The first Soviet nuclear-powered submarine, Leninsky Komsomol, experienced a tremendous triumph and a great tragedy during its military service. Moreover, this tragedy did not become the property of the general public either in 1967 or during the perestroika period, and even today few people know about it.
The decision to start designing a nuclear submarine in the Soviet Union was made in the early 50s. On September 12, 1952, Stalin himself signed a decree "On the design and construction of facility 627". The birth of the firstborn of the domestic nuclear shipbuilding took place in an atmosphere of deep secrecy. The chief designer was V.N. Peregudov, since 1953 the project was led by S.A. Bazilevsky. Meanwhile, in 1954, the Americans launched their first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus.
Initially, the Soviet nuclear submarine had the name K-3; it had nothing in common with the American Nautilus. The K-3 hull was designed from scratch, with the main emphasis on the quality of the underwater course. The boat turned out to be faster than the Nautilus, with a pressurized water reactor.
At first, the developers planned to use a single thermonuclear torpedo capable of hitting a target at a distance of 50 kilometers on the submarine to attack enemy naval bases. However, by this time, the British and Americans had already established anti-submarine lines at a distance of 100 kilometers from the coast. A commission was created, which decided that the country needs a submarine capable of destroying ships in the seas and oceans, but for this there must be more than one torpedo. It is necessary to have on board the boat a large stock of torpedoes with nuclear warheads. Thus, the task for the construction of K-3 was adjusted, and the submarine's hull had to be redone.
The first domestic nuclear-powered ship was laid down on September 24, 1955 in Severodvinsk. The whole country took part in the construction of K-3, although it did not even suspect about it. A special steel was developed at the Moscow plant, which made it possible to dive to a depth unthinkable in those years - 300 meters. Reactors were manufactured in Gorky, and steam turbines were manufactured at the Leningrad Kirov plant. Captain 1st Rank L.G. Osipenko was appointed the submarine commander in the same year. Be among the first officers nuclear boat, was as prestigious as getting into the cosmonaut corps. The submarine was launched for the first time on October 9, 1957.
In those years, no one in the West believed that a nuclear submarine fleet could be built in the war-torn Soviet Union. The American Nautilus crossed the North Pole on August 3, 1958. Since then, the USSR has found itself in the range of missiles that could be launched at any moment from American submarines in the Arctic. Therefore, when in 1962 K-3 reached the pole, it came as a shock to other states, especially the United States. There is information that Alain Dulles, who was in charge of the CIA at that time, even lost his post because he knew nothing about the campaign of Soviet sailors to the North Pole. Then the USSR was able to prove to the whole world that it is still capable of much.
In the summer of 1962, the K-3 was no longer the only nuclear submarine in the country's navy. Other ships could also make a trip to the Arctic, especially since the "troika" by this time was already pretty shabby. Being the prototype, it was subjected to all kinds of tests, the limiting modes of all devices, primarily the reactor, steam generators, and turbines, were worked out on it. In addition, being designed in a big hurry, the boat constantly needed repairs, additions and alterations. There was literally no living space on the steam generators - solid, digested and muffled tubes.
Why, then, the Soviet authorities, knowing about the almost emergency condition of the K-3, still sent the boat on such an important trip for the country? The answer is quite obvious: when choosing between technology and people, we mainly rely on the latter. Therefore, during the voyage to the North Pole, the maintenance of the boat in working order was provided mainly by the forces of a qualified crew, who performed complex repair work on their own.
Lev Mikhailovich Zhiltsov commanded K-3 during a campaign in the Arctic. Together with his crew, he walked under the ice directly to the "crown" of the Earth. There was no detailed map with contours of depths and marks of underwater peaks, that is, the boat moved blindly and deafly. The huge thickness of ice above the submarine reflected the noise of its own propellers, giving rise to auditory illusions, the acoustics worked in impossible conditions. And then, one day, they felt that the depth under the keel dropped sharply.
Having received a disturbing report, Zhiltsov ordered to go up a little and reduce the boat's speed. Experts carefully studied the echogram, so a giant underwater ridge was discovered at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. It became the largest geographical discovery 20th century, after Severnaya Zemlya mapped in 1913. The discovered underwater ridge was named after the famous hydrographer Jacob Gakkel.
The Soviet nuclear submarine K-3, which was later renamed the Leninsky Komsomol, crossed the North Pole point on July 17, 1962 at 6 hours 50 minutes and 10 seconds. The crew of the ship jokingly suggested that the midshipman-helmsman slightly deviate from the course so as not to bend the "earth's axis". Lev Zhiltsov later recalled that the thickness of the ice in those places was about 25 meters. The boat was led close to the surface, and when they noticed a wormwood, they immediately surfaced. The bow of the submarine then froze at the very edge of the ice, from all sides the K-3 was squeezed by endless snows. According to the submarine commander, there was such silence around that even my ears were ringing.
State flag solemnly hoisted on the highest hummock, and the crew of the "troika" received shore leave. The moment of stormy fun of submariners is captured in many pictures. It is noteworthy that before the boat went on a hike, the employees of the special security department checked the ship for the presence of cameras, it was strictly forbidden to shoot. But who knows the boat and secret places better than divers? They walked back to base at full speed.
On the shore, the crew of the submarine was personally met by Nikita Khrushchev himself. Rank of Heroes Soviet Union then received the head of the historical campaign Rear Admiral Alexander Petelin, the submarine commander captain 3rd rank Lev Zhiltsov, engineer-captain 2nd rank Rurik Timofeev. Earlier, the star of the Hero was received by the first commander of the ship, Captain 1st Rank Leonid Osipenko.
Approximately five years later, the nuclear-powered Leninsky Komsomol was sent to a combat watch in the Mediterranean Sea. The assistant to the submarine commander, Lieutenant Commander Alexander Leskov, said that this decision was initially erroneous: last years the ship's crew mainly attended various events: party and Komsomol congresses, no combat training and going to sea. And then immediately - long hike... The crew of the ship was also hastily assembled, since according to the plan, another substrate, K-11, was supposed to go on patrol in the Mediterranean, but it was found to have a serious malfunction.
Leskov was appointed captain's mate two days before the ship went on duty, Yuri Stepanov was appointed commander a month before sailing. All 80 days of patrolling, something constantly went wrong: first, technical problems, then one of the crew members died. An order was received to surface and transfer the body to one of the Soviet ships nearby. The nuclear-powered ship was declassified and had to return to base. When the submarine was in the Norwegian Sea, a terrible tragedy happened.
On that day, September 8, Alexander Leskov was in charge of the watch at the central post. At 01 hours 52 minutes a signal was received at the communication panel. The assistant commander flipped the toggle switch and asked: "Who is calling Central?" Then he released the switch, and the terrible screams of people burning alive were heard in the room. For many years then he dreamed of these screams at night.
As it turned out, vapors of flammable hydraulics ignited in the forward torpedo compartment. The fire spread rapidly. 39 people in the first and second compartments were burned down in a matter of minutes. A little more and the entire torpedo ammunition would have exploded. The situation was saved by the commander of the second compartment, Lieutenant-Commander Anatoly Malyar, who, before dying, managed to slam the hatch from the inside, which prevented the further spread of fire. The commander of the nuclear submarine Stepanov gave the order to equalize the pressure with the emergency compartments, since TNT explodes with a simultaneous increase in pressure and temperature. The crew members put on gas masks, and Captain Leskov opened the exhaust ventilation blade. Black smoke with poisonous gases immediately burst into the central post.
Stepanov lost consciousness, Leskov took over the command. He managed to give a signal about an accident on a submarine and conduct an emergency surfacing. At two o'clock in the morning, the surviving crew left the control room and climbed onto the bridge. The submarine floated to the surface, and then returned to base on its own.
The commission formed on the shore at first recognized the actions of the crew as heroic. All sailors, including those killed, were presented for the award. The reason for the ignition in the torpedo compartment was called a breakthrough in one of the components of the hydraulic system: instead of a red copper sealing gasket, there was a primitive washer cut out of paronite and not designed for pressure drops. Apparently, someone changed the gasket during factory repairs. Over time, the seal became limp, and an oil breakthrough occurred, which immediately ignited.
However, a month later, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy S. Gorshkov said that the accident was the fault of the crew. The results of the first commission were annulled and a second, clearly biased, was appointed, which suddenly found a lighter on the watch table. Thus, the entire surviving crew was turned from heroes into criminals. It turns out that they not only unjustly accused the K-3 sailors, but also outraged the memory of their dead comrades.
For the next 30 years, the participants in the tragedy tried to achieve the truth, wherever they wrote, to which authorities they did not apply. The presidential administration told the sailors that only the commander-in-chief of the Navy could carry out rehabilitation and rewarding. In the meantime, the submariners passed away one after another, surviving for more than seventy years.
And just recently, a resolution by President Dmitry Medvedev helped restore the good name of the crew of the Leninsky Komsomolets nuclear submarine. Main Headquarters The Navy demanded archival documents, personal files of the crew members. As a result, the main technical department admitted that the accident was not the fault of the submariners. After only 45 years, they waited for justice.
A.Ya. Leskov lost consciousness at the beginning of the accident and woke up 5 days after he was delivered to a hospital on the shore. He was rescued by the surviving members of the K-3 crew.
(Sent to the editorial board by the reader of "VO" 11.01.2014).
58 years ago, on January 21, 1954, the nuclear submarine "Nautilus" was launched. It was the first submarine with a nuclear reactor, allowing for months to be in autonomous navigation without lifting to the surface. A new page was opening in the history of the Cold War ...
The idea to use a nuclear reactor as a power plant for submarines originated in the Third Reich. The "uranium machines" that did not consume oxygen (as nuclear reactors were then called) of Professor Heisenberg were intended primarily for the "underwater wolves" of Kriegsmarine. However, the German physicists did not succeed in bringing the work to its logical conclusion and the initiative passed to the United States, which for some time was the only country in the world with atomic reactors and bombs.
In the early years of the Cold War between the USSR and the United States, American strategists thought of long-range bombers as carriers of the atomic bomb. The USA had a lot of experience combat use of this type of weapon, the American strategic aviation had a reputation as the most powerful in the world, and finally, the territory of the United States was considered largely invulnerable to the enemy's retaliation.
However, the use of aircraft required their basing in close proximity to the USSR borders. As a result of the diplomatic efforts undertaken, in July 1948 the Labor government agreed to the deployment of 60 B-29 bombers with atomic bombs on board in Great Britain. After the signing of the North Atlantic Pact in April 1949, all Western Europe became embroiled in the US nuclear strategy, and the number of American bases abroad reached 3400 by the end of the 1960s!
However, over time, the American military and politicians came to understand that the presence of strategic aviation in foreign territories is associated with the risk of changing the political situation in a particular country, therefore the fleet was increasingly seen as a carrier of atomic weapons in a future war... This trend finally strengthened after convincing tests. atomic bombs off Bikini Atoll.
In 1948, American designers completed the design of a nuclear power plant and began designing and building an experimental reactor. Thus, there were all the prerequisites for the creation of a fleet of nuclear submarines, which not only had to carry nuclear weapons, but also have a nuclear reactor as a power plant.
The construction of the first such boat, named after the fantastic submarine invented by Jules Verne, the Nautilus, and designated SSN-571, began on June 14, 1952, in the presence of US President Harry Truman at the Groton shipyard.
On January 21, 1954, in the presence of US President Eisenhower, the Nautilus was launched, and eight months later, on September 30, 1954, it entered service with the US Navy. On January 17, 1955, the Nautilus went to sea trials in the open ocean, and its first commander, Eugene Wilkinson, broadcast in plain text: "We are going under the atomic engine."
Apart from the completely new power plant Mark-2, the boat had a conventional design. With a Nautilus displacement of about 4000 tons, a two-shaft nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 9860 kilowatts provided a speed of more than 20 knots. The submerged cruising range was 25 thousand miles with a consumption of 450 grams of U235 per month... Thus, the duration of the voyage depended only on the proper operation of air regeneration means, food supplies and the endurance of the personnel.
At the same time, however, the specific gravity of the nuclear installation turned out to be very high, because of this, it was not possible to install part of the weapons and equipment provided for by the project on Nautilus. The main reason for the weighting was biological shielding, which includes lead, steel and other materials (about 740 tons). As a result, all weapons of the "Nautilus" were 6 bow torpedo tubes with 24 torpedo ammunition.
As with any new business, there were some problems. Even during the construction of the Nautilus, and specifically during the tests of the power plant, there was a rupture of the secondary circuit pipeline, through which saturated steam with a temperature of about 220 ° C and under a pressure of 18 atmospheres was supplied from the steam generator to the turbine. Fortunately, this was not the main, but the auxiliary steam line.
The cause of the accident, as it was established during the investigation, was a manufacturing defect: instead of pipes made of high-quality carbon steel of grade A-106, pipes made of less durable material A-53 were included in the steam line. The accident prompted American designers to question the feasibility of using welded pipes in pressure submarine systems. Elimination of the consequences of the accident and replacement of already installed welded pipes with seamless ones delayed the completion of the construction of the Nautilus by several months.
After the submarine entered service, rumors began to circulate in the media that the Nautilus personnel had received serious doses of radiation due to flaws in the biosecurity design. It was reported that the naval command had to hastily make a partial replacement of the crew, and the submarine had to be docked to make the necessary changes to the protection design. It is still not known how correct this information is.
On May 4, 1958, a fire broke out in the turbine compartment on the Nautilus en route from Panama to San Francisco. The ignition of the oil-soaked port side turbine insulation was found to have started several days before the fire, but its signs were ignored.
The slight smell of smoke was mistaken for the smell of fresh paint. The fire was discovered only when the presence of personnel in the compartment due to smoke became impossible. There was so much smoke in the compartment that divers in smoke masks could not find its source.
Not finding out the reasons for the appearance of smoke, the commander of the ship gave the order to stop the turbine, surface to periscope depth and try to ventilate the compartment through the snorkel. However, these measures did not help, and the boat was forced to surface to the surface. Enhanced ventilation of the compartment through the open hatch with an auxiliary diesel generator has finally paid off. The amount of smoke in the compartment decreased, and the crew managed to find the fire site.
Two sailors in smoke masks (there were only four such masks on the boat) with the help of knives and pliers began to rip off the smoldering insulation from the turbine housing. A column of flame about a meter high escaped from under the torn piece of insulation. Foam fire extinguishers were used. The flames were brought down and the stripping work continued. People had to be changed every 10-15 minutes, as the acrid smoke even penetrated the masks. Only four hours later, all insulation from the turbine was removed and the fire was extinguished.
After the boat arrived in San Francisco, its commander carried out a number of measures aimed at improving the ship's fire safety. In particular, the old insulation was removed from the second turbine. Self-contained breathing apparatus was provided for the entire personnel of the submarine.
In May 1958, during the preparation of the Nautilus for the trip to the North Pole by boat, the main condenser of the steam turbine unit was flowing. The seawater seeping into the condensate-feed system could cause salinization of the secondary circuit and lead to the failure of the entire power system of the ship.
Repeated attempts to find the place of the leak did not lead to success, and the submarine commander made an original decision. After the arrival of the Nautilus in Seattle, sailors in civilian clothes - the preparation of the campaign was kept in strict secrecy - bought up all the proprietary liquid for filling car radiators in automobile stores in order to stop the leak.
Half of this liquid (about 80 liters) was poured into the condenser, after which the problem of condenser salinity did not arise either in Seattle or later during the hike. Probably, the leak was in the space between the double tube sheets of the condenser and stopped after filling this space with the self-hardening mixture.
On November 10, 1966, during a NATO naval exercise in the North Atlantic, the Nautilus, which was attacking in periscope position on the American aircraft carrier Essex (displacement 33,000 tons), collided with it. As a result of the collision, the aircraft carrier received an underwater hole, and the fence of the retractable devices was destroyed on the boat. Accompanied by the destroyer, the Nautilus reached the naval base in the American New London at a speed of about 10 knots, covering a distance of about 360 miles.
On July 22, 1958, the Nautilus, under the command of William Andersen, left Pearl Harbor to reach the North Pole. It all began with the fact that at the end of 1956, the chief of staff of the Navy, Admiral Burke, received a letter from Senator Jackson. The senator was interested in the possibility of nuclear submarines operating under the pack ice of the Arctic.
This letter was the first sign that made the command of the American fleet seriously think about organizing a campaign to the North Pole. True, some of the American admirals considered the idea to be reckless and were categorically against it. Despite this, the commander of the submarine forces of the Atlantic Fleet considered the polar campaign a settled matter.
Anderson began to prepare for the upcoming campaign with triple zeal. On the "Nautilus" special equipment was installed, which made it possible to determine the state of the ice, and a new compass MK-19, which, unlike conventional magnetic compasses, operated in high latitudes. Before the hike, Anderson got hold of the freshest maps and directions with the depths of the Arctic and even made an air flight, the route of which coincided with the planned route of the Nautilus.
On August 19, 1957, the Nautilus headed for the area between Greenland and Spitsbergen. The first test exit of the submarine under the pack ice was unsuccessful... When the echometer recorded zero ice thickness, the boat tried to surface. Instead of the expected ice hole, the Nautilus met a drifting ice floe. From a collision with it, the boat severely damaged the only periscope, and the commander of the "Nautilus" decided to go back to the edge of the packs.
The warped periscope was repaired in field conditions. Anderson was quite skeptical about the way stainless steel welders work - even in ideal factory conditions, such welding required a lot of experience. However, the crack formed in the periscope was repaired and the device began to function again.
The second attempt to reach the pole also failed... A couple of hours after the Nautilus crossed the 86th parallel, both gyrocompasses went out of order. Anderson decided not to tempt fate and gave the order to turn - in high latitudes, even a minuscule deviation from the correct course could be fatal and lead the ship to a foreign shore.
At the end of October 1957, Anderson gave a short speech at the White House, which he devoted to a recent trip under the Arctic ice. The report was listened to with indifference, and William was disappointed. The stronger was the desire of the Nautilus commander to go to the Pole again.
Considering this voyage, Anderson prepared a letter to the White House, in which he convincingly argued that the crossing of the Pole would become a reality as early as next year. The presidential administration made it clear that the commander of the "Nautilus" can count on support. The Pentagon also became interested in the idea. Shortly thereafter, Admiral Burke reported on the impending campaign to the president himself, who reacted to Anderson's plans with great enthusiasm.
The operation was to be carried out in an atmosphere of strict secrecy - the command feared another failure. Only a small group of people in the government knew about the details of the campaign. To hide the true reason for the installation of additional navigation equipment on the Nautilus, it was announced that the ship was participating in joint training maneuvers along with the Skate and Halfbeek boats.
June 9, 1958 "Nautilus" set off on her second polar voyage... With Seattle far behind, Anderson ordered the submarine's number on the wheelhouse fence to be painted over to maintain anonymity. On the fourth day of the journey, the Nautilus approached the Aleutian Islands.
Knowing that he would have to go further in shallow water, the ship's commander ordered the ascent. The Nautilus had been maneuvering in this area for a long time - looking for a convenient gap in the chain of islands in order to get to the north. Finally, navigator Jenkins discovered a fairly deep passage between the islands. Having overcome the first obstacle, the submarine entered the Bering Sea.
Now "Nautilus" had to slip through the narrow and ice-covered Bering Strait. The path west of St. Lawrence Island was completely covered by pack ice. The draft of some icebergs exceeded ten meters. They could easily crush the Nautilus, pushing the submarine to the bottom. Despite the fact that a significant part of the path was covered, Anderson gave the order to follow the opposite course.
The Nautilus commander did not despair - perhaps the eastern passage through the strait will be more welcoming to rare guests. The boat came out siberian ice and headed south from St. Lawrence Island, intending to sail into deep waters past Alaska. The next few days of the campaign passed without incident, and on the morning of June 17, the submarine reached the Chukchi Sea.
And then Anderson's bright expectations collapsed. The first alarming signal was the appearance of an ice floe of nineteen meters thick, which went directly to the submarine. A collision with it was avoided, but the recorders of the instruments warned: an even more serious obstacle was on the way of the boat.
Cuddling to the very bottom, "Nautilus" slipped under a huge ice floe at a distance of only one and a half meters from it. Death was avoided only by a miracle. When the pen of the recorder finally went up, indicating that the boat missed the ice floe, Anderson realized: the operation had failed completely ...
The captain sent his ship to Pearl Harbor. There was still the hope that at the end of summer the ice boundary would move to deeper regions, and one more attempt could be made to get to the pole. But who will give permission for it after so many failures?
The reaction from the top US military department was immediate - Anderson was summoned to Washington for an explanation. The commander of the "Nautilus" behaved well and showed tenacity. His report to senior Pentagon officers expressed his firm conviction that the next, July, campaign would undoubtedly be crowned with success. And he was given another chance.
Anderson immediately took action. To observe the ice situation, he sent his navigator Jenks to Alaska. For Jenks, a legend was composed according to which he was a Pentagon officer with special powers. Arriving in Alaska, Jenks flew almost all of the patrol aircraft, which daily conducted observations in the area of \u200b\u200bthe future route of the "Nautilus". In mid-July, Anderson, who was still in Pearl Harbor, received the long-awaited news from his navigator: the ice situation became favorable for the transpolar crossing, the main thing is not to miss the moment.
On July 22, a nuclear submarine with erased numbers left Pearl Harbor... The Nautilus was going at maximum speed. On the night of July 27, Anderson took the ship out to the Bering Sea. Two days later, having covered the 2900-mile route from Pearl Harbor, the Nautilus was already cutting through the waters of the Chukchi Sea.
On August 1, the submarine sank under the pack arctic ice, in some places going into the water to a depth of twenty meters. Getting the Nautilus underneath them was not easy. Almost all the time, Anderson himself was on watch. The ship's crew was excited about the upcoming event, which they wanted to celebrate properly. Some, for example, proposed to describe twenty-five small circles around the pole. Then the "Nautilus" could enter the Guinness Book of Records as the ship, the first in the history of navigation, made 25 voyages around the world in one voyage.
Anderson rightly believed that such maneuvers were out of the question - the likelihood of straying off course was too high. The Nautilus commander was worried about very different problems. To cross the pole as accurately as possible, Anderson did not take his eyes off the indicators of the electronic navigation devices. On August 3, at twenty-three hours and fifteen minutes, the goal of the campaign - the North Geographic Pole of the Earth - was achieved.
Without staying in the pole area longer than required by the collection of statistical information on the state of ice and sea water, Anderson sent the submarine to the Greenland Sea. The Nautilus was to arrive in the Reykjavik area, where a secret meeting was to take place. The helicopter, which was waiting for the submarine at the rendezvous point, removed only one person from the submarine - Commander Anderson.
Fifteen minutes later, the helicopter landed in Keflavik, next to a transport plane ready for departure. When the wheels of the plane touched the landing track of the airfield in Washington, Anderson was already waiting for a car sent from the White House - the president wanted to see the Nautilus commander. After the report on the operation, Anderson was again returned to the boat, which during this time managed to reach Portland. Six days later, the Nautilus and its commander entered New York with honor. A military parade was held in their honor ...
On March 3, 1980, after 25 years of service, the Nautilus was expelled from the fleet and declared a National Historic Landmark. Plans were made to convert the submarine to a museum for public display. Upon completion of the decontamination and a large amount of preparatory work, on July 6, 1985, the Nautilus was towed to Groton, Connecticut. Here, at the US Submarine Museum, the world's first nuclear submarine is open to the public.
In 1944, General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project (the American atomic program), set up a small working group to investigate the possibilities of "non-destructive use" of nuclear energy.
Thus, work began on the creation of nuclear power plants for ships. Due to the independence of the nuclear power plant from atmospheric air, the submarine fleet has become the priority area of \u200b\u200bits application. The use of such installations on submarines made it possible to radically increase the autonomy and stealth - after all, now the submarine did not have to surface to recharge the batteries.
Theoretical studies have shown the practical feasibility of building a nuclear ship power plant. Their results were presented to Congress in a special report in 1951, after which the legislators allocated the necessary funds. This allowed the fleet to sign contracts with the firms "Electric Boat", "Westinghouse Electric" and "Combasting Engineering" for the development of a project for a submarine and a nuclear reactor for it. For the latter, a system with pressurized water cooling (PWR) was chosen - as further experience showed, the safest and easiest to operate. The ground prototype of the reactor received the designation S1W, and the sample intended for installation on a submarine was designated S2W. The letter "S" meant that the reactor was intended for a submarine (reactors for aircraft carriers are designated by the letter "A", and for cruisers - "C"), and the "W" indicated the developer company Westinghouse.
The design and construction of the submarine was carried out very quickly. Already on June 14, 1952, at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton (Connecticut), in the presence of US President Harry Truman, the laying of the first nuclear submarine took place, and on January 21, 1954, the boat was launched. The godmother of the ship was Mamie Eisenhower, the wife of US President Dwight Eisenhower. The boat, named "Nautilus" and hull number SSN-571, was officially accepted into the fleet on January 30, 1954. But for another three months she remained at the dock of the shipyard, since a number of important works were not completed. On December 30, the reactor was launched. On January 17, 1955, the Nautilus finally departed from the pier. The submarine commander, Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson, transmitted the historic signal: "I'm going under a nuclear engine."
CONSTRUCTION FEATURES
For its time, "Nautilus" had significant dimensions: according to the project, its underwater displacement reached 3.5 thousand tons, and the length was 98.7 m. in length by 15.2 m. The outlines of the "Nautilus" hull were based on the German project XXI (during the Second World War). The large hull diameter (8.5 m) made it possible to organize three decks over most of the hull length and create quite comfortable conditions for the crew, which consisted of 12 officers and 90 foremen and sailors. The officers were accommodated in cabins (however, only the commander was in a single one). Each of the enlisted personnel had a personal berth (on diesel-electric submarines, as a rule, the number of berths was less than the number of the crew, taking into account the fact that some of the personnel were constantly on duty). The officer's wardroom could accommodate all officers at the same time. In the wardroom of the rank and file, 36 people could eat at the same time, and as a cinema it could accommodate up to 50 people. Armament "Nautilus" consisted of six bow torpedo tubes with 26 torpedoes ammunition. The initial project envisaged equipping the boat with Regulus cruise missiles (starting from the surface position), but due to the significant increase in the mass of the biological protection of the reactor, this had to be abandoned. The main means of lighting the situation were two sonar stations - passive AN / BQR-4A (with a large cylindrical antenna in the bow of the boat) and active AN / SQS-4.
POWER POINT
A single-reactor, two-shaft main power plant was used at the Nautilus. The S2W reactor vessel weighed about 35 tons, had the shape of a cylinder with a spherical cover and a hemispherical bottom. Its height was 3 m, diameter 2.7 m. The reactor vessel was fastened in a vertical position to the base of the water protection tank, which in turn was fastened to the foundation in the hold of the reactor compartment. Together with the water and composite shielding, the height of the reactor was about 6 m and the diameter was 4.6 m. The reactor core was cylindrical with a diameter of about 1 m. The total weight of the reactor load was about 100 kg. Steam generated by cooling the reactor fed two steam turbines. For emergencies and coastal maneuvering, the submarine had two diesel generators.
SERVICE HISTORY
The very first tests of the nuclear submarine "Nautilus" gave stunning results: the submarine covered the distance between the submarine bases of New London and San Juan in 90 hours.
During this time, the Nautilus covered 1,381 nautical miles (2,559 km) at an average speed of 15.3 knots. Diesel-electric submarines at that time were able to overcome under water from the force of 200 miles at a speed of 4-5 knots.
On subsequent voyages, the Nautilus demonstrated an average ground speed close to maximum - an indicator that previously divers could only dream of. The submarine was able to overtake the anti-submarine torpedoes that were in service with the US Navy at that time! The submarine's maneuverability was also excellent.
However, the tests showed significant drawbacks of the boat, first of all, a high level of noise. Its main reason was by no means the power plant, but the vibration of the ship's structure, caused by disturbances in the flow of water behind the wheelhouse fence. If the frequency of these vibrations exceeded 180 per minute, there was a real threat of serious damage to the boat's structure. The high noise level significantly reduced the combat value of the Nautilus: at a speed of more than 4 knots, the sonar efficiency became zero - the boat simply “jammed” them with its own noise. If the speed exceeded 15 knots, the shift in the central post had to shout to hear each other. Later, the submarine was subjected to modifications, which somewhat removed the acuteness of the noise problem. But throughout its 35-year service, the Nautilus remained essentially an experimental ship, not a combat unit.
TO THE NORTH POLE
The exceptional capabilities of the nuclear power plant made it possible to realize the ambitious task of reaching the North Pole underwater. However, the first attempt, made in August 1957, was unsuccessful. Going under the pack ice, the Nautilus tried to surface at the point where the echometer showed a wormhole, but ran into a drifting ice floe, seriously damaging the only periscope. The boat had to return. A year later, a second attempt was made, which was successful - on August 3, 1958, the "Nautilus" sailed under the North Pole. This event took place during the transarctic voyage of the submarine from Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) to London, which confirmed the possibility of maneuvering nuclear submarines between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through the Arctic. Since conventional navigation aids in near-polar waters are of little use, the Nautilus was equipped with the North American N6A-1 inertial navigation system, a shipborne version of the system used on the Navajo intercontinental cruise missiles. The entire voyage under the ice took four days (96 hours), during which the boat covered 1,590 miles, surfacing northeast of Greenland.
The Nautilus became the first submarine to reach the North Pole underwater. The first boat to surface at the North Pole was another American nuclear submarine, Skate. After returning from the flight, the Nautilus visited New York. And if many submarines visited the North Pole after him, then not a single nuclear submarine entered the New York port.
FURTHER SERVICE
The Nautilus spent most of its active service with the 10th Submarine Squadron, based in New London. The submarine took part in providing combat training for the US Atlantic Fleet and the naval forces of the NATO allies. Participation in maneuvers in conditions close to combat conditions sometimes led to very dangerous incidents. The most dangerous of these took place on November 10, 1966, when the Nautilus, while maneuvering at periscope depth, collided with the anti-submarine aircraft carrier Essex (CVS-9). The aircraft carrier received a hole, but remained afloat. The submarine seriously damaged the wheelhouse, but did not lose its course and was able to get to the base. During the service on the Nautilus, the reactor core was recharged three times: in 1957, 1959, 1967. In total, the boat covered over 490 thousand miles. The intensity of its exploitation in the initial period of service was much higher. If in the first two years the submarine covered 62.5 thousand miles (of which more than 36 thousand were submerged), and in the next two more than 91 thousand, then from 1959 to 1967 (eight years) it covered 174 , 5 thousand miles, and in 12 years from 1967 to 1979 - 162.3 thousand. On March 3, 1980, the Nautilus was withdrawn from service. It was supposed to be disposed of, but soon it was decided to keep the first American nuclear submarine as a museum. After proper preparation and cutting out of the reactor compartment, the Nautilus was opened to visitors on April 11, 1986. The boat, which has the status of a national technical monument, is located in Groton.
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Soviet shipbuilders from the Central Design Bureau No. 18 (TsKB-18, current) approached the creation of Project 658, having, on the one hand, the experience of building the first domestic nuclear submarines (nuclear submarines) of the Leninsky Komsomol type (projects 627 and 627A, "Kit"), on the other - the first diesel-electric submarines with ballistic missiles on board.
The project 658 boat was intended to deliver attacks with ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads on naval bases, ports, industrial and administrative centers located on the coast and deep in enemy territory.
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The 37-year-old future academician and twice Hero of Socialist Labor, who in the late 1940s was part of a group of Soviet specialists who studied the achievements of German shipbuilders in Germany, was approved as the chief designer of the project.
Work on the project began in August 1956, and on November 12, 1960, an acceptance certificate was signed for the lead submarine of the K-19 series.
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The submarine of the 658th project was a two-hull type submarine (external "strong" hull and internal "light"), consisting of ten compartments. Hull length - 114 m, width - 9.2 m. Displacement - about 4030 tons.
Unlike the first Soviet nuclear-powered submarines of Project 627, which had a rounded ellipsoidal nose, Project 658 received sharpened bow contours.
This decision was made to improve the seaworthiness of the K-19 on the surface. Initially, it was assumed that the launch of ballistic missiles will be made only on the surface.
The durable hull was divided by transverse bulkheads into ten compartments: 1st - torpedo, 2nd - battery, 3rd - central post, 4th - rocket, 5th - diesel, 6th - reactor, 7th - turbine, 8th - electric motor, 9th - auxiliary mechanisms, 10th - aft.
As in the first Soviet nuclear submarines, the main power plant K-19 had a capacity of 35 thousand hp. and included two pressurized water reactors VM-A with a power of 70 mW with steam generators rotating two engine units. In addition, the new submarine had two 450 horsepower sneak motors. each and two diesel generators.
With 80% of the power of both steam generating installations of the ship in a submerged position, the maximum speed of the submarine was about 24 knots (44 km / h).
At this speed, the cruising range reached about 28 thousand miles (up to 50 thousand km). With one hundred percent load of the power unit, it was possible to develop a speed of about 26 knots (46 km / h). The submarine's autonomy was 50 days of continuous stay at sea without replenishing the ship's supplies of oil, fuel, provisions, fresh and distilled water.
The missile weapon consisted of three R-13 surface-launched ballistic missiles placed in vertical silos. The same liquid-propellant missiles, developed by the special design bureau # 385 (SKB-385) in Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region under the leadership of designer Viktor Makeev, were on the first Soviet missile submarines - Project 629 diesel-electric submarines.
The limited width of the hull and the solid dimensions of the 14-ton missiles and their launching devices made it possible to install missile silos in only one row.
Each of the three missiles was equipped with a one and a half ton nuclear warhead with a capacity of 1 Mgt (about 50 times more powerful than bombsdropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and could deliver it to a distance of up to 600 km from the launch site with a deviation of up to 4 km.
In order to ensure fire safety, the missiles were stored filled only with an oxidizer - AK-27I (a solution of nitrogen tetroxide in concentrated nitric acid), and the TG-02 fuel itself was placed in a special container, outside a strong case and separately for each missile. It was supplied to the product before the start. The launch of the three missiles took 12 minutes after the boat surfaced.
The submarine's torpedo armament consisted of four bow 533-mm torpedo tubes (the ammunition load included 16 torpedoes) and two small-sized 400-mm aft torpedoes (6 torpedoes). The latter were intended for self-defense and firing anti-submarine torpedoes at a depth of 250 m, 533-mm torpedoes could be used at a depth of 100 m.
The need to ascend to launch missiles and, therefore, automatically unmask the submarine significantly reduced the combat stability of the missile carrier, therefore, when modernizing the nuclear submarine according to the 658M project, the installation of three SM-87-1 launchers and R-21 missiles with an underwater launch was provided.
The single-stage liquid-propellant 20-ton rocket R-21 could take off from under the water and deliver the warhead to a range of 1400 km with a deviation of 3 km.
According to the conditions of the strength of the missiles and the accuracy of their hitting, the launch could be carried out only in a narrow range of depths - the "launch corridor" The R-21 missiles were launched from a depth of 40-60 m from the bottom cut of the rocket at a boat speed of up to 2-4 knots (4-7 km / h) and sea waves up to 5 points. The prelaunch preparation time of the first rocket for launch took about 30 minutes. The time for firing three missiles is no more than 10 minutes.
In this case, the impact of impulses arising during the launch of the missiles led to the ascent of the submarine by 16 m, which did not allow it to be brought to its initial depth in a short time for launching the next missile. The complex of special means that keep the submarine in the required depth range is called the "possession system".
Before the underwater missile launch, the K-19 silos were filled with water, and to eliminate the imbalance on the boat, special ballast tanks with a water pumping system were used.
After the missiles left the mines, it was necessary to take about 15 cubic meters of water into the "equalizing tank".
The special navigation complex "Sigma-658" tracked the course, roll and pitch angles, calculated the boat's speed and provided continuous calculation of the current coordinates. During the prelaunch preparation of the missiles, these data were transmitted to computing devices, which took into account the corrections for the Earth's rotation and guided the missile at a given target.
The first Soviet nuclear-powered missile ships were built at the plant in Severodvinsk. The lead boat of the 658th project K-19 was laid down on October 17, 1958. It was launched on April 8, 1959, and entered service a year and a half later. In 1961, the Northern Fleet was replenished with the nuclear missile carrier K-33, in 1962 - K-55 and K-40, in 1963 - K-16 and K-145, and in 1964 - K-149 and K-176 ...
Thus, in six years, a program was implemented to build a series of eight nuclear submarines, which carried a total of 24 ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads.
The first and last K-19
The service of the first Russian nuclear-powered rocket ship - K-19 - began at the end of 1960. In 1961, the submarine was actively practicing combat training tasks: it made three exits to the sea, covered 5892 miles (11 thousand km) under water, and 529 miles (980 km) above water.
On July 3, 1961, at 4:00 in the morning, an accident of the right-hand reactor occurred on a submerged nuclear-powered ship.
K-19 floated to the surface and continued to move while the main turbo-gear unit on the left side was operating. As a result of the depressurization of the primary circuit of the reactor, a powerful background radiation arose in all compartments.
During the struggle for the life of the submarine, 30 people received heavy doses of radiation and died (15 in a few hours, nine in a few days, six in a year).
The approaching diesel-electric submarines and surface ships managed to evacuate the crew members and tow the submarine to Zapadnaya Litsa. In the post-Soviet era, the incident became widely known, the memoirs of the participants in the events were published, and in 2002 a feature film "K-19" was shot with the role of the captain of a Soviet boat. In 2006, the ex-president of the USSR nominated the crew of the submarine to Nobel Prize peace, insisting that the heroic actions of the crew saved the world from terrible disaster and even possible nuclear war: If the dead sailors did not prevent the explosion of the reactor, the United States could mistake the incident for an attempt to attack its naval base in the area.
After the accident, the boat received the ominous nickname "Hiroshima" from sailors, but after repairs it continued to serve.
The problem of cracking of the primary circuit tubes at the nuclear submarine was solved by replacing stainless steel with titanium.
The K-19 was considered an unlucky ship by the submariners. Accidents happened to her regularly. On November 15, 1969, the nuclear-powered ship collided in the Barents Sea with the American nuclear submarine SSN-615 Gato, which was trying to covertly track the Soviet submarine. Both ships were damaged.
On February 24, 1972, when the boat was 1300 km northeast of Newfoundland, a fire broke out on board Hiroshima, which killed 28 crew members in the 5th, 8th and 9th compartments.
At the same time, the service of other submarines of the 658th project went well. K-115 in 1963 made the transition from the Northern Fleet to the Pacific Fleet, covering 1.6 thousand miles (3 thousand km) under the ice in six days. In 1968, the ice crossing was repeated by the K-55, already with nuclear weapons on board.
Despite the high noise and other shortcomings, the submarines of the 658M project remained in service in the 1970s, patrolling the ocean in the immediate vicinity of the American coast, and provided the minimum flight time for their missiles. This made it difficult for the United States to counter a missile strike, but at the same time made the return of nuclear-powered ships to their home shores after completing the task very problematic.
The service of the last nuclear submarines of Project 658M in the Northern Fleet continued until the end of the USSR. K-16, K-33, K-40 and K-149 were decommissioned in 1988-1990. They were in a sludge in Olenyaya Bay and Gremikha.
The head submarine of the K-19 series was the last to fly the naval flag in 1991.
The first Soviet-made nuclear-powered missile ship, in comparison with a similar American ship of the "" type, possessed more high speeds surface and underwater passage, better combat survivability, increased depth of immersion, but was inferior to the "American" in terms of secrecy and characteristics of information media. Project 658 was very significantly inferior to the US Navy ship in relation to the ship's tonnage to the mass of missile weapons. If on the "George Washington" for each ton of the "Polaris" A-1 rocket there was a little more than 30 tons of the submarine's displacement, then on a Soviet-made boat this value increased to almost 130 tons.