First look: Soviet tragedies
“There is reason to believe that the submarine was lost at great depths. In view of the fact that there is no reliable data on the reasons for the death of the "S-117", one can only guess about the circumstances of the death of the submarine. The death could have occurred under the following circumstances: improper control during submersion, malfunction of the material part, collision with a surface ship. Along with this, the possibilities of deliberate departure of the boat to Japan or the forcible withdrawal of it by the Americans were considered. The personnel had a high moral condition and were politically reliable, so we consider the "Japanese" version incredible. And the withdrawal of the submarine by the Americans, given the determination of the personnel, is impossible."
December 14, 1952. An old "Pike" 5bis series S-117 "Mackerel" entered the training ground in the Sea of Okhotsk with a crew of 52 people. The ship was commanded by an experienced commander Vasily Krasnikov, who went through the war on the Black Sea "babies". On December 15, the commander sent a radiogram about the repair of one of the diesels … and silence. The ship has not been found so far, none of the versions has been confirmed. In 1950, the boat underwent a major overhaul, in 1952 - docking. What happened - we are unlikely to find out, the sea keeps its secrets tightly.
“After finding the destroyer's lights, the submarine commander, for some unknown reason, gave the command to leave the left side, substituting his starboard side under the attack of the“Statny”. The blow was so strong that the stem of the destroyer burst, and the submarine's hull was practically split in two. The VI compartment was completely torn off, it was found at the bottom at a distance of 30 m from the place of death of the submarine. The 5th compartment was destroyed and the 4th compartment damaged. After the collision, the M-200 began to submerge quickly and after 1-2 minutes it sank at a depth of 53 m."
November 21, 1956. A collision, a catastrophe, a storm interferes with the rescue operation, the boat was lifted only six days later by SS "Commune" forces. 28 dead. The commanders of the ships were sentenced. What is more here - sloppiness or tragedy - is a difficult question, but the fact is, the head "Revenge" was lost in shallow water and not far from the port. Six people on the bridge were saved. Peacetime, standard duty exit, and … A year later, a fire broke out on the M-256 of the A-615 project in the Baltic Sea, the boat surfaced, but the storm prevented the crew from being removed, 35 dead. Again SS "Commune" raised the ship, but the cause of the fire has not been established.
“The bodies of the submariners were lying face down. All of them were oiled in a solarium, which squeezed out of the fuel tanks inside the hull. The first, second, third and seventh compartments contained air cushions. Most of the bodies were removed from the nasal compartments. In general, all the bodies were striking in their complete safety. Many were recognized by sight - and this is eight years after the death! Doctors talked about the embalming properties of sea water at a depth of two hundred meters in the Barents Sea …"
January 25, 1961. The S-80 submarine went to sea to practice tasks. The boat was modernized according to project 644 and carried two P-5 cruise missiles. On January 27 at 0:30 I got in touch, and after an hour, due to a malfunction of the RDP float valve (freezing), it sank at a depth of 196 meters. The entire crew (68 people) was killed. The ship was found and raised only eight years later. And they found it thanks to luck - the searches after the accident, despite the considerable resources of the Northern Fleet involved, did not yield any results. Not two kilometers, only 200 meters …
“On January 11, 1962, the Soviet submarine B-37 of project 641, which is in service with the Northern Fleet, exploded. For unknown reasons, the entire ammunition of the submarine exploded - 11 torpedoes. 59 crew members of the B-37 and 11 people from the nearby S-350 submarine were killed."
Unlike previous disasters, the B-37 died at the base, in the morning, while turning the mechanisms. The versions about the causes of the explosion of the sea - we will never know the true one. The commander was eventually acquitted, because he was not guilty, except that he was absent from the ship at the time of the explosion. Another mystery: what failed - technology or people? This is not the end of the martyrology of the Soviet disasters. Six years later:
"K-129 with hull number 574 under the command of Captain First Rank Vladimir Kobzar left Krasheninnikov Bay on February 24, 1968."
After 12 days, the boat disappeared from communication. A submarine with three ballistic missiles on board sank 600 miles from Hawaii. The boat was found by the US Navy and raised its bow in August 1974. Disputes are still going on about the causes of the accident - from the malfunctioning of the RPA and to the collision with the US nuclear submarine. We will not find out the truth - the United States did not provide complete data on the survey of the bow, and the depth of 5 kilometers and the past decades make it meaningless to study the remaining wreckage. 98 sailors died on combat duty far from their native shores.
"On October 21, 1981, after a collision with a refrigerated ship, the S-178 submarine, which was part of the Pacific Fleet, sank in the Peter the Great Bay."
32 dead, 20 people (the first in world practice) were rescued by a rescue submarine. The accident is stupid, due to an error of the operational duty officer of the OVR, the victims are serious and real. The boat was eventually lifted and dismantled for metal. To some extent, for our country, this was the last major disaster of a diesel submarine. The technique has improved, the skill has improved, the intensity of the Cold War has subsided. But the USSR is not united - but what about the bourgeoisie?
Second view: "la Belle France"
March 5, 1946, Casablanca, Morocco. The French submarine Orpheus is in the port. The explosion of torpedoes for unknown reasons, two dead, the boat was written off.
December 6, 1946, Toulon, durability tests during immersion of the French submarine 2326 (nee U-2326 23 series). The hull cannot withstand the pressure of the water and … 26 sailors remain at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
“On September 23, 1952, the submarine Sibylle disappeared near the site of the death of 2326. Rescuers were able to find only an oil spot, but the boat itself was never found."
The third French submarine, killed in six years, and again - 46 dead and it is not clear - no where or why. The story is already well forgotten, especially since for France nothing ended in this catastrophe. After 16 years:
The submarine Minerva, which sank over 50 years ago, was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea. French Defense Minister Florence Parley tweeted that a boat that disappeared half a century ago was found in the Toulon region at a depth of 2350 meters."
52 dead, exercises, explosion … And only in 2019 the ship was found, sense from which is less than zero - the depth and time are merciless. After just two years:
“On March 4, 1970, Eridis left the Saint-Tropez base, there were 57 people on board. At sea, the submarine had to work out, in cooperation with aviation, the search and conditional attack of a submarine of a potential enemy, for which Eridis constantly kept in touch with the Atlantic base patrol aircraft, which took off from the Nimes Garon naval airbase. From the plane, a breaker was seen several times from the Eridis periscope when the boat was seven miles southeast of Cape Camara. In the last radiogram, the commander of the submarine announced that he was heading for the exercise zone and was starting to dive. At 7:13 the Atlantic loses radar contact with the submarine …"
Again an explosion, again 57 dead and no understanding - why. The only thing - the boat was found immediately. It remains to express a cautious version: something was wrong with the French either with torpedoes or with TB, otherwise it is difficult to explain the death of two ships of the same type for one reason. Moreover, in 1983 on board a French submarine there was another explosion of hydrogen, this time without fatal consequences.
Third look: the Anglo-Saxons
"On the morning of August 25, 1949, during a training cruise north of the Arctic Circle, the submarine Kochino (SS-345), accompanied by the Tusk (SS-426), attempted to dive into the Barents Sea."
A series of internal explosions, 7 dead, the boat sank at a depth of 250 meters. The whole difference with Soviet and French submarines is described in the English-language Internet beautifully and heroically, without looking for fools, as in our tradition, well, there was someone to take off the crew. For the rest - everything is the same, the reasons are not completely clear.
“Having descended to a safe depth, the USS Stickleback unexpectedly lost power and was forced to surface, it surfaced at a distance of about 200 meters in front of the destroyer. USS Silverstein tried to dodge and turned the rudder hard to the left to avoid a collision, but was unable to dodge and rammed the submarine on the port side."
May 28, 1958 There were no fatalities this time, and like everyone else, the human factor has not been canceled either. No worse and no better than ours, and it could not be otherwise, there are some general tendencies.
The British lost their first submarine in the post-war period on January 12, 1950:
“At 19:00, as the submarine passed along the Thames estuary, three lights from another vessel appeared ahead. Since the crew decided that the ship was at a standstill, and there was a danger of running aground on the starboard side, the order was given to keep the course to the left. Suddenly, the Swedish oil tanker Divina "emerged" from the darkness and literally blew the submarine out of its way."
64 dead, including 18 repair workers. The only submarine who died not at sea, but on the river. A year passed, and on April 16, 1951, the HMS Affray boat died in the English Channel during tests. 50 sailors and 25 repairmen died along with the ship. The boat was found, but the reasons for the disaster were never established. In 1955, an explosion on board in Portland - submarine Sidon goes to the bottom, taking 13 people with it. The ship was armed with steam-gas torpedoes …
Fourth view: the rest
It was not only submariners of the great powers that paid their tribute to the ocean, as the fleets grew, boats and minor powers, first European, and as the sales of weapons expanded - and non-European ones, perished. There is a certain tendency - just the non-nuclear boats of the world leaders have not perished for a long time (not superstitious, but thu-thu), but the young maritime powers are quite themselves. The first after the war was the C-4 of the Spanish fleet. June 27, 1946 collision with the destroyer "Lepanto" - 44 dead. On April 4, 1953, the Turks paid their tribute - a collision with a dry cargo ship and 81 dead.
The most, perhaps, the mysterious death - submarine "Dakar" of the Israeli Navy. The boat was sailing to Haifa and disappeared between Crete and Cyprus on January 25, 1968. The boat came from Portsmouth, where it was handed over to Israel by the British, which gave rise to a persistent version of the sinking of the USSR Navy ship. Nevertheless, in 1999 the boat was found and the reason was announced - a malfunction and a failure to a great depth. The felling was raised and placed as a monument. 69 dead.
The Chinese also paid tribute - on January 21, 1983, a Chinese submarine with ballistic missiles disappeared, on board which, in addition to the crew, was a group of scientists and engineers. The Chinese are still hiding the details, and the fact that they are sinning against Soviet atomarina is from the category of tales. The submarine was not new (Soviet project 629A), it was constantly used to test missiles and systems of future missile carriers, plus the presence of civilians - already enough reasons without looking for the strange. The second confirmed accident - 2003-16-04, an old submarine (a replica of the Soviet project 633). The crew burned out all the air without stopping the diesel engine during submersion, 70 dead.
And, finally, the last three disasters - India, Argentina and Indonesia lost one ship each. The Indians - an explosion on board and 18 dead, the cause of the detonation of the ammunition has not been established; with the Argentinean "San Juan" nothing is clear, except for one thing - it would be time to write off a ship of this age, and not to drive it as good as new, but the chronic underfunding of the fleet does not lead to good. The official version is the explosion of the battery after water ingress through the snorkel; and the Indonesians - just the other day.
What can you add? There will be more disasters, and more than one, the ocean is a hostile environment for humans, ideal rules and mechanisms have not yet been created and, I think, will not be created soon, and the number of submarines will only grow. You have to understand - any progress takes its toll, payment in human lives.
