from the directive of the United States Naval Forces
Rendezvous with Mr. Eisenhower
The Mediterranean Sea was saturated with death - NATO anti-submarine weapons continuously scanned the sea water, the air was buzzing with base patrol aircraft. The Americans were clearly preparing for some important event.
But the Soviet diesel-electric submarine S-360 had its own task - to reach underwater to Gibraltar, secretly penetrate the area of combat maneuvering of the aircraft carrier Roosevelt, determine the composition of its escort ships and, after successfully completing the mission, safely return to base in Vlora Bay (Albania). The opinion of NATO anti-submarine forces did not interest the Soviet sailors.
We got to Gibraltar normally - some of the time we were moving on batteries, and when the situation allowed, we surfaced to periscope depth and “chirped” over the surface with a snorkel. Diesel engines pounded, greedily swallowing precious air, charging the battery to power the submarine at great depth all the next day. Spotted an aircraft carrier, turned back. On the 18th day of the campaign, we received a radiogram: a squadron headed by the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, the heavy cruiser Des Moines, was approaching. Be on the lookout. Good luck!
There was a revival at the C-360 Central Post - according to all calculations, it was impossible to evade the meeting. Maybe we will get closer to Des Moines, as far as the situation will permit, and record the background noises of the cruiser?
In reality, everything turned out differently: skillfully maneuvering between the escort ships, the boat, according to acoustic data, reached the distance of a torpedo attack, another second - and a torpedo salvo would overturn a 20,000-ton cruiser into the depths of the sea … The commander of the S-360 submarine wiped cold sweat from his forehead - noise Propellers Des Moines (CA-134) calmed down somewhere in the distance … And if you really had to?
The Americans obviously sensed that something was wrong - an hour later, the destroyers thrown into the search spotted the S-360, and an exhausting pursuit began. The commander of the S-360 Valentin Kozlov later recalled: “If I commanded a nuclear-powered ship, I would give thirty knots - and disappeared into the sea without a trace. But I had a diesel-electric submarine with a four-node course. For three days they chased the S-360, bombarded us with explosives and sonar impulses, forcing us to surface. Only in the area of the Lampedusa island did they manage to break away … When we returned to the base, we could not remove the upper conning tower hatch. During the month of being in salt water, he became so "attached" to the coaming that he had to work with a sledgehammer."
The reason for the fury of the Americans with which they pursued the lonely "diesel" was found out later: US President Dwight Eisenhower was aboard Des Moines (CA-134).
Rendezvous with Miss Enterprise
Assignment for death row. At that time, the Soviet "roaring cow" K-10, a nuclear submarine with first-generation cruise missiles, was thrown across the American aircraft carrier group. Rumbles so hard that you can hear it at the other end of the ocean. The situation was complicated by the lack of accurate target designation: the data on the coordinates of the target, transmitted to the boat, were outdated by a day. A storm was raging over the Quiet Window, and there was no way to clarify the position of the AUG. The boat had problems in the turbine compartment - the K-10 could not maintain full speed for more than 36 hours. And yet it was decided to go …
In the South China Sea, Soviet sailors were awaited by the unsurpassed Miss Enterprise - a nuclear super-aircraft carrier with 80 aircraft on board, accompanied by her "combat friends" - the nuclear-powered missile cruisers Long Beach, Bainbridge, and Trakstan. A first-class squadron that made a non-stop circumnavigation of the world across all the oceans of the Earth 4 years before the events described.
Captain Nikolai Ivanov was driving his nuclear-powered ship in complete ignorance of what awaited them at the calculated intersection point. There might be a splash of heavy waves, or maybe a fiery barrage of anti-submarine torpedoes from AUG ships. It was 1968, literally a month ago, the Soviet K-129 disappeared without a trace in the Pacific Ocean. You can't circle over the grave of your comrades in arms and not think about it …
The K-10 was helped by a case - even a hundred miles before the supposed "rendezvous" point of the submarine's electronic intelligence systems detected desperate American negotiations - the commanders of the cruisers and destroyers continuously reported to the flagship how the tropical typhoon Diana was tearing and crippling their ships. On the surface, 10-meter waves are raging, even here, at a depth, the powerful breath of the ocean was felt. Ivanov understood: this is their chance!
The 115-meter steel "Pike" boldly dashed towards the target, guided by the sounds of the sonars of American ships. AUG slows down to 6 knots! - this means that the boat will not have to develop a high speed, therefore, its noise will decrease. Moving at six nodes, the Soviet “roaring cow” will become undetectable to the AUG anti-submarine defense systems. Anti-submarine aviation is also not to be feared - not a single plane will be able to rise from the deck of the Enterprise in such weather.
They completed the task. As if mocking the super-aircraft carrier, the Soviet sailors walked for 13 hours under its bottom. If there was an order for destruction, the “roaring cow” could shoot the aircraft carrier and its escort point-blank, and then disappear as suddenly as it appeared.
Gold fish. Three last wishes
- Found a Russian submarine, bearing one hundred and twenty, distance forty-seven!
- Contact lost!
- Another submarine, bearing one hundred fifty, distance thirty-two.
- Contact lost!
- Oh shit! Third, bearing seventy, distance fifty-five.
October 1971 on the calendar. The "Wolf Pack" of Soviet submarines pursues the American aircraft carrier "Saratoga" in the North Atlantic.
- For all ships of the compound, increase the speed to full!
- Frigate Knox! Bearing to noise. Full speed ahead. Fulfill!
- There is a complete one.
An anti-submarine frigate breaks formation and tries to drive away an invulnerable Soviet nuclear-powered ship. But where is the awkward "Knox" with its 27 knots to the "Goldfish"! The boat makes a circulation at 40 knots and turns out to be from the other side of the aircraft carrier …
- The second Russian submarine is on the port side!
The American sailors did not understand that they were being pursued by a single K-162 submarine - a high-speed underwater killer of Project 661 (code "Anchar"). By the end of the day, the carrier group stopped all attempts to break away from the pursuit and returned to its previous course. "Goldfish" a little more "circled" around the aircraft carrier and melted without a trace in the water column. The fate of the aircraft carrier "Saratoga" hung at that moment "by a thread" - if the Soviet boat had an order for destruction, it would have "solved" all the AUG ships in a couple of minutes and rushed off into the distance at 44 knots of its full speed.
Antenna theft
October 31, 1983, US Navy training ground in the Sargasso Sea. The anti-submarine frigate "McCloy" is gliding over the waves, behind it on a kilometer-long cable is a secret antenna of a TASS (Towed Array Surveillance System) hydroacoustic station, capable of detecting Soviet submarines within a radius of hundreds of miles.
Under the bottom of the frigate "McCloy" the Soviet nuclear-powered ship K-324 has been following for 14 hours, Soviet sailors are studying with interest the characteristics of the new anti-submarine system of the US Navy. Everything goes as usual, but suddenly McCloy changes course …
The Central Post K-324 received a report about the increase in vibration of the strong hull of the boat. The emergency protection of the turbine worked, the K-324 lost its speed. Emergency surfaced, looked around. The horizon is clear. The weather is rapidly deteriorating. A piece of a long cable stretches behind the stern of the boat … Something seems to be wound around the propeller. An attempt to get rid of the damned cable ended in failure - the cable was so strong that not a single tool took it.
Meanwhile, the commander of the frigate "McCloy" tore his hair. A damn storm has cut off the TASS antenna! But then they will ask him.
In the morning, the surfaced boat was discovered by American destroyers. To their surprise, a secret sonar that had disappeared the day before was dangling behind the emergency Soviet K-324. The commander of the destroyer "Peterson" contacted the Russian submarine via VHF communication, offering help in getting rid of the coiled cable, but received a categorical refusal: to admit a potential enemy on board? This is out of the question!
Having received a refusal, the destroyers proceeded to active actions: dangerously maneuvering around a stationary submarine, they all day tried to chop off the ill-fated cable with screws. Naturally, they did not succeed. Realizing that the Americans could take the boat by storm, the crew of the K-324, just in case, prepared the nuclear-powered ship for an explosion.
The next day the second part of the "Marlezon ballet" began: trying to remove the secret sonar, the American nuclear submarine Philadelphia "dived" under the unfortunate K-324 - a couple of awkward movements - and part of the cable caught on the steering wheel of the Philadelphia. Two irreconcilable opponents were chained by one chain! After a day of forced joint sailing, the armored cable-cable finally burst and the "Philadelphia" happily sailed away, carrying away with its hull a piece of cable with the capsule of the secret sonar. Alas, 400 meters of the low-frequency antenna were still tightly wound on the K-324 propeller.
When the sea rescuer Aldan, who arrived at the scene, started up the towing cable, shots rang out - in impotent anger the Americans began to shoot the cable from machine guns. The rover was towed to Havana, where a secret cable antenna was removed with the help of a special tool. The same night, a military transport aircraft with fragments of the American TASS antenna flew to Moscow.
Who you are? Name yourself
The last salvoes of NATO naval exercises died down, satisfied admirals gathered in the wardrooms, preparing to celebrate the achieved results "in combat". The navies of the Western countries have shown excellent training and high combat effectiveness. The personnel of the ships acted boldly and decisively, during the exercises they showed personal courage and courage. All air, surface and underwater targets of the "probable enemy" were found, taken on escort and conditionally destroyed. For success, gentlemen!
What? Alarm signal in the combat control center. An unidentified ship got in touch, it looks like it wants something. But, damn it, where did he come from in the middle of the NATO naval exercise area?
The nuclear submarine K-448 "Tambov" of the Russian Navy is requesting help - there is a patient on board. As it turns out during the dialogue, one of the submariners has complications after the removal of appendicitis, an urgent operation is required.
A sleek black Pike floats proudly among NATO naval ships. The injured sailor is taken with great care on board the British destroyer Glasgow, from where he is sent by helicopter to the hospital on land. The Russian "Pike" politely says goodbye to all honest company, plunges, and … contact is lost!
It happened on February 29, 1996. The British press erupted in a stream of caustic irony against Her Majesty's fleet, some analysts compared the K-448 "Tambov" with the German submarine U-47, which 55 years before the events described insolently broke into the British naval base Scapa Flow and perpetrated a cruel pogrom.
Cable in the Sea of Okhotsk
One of the most mystical joint operations of the CIA and the US Navy is considered to be the "hacking" of the submarine communication cable at the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk, which connected the Krashenikovo submarine base and the Kura missile range with the mainland - the Americans were very interested in the results of Soviet ballistic missile tests, as well as accurate information about the combat service of the Soviet submarine fleet.
In October 1971, the nuclear submarine "Khelibat" with the equipment for carrying out special operations unnoticed entered the territorial waters of the USSR. Slowly moving along the coast of Kamchatka, the Americans examined the signs on the coast and now, finally, luck - a sign was noticed prohibiting any underwater work in this place. A controlled underwater robot was immediately released, with the help of which it was possible to make out a thick 13-centimeter cable at the bottom. The boat moved away from the coast and hung over the cable line - four divers fixed the information pickup equipment. With the first interception data, the Khalibat headed for Pearl Harbor.
A year later, in August 1972, Khalibat returned to the Soviet shores again. This time on board was a special device "Cocoon" weighing six tons with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Now the Americans could “shoot” data from a secret communication cable on the seabed for years. In the summer of 1980, a similar bug appeared on a cable in the Barents Sea. The Americans "burned down" quite by accident - during the next trip to the "object" in the Sea of Okhotsk, the submarine by mistake fell on the ground with its whole hull and crushed the cable.
That's how they are, submarines! The most invulnerable and destructive naval weapon in the history of wars at sea. The trust in submarines is so great that they have been entrusted with the "honorable" role of gravediggers of Mankind: an atomic submarine can secretly operate for months in the depths of sea waters, and its weapons can incinerate all life on several continents.
Until now, there are no reliable systems to counter these "sea devils" - with proper crew training, a modern nuclear submarine can slip unnoticed through all security systems and perform any task right under the nose of an unsuspecting enemy. If the nuclear submarine went into battle, the enemy can safely buy wreaths and order a coffin for himself. As they say, the emergence will show!
