In any case, they lost a significant part of submarine missile carriers (SSBNs), up to two aircraft carrier groups, lost the bulk of the fuel supplies for the Pacific Fleet, docks for repairing aircraft carriers, thousands of military specialists and the only basing point for strategic submarines in the western hemisphere.
Checkmate with the queen on the unprotected diagonal: Red starts and wins. The Pioneer is the most powerful missile in the Soviet naval arsenal.
Nuclear fortress in Chukotka
In these forgotten lands, just 200 km from the United States, there was a missile base "Gudym" (Magadan-11), in the local slang - "Portal". A completely autonomous protective structure, which was a two-kilometer-long tunnel drilled into the hill with many blind branches. The entrance doors at both ends of the tunnel weighed 40 tons and provided protection from shockwaves in the event of a direct hit from a warhead.
The base was divided into parts with different access levels. The movement of goods through the tunnels was carried out by electric trolleys on a narrow-gauge railway. In addition to the two main locks, there was another exit to the surface, which was a launching structure with a retractable roof (the so-called “Dome”).
Outside the main base, on the surface, there were a number of geodesically verified and prepared launch positions with concreted access roads for mobile missile systems.
Here, in constant combat readiness there was a missile division - three mobile ground complexes RSD-10 "Pioneer" with a two-stage solid-propellant medium-range missile 15Ж45, according to the western classification SS-20 Saber ("Saber").
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The Pioneer missile had a multiple warhead with three individual guidance units (150 kt) and had a range of 4,500 km. The sighting system (INS) provided a circular probable deviation from the target within 500 m.
The transport and launch container with the rocket was located on the MAZ-547V six-axle chassis. Despite the significant weight of the complex (the launch mass of the rocket is 37 tons), the all-wheel drive chassis (12x12) with a 650 hp diesel engine. provided sufficient mobility, cross-country ability and speed up to 40 km / h on public roads.
For 15 years of operation, not a single case of a rocket accident has been noted. During testing, operation and elimination, 190 Pioneers were shot. All launches were recognized as successful. The probability of hitting the target reached 98%.
SS-20 Saber - "Thunderstorm of Europe", deployed in the western directions since 1976. The threat did not go unnoticed - in response, the Pershing-2 missile system arrived from overseas (first deployed in Germany in 1983). A small lethal masterpiece by Martin-Marietta with a launch weight of 7 tons, equipped with a radar warhead.
Despite their phenomenal accuracy (KVO - 30 m!), "Pershing" did not reach Moscow, but were able to "endure" the positions of the Strategic Missile Forces and command posts in the western districts in minutes. The technological level of "Pershing" went far beyond the capabilities of the military-industrial complex of the Land of Soviets. It was not possible to give an adequate answer at the same level, and the Union proposed a plan for the disarmament and elimination of medium-range missiles (INF Treaty, signed by both sides in 1987).
"Pershing" were destroyed at the stand by static burning of both stages.
Soviet "Pioneers" fired back and were eliminated during launches in the Chita region, later - by a ground explosion without being removed from the TPK.
By the spring of 1991, it was all over. Now sworn enemies are standing and looking at each other in the Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The scandalous European "voyage" of the Pioneer complex, which almost cost the end of the world, hides another, little-known page in the history of the RSD-10.
Why were the three complexes sent to the snowy Chukotka? In order to gouge the Kitsap naval base (aka Bangor) at the "X" hour.
Bangor Trident Base
The facility has existed since 1977. Eight (of the 14 in service) American Ohio-class SSBNs are now based there, each carrying 24 Trident-2 SLBMs. There is also a missile storage, moorings with loading equipment and a SWFPAC complex for calibrating guidance systems and developing flight missions for the Tridents.
The only US Navy strategic submarine base in the Pacific.
In addition to strategists, two nuclear-powered submarines with 156 cruise missiles (USS Michigan and USS Ohio) and three most advanced multipurpose submarines are officially registered in Bangor: classmates Seawulf, Connecticut and special operation submarine Carter.
In the neighboring bays (Brementon, Everett) aircraft carriers "Nimitz" and "John Stennis" with escort ships are moored. In addition to the arsenal, the largest fuel storage facility of the fleet (“Manchester”) is located on the territory of the naval complex.
There is also a large shipyard - an intermediate maintenance station "Padget Sound" with its collection of nuclear reactors (taken from 125 decommissioned cruisers and submarines) and anchorage for ships of the reserve fleet. Padget Sound is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are docked.
A lot of destroyers, submarines and warships of other classes constantly "crowd" at the wall of the shipyard. In the old days, there were even more of them.
This is what the Kitsap Bay naval complex in the northwestern United States, in the vicinity of Seattle, is.
Warships have been seen on this coast since the end of the 19th century. But the place is not famous among sailors - it is too cold. Therefore, most of the large surface ships are based in areas with a much more attractive climate (San Diego, tropical Pearl Harbor, Norfolk, where snow is very rare), which greatly simplifies the maintenance and operation of equipment.
In order not to stain the eternal Californian summer with X-rays, nuclear submarines with nuclear weapons were driven to the north. There, where they accidentally found themselves under the gun of the medium-range RK "Pioneer".
Instead of an afterword
Nuclear weapons were removed from Chukotka in 1986. For some time, the territory of the Magadan-11 base was used for storing military equipment; finally, the military left the facility in 2002.
