In 1986, 20-year-old Sergei Preminin, the hold driver of the Soviet missile submarine cruiser K-219, did not hesitate to accomplish the feat. At the cost of his own life, he saved the Atlantic Ocean and the east coast of America from nuclear contamination.
The bilge operator of the nuclear-powered missile submarine K-219, sailor Sergei Preminin, was conscripted to the Red Banner Northern Fleet. After school, he studied at the river school in Veliky Ustyug, which determined his appointment. The submarine K-219 of the project "Navaga", which has 16 single-stage liquid-propellant ballistic missiles RSM-25, each carrying three nuclear warheads, was intended to deliver military strikes against major administrative and industrial centers of the United States - New York, Washington and others.
City killer
In America, the K-219, which is on alert in the Atlantic off the coast of the United States, was called the "killer of cities." Its volleys could not repel any enemy anti-missile systems. After them, only radioactive ash would have remained from the American megacities. The K-219 began to go on military campaigns since the early 1970s and in 1986, after the end of the last campaign, it was prepared for decommissioning - new modern ships were already replacing the old missile submarines. The trip to the shores of the United States in September 1986 was supposed to be the last, 13th in a row.
The captain of the 2nd rank Igor Britanov was appointed commander in that campaign. The senior assistant was Sergei Vladimirov, the commander of the BC-2 (missile weapons) - Alexander Petrachkov, the commander of the BC-5 movement division - Gennady Kapitulsky, the political officer - Yuri Sergienko. On September 4, 1986, the submarine left the home port of Hajiyevo on its last voyage, heading for the shores of the United States. At that time, one of the missile silos was disabled for technical reasons that arose back in the 1970s, but this did not deprive the submarine of its combat capability. There was one more problem - a leakage of the valve of the rocket silo # 6, but the experts decided that this should not affect safety, and that trip was the last one. The sailors, by order of the commander of the warhead-2 Alexander Petrachkov, pumped out the incoming water from the mine and poured it into the hold.(The commander of the submarine, Igor Britanov, did not even know about it - he was simply not informed.) By the time the K-219 had already approached the combat duty area, the water had already been pumped out several times a day.
The emergency happened on October 3, 1986, when the submarine was performing another maneuver. There was a complete depressurization of the missile silo, and the incoming water literally squeezed the missile by force of pressure. The sailors pumped out the water, but it turned out that the tank with the nitrogen oxidizer (tetraxide) was damaged and it had already begun to emit toxic fumes. In addition, there was the threat of an explosion. Then the commander of the BC-2 Petrachkov decided to fire the rocket by starting the main engines, but in order to do this, it was necessary to refill the missile silo with water. Only some 5 minutes of time, which the podzodniki no longer had, - the rocket exploded.
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Peaceful atom
After the explosion of the rocket, the submarine, located at a depth of 40 meters, sank to a depth of 350 meters. If she had continued the dive, the entire crew would have died at once.
By order of the submarine commander Igor Britanov, the sailors blew through all the ballast tanks and tried to start the propellers at the same time - for an emergency ascent. There was no longer any talk of the strictest conspiracy, and K-219 was forced to betray its location to the American military. The US Air Force planes immediately took pictures showing the destroyed missile silo of a Soviet submarine and clouds of black smoke. (Later, American experts noted that the Soviet crew acted promptly and smoothly. After all, there was almost no chance to rise from such a depth, but the boat was able to surface.)
And the K-219 crew continued to fight for their lives. At that time, the fourth missile compartment was already filled with poisonous gases, but no one left the combat post. And then Captain Britanov made a violation - he ordered to urgently evacuate people from the emergency compartment. Two sailors could not be saved - Igor Kharchenko and Nikolai Smaglyuk did not have time to put on breathing apparatus. Aleksandr Petrachkov also died from poisoning - in violation of the charter, he wore a beard, it was this that caused the incomplete tightness of the breathing apparatus he was wearing. Soon a fire broke out in the emergency compartment, which spread to the fifth, adjacent compartment.
The crew was forced to retreat from the fire further and further to the stern. The situation was catastrophic - due to the out of control of the nuclear reactor, a sharp increase in the temperature of the primary coolant began. This threatened a nuclear explosion and a new Chernobyl.
It was possible to completely shut down the reactor only manually - the emergency protection did not work completely. And this had to be done in a compartment heated to + 70 ° C, filled with poisonous gases.
Submariner's feat
The commander of the reactor compartment Nikolai Belikov and 20-year-old sailor Sergei Preminin went to fulfill this most difficult, vital task. More than once they had to go into the compartment and leave after a few minutes to recharge their breathing apparatus. When, exhausted, they were finally able to lower three of the four grates, Senior Lieutenant Belikov lost consciousness. Preminin was left alone …
Sergei Preminin single-handedly lowered the fourth grating, but there was still a manhole cover, which neither Preminin could open - from the inside, nor his comrades - from the outside. Preminin was trapped in a glowing nuclear compartment filled with gases. His comrades to the last tried to open the hatch from the other side in order to save Sergei, who for some time still showed signs of life. But soon deathly silence reigned in the compartment - the sailor ran out of oxygen. Sergei Preminin, who saved America and the world from nuclear disaster, did not live to see his 21st birthday just a couple of weeks.
And then the rescue of the surviving crew began.
The Americans were the first to arrive, but the commander of the submarine refused to help the US Navy, despite the fact that perestroika had already begun and relations between the countries had noticeably warmed up. He was a Soviet officer, remembered well the many years of the Cold War and understood that, despite the current friendship between the USSR and the United States, the Americans were primarily interested in Soviet military secrets, and not in saving the crew. The submarine waited for help from its own, and soon the merchant ships began to take out first the wounded, then the rest of the K-219 crew. And then the headquarters of the fleet gave the order to tow the submarine to the Soviet port. But at the speed at which this towing could go, everything would drag on for six months. In addition, the fire was still going on inside the boat, and individual compartments were already flooded. But K-219 continued to be towed to their native shores,until suddenly, on the night of October 6, the tow rope broke.
K-219 drowned by the Americans?
Many participants in those dramatic events were sure that the cable broke not without the help of the Americans, because their submarine was constantly around the K-219.
K-219, on which only the commander Igor Britanov remained, was slowly sinking under the water. The captain remained on board because he was confident that the Americans would try to capture the sinking submarine, and was ready to prevent this. He left the boat only when there was no more than a meter left before full immersion. On October 6, 1986 at 11:03 am, the K-219 missile carrier disappeared into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, sinking to a depth of 5500 meters, to the very bottom. And along with it, 30 nuclear warheads and two nuclear reactors were at the bottom.
But the most important thing is that there was no radioactive contamination!
Upon his return to his homeland, Captain Igor Britanov was almost brought to trial, accused of negligence, but the Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov stopped this process. After all, Britanov managed to save most of the crew, not to mention the fact that the sailor Preminin saved the whole world from a nuclear disaster. In Soviet newspapers, only brief reports flashed about the death of the K-219 submarine, while in America there was a lot of writing about this, including about the feat of Sergei Preminin. There were no reports at all that in 1987 the hero-submariner was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star. And only in 1997, after the collapse of the USSR, after Preminin became the posthumous Hero of the Russian Federation, information about his feat became public.
Irina MINAEVA