In the mid-eighties of the XX century, short-range American nuclear missiles were deployed in Western Europe, which posed a real threat to the security of the Soviet Union. In the event of a war, the most important objects on the territory of our country could have been struck even before the receipt of information about missile launches. To maintain a strategic balance of power, an urgent and adequate response was needed.
Restoring the balance of power in the world
Since the Soviet Union did not have the opportunity to use a sufficient number of ground-based missile bases located in close proximity to the territory of the United States, the country's leadership made the only decision possible at that time - to establish regular patrol of neutral waters by domestic nuclear submarines off the coast of America. This made it possible to equalize the degree of mutual danger and restore the balance of forces.
Northern Fleet missile submarine
One of the submarines on which this mission was assigned was the strategic missile cruiser, code-named K-219. In 1972, he left the stocks of the Severodvinsk plant "Sevmash" and for eight years was part of the Northern Fleet, based in the city of Gadzhievo, Murmansk Region. In 1980, the ship was completely modernized according to the project 667AU "Burbot", which made it possible to use it to solve the most complex and critical combat missions.
This submarine had enormous destructive potential. On board were sixteen ballistic missiles with a range of three thousand kilometers, each of which carried three nuclear warheads. In addition, for its own protection against a possible attack by enemy ships, the K – 219 had six torpedo tubes. The crew consisted of one hundred and nineteen people - well-trained and specially trained sailors.
Past troubles
Even before taking up combat duty off the coast of America, this underwater missile carrier had a serious accident in 1973. Then, as a result of a leak in one of the rocket mines, the seawater began to flow inside and, reacting with one of the components of the rocket fuel, caused extremely aggressive nitric acid to form, which ultimately led to an explosion. As a result of this, one of the crew members died, and the emergency mine was put out of order and was not used from now on.
The last voyage of the missile carrier
The nuclear submarine K – 219 made its last trip in 1986. Leaving the home port, she went to the shores of America to perform patrol service. From the very beginning of the voyage, serious malfunctions were discovered: a leak opened in one of the missile mines, but the officer in charge of this section, frightened of responsibility, did not report to the ship's commander, 2nd-rank captain I. Britanov, and tried to hide the fact of the malfunction.
Such a violation of the charter had fatal consequences for the boat and crew. Soon, it was necessary to pump out the water entering the mine twice a day, until, finally, it was completely depressurized and was flooded. All subsequent events were an exact repetition of the accident that occurred in 1973 - an aggressive mixture of water and rocket fuel components formed, resulting in an explosion.
The consequences of an explosion in a rocket mine
The shock wave plutonium warheads were destroyed and the outer shaft of the mine was damaged. Some parts of the rocket were inside the submarine and, reacting with water, released deadly gases. The situation was aggravated by the fact that as a result of the explosion, a hole was formed on the deck, through which water gushed inside. Having thus received excessive ballast, the submarine instantly plunged to a critical depth for itself - three hundred meters, but thanks to the competent and timely actions of the commander, it was soon able to be raised to the surface.
As a matter of urgency, the damaged and dangerously gassed rocket compartment was abandoned by the team and thoroughly battened down. However, the crew still had to complete the main task at that time - to stop the nuclear reactor. It was necessary to do this as soon as possible, since the sensors recorded a sharp increase in temperature in its cooling system, and a real threat of an atomic explosion arose.
Feat of submariners
Under normal conditions, such an operation is performed from the main control panel, but the very first attempt showed the failure of this most important system. The catastrophe was approaching, and the sailors had the last chance - to manually shut down the damaged reactor, but in this case they had to enter the rocket compartment and inevitably receive a critical dose of radiation. Volunteers volunteered to complete the task: senior lieutenant N. Belikov and sailor S. Preminin. Both of them died, but having carried out the necessary actions, they saved the rest of the crew.
American rescuers and Soviet ships
Help the distressed Soviet submarine was offered by the Americans. To this end, their ships immediately arrived in the accident area. But, despite the mortal danger, the submariners could not take advantage of the proposal, since it was quite obvious that the main interest for the Americans was not they, but the submarine itself, full of equipment secret at that time. Thanking for the help offered, the sailors of the submarine contacted by radio with several Soviet ships in their immediate vicinity, and they rushed to the rescue.
The current situation clearly showed that the submarine could not move under its own power, and it would have to be towed. The Americans also offered their help here, but the Soviet command rejected it, not wanting to show their helplessness in such a situation. Over the next few days, only its commander, captain of the second rank I. Britanov, and members of the emergency team who tried to extinguish the fire were on K-219. The rest of the crew was stationed on the Krasnogvardeysk and Anatoly Vasiliev ships that had arrived by that time.
The death of the nuclear submarine K - 219
Everything was ready for towing a submarine to the Soviet coast. The dry cargo ship Krasnogvardeysk took on this mission, for which its board was connected to the submarine by a thick cable. The rescue team left the boat, as the concentration of toxic combustion products in the air became excessively high. Only the commander remained on board, guarding the ship with weapons in his hands from the possible penetration of Americans on it.
The death of K-219 occurred at night on October 6, 1986, when, for an undetermined reason, the tow cable broke, and the submarine began to sink into the depths. I. Britanov, who was on board until the very last moment, moved to the lifeboat only when the waves began to sweep the conning tower of the submarine.
Possible causes of death
There are several versions regarding the causes of the breakage of the tow rope. The most probable of them can be considered the one according to which the misfortune occurred due to the large amount of water entering the boat. It is not excluded the intervention of the Americans, who could cut the cable by chopping their submarines, following a parallel course.
But, experts say, there could be one more, quite probable reason for the death of K – 219. It is possible that the commander himself sent it to the bottom, cutting the tow rope. The fact is that shortly before this, an order was received from Moscow to the entire crew to return to the emergency cruiser and independently proceed to the nearest Soviet port. This was a truly insane order, since, if inside the submarine, the entire crew would undoubtedly die, having been poisoned by gases or received a strong dose of radiation.
Results of the last voyage
Since then, the K-219 nuclear submarine rests at the bottom, at a depth of five thousand meters, with fifteen nuclear ballistic missiles in its launch mines. The sailors rescued and delivered to Havana a few days later returned by special flight to Moscow. Of the crew members during the accident, four people died, four more died later as a result of radiation received on board.
After everything that happened on the commander of the submarine K-219, the last trip of which turned out to be fatal for her, and on the senior mechanic N. Krasilnikov, criminal cases were instituted, which almost ended for both of them with long prison sentences. But, fortunately, the situation in the country had changed by then. With the onset of Perestroika, the newly appointed Minister of Defense D. Yazov ordered the closure of both cases. Thus, the prison was avoided, but the commander of the sunken boat was dismissed from the fleet. The accident on K-219 put an end to his career.