Soviet submarine K-219
| Soviet Submarine K-219 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} USSR | |
| Name | K-219 |
| Commissioned | 31 December 1971 |
| Stricken | 1986 |
| Homeport | Gadzhiyevo |
| Fate | Sunk by explosion and fire caused by seawater leak in missile tube, 6 October 1986, killing 6 |
| Status | Located in 18,000 ft. (6000 m) of water, Hatteras Abyssal, North Atlantic Ocean |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Yankee-class submarine |
| Displacement | list error: <br /> list (help) 7,766 long tons (7,891 t) surfaced 9,300 long tons (9,449 t) submerged |
| Length | 129.8 m (425 ft 10 in) |
| Beam | 11.7 m (38 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 8.7 m (28 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion | 2 × 90 MWt OK-700 reactors with VM-4 cores producing 20,000 hp (15 MW) each |
| Speed | 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h) |
| Test depth | 400 m (1,300 ft) |
| Complement | 120 officers and men |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) • 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes • 2 × 16 in (406 mm) torpedo tubes • 16 × SLBM launch tubes |
K-219 was a Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine (NATO reporting name "Yankee I") of the Soviet Navy. She carried 16 (later 15) SS-N-6 liquid-fuel missiles powered by UDMH with IRFNA, equipped with an estimated 34 nuclear warheads.[1]
K-219 was involved in what has become one of the most controversial submarine incidents in the Cold War.
The incident
On 3 October 1986, while on patrol 680 miles (1,090 km) northeast of Bermuda, K-219 suffered an explosion and fire in a missile tube. The seal in a missile hatch cover failed, allowing seawater to leak into the missile tube and react with residue from the missile's liquid fuel. The Soviet Navy claimed that the leak was caused by a collision with the submarine USS Augusta. Augusta was certainly operating in proximity, but the United States Navy denies any collision.[2] K-219 had previously experienced a similar casualty; one of her missile tubes was already disabled and welded shut, having been permanently sealed after an explosion caused by reaction between seawater leaking into the silo and missile fuel residue.[3]
The authors of the book Hostile Waters reconstructed the incident from descriptions by the survivors, ships' logs, the official investigations, and participants both ashore and afloat from the Russian and the American sides.[4] Shortly after 0530 Moscow time, seawater leaking into silo six of K-219 reacted with missile fuel, producing nitric acid.[5] K-219 weapons officer Alexander Pertachkov attempted to cope with this by disengaging the hatch cover and venting the missile tube to the sea.[6] Shortly after 0532, an explosion occurred in silo six.[7] The remains of the RSM-25 rocket and its two warheads were ejected from silo six into the sea.[8]
An article in Undersea warfare by K-219 commander Captain 1st Rank (Ret.) Igor Kurdin, Russian Navy and Lt. Cmdr. Wayne Grasdock, USN described the explosion occurrence as follows:
At 0514, the BCh-2 officer and the hold machinist/engineer in compartment IV (the forward missile compartment) discovered water dripping from under the plug of missile tube No. 6 (the third tube from the bow on the port side). During precompression of the plug, the drips turned into a stream. The BCh-2 officer reported water in missile tube No. 6, and at 0525, the captain ordered an ascent to a safe depth (46 meters) while a pump was started in an attempt to dry out missile tube No. 6. At 0532, brown clouds of oxidant began issuing from under the missile-tube plug, and the BCh-2 officer declared an accident alert in the compartment and reported the situation to the GKP (main control station). Although personnel assigned to other compartments left the space, nine people remained in compartment IV. The captain declared an accident alert. It took the crew no more than one minute to carry out initial damage control measures, which included hermetically sealing all compartments. Five minutes later, at 0538, an explosion occurred in missile tube No. 6.[9]
Three sailors were killed outright in the explosion. The vessel surfaced to permit its twin nuclear reactors to be shut down, which was only accomplished when a 19-year old enlisted seaman, Sergei Preminin, sacrificed his life to secure one of the onboard nuclear reactors by hand, trapped in the engine compartment. Captain Second Rank Igor Britanov was ordered to have the ship towed by a Soviet freighter back to Gadzhievo, her home port, some 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) away.
Although a towline was attached, towing attempts were unsuccessful, and after subsequent poison gas leaks into the final aft compartments and against orders, Britanov ordered the crew to evacuate onto the towing ship. Britanov remained aboard K-219.
Displeased with Britanov's inability to repair his submarine and continue his patrol, Moscow ordered Valery Pshenichny, K-219’s security officer, to assume command, transfer the surviving crew back to the submarine, and return to duty. Before those orders could be carried out, however, the flooding reached a point beyond recovery and on 6 October 1986 the K-219 sank to the bottom of the Hatteras Abyssal, more than three miles down.[10][11], in a depth of about 6,000 m (18,000 ft). While the proximate cause of the sinking is unknown, some evidence indicates Britanov may have scuttled her. K-219's full complement of nuclear weapons was lost along with the vessel.
In 1988, the Soviet hydrographic research ship Keldysh positioned itself over the wreck of K-219, and found the submarine sitting upright on the sandy bottom. It had broken in two aft of the conning tower. Several missile silo hatches had been forced open, and the missiles, along with the nuclear warheads they contained, were gone.[12]
Preminin earned the Red Star, awarded posthumously, for his bravery in securing the reactors.[10] Britanov was charged with negligence, sabotage, and treason. He was never imprisoned, but waited for his trial in Sverdlovsk. In May 1987, after a new Defense Minister took office in Moscow, the charges against Britanov were dismissed.
Hostile Waters film
In 1997, the British BBC television film Hostile Waters, co-produced with HBO and starring Rutger Hauer, Martin Sheen, and Max von Sydow, was released in the United States by Warner Bros. It was based on the book by the same name mentioned above, which claimed to describe the loss of K-219. In 2001, Captain Britanov filed suit, claiming Warner Bros. did not seek or get his permission to use his story or his character, and that the film did not portray the events accurately and made him look incompetent. After three years of hearing, the court ruled in Britanov's favor.[citation needed] Russian media reported a settlement on the order of several tens of thousands of dollars.
The former Soviet Union claimed the damage to K-219 was caused by a collision with Augusta. Officially, the U.S. Government continues to deny this was the case.[2] The U.S. Navy issued the following statement regarding the book and film:
- The United States Navy normally does not comment on submarine operations, but in the case, because the scenario is so outrageous, the Navy is compelled to respond.
- The United States Navy categorically denies that any U.S. submarine collided with the Russian Yankee submarine (K-219) or that the Navy had anything to do with the cause of the casualty that resulted in the loss of the Russian Yankee submarine.
An article on the US Navy's website posted by Captain 1st Rank (Ret.) Igor Kurdin (former XO of K-219) and Lieutenant Commander Wayne Grasdock denied any collision between K-219 and Augusta. Captain Britanov himself also denies a collision. He has stated he was not asked to be a guest speaker at Russian functions because he refuses to follow the Russian government's interpretation of the K-219 incident.[citation needed]
Casualties
The following casualties were directly attributed to the incident:[13]
| Died 3 October 1986 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Petrachkov, Alexander V. | Captain, Third Rank | Weapons officer |
| Kharchengo, Igor K. | Seaman | Machinist |
| Smaglyuk, Nicolai | Seaman | Weapons Division |
| Preminin, Sergei A. | Seaman | Reactor Team |
| Died later from health complications resulting from the incident | ||
| Karpachev, Vladimir N. | Captain Lieutenant | Commander's Deputy |
| Markov, Vladimir P. | Captain Third Rank | Communications Officer |
Notes
- ^ Ramana & Reddy 2003, p. 131
- ^ a b Irza 2004
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, p. 24
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, p. xi
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, pp. 90, 93
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, p. 93
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, p. 95
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, p. 97
- ^ Kurdin & Grasdock 2005.
- ^ a b Offley 2007, p. 112
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, p. 333
- ^ Huchthuasen, Kurdin & White 1997, pp. 338–341
See also
References
- USN statement on Hostile Waters
- Книга памяти - К-219 Template:Ru icon
- Kurdin, Igor; Grasdock, Wayne (2005). "Loss of a Yankee SSBN". Undersea Warfare. 7 (5). ISSN 1554-0146.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) (archived from the original on 2007-02-05). - Huchthuasen, Peter; Kurdin, Igor; White, R. Alan (1997), Hostile Waters, Arrow Books, UK, ISBN 0-09-926966-X
- Irza, John (2004), "Soundings", IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, VOLUME XXXVIII (4), retrieved 2004-11-29
{{citation}}:|volume=has extra text (help) - Offley, Edward (2007), "5. The Russians are Coming", Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon : the Untold Story of the USS Scorpion, Westview Press, pp. 109–142 ISBN 0465051855, ISBN 9780465051854.
- Ramana, M. V.; Reddy, C. Rammanohar (2003), Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream, Orient Longman, ISBN 8125024778.
