We begin to learn a lot of tragic stories from the times of the USSR only in the last decades. Of course, the direct participants were aware, but the majority of the population did not even know. Although even now the information is still extremely scarce and contradictory, it still gives some idea of the event.
On May 17, 1984, one of the largest tragedies of the USSR era happened in Severomorsk. In the first minutes and hours of events, many thought about the beginning of the Third World War because of the characteristic "mushrooms" that appeared over the city.
According to the official version, on May 17, 1984, in the city of Severomorsk, at the main missile and technical base of the Northern Fleet, in military unit 63976, explosions occurred at the depots of missile weapons. The shape and power of the explosions were identical to the three nuclear strikes. The Northern Fleet instantly lost 50 percent of its missile armament, the tragedy claimed, according to various estimates, 200-300 lives. Most of the casualties were technicians who were sent straight into the fire for an unsuccessful attempt to disassemble and neutralize the munitions. The fire began on May 13 at the warehouses of the Okolnaya base due to improper storage of ammunition.
It was a peaceful spring day. At 18 o'clock most of the officers and warrant officers returned home after intense service.
At 18:15, smoke was noticed on the technical territory of the military unit. 63976. The senior officer of the neighboring unit called the operational duty officer V.ch. 63976 to captain of the third rank Viktor Sadovlakhov, he replied that he knew about the fire and was taking action, in 25 minutes, at the first big explosion, he, the guard sailor Ramiz Dzhabrailov, and several guards extinguishing the fire would die..
At 18:35, launch vehicles without warheads spontaneously take off from the burning territory. They write intricate pirouettes in the air and fall into the rocks at a distance of one and a half kilometers from the warehouse. In Severomorsk, people stand in front of the park entrance. They are watching the fireworks. A lot of kids came running. At 18.43 the first big explosion follows in the place of the fire. The shockwave forces viewers to fall to the ground and seek cover. The first explosion occurred in a warehouse containing about 500 anti-aircraft missile warheads.
A few minutes after the first big bang, a combat alert was announced for the Northern Fleet "Readiness No. 1. Actually!" A similar form of alert is announced only in the event of a war. So it was transferred to all coastal observation posts, and from them to ships at sea. It was also announced: the danger of chemical damage. The fleet command post was evacuated into the rock. "Skala" is a special command post for the fleet in case of nuclear war.
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There were three big explosions, and many minor ones.
From the story of an eyewitness, literally: “when the fire started, the rocket engines fired, and they began to take off over the hill. Bundles. It was an awesome sight! Mini fireworks like … And the people (no, to dump !!:)) in batches stood on the street and shook their eyes. Until the second explosion went off. By the way, the impression was terrible - when something very similar to a mushroom grows over the city … And so several times … Many thought that the 3rd MV did happen."
After the first explosion and the announcement of a combat alert "combat readiness number 1. In fact!", The ships urgently began to go to sea. All standards for the time of exit on combat alert are doubled. The cruiser Kirov remained at the pier. All of the ship's anti-aircraft systems were on alert to destroy air targets in case missiles from the warehouses flew to the city. On some ships, the sailors of the resting watch in shorts and vests take places on the iron armchairs of anti-aircraft installations. Despite the cold weather, none of them left the combat post before the alarm was cleared.
At the 17th berth there was a nuclear submarine under loading, and at the moment of the first explosion the nuclear missile was in the stage of loading into the mine (with a nuclear warhead it was lying on the berth). The loading was carried out in the shortest possible time. Another nuclear-powered submarine, which was at the very base of Okolnaya during the explosion, was withdrawn by tugs into the sea.
After the second explosion, most of the houses in Severomorsk were left without glass. The headquarters of the fleet lost all glass in the windows. A glass tablet measuring three by ten meters collapsed with operational information about the actual location of ships, submarines and aircraft. Large windows of the trade house simultaneously moved a meter away from the walls and collapsed downward. The roof of the seventh school sank.
The first fire engine entering the fire zone was destroyed by the explosion. Witnesses observed pieces of red metal and wheels from the car in the air.
Part of the personnel of V.ch. 63976 with officers on alert, with military weapons, move to the technical territory, to the place of explosions and fires and take part in extinguishing the fire.
The wind blowing from the city carries the poisonous explosion cloud towards the sea. This circumstance saved the city from the dire consequences of contact with toxic products of rocket fuel combustion.
An eyewitness wrote: “I lived then at 25 Safonova Street. I was doing my homework (I was 17 then). At a certain interval, 2 missile launches passed (as it seemed to me then). An acquaintance from the 12-storey building across the street called and said that warships were leaving the berths and dispersed along the bay. Interested. He took the binoculars and from the window began to examine the place from which the missiles left. This place was just visible in the gap between the 11th and 9th houses on the street. Sgibneva. I managed to see only thick black smoke, the roofs of fire engines (it seems even "hurricanes" from the airfield) and small explosions. Then all this "jumped" and a bubble of fire began to appear from the "underground", which in a second turned into a very bright flash (Hollywood is resting). I closed my eyes from the bright light. After I managed to see a growing mushroom,and that the explosion threw out several missiles with damaged or burnt-out hulls. Then, a blast wave came and I was thrown from the window onto the floor (the window was open). The same wave knocked out the front door to the apartment, and both (in these houses they are double).
A neighbor, the admiral's wife, came in, said that her husband had called and told us and the neighbors to leave the windows and doors open and move away from the houses, and that the worst is over. Which I did. Half of the people left our entrance along Sgibnev Street to the CHP. There I was caught by the second explosion. I turned away mechanically and saw well how on the street. Sgibneva and st. Lomonosov, a blast wave passed - glass flew out in the windows. In the evening "Svoboda" talked about the possible tens of thousands of dead, jammed them in full. 1-1.5 hours after the second explosion, long distance calls were made: "Are we alive?"
The background radiation was normal, but the civilian population did not know about it yet. A large column of passenger cars is moving towards Murmansk. Mothers gave their children to strangers with a request to take them out of the city. There were no immediate instructions at the checkpoint to close the exit. After some time, a commandant platoon and a marine corps platoon were sent to the checkpoint between Severomorsk and Murmansk to check the documents of the servicemen leaving the garrison.
Immediately at the time of the events, without a special team, a photo group was involved and the events were recorded, but all these materials, along with the report, were later transferred to representatives of the special department of the fleet.
By morning, the fire was localized by the heroic efforts of the firemen. Finally, the fire in the warehouses was extinguished in 5 days. The entrance to the city was closed. Fortunately, the nuclear warheads, which were kept there, on Okolnaya remained unharmed. And although experts say that in principle they could not explode (these are the conditions of their storage), there was a risk of "dirty" contamination of the territory. However, the residents of Severomorsk were frankly lucky that the wind blowing from the city carried away the poisonous cloud formed as a result of the combustion of rocket fuel. In an unfavorable combination of circumstances, thousands of people could become victims of chemical contamination.
The next day, a helicopter with Commander-in-Chief Ustinov flew over the fire zone.
Immediately after this, the emergency was removed from the post of Admiral of the Navy - Deputy. Commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Kruglyakov, (at that moment he remained with the Commander). And soon the Commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Mikhailovsky, Hero of the Soviet Union, Doctor of Military Sciences, was "removed".
The official version of the investigation into the causes of the fire is smoking in the wrong place. Dry moss caught fire from the butt, which led to the spread of fire. The perpetrators were convicted. But experts expressed doubts about the reality of this version. The death toll was not found in official sources. In unofficial sources, figures from 7 to 200 died, but most likely 200 is along with all the injured.
The uniqueness of the explosion situation on Okolnaya is that the fire and explosion of missile depots simulated the situation of the beginning of a nuclear war. The explosions were very similar to nuclear ones in shape and power. "Readiness No. 1 was announced. Actually!" throughout the Northern Fleet, which is declared only at the beginning of the war.
The catastrophe at the warehouses of missile weapons showed the weaknesses of the storage of missiles, the organization of civil defense, the evacuation of the population, the preparation of bomb shelters, and the awareness of the population about actions in case of war.