It happened at the end of August 1989. At that time I served as the commander of the electrotechnical division on the submarine K-264.
The boat was at sea most of the time. Sometimes they wound up for more than two hundred days a year. But on the day the incident occurred, which I will tell you about, the submarine was at the base. Maybe the planned preventive inspection and repairs were carried out, I don't remember exactly.
To ensure the survivability of the submarine, I remained on the battle shift as a mechanical engineer on duty. So it should be. With the ship's officer on duty, Lieutenant-Commander Yevgeny Maksakov, we spent a two-hour workout on the ship's watch on damage control, and I went up to the pier to get some fresh air.
However, fresh air is a relative concept. It is hot in the Primorsky Territory in August. The air temperature reaches 30 degrees, or even higher. The water overboard is over 20 degrees, so it is hot inside the boat. Especially in power compartments - reactor and turbine. So it pulls us up, although it is not cool there either.
The weather was surprisingly calm. Beautiful clear starry sky. The heavenly bodies could be used for navigational training. The silence was broken only by the distant roar of helicopters taking off and landing on the aircraft-carrying cruiser Novorossiysk. The cruiser was stationed in Strelok Bay, and the helicopter pilots apparently had night flights according to the plan. Their side lights were clearly visible in the night.
After descending from the boat to the pier, I sat down on the shrouds that covered the power cables. Good! At least not as hot as the boat ride. Helicopter lights roared the night sky.
Then the figure of the assistant on duty for the connection emerged from the darkness. That evening, Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Chernolivsky, commander of the electromechanical warhead of the K-178 submarine, had a chance to fulfill these duties. In our division it was called "Shuttle".
Vladimir had already finished bypassing the ships. Our boat was the last one on his way. Seeing me, he asked:
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- Please call the officer on duty with the logbook upstairs.
Then he sat down next to me. On "Kashtan" (intercom) I called the duty officer, and while he was getting up, we talked about something with Volodya. Maksakov appeared with the magazine rather quickly. Chernolivsky began to record his arrival. This is where it all happened.
From behind Cape Korniliev, because of its very rocky crown, at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizon, a luminous crimson-red cone-shaped formation began to creep out very slowly. Surprisingly, the helicopters that took off and landed on the cruiser did not react in any way to this phenomenon and calmly went about their business.
It became alarming. I didn't know what to do. Volodya Chernolivsky, sitting next to him, also clearly felt ill at ease. Just in case, I ordered the ship on duty and the upper watch officer to go down inside the submarine, seal it and wait for additional instructions. Himself with Chernolivsky stayed upstairs. You need someone to watch what is happening. Moreover, something suggested: this is not a nuclear explosion and not the use of some new weapon against us.
Meanwhile, the crimson formation, just as slowly as it had appeared, went back beyond Cape Korniliev. Only a flickering aura remained. But it also scattered two hours later. What was it? Rocket launch? But the nearest cosmodrome is far away. Testing new American weapons? At that time, we often fought underwater duels with the Americans. They regularly grazed along our shores. But not directly on our base!
When the aura also disappeared, the watchman was returned to his place, the boat was depressurized, and battery ventilation was started. The situation has returned to normal.
For quite a long time, Vladimir and I puzzled over the situation, but we didn't really come to any conclusion. Although I insisted that it was some kind of anti-space weapon. In those years, there were many military units in Primorye, including part of the anti-space defense.
Soon we went to sea again, and the incident was somehow forgotten. Only recently, many years later, I remembered it and suggested: maybe this UFO flew in? They say they often grazed at our bases. And then we did not know about such a phenomenon …
Boris Ivanovich GURCHEV, Luga, Leningrad region