The names given to ships are occasionally fatal to them. And here we are talking not about some innocent, safe for people, transcendental "jokes", but about completely different in their essence paranormal phenomena or, more precisely, processes, menacing, mysterious, frightening. We are talking about numerous human deaths!
An evil fate, thought out and carried out in practice by some unkind devilish mind, pursued all the Russian ships that had the name "Moscow".
Tsar Peter I built the first such ship, but for some unknown reason it remained out of business all the time and in the end was let by Empress Anna Ioannovna for firewood. The next Russian 66-gun ship with the same name soon met the same fate.
Many years passed, and again the 66-gun ship "Moscow" was launched from the stocks. Less than a year later, he was thrown by a storm on the stones near the Baltic port of Liepaja, where he sank. Half of the crew were killed.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the 74-gun "Moscow" cruised the Mediterranean Sea as part of the squadron of Admiral Senyavin. A woeful fate befell her too. For purely mercantile reasons, the ship was sold to the French, after which it more than once distinguished itself in battles … with the Russian fleet!
At the end of the nineteenth century, in a calm, absolutely calm weather in the Red Sea, the Russian steamer "Moskva" suffered a mysterious terrible wreck. Not without numerous human casualties.
In June 1941, not far from the Black Sea port of Constanta, another strange event happened, almost unbelievable. The new leader of our destroyers "Moskva" was suddenly attacked … by our submarine! And he sank very quickly, taking with him to the bottom of the life of almost all the members of his crew.
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Many years after the end of the war, the heavy cruiser "Moskva" was laid on the stocks, however, without completing the construction, they left this venture. On board the anti-submarine cruiser under construction, something incomprehensible was happening all the time.
It seemed that the cruiser, like a magnet, attracted all sorts of troubles. Helicopters exploded on board, fires broke out here and there, including strong ones, an epidemic of suicides broke out among sailors.
The most curious thing: according to the categorical statements of many sailors, as well as individual officers, a man was seen on board in an outdated sailor's uniform, not included in the cruiser's crew lists. A translucent ghost of the "white sailor", as he was christened on the cruiser, silently roamed the holds of the ship under construction. By his appearances, he sowed panic among the crew members.
A large representative commission tried to analyze the events that took place on board the "Moscow", but did not come to any definite conclusions.
The members of the commission were especially infuriated and greatly annoyed by the stories about their encounters with the ghost of the "white sailor". However, all of those who met the ghost, without exception, insisted on the veracity of their testimony about these eerie meetings.
In the end, the construction of the "unlucky cruiser" was suspended on orders from above. It was sold for scrap to India.
Soon after, our brave admirals, who do not believe in any miracles, renamed the Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser Slava to Moskva. A chain of accidents immediately followed on board the ship, which had never happened before. The accidents were of such a wide scope and specific nature that they disabled the cruiser.
For many years the ship was laid up, there was no money to repair it. The question of writing it off was raised several times.
But the last "Moscow" was lucky, in August 1999 the cruiser again entered service. At the end of 2016, the guards missile cruiser Moskva topped the list of the best ships of the Black Sea Fleet. The name curse was finally lifted?
From the book: "The World Inside Out" Priyma Alexey K.
