I, who served almost equally on both "diesels" (as they were condescendingly called in the early 70s) and the newest at that time nuclear-powered ships, I would like to pay tribute to the memory of the officers and sailors of the 182nd submarine brigade of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet), not marked with high awards and high-profile orders of the Minister of Defense. They bore the brunt of the Pacific Fleet's combat service in the period 1965-1971, that is, in the midst of the Cold War, which seemed very hot to us then. As an example, I would like to cite just two episodes involving one of the brigade's submarines. Immediately I apologize to those whose surnames have not been supplemented with names and patronymics - it just faded from my memory in half a century …
RETURNED ALREADY OLD
After graduating from school, in October 1965, I arrived in Kamchatka in the 182nd brigade as the commander of the steering group of a project 641 B-135 submarine, which had just returned from the tropics after a 93-day cruise. During the restoration of combat readiness, I heard enough stories about swimming in "boiling water" without an air conditioning system. True, in the battery pits - according to the experience of the Cuban missile crisis - there was already a water cooling system for the electrolyte, which allowed the equipment to work in hellish conditions. It has not yet reached the people. It was a daily struggle for VVD (high pressure air) and for electrolyte density in the face of tough opposition from enemy anti-submarine forces.
Within six months, the officer corps changed by 75% - who was written off for health reasons, who went for a promotion or transfer. For the next campaign, only senior lieutenant Rusanov, captain of the medical service Gavrilyuk, lieutenant-captain G. I. Blinder and midshipman A. I. The hoodik is the permanent boatswain of the B-135. And so in 1966, now I had a chance to understand what the underwater service is in the tropics.
Just before the campaign, the ship's commander was replaced. Savinsky could no longer walk with us for health reasons, he accompanied us to the sea, and to me and two other lieutenants, Volodya Demidov and Igor Severov, promised to issue submissions for the next rank. He kept his word - we returned as senior lieutenants. I never saw him again, but I am grateful to him to this day. Thus, we went into combat service under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Yu. M. Gribunin. I have never seen a more experienced commander in my life. I still remember a master class (as it is fashionable to say now) on managing a ship during an urgent dive after charging batteries in a nine-point storm, how to tame a heavy boat like a mad horse at a depth. I have never seen such dangerous trims. The phrase in my future certification: "… the submarine manages freely …" I owe it to him, so clearly he explained to the officers of the watch the essence of his actions.
CORRECT SOLUTION
On the 13th day of the campaign, a big trouble happened - the air shaft of the RDP (a device for operating a diesel engine under water - "NVO") jammed, apparently due to the powerful blows of the waves (we spent 70% of the campaign in stormy conditions). Charging batteries under the periscope became impossible.
And again, an instructive example: the commander gathers officers for a council of war with an agenda of "what to do?" Everyone spoke out - everyone was against reporting a malfunction to the fleet. We would simply be returned to the base in disgrace. The commander's decision: find a way to lower the shaft to the lower position, tightly seal the air duct, hit the charge in the positional position (one wheelhouse above the water) with a watch reinforced by leading specialists. This was done, and the ship continued on its way to the specified area.
I don’t remember how many times during the night I had to go under the water from the Orions (US Navy base patrol aircraft) that appeared near, but thanks to the artistic work of radio operators-listeners and virtuoso radio operators who squeezed everything out of the inferior passive search station “Nakat”, the ship commander managed for more than two months to avoid detection by anti-submarine aircraft of a potential enemy. We were never pursued, only twice in the distance was the operation of active sonar buoys, set up, probably, to investigate a false contact, observed. The well-coordinated work of the crew also played a role - without any automation, the boat went to a safe depth, covering all the standards for urgent diving.
The weather was favorable in this sense - on some days we were simply blissful. But not from the turbulence to 45 degrees, but from the fact that all the basic patrol aircraft were sitting at the airfields and could not take off, and therefore it was possible to safely beat the charge on the surface. Thus, our submarine - by throws on the surface at night and slowly under water during the day - steadily followed its route.
COLLECTIVE FEAT
Captain 3rd rank I. I. Gordeev examines the horizon as he ascends to periscope depth.
But this is outside, and what was in a solid case, you cannot call it anything other than a collective feat … 20 minutes after the immersion, the temperature in the second, living compartment rose to 52 degrees. Everyone left it, it was possible not to dream of dining in the wardroom, usually it was postponed until late in the evening. The coolest was the sixth, electromotor compartment - "only" plus 34 degrees. There was one more "oasis" - a torpedo compartment, where the elite, that is, those who had access to it, enjoyed themselves on shelving torpedoes under a stream of far from cool air from "ears" - fans with rubber blades (here the temperature did not rise above 40).
The hardest hit was for the acoustics, whose cabin was located above the battery pit in the second compartment. They had to be changed not after four hours of the watch, but after an hour. Until now, there is a picture in the eyes: the night, the surface position, the battery is charging, the battery is ventilated "on demand" along with the second compartment. On the side in a cubbyhole on an IDP coil (air-foam boat fire-extinguishing system) at the separated bulkhead in the central post sits an acoustician senior seaman Lasun who has changed from watch and greedily breathes fresh air pumped into the compartment. There was no more strength to climb the bridge, although the commander allowed the acoustics to go up above the limit.
Everybody got it from the senior mate to the cook-sailor. Only I have never seen the commander's tired face. Yuri Mikhailovich was always cheerful, shaven, always with a sense of humor, as if he was not touched by either the heat and humidity in the compartments, or the rolling on the surface, or the constant breakdowns of the materiel (the boat was "aged"), which were eliminated at the same speed as they appeared.
As a result of the campaign, valuable information was obtained on the forces of a potential enemy, including my pictures through the periscope. At the parsing at the top, Gribunin reported on the failure of the RDP and his decision to continue the campaign, to which the squadron commander said: "That's right, commander, well done!"
AND THE "WHITE SUN OF THE DESERT" IN BOTH
For the next two years, the B-135 submarine was on alert, participated in exercises, and underwent repairs in the Seldevaya Bay. This time flew by unnoticed for me, because, being admitted "to everything", I was constantly seconded to other boats and only by the fall of 1969 returned to my native ship to participate in a long voyage to the Indian Ocean.
It was already a completely different level. In the compartments there were powerful freon air conditioners, for which the personnel had to make room, and I also lost the chief pom's cabin. The boat was loaded with all the best that was found in the squadron. Only we had a precious film "White Sun of the Desert", for watching which at the anchorages of Seychelles and Socotra they gave at once five of any films to choose from!
On September 19, 1970, we went through Vladivostok to the Indian Ocean "to show the flag," as American intelligence noted. The senior on board was the respected brigade commander Igor Vasilyevich Karmadonov, who had just received the admiral's rank. Upon arrival in the Seychelles region, he left for the destroyer "Excited", becoming the senior naval commander in the Indian Ocean zone, and we were under the command of Captain 2nd Rank L. P. Malyshev continued business visits to third world countries. When instructing groups of sailors going ashore in foreign ports, I always repeated the words of a member of the Military Council of the Pacific Fleet, with which he admonished us at a rally before leaving Vladivostok: “You will visit many countries. Remember, each of you is the plenipotentiary of Russia, each of you will be judged on our country - do not let her down! " It was 1970, and we were already plenipotentiaries of Russia (prophetic words!) …
FIRST TO REACH AFRICA AND VISIT BASRA
The eight-month voyage was both difficult and interesting for the crew. They had to carry out firing with experimental "tropical" torpedoes, and such repair work, which was considered only within the power of the shipyard. But our sailors did it and did everything.
The toughest job was welding a loose rudder stock bearing in the swell south of the Maldives. The welder and his assistant stood up to their throats in the water, and I and the commander of the BC-5 Leonty Porfiryevich Basenko, standing at the stern to the limit of the boat, which was smoothed on the bow, made sure that they were not covered with a wave, and turned off the welding machine in time. That was a sense of personal responsibility and the slogan "Combat mission - at any cost" in action!
By the way, the welding was carried out so well that the flagship mechanic, upon arrival in Kamchatka, refused us an emergency dock for a long time. Later, during meetings with the participants of this trip, we all remembered with pleasure: it was hard, but a lot of impressions remained. We were the first in the brigade who reached the African shores, entered the Persian Gulf, walked around the city of Basra in Iraq (in fairness - the first in the Indian Ocean was still the B-8 submarine under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Smirnov).
And these are only two episodes of the life of one submarine. And how many of them were in those years among the crews of the remaining ships of the 182nd brigade …
Everything told here is not to show any horrors. It's just that each of us, from the commander of the fleet to the sailor, did what the time dictated, and on the equipment that we had. We did not serve for the currency that was given abroad. We were in the first echelon of the Armed Forces of a great country and were proud of it! These were the best years of our life …
One of the main achievements of the 182th Brigade, this workhorse of the Cold War, I believe is that it was here that personnel for the future nuclear fleet of the new generation were forged. No wonder it was said: a ship can be built in two years, and its commander must be trained for 10 years. And when the new ships of the third generation went, the officers of the 182nd brigade - the twin brothers Chefonov Igor and Oleg, Lomov (future Hero of the Soviet Union), Vodovatov, Ushakov, Butakov and a younger generation - stood on the bridges of the mighty nuclear-powered ships.
