About this incident, which occurred half a century ago off the coast of Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis, the author of the article was told by retired Colonel Pavel Tikhonovich Korolev, who recently celebrated his 95th birthday.
Impudent Yankees
In September 1961, our ship "Physicist Vavilov" with missiles hidden in the nose compartment was several miles from Cuba in the waters of the Bermuda Triangle when a US Navy destroyer squadron caught up with us. This was not the first time that the Yankees were insolent in neutral waters. But before that, everything somehow got by: our captain simply did not respond to their signals-requests: who we are, where we are from and where we are going, with what cargo. Agricultural equipment was specially placed on the deck of the dry cargo ship, which could be seen by the American pilots flying over us at an altitude of about 100 meters.
But this time, when we were already approaching the shores of Cuba, the Americans behaved super insolently, surrounding us with a dense ring and ordering us to stop. Our captain replied on the radio: “We left Feodosia, we are carrying commercial cargo. We go to our destination."
The Yankees were not satisfied with this answer. It was clear to the fool that we were going to Cuba and obviously not with tractors. Therefore, they demanded to stop for inspection. What if we were surrounded by 13 destroyers, and the head rushing through? Just in case, they prepared to provide armed resistance. Each of my hundreds of soldiers, hidden in the holds, had a weapon. But what could we do against their guns and mines, against the planes flying over us?
However, captain Ivan Podshebyakin, standing on the bridge, calmly gives the command to continue moving. Maybe the Yankees will tremble, frightened by the ram? And if not? There are explosives in the nose section of the rocket, let's take off with the Americans. We carry out the council: I am the chief of the train, the captain, senior officers. We make a difficult decision: the seizure of the ship, the disclosure of the secret of what we are carrying, captivity is a shame for Soviet sailors and missilemen. The captain gives the command to the signalman to convey: "We will not leave the course, we will not turn away, we are going to ram" …
Moscow approved our decision, but at the same time advised us to use everything possible to disperse peacefully. "We are following you" … From space, or what? At full speed, frightened by the battering ram, the lead destroyer turns and enters from behind. The game on the nerves continues. And then something incomprehensible happens: the destroyer stops pursuing and politely signals: “Happy sailing! Be careful, the submarine periscope ahead of you on your course. " We look, indeed, a periscope peeps out from under the water. This is what Moscow was talking about! "Thanks for the warning!" - our dry cargo ship honks and proudly leaves the clutches of the American squadron.
Promotional video:
Downed U-2
How did the events in Cuba develop when the nuclear clock went off? Here is the diary entry of Pavel Tikhonovich, who survived the most acute days of the Cuban missile crisis, when the third world war could easily break out.
“On October 27, on Saturday, I was at the command post of the division as the responsible duty officer. Targets floated in the air - American planes, but the order to shoot them down was not received. At 5:45 am, the order was adopted: "Bring all air defense assets to combat readiness number 1." At 6:22 a new command: "Destroy targets by your decision." At 6:56 am we received the order: “To bring the air defense missile system into readiness for 6 minutes. Open fire to kill in case of an obvious attack."
At 8:30 in the field of view of our radar station, a target appeared - an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Height 20-24 km. The pilot does not respond to our request. The target was immediately reported to the central command post and to the division commander. At that time, there were the deputy commanders of the GSVK - Generals S. I. Grechko and L. S. Garbuz. They made the decision to destroy the American reconnaissance aircraft without reporting to Moscow, since there was no time for this.
I received an order from the division commander: “Destroy target # 33”. The first to find the target and lead it was the division of Ivan Gerchenov. At 10:19, he reported: “Target destroyed. Height - 21 kilometers, speed 300 meters per second”.
The American reconnaissance plane was destroyed by the very first missile launched by Senior Lieutenant A. A. Rapenko. U-2 disappeared from American radar, and the Americans flew several squadrons to search for it. An order was received from the TsKP: "Do not open fire on targets!"
The crisis is over
None of us then thought about the consequences of the destruction of U-2, everyone was in a state of euphoria - they clicked the presumptuous Yankees on the nose. What will the Americans do? As it became known a little later, the United States intended to launch an attack on Cuba on October 27-29. Before the landing, it was planned to inflict a powerful bomb strike on all areas of deployment of the Cuban and Soviet troops.
But that did not happen. Our decisive action has sobered Kennedy and the Pentagon. The war retreated before it began. U-2 fell 12 kilometers from Gerchenov's division. When inspecting the remains of the aircraft, photographic films and tape recordings of the pilot's negotiations with the command were found, as well as the corpse of 38-year-old Air Force Major Anderson.
Cubans published in the newspaper Revolucion: "The American plane was equipped with 15 infrared cameras, each of which is capable of photographing the car and its license plates from a height of 19-20 kilometers, not to mention the rocket launcher …". And further: "On October 27, a U-2 plane was shot down by the fire of the revolutionary forces of Cuba."
We were silent then, let it be as the Cubans want it. Although the article in the newspaper untied the hands of the Americans.
Kennedy called on the American people to show courage. In Florida, which was only a few kilometers from the coast of Cuba, panic began. Having taken the most necessary things, people in a hurry left inland and north - to Alaska …
Nikita Khrushchev called Kennedy on the phone and, without agreeing with Castro, promised to withdraw our missiles from Cuba. This was the only way to avoid war. In response, the Americans promised to remove their missiles from the territories of Turkey and Italy. The Cuban missile crisis was resolved. We left Cuba, our friends, with the hope that the American boot would never touch Cuban soil.
- And if then, during the transition to Cuba, the Americans nevertheless broke into your dry cargo ship? - Belatedly I ask a question about filling the already tired Pavel Tikhonovich.
- I would have to take up arms and fight to the end. We had instructions - to sink the ship on the spot with personnel and missiles, but not to allow any evidence of our secret mission to fall into the hands of the Yankees.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №16. Author: Ivan Barykin