K-8 (submarine)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
K-8
Project 627A
Project 627A
Ship data
flag Soviet UnionSoviet Union (naval war flag) Soviet Union
Ship type Nuclear submarine
Shipyard Shipyard 402 , Severodvinsk
Keel laying September 9, 1957
Launch May 31, 1959
Whereabouts sunk on April 12, 1970
Ship dimensions and crew
length
107.4 m ( Lüa )
width 7.9 m
Draft Max. 5.7 m
displacement surfaced: 3075 t
submerged: 4750 t
 
crew 104 men
Machine system
machine 2 × WM-A - Nuclear reactors
Machine
performance
2 × 70  MW
propeller 2
Mission data submarine
Immersion depth, max. 300 m
Top
speed
submerged
28 kn (52 km / h)
Top
speed
surfaced
15.5 kn (29 km / h)
Armament

The K-8 was a nuclear-powered submarine of the Soviet Navy from the time of the Cold War . It was the second nuclear submarine that the Soviet Union had commissioned to build under the designation Project 627A . Its sinking in 1970 was the first loss of the Soviet nuclear navy.

history

The K-8 was laid down in Severodvinsk on September 9, 1957 and launched on May 31, 1959. On December 4, 1959, it was put into service with the Northern Fleet .

1960 reactor accident

In the second half of 1960 a mission for K-8 was planned, which should lead the boat to the North Pole . Additional sonar and recording equipment was taken on board. Before the boat reached its destination, on the evening of October 13, 1960, a serious reactor accident occurred in the Barents Sea .

One of the steam generators, which was converting the water evaporated from the reactor into energy, leaked. The WM-A reactors could no longer transmit drive energy and the diesel engines of the boat had to take over this task. An additional leak in the primary cooling circuit of the port reactor caused the reactor temperature to rise dramatically for a short time. A shutdown was not possible due to an error in the assembly of the control system for the control rods in the shipyard, so that only an emergency repair of the cooling system prevented the meltdown . However, radioactive vapor had leaked from the defective generator and 13 people were exposed to harmful radiation doses , three were seriously damaged. Many other crew members were exposed to doses of 1.8 to 2 Sv (180-200 rem). The boat returned to the Severodvinsk shipyard in October 1960 to be decontaminated.

After completing a total of eleven trips, the boat was called to the shipyard in 1963 for maintenance work, which was completed by December 31, 1963.

After several successful missions, K-8 was deployed near Bear Island towards the end of 1969 to investigate new methods of noise insulation using rubber coatings on the outer hull of submarines together with other boats.

Mediterranean and alleged nuclear torpedoes in the Gulf of Naples

In the spring of 1970, K-8 was ordered into the Mediterranean . It was there to monitor the activities of the American aircraft carriers USS Midway and USS Saratoga . The boat headed south and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar at a depth of around 140 meters. There was a slight ingress of water, so that the commander showed up at a safe distance after crossing the strait in order to seal the leak. According to reports, K-8 crossed the strait not alone, but at the same time and below a Soviet Kildin-class destroyer (Project 56-M), the Neulowimy . There were temporary problems with the boat's electrical system. The cause of the voltage fluctuations in the power grid could not be identified. However, the problem went away on its own.

In March 1970, the boat met the destroyer Boykiy of the Krupny class (Project 57b) off Capri to take over supplies. On April 1, 1970, K-8 received orders to return and again crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, this time below the Boykiy .

In news disseminated by the controversial intelligence expert Mario Scaramella , it was alleged that on January 10, 1970 , K-8 had laid a number of nuclear-armed torpedoes as sea ​​mines in order to use them against the 6th US fleet in the Mediterranean in an emergency . According to the Scaramella report, Russia confirmed this in 2004. However, Scaramella was unable to provide evidence to support these claims.

Downfall 1970

On April 8, 1970, the 51st day of this mission, the boat was still on its return journey in the Bay of Biscay . It was at a depth of 120 meters and was traveling at 10 knots when cable fires occurred almost simultaneously at the sonar station in department 3 and a control stand in department 7, presumably due to short circuits . The commander showed K-8 immediately. In Department 3, the crew were able to extinguish the fire quickly, but had to leave the department because of the toxic fumes released during the fire. In Department 7, the fire was now also fed by the lubricating oils used there, so that it could not be extinguished and the seafarers also had to evacuate the department. After the two nuclear reactors were shut down, it took another 40 minutes before the fire in Division 7 was suffocated by the oxygen deprivation caused by the partitioning.

The diesel generators, which had taken over the power generation for the ship systems after the reactor shutdown, were not able to withstand the continuous load and had to be shut down due to overheating. The seamen in Division 8 were cut off from the rest of the boat and could not initially be released because the access hatches could not be opened due to excess pressure. During the investigation of the damage to the ship, the fire flared up again at the sonar station when entering Division 3. The fire was extinguished, 15 sailors were finally freed from Division 8, eight other seamen had already died there of smoke inhalation and those who were rescued also died within the next two hours as a result of the poisoning. K-8 drifted helplessly in the Bay of Biscay without power or communication.

According to the crew, a Canadian freighter is said to have circumnavigated the boat in a semicircle in order to then continue on its course and move away at full speed without providing assistance. The next day a Bulgarian freighter came into view. He finally transmitted the call for help from K-8 to Soviet agencies via his radio station and took over part of the crew of the submarine, which was not needed for the ship security . Several support vessels were deployed, including K-83, a Project 629 boat.

Without a power supply it was not possible to replenish the compressed air supply on K-8, so that the trim tanks could no longer be regulated. The stern of the boat lay deeper and deeper in the water, and in the rear part of the ship - probably through a leak in one of the closures of a stern torpedo tube - water penetrated. At around 10:30 p.m. on April 11, the situation became critical and more seamen were taken to a rescue ship. All attempts to tow the boat failed because of the rough sea. 22 remaining crew members tried under the leadership of the captain to save the boat. A little later a single red flare could be seen, then K-8 disappeared in the darkness from the radar screens of the rescue ship. Two severe vibrations were felt on the rescue ship, possibly consequences of decompression explosions.

A few hours later after sunrise, the alleged sinking site was searched and the body of an officer was recovered from the sea. The commander's body was also sighted, but it sank before it could be brought on board. 30 seafarers on the K-8 had died as a result of the fires, mostly from carbon monoxide intoxication ; the 22-man ship security group around the commander died when the boat went down.

Order of Hero of the Soviet Union

The commander, Captain 2nd rank Bessonov, was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union , and the crew members killed and the survivors were also awarded medals. The wreck of K-8 lies at a depth of around 4500 meters.

See also

Evidence and references

Single receipts

  1. a b c History of K-8 on deepstorm.ru , viewed November 2, 2011
  2. [Ю.В.Апальков: Подводные лодки советского флота 1945–1991, том I. S. 165]
  3. Усенко Н.В., Котов П.Г., Реданский В.Г., Куличков В.К .: Как создавался атомный подводный подвозаватсог. P. 389.
  4. ^ Soviet Navy left 20 nuclear warheads in bay of Naples. In: The Independent , March 19, 2005 ( online )
  5. a b c [Ю.В.Апальков: Подводные лодки советского флота 1945–1991, том I. S. 167.]

literature

  • Ю.В.Апальков: Подводные лодки советского флота 1945–1991, том I. (for example: J. Apalkow: U-Boats of the Soviet Navy 1945–1991, part 1. ) 2009, ISBN 978-5-903080-55-7 (Russian).
  • Усенко Н.В., Котов П.Г., Реданский В.Г., Куличков В.К .: Как создавался атомный подводный флот Созаве. (For example: Usenko, Kotow, Redanski, Kulitschkow: The creation of the Soviet Union's nuclear submarine fleet). 2004, ISBN 5-89173-274-2 .

Web links