"Leakage in Missile Mine": How did the Russian K-219 submarine sink with nuclear missiles
In one of the launchers, there was a leak, seawater began to flow and mix with rocket fuel. The volatile mixture of heat and gas was deadly, and the crew acted slowly. Focus translated the article by Brent Istwood, an expert from new threats and a former American infantry officer, the author of the book "People, Machines and Data: Future Trends in the War". The leakage in one of the missile pipes mixed with rocket fuel, there was an explosion and a fire on board. K-219 began to sink.
The Soviet ship tried to save the submarine, pulling it to a safe place. But it did not work - the tow cable broke away. The submarine captain Igor Britanov decided to leave the ship. The submarine went to the bottom of the ocean and the missiles were lost. The whole meeting lasted three days. US Presidential Administration Ronald Reagan even proposed assistance from the USSR. American officials estimated that Moscow's representatives told them about the tragedy on the day of its occurrence.
But fortunately, no radioactivity or nuclear explosion happened. The surviving sailors got out, and Captain Brittanov was the last who left the submarine alive, in accordance with naval customs. Representatives of the USSR were worried that the Americans would raise the fragments of the submarine and at their disposal would be the secrets of the submarine design. But that didn't happen.
"Gorbachev was worried, he was still impressed with the Chernobyl incident, which occurred half a year ago, and did not want him to be accused of concealing the death of the atomic submarine," the author notes. Gorbachev and Reagan were planned to meet at Reykjavik, and the Soviet leader did not want to jeopardize relations with the United States prior to negotiations on weapons control. He did not believe that this tragedy could be avoided and accused the captain and the team of incompetence.
He even resorted to the question of whether they showed cowardice and did not panic. He also spoke that Americans could have a diversion in some way. The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the USSR Admiral Vladimir Chernavin had to admit his guilt and answer Gorbachev directly about what happened to K-219. In his long report before the Politburo, he said that some parts of the submarine were in an acceptable state, except for the damaged pipe from which smoke was coming.
But the body did not show the accumulation of heat. The submarine was slowly sank, a special team was sent to his inspection, trying to find out the essence of the problem until it was too late. After all, this boat carried nuclear missiles. It turned out that the three compartments were dry. One was contamination, in the other - the leakage of gas from the ventilation system.
Admiral Chernavin seemed that the crew had made mistakes without checking the supply of the submarine before a short circuit that caused the fire. The team should not turn on the water pump in the flowing pipe without finding out the state of the electrical system, he summed up. Gorbachev was angry and filled with Chervina with questions about the towing rope. The K-219 had obvious malfunctions, and the crew did not respond properly to the emergency.
K-219 should be considered one of the worst submarines of all times because there was a fire and nuclear missiles were on board. Among other things, according to Brient M. Eastwood, it is one of the most dangerous submarines that have ever sailed. Gorbachev was afraid of the worst and was right, blaming the crew. They slowly responded to the initial leak and did not check the power supply system before turning on the pump.
They had to know that gas was present and that the use of electricity would be dangerous. It was one of the most dangerous cases at sea during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and Americans were lucky that it did not happen. It should be reminded that on October 9, the American submarine Georgia was reported, which attacked the military objects of Hussites. Brent M. Eastwood is an expert on new threats and a former American infantry officer. His account on the social network x - @bmeastwood.