Day of the Submariner, I want to once again note the feat of the submariners, who broke through the minefields and anti-submarine networks of the enemy, made bold breakthroughs into enemy naval bases, sharing the joy of victories together. During the Cold War, submariners shared bread and salt, oxygen, the joy of success and the bitterness of failure. They poured sweat, lacked sleep, exhausted nerves in the routine routine of everyday combat training, wasted health, risked their lives during many months of autonomous operations, and some died, leaving their submarines at the bottom of the oceans. But we did not exhaust the courage, loyalty and devotion to the motherland that were laid by our ancestors. And we will always be proud that we served in the Navy, in submarines.
Submariner officer Evgeny KRICHEVTSOV
Not everyone can serve in a submarine. It requires not bad health, physical fitness and, of course, the absence of fear of confined space. In this report, the sailor spoke about life, food, the commander and many other delights of the service of submariners.
Submarine
I studied at the Naval College. Dzerzhinsky, but this is an officer’s path. And a sailor can get to the submarine through the military registration and enlistment office: they send conscripts to the training center, where they have been training for six months. Each specialty has its own combat unit, like departments in a company. The first is navigational, the second is missile, the third is mine-torpedo, the fourth is radio engineering and communications, which I just got there later, and the fifth is electromechanical, the largest. From the first to the fourth part - this is the so-called warhead suite. They walk clean and tidy. And БЧ5 - these are “maslopups”, they are there knee-deep in oil and water, on them are all holds, pumps and engines. After training, there is a distribution on the base. Now the submarines are based either in the North, in the Western Face, Gadzhievo, Vidyaevo, or in Kamchatka, the city of Vilyuchinsk. Another base is in the Far East - it is popularly called the Big Stone or Texas. There are no nuclear submarines in the Baltic and Black Sea - only diesel, that is, not combat. I ended up in the Northern Fleet, in the Western Face.
First dive
When a submarine goes to sea for the first time, all sailors must undergo a rite of passage. I had a minimum: overboard water was poured into the ceiling from the cabin, which must be drunk. Her taste is terribly astringent and bitter. There have been times when people were immediately sick. Then they handed over a hand-drawn certificate that I am now a submariner. Well, on some boats, a “sledgehammer kiss” is added to this rite: they hang it from the ceiling and, when the ship shakes, the sailor must contrive and kiss her. The meaning of the last rite eludes me, but it’s not accepted to argue here, and this is the first rule that you learn by going aboard.
Almost every submarine has two crews. When one goes on vacation (and they are laid after each autonomy), the other steps in. First, there is the development of tasks: for example, to dive and get in touch with another submarine, deep-sea diving to the maximum depth, training firing, including surface ships, if all exercises by headquarters are accepted, then the boat goes to combat service. The autonomy lasts in different ways: the shortest - 50 days, the longest - 90. In most cases, we sailed under the ice of the North Pole - so the boat is not visible from the satellite, and if the boat floats in the seas with clean water, it can be seen even at a depth 100 meters. Our task was to patrol a section of the sea in full readiness and use weapons in case of attack. One submarine with 16 ballistic missiles on board can wipe out the face of the Earth, for example, Great Britain. Each of the 16 missiles has 10 autonomous warheads. One charge is approximately five to six Hiroshimam. You can calculate that we carried 800 Hiroshima with us daily. Was I scared? I don’t know, we were taught that those whom we can shoot at are afraid. And so I didn’t think about death, but you don’t go every day and don’t think about the notorious brick that can fall on your head? So I tried not to think.
The crew of the submarine rotates around the clock in three shifts for four hours. Each shift has breakfast, lunch and dinner separately, practically not communicating with each other. Well, except for meetings and general events - holidays, for example, or competitions. From entertainment on the boat - chess tournaments and dominoes. They tried to arrange something sports like lifting weights, push-ups from the floor, but we were banned because of the air. It is artificial in the submarine, with a high content of carbon dioxide CO2, and physical activity had a bad effect on the heart.
They also show us a movie. When all these tablets and DVD players weren’t all there was a film projector in the common room. They twisted mostly something patriotic or comedy. All erotica, of course, was forbidden, but the sailors twisted out: they cut the most frank moments of the films where the girl undresses, for example, glued them into one and let them go around.
Living in a confined space is not as difficult as it seems. Largely because you are busy all the time - you spend eight hours on watch. You need to monitor the indicators of the sensors, the remote control, make notes - in general, you will not be distracted by sitting and thinking about life. Every day at about 15:00 everyone is raised to a “small tidy”. Everyone is going to clean some area. For some, this is the control panel from which dust must be brushed off, but for others, it is latrine (a lavatory for sailors in the bow of the ship. - Ed.). And the most annoying - the areas assigned to you do not change the entire service, so if you already started to scrub the toilet - you scrub it to the end.
What I liked about swimming was the absence of seasickness. The boat staggered only in the surface position. True, according to the rules, the boat is obliged to surface once a day in order to conduct a radio communication session. If under the ice - they are looking for wormwood. Exit, of course, is impossible to breathe, although there have been cases.
During the day, the cook should not only cook 100 hungry sailors for a horde nine times, but also set tables for each shift, then collect the dishes and wash it. But, it should be noted, divers are fed very well. For breakfast, usually cottage cheese, honey, jam (sometimes from rose petals or walnuts). For lunch or dinner, surely red caviar and sturgeon balyk. Every day, a diver put 100 grams of dry red wine, chocolate and roach. It’s just that at the very beginning, back in Soviet times, when they talked about how divers should increase their appetite, the commission was divided: they voted for beer, others for wine. The latter won, but the roach, which was paired with beer, for some reason remained in rations.
Hierarchy
The crew consists of officers, midshipmen and sailors. The chief is still a commander, although an internal hierarchy also exists. Officers, for example, except for the commander, call each other only by their first name, patronymic, well, and require appropriate treatment. In general, subordination is like in the army: the boss gives the order - his subordinate carries out without comment. Instead of hazing in the fleet, there is one-year anniversary. Those sailors who just came to the fleet are called crucians: they should sit quietly in the hold and remove water and dirt. The next caste - a fit - a sailor who served two years, and the coolest - a year - they have a service life of more than 2.5 years. If eight people are sitting at the table, of which, for example, two years old, then the food is divided in half: one half is theirs, and the second is all the rest. Well, they can still take the condensed milk or send it for an awl to run away. Compared to what is happening in the army, there is practically equality and fraternity.
The charter is the bible, count everything. True, sometimes it comes to the ridiculous. For example, according to Art. 33 of the combat regulations of the Russian military forces, running starts only on the command "running march". And once the castle in the sea went into the latrine, and there the castle hangs. He came to the central one and orders the old man: “First, open the latrine, old man.” The old man sits with his back - does not respond. Zamkomdiva could not stand it: "First-timer, bring the key in a run." And he continues to sit as he sat. “On the run, I tell you! Don’t you hear me? Run! Bl .. !!! What are you waiting for? ”Starp closed the charter, which he seemed to read all his free time, and said:“ I’m waiting, comrade captain of the first rank, the march team. ”
Commanders
There are different commanders, but everyone should be in awe. Sacred. To disobey or argue with him is to get a reprimand in a personal matter at least. The most colorful chief that I came across was Captain Gaponenko of the first rank (surname changed. - Approx. Ed.). It was in the first year of service. Once they reached the Motovsky Bay, Gaponenko disappeared from sight with the flagship Kipovans (a position on a boat, a fitter of instrumentation and automation - Instrumentation and automation) in his cabin. For five days they drank without drying up, on the sixth day Gaponenko suddenly rises to the central one in a Canadian jacket and felt boots: "Let’s say, come up, have a smoke." Have a smoke. He went downstairs, looked around: “What are you doing here, eh?” We say we are practicing training maneuvers, so we have to cooperate with the neighboring boat, the 685th aircraft. He suddenly climbed the remote control himself, picked up the microphone and went on the air. “685th airborne, I am 681st airborne, I ask you to execute the“ word “(and a word in the marine language means to stop the move, stop).” There was a kind of mooing on the other end of the wire. And then: “I am the 685th airborne, I can’t execute the word. Reception. " Gaponenko began to get nervous: “I order you to execute the“ word “immediately!” And in response, even more insistently: “I repeat to you, I can’t execute the“ word ”. Reception. " Then he was already completely brutalized: “I, b ..., order you, su ..., to fulfill the“ word ”...! Immediately, hear! I am the captain of the first rank Gaponenko! You’ll come to the base, su ..., I’ll fuck you ... for the ass! .. ”There was an embarrassed silence. Here the radio operator, half dead from fear, pales even stronger and whispers: "Comrade captain of the first rank, I’m sorry, I’ve made a mistake, we need the 683rd airborne, and the 685th airborne is an airplane." Gaponenko broke the remote control, exhaled: “Well, you and mu @ aye are all here,” he went back to the cabin and didn’t appear again before the ascent.