The strategic missile submarine cruiser of the USSR Navy disappeared without a trace in 1968 while performing a combat mission off the coast of the United States. On board, he carried nuclear weapons. For 30 years, all 98 crew members were considered missing. The exact cause of the submarine crash is unknown to this day.
1968, end of February - a Soviet diesel submarine with tactical number K-129 set out on combat patrols from the Kamchatka bay of Krasheninnikov. The submarine was commanded by one of the most experienced submariners of the Pacific Fleet, Captain 1st Rank Vladimir Ivanovich Kobzar. The most modern strategic missile carrier of that time, Project 629A, was armed with three R-21 ballistic missiles with an underwater launch and high-yield nuclear warheads, and also had two torpedoes with nuclear charges in bow torpedo tubes.
The ship was sailing to the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, to the Hawaiian Islands. On the night of March 7-8, the boat was supposed to pass the turning point of the route and make a report on this to the Central Command Post of the Navy. When the K-129 submarine did not make contact at the appointed time, the operational duty officer raised the alarm. The commander of the division, which included the submarine, Rear Admiral V. Dygalo recalled: “In accordance with the combat order, Kobzar regularly sent reports to the headquarters about the progress of the voyage.
However, on March 8, we were all alarmed - the submarine did not respond to the control radiogram transmitted by the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet to check communications. True, this was not a reason to assume the tragic outcome of the voyage - you never know what reasons could prevent the commander from getting in touch! But the report never came. This was a serious cause for concern."
After some time, the forces of the Kamchatka Flotilla, and later the entire Pacific Fleet, with the support of the Northern Fleet aviation, organized a search and rescue operation. But it was not crowned with success. The faint hope that the boat was drifting on the surface, devoid of progress and radio communication, dried up after two weeks of intensive searches.
The increased frequency of radio traffic attracted the attention of the Americans, who "kindly" drew the attention of the Russians to an oil slick in the ocean, in a place later called the "K" point. Analysis of the film taken from the surface showed that the collected substance is the fuel used by the submarines of the USSR Navy. It became clear that the K-129 submarine had died.
In the conclusions made by the government commission, the most probable causes of the catastrophe are called "a failure to a depth more extreme due to freezing of the float valve of the air shaft RDP (diesel engines operating under water) or a collision with a foreign submarine underwater."
Subsequent events confirmed the second version - the tragedy happened as a result of a collision with the nuclear submarine "Suordfish" (USA), which followed the K-129 from the very exit from Avacha Bay. When following at the periscope depth in the RDP mode, which is characterized by conditions of increased noise, Soviet acoustics for some time could "lose sight of" the American "spy".
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At such a moment, with complex and active maneuvering at critically small distances, the American submarine inadvertently hit the top of its wheelhouse at the bottom of the K-129 central post. Taking huge masses of water, the submarine sank to a depth of 5 kilometers and lay down on the ocean floor …
A few days after the disaster, "Suordfish" appeared in the Japanese naval base Yokosuka with a crumpled conning tower fence. During the night, a "cosmetic" repair was carried out (patching, touch-up), and at dawn, the American submarine left the base and departed in an unknown direction. Much later information was leaked to the press that a non-disclosure agreement was taken from the crew.
Further events developed as follows. 1969, November - the American special services successfully carried out Operation Velvet Fist, during which the nuclear submarine Hallibat was involved in the search for the deceased Soviet missile carrier. The result was a series of pictures of the dead submarine. Between 1970 and 1973, the Americans thoroughly examined the location, position and condition of the K-129 hull with a deep-water controlled bathyscaphe, which made it possible to conclude that it was possible to rise to the surface.
Operation Jennifer was deeply secret. It took about 7 years to prepare for its implementation, and the costs amounted to approximately $ 350 million. The main purpose of the operation was to obtain cipher documents, secret radio communications equipment, weapons of mass destruction on board the K-129. From the photographs delivered by Hallibat, experts were able to determine that two of the three missile silos remained intact.
Within the framework of the Jennifer project, a special vessel called Glomar Explorer was constructed, which is a floating rectangular platform with a displacement of over 36,000 tons and equipped with a heavy-duty lifting device. In addition, a pontoon barge was prepared for the transportation of lifting erection structures with huge 50-meter claws. With their help, the sunken Soviet submarine was to be torn from the ocean floor and raised to the surface.
By the middle of 1973, the increased activity of the Americans at point "K" attracted the attention of the intelligence of the Pacific Fleet of the USSR. At the end of the year, in the area of the alleged place of death of the boat, the Explorer was discovered, which then repeatedly returned to this place, pretending to be looking for oil. From the Soviet side, the observation was carried out sporadically, since the intelligence service was denied the allocation of the necessary forces and means. All this ended with the fact that the final stage of Operation Jennifer was completely unnoticed by observers.
In early July 1974, the Glomar Explorer and the barge with the necessary equipment again arrived at the designated location. The nose of the missile carrier was cut off from the hull along the line of a giant crack and covered with steel mesh for reliability. Then nine-meter pipes began to go into the ocean waters, which were automatically screwed at a depth. The control was carried out by underwater TV cameras.
A total of 6,00 pipes were used. Two days later, all 5 captures were directly above the hull of the submarine and fixed on it. The ascent began, after which the bow of the submarine was in the huge hold of the Glomar Explorer. The Americans weighed anchor and headed for the shore.
Upon arrival in the area of the uninhabited island of Maui, which belongs to the Hawaiian Islands system, experts began to examine the trophy after pumping water from the hold. The first thing that struck the Americans was the poor quality of the steel from which the K-129 hull was made. According to US Navy engineers, even its thickness was not the same in all places.
It turned out to be almost impossible to get inside K-129: everything there was twisted and squeezed by the explosion and the cyclopean pressure of water. They could not find the cipher documents either. True, for another reason - they simply were not in the bow. It turned out that Captain 1st Rank V. I. Kobzar was tall, and he was uncomfortable in his cramped cabin. During the repair of the boat in Dalzavod, in order to slightly expand the premises, he persuaded the builders, and they moved the encryption operator's cabin located nearby to the stern.
But the Americans were able to extract torpedoes with a nuclear warhead. In addition, the remains of six dead Soviet sailors were found, three of them had identity cards of Viktor Lokhov, Vladimir Kostyushko, Valentin Nosachev. These guys were 20 years old at the time of their death. The rest could not be identified.
Because the task was only partially solved, the CIA stopped before the need to lift and the stern of the submarine. According to the plan of the heads of the special services "Glomar Explorer" was supposed to come in 1975 for the next part of the corps, but at that time a dispute erupted over the continuation of Operation Jennifer. There were many supporters, both for and against.
At this time, all the details of the covert operation became the property of the media. The New York Time published a devastating article that had the effect of a bomb. The material said that the CIA tried to raise the sunken Soviet submarine, but only the bow was raised, from where the alleged 70 bodies of the dead sailors were recovered. The article focused on the waste of taxpayer money, and also criticized the military.
With the beginning of the newspaper hype, the Soviet government was officially informed that the Americans had raised part of the Soviet missile carrier and were ready to return the remains of the sailors. The USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically refused the proposal, saying: "All our boats are at their bases." After that, the Americans betrayed the bodies of the dead to the sea, prudently capturing the funeral ceremony on film.
The USSR made considerable diplomatic efforts to prevent the rise of the rest of the K-129. And threatening instructions from Moscow flew to Vladivostok: to allocate warships, to send aviation to constant patrol in the area of point "K", to prevent the Americans from resuming work, up to the bombing of the area … In the end, the CIA refused to continue the operation, but the political gain in this episode of the Cold War remained on the American side.
In the Soviet Union, the death of submariners was never officially recognized. The strategic missile carrier was prepared for combat duty in extreme haste, with the recall of officers from vacations and the equipping of combat units with sailors from other boats. Even the list of personnel going to sea, left at the division headquarters, was not drawn up in form.
The submariners who did not return from the campaign were considered missing during this entire time, because for a long time the relatives could not obtain the appointment of pensions. Almost 30 years later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were issued death certificates for husbands, fathers and sons. Today, the names of all 98 crew members of the K-129, tragically killed at the combat post, are engraved on a memorial plaque in the Cathedral of the Nicholas-Epiphany Naval Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Sklyarenko Valentina Markovna
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