K-429
 Drawing of the side view of a Project 670 boat
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The K-429 was a nuclear submarine of the Soviet Navy and belonged to the Charlie class . It sank twice in the 1980s.
history
The K-429 was laid down in Gorki in 1971 and put into service at the end of October 1973. It was assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
First sinking
In the spring of 1983, the K-429 returned from a routine drive that was to be followed by an overhaul. However, the boat officially remained in service in dry dock during this time. In June, the headquarters and the superior of Commandant Nikolai Suvorov Rear Admiral Oleg Erofejew demanded that the boat take part in an exercise that was actually only planned for autumn. K-429 was undocked and made ready for sea. However, since part of the crew could not be contacted, crew members from five other boats on K-429 were ordered against the regulations of the Navy . It finally cast off on June 23. However, instead of immediately driving into the test area 2,000 meters deep, as ordered, Commander Suvorov insisted on a test diving maneuver in shallow water.
A series of human errors eventually led to the boat sinking. Exhaust air valves that had been opened in the shipyard for better air in the boat and for smoke extraction had not been closed again. As a result, around 420 tons of seawater entered the rear departments and killed 14 crew members in the reactor room after they were able to shut down the reactor and report the water ingress. Around midnight on June 23, the boat lay motionless on the bottom in about 39 meters of water. When no help had come after hours, also because the emergency buoys had been welded to the hull, two volunteers left the boat and reached the surface through torpedo tubes, where they swam ashore and got help. After this had arrived, the rest of the crew also left the boat through the torpedo tubes and the aft escape hatch, with two other sailors losing their lives.
The boat was lifted and overhauled in August so that it could later be put back into service. Following the accident, Captain Suvorov was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of not having ordered the crew to go to the diving station before the dive. The commanders responsible for the departure order were not prosecuted.
Second sinking
On September 13, 1985 the K-429 had been overhauled and was put back into service. On that day the boat was at the quay wall in Vilyuchinsk and sank again there. Again K-429 was lifted, but then finally decommissioned.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Евгений Дмитриевич Чернов: Тайны подводных катастроф . OLMA-PRESS, Saint Petersburg 2002 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- ↑ K-429. submarine.info, accessed January 31, 2015 .
See also
Web links
- Report on the sinking in Bellona (Engl.)
- Former page on submarine.id.ru - K-429 (Russian) ( Memento from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )