Mysterious underwater monsters follow Russian submarines.
OCEAN GHOSTS
It all started with the fact that in certain areas of the oceans at great depths, our nuclear submarines began to collide more and more with incomprehensible objects. Meetings, as a rule, began with the fact that the hydroacoustics suddenly picked up very strange signals, somewhat vaguely reminiscent of the croaking of frogs. That is why unknown objects have received the nickname "Quakers" from the naval wits. Subsequently, they began to be called so in official documents.
What is so unusual about "Quakers"? The Russian writer, captain of the first rank Vladimir Shigin became interested in this question and tried to answer it in his book "The Ghost on Watch", recently published by the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house. You never know, he argues, various noises are heard by acoustics in the ocean depths? But the Quakers were starkly different from all the others. Those who heard them always had a strong impression of the fully conscious actions of unknown sources of sound.
Vladimir Shigin writes: “It seemed that the 'Quakers', appearing out of nowhere, were persistently trying to establish contact with our submarines. Judging by the continuously changing bearing, they circled around the submarines, but by changing the tone and frequency of the signals, they seemed to provoke the submariners to a kind of dialogue, especially actively reacting to the sonar “sendings” from the boats. Having communicated in this way, the "Quakers" disappeared for a long time, only to then reappear. Accompanying our submarines, they followed alongside them until they left some area, and then, after croaking for the last time, disappeared without a trace. At the same time, there has never been any aggressiveness on the part of the "Quakers". Moreover, the impression was created that the “Quakers” were deliberately demonstrating their peacefulness.
However, the commanders were still afraid of unknown underwater objects. Still would! What should the commander of a submarine feel when an acoustician suddenly reports: judging by the changing bearing, out of nowhere the “Quaker” that has appeared is crossing the course of a submarine sliding in the ocean thickness! As soon as the boat turned aside, the indefatigable pursuer again rushed to cross the course. And although not a single clash with the "Quakers" has happened over the years, the commanders and the entire crew of the submarines constantly had to be on their toes. Something had to be done, but what?"
By the end of the 60s of the XX century, the problem of "Quakers" began to worry the then Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S. G. Gorshkov. Of course, the commander-in-chief was least of all interested in the stories about the sea serpent. He was worried about something else: are not the latest anti-submarine developments of the US Navy behind the Quakers?
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STRANGE MEETINGS
As you know, the 60s were marked by a lot of noise in connection with UFOs. He also did not pass the Soviet navy. Remembers Rear Admiral of the Reserve O. G. Chefonov:
“At that time I was in command of a nuclear missile boat. We returned to the base somewhere abeam Nakhodka. We walked on the surface. Fog, zero visibility. A radar station is working. Suddenly, a target appears on its screen and quickly goes to the intersection of our course. The speed is great. The mark is clear. It is quite clear that this is not a hindrance. I increase my stroke to get through.
So is the goal. It's dangerous to risk, I decide to stop the move and let it pass. In addition, they began to give all sorts of signals: they fired rockets, turned on a howler, lit a stern fire and a searchlight. I listen to reports: "Distance - five cables, four … three … two … one …" All those on the bridge peer into the direction of the unknown target with pain in their eyes. The speaker almost shouts: “0.5 cables! The target has entered the dead zone! " The tension is terrible. Everything is at the limit. A minute passes, the second, the third. Now the target will appear from the other side. So we waited a quarter of an hour, but the target did not appear.
The second such incident happened to me a year later. Again, a clear illumination on the radar. The target approaches dangerously. I order everything to be recorded in the logbook. They gave a stop. The detected, but invisible target again enters our dead zone and disappears forever. Then we discussed this case with other commanders. It turned out that many of them had something similar. That was the end of it."
At first, such messages were stubbornly dismissed. But there is a limit to everything, and the moment has come when the "Quakers", together with UFOs, have seriously worried the command of the Navy. Then, by the decision of the Minister of Defense Marshal A. A. Grechko, under the intelligence directorate of the Navy, a special group of several officers was created. The task before her was very, very difficult: the study, systematization and analysis of all the inexplicable phenomena occurring in the oceans and that could pose a danger to Soviet ships. Commander-in-Chief S. G. Gorshkov said: “The problem is extremely complex and new for us, and therefore we will not spare our efforts and resources to solve it. We will give both people and ships. The result is important!"
According to Vladimir Shigin, the formed group set to work together. The officers continuously traveled through the fleets, collecting bit by bit everything that was in any way related to their problem. The commander-in-chief ordered to organize a whole series of oceanic expeditions. One of them (the expedition of the reconnaissance ship "Khariton Laptev" in April 1970) coincided in time with the death of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 in the North Atlantic. Having interrupted the listening and recording of the sounds of the ocean strata, "Laptev" rushed to the dying nuclear-powered ship and managed to save most of its crew …
VERSIONS
In the early 1980s, the Quaker program was abruptly closed. The group was disbanded. The entire mass of accumulated materials and developments on the topic labeled "Top Secret" was brought together in a few pudgy cases that disappeared forever in the depths of the naval archive. Why the group was disbanded so suddenly is unclear, but it is quite understandable why the results of its work were strictly classified. Each state is obliged for the time being to keep its priorities secret, especially in such delicate areas as this one. And yet: what new things have you learned about the "Quakers"? What is known about them today?
Alas, not so much is known even now, and opinions on their account are very different even among the former officers of the group dealing with this problem. So what are. are these opinions?
Shigin writes that some of the group's former employees to this day believe that the "Quakers" are nothing more than unknown living beings, and with a very high level of intelligence. This version is adhered primarily by the employees of the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of the Seas of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who were once attracted to the Quaker theme. Of course, we are not talking about a mythical fish - capsili, the size of a whale and a dog's face. And no less fabulous fish - uletif, with the head of a huge cat. And not about the legendary bogeymen of the northern seas of the Middle Ages - Golferamba and Maschuger, some underwater witches, or even more terrible sea line. We are talking about some completely real, but still unknown to science underwater creature. Nothing is impossible in thisAfter all, evidence of unknown inhabitants of the ocean depths abounds! Even about the whale, known to man for more than two thousand years, we still do not know much.
Perhaps the "Quakers" belong to some subspecies of the mysterious giant architevris squid, whose dead carcasses are periodically thrown ashore by waves. Perhaps it is a subspecies of a giant eel or even a plesiosaur. The presence of senses operating in the acoustic range makes the most likely version that the "Quakers" may have some cetacean traits. In this case, their constant interest in submarines is understandable. Unknown architects may well mistake them for their worst enemies - sperm whales. But why, in this case, do they not flee, but make themselves known about themselves? Maybe because these are some kind of special architectures, for which sperm whales themselves are prey. But submarines still somehow confuse underwater hunters, and they circle around them for a long time, trying to understand what it is that has come to visit them.
Take, for example, the mysterious prehistoric whale zeglodon - the oldest inhabitant of the ocean depths. Zeglodon had a snake-like shape, lived at great depths and, quite possibly, possessed the same sound transmission organs as modern whales and dolphins. Who will guarantee that villains or the like do not exist to this day? There is evidence that sea snakes seen by people developed speeds of up to sixty-five kilometers per hour on the sea surface! How fast they can move under water is unknown, but it is quite possible that it will be enough to overtake the submarines rushing in the darkness of the depths. To a certain extent, the habitats of sea kites and "Quakers" coincide: the area between Greenland and Iceland, the area between Scotland and the American coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the western Pacific Ocean.
Decoders studying the recorded Quaker signals are also lost in conjecture. If one heard them clearly of living origin, then others believed that these signals were nevertheless rather technical in origin.
According to Shigin, the version that the "Quakers" are submarine UFOs is not very popular among the officers of the task force dealing with this problem. Although it is not completely ruled out. Who knows, maybe it is the UFOs that begin to accompany submarines from their submarine bases and escort boats to the exit from these areas.
And finally, the last, third version. It was she who was initially closest to the officers of the group. Maybe because the most time and effort was spent on it. This version assumes that the "Quakers" are nothing more than new developments of the Americans, who are trying to use them to find Soviet submarines in areas strategically important for the United States. In favor of this version, Vladimir Shigin gives a number of weighty arguments. For example, very often (although not always), soon after the appearance of the "Quakers", American anti-submarine ships appeared in the area where Soviet submarines were located. For objectivity, however, it must be said that the areas of the most frequent detection of the sea serpent coincide with the areas where the most powerful NATO anti-submarine forces are located.
But why did they stop research and close the topic? This could have happened if, with a fair amount of confidence, it was decided to consider the "Quakers" as living things. Ichthyology is not included in the range of priority interests of the Navy, and therefore it was decided not to be distracted by this anymore. Although, in this case, it was apparently necessary to continue research.
In the early 90s, a message suddenly flashed in the press that the US Navy was intensively studying the ocean floor and searching for unknown inhabitants of great depths, whose signals were repeatedly recorded and allegedly even partially decoded. Maybe it was all about the same mysterious "Quakers". And someday the day will come when the secret of the mysterious ocean signals will not only be fully disclosed, but will also become the property of the general public.