Soviet submarine K-219
|
|
| Missing image K219.jpg Soviet Submarine K-219 | |
| Career | Missing image Supennant.png Soviet Naval Ensign |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | |
| Commissioned: | 31 December 1971 |
| Fate: | sunk by seawater leak into missile tube |
| Homeport: | Gadzhievo |
| Stricken: | 1986 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7766 tons surfaced, 9300 tons submerged |
| Length: | 129.8 metres (425 feet 10 inches) |
| Beam: | 11.7 metres (38 feet 5 inches) |
| Draught: | 8.7 metres (28 feet 6 inches) |
| Propulsion: | Two 90 MWt OK-700 reactors with VM-4 cores producing 20000 hp each |
| Speed: | 26 knots |
| Depth: | 400 metres (1300 feet) |
| Complement: | 120 officers and men |
| Armament: | |
K-219 was a Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine (NATO reporting name "Yankee II") of the Soviet Navy.
On 3 October 1986, while on patrol 680 miles northeast of Bermuda, K-219 suffered an explosion and fire in a missile tube. The seal in a missile hatch cover failed, allowing seawater to leak into the missile tube and react with residue from the missile's liquid fuel. The Soviet Navy claimed that the leak was caused by a collision with USS Augusta (SSN-710). Augusta was certainly operating in close proximity, but the United States Navy denies any collision (see below). K-219 had previously experienced a similar casualty; one of her missile tubes was already disabled and welded shut.
Three sailors were killed outright and a fourth, Sergei Preminin, an enlisted seaman, died after successfully securing the nuclear reactor by hand, trapped in the engine compartment. Captain Second Rank Igor Britanov was ordered to have the ship towed by a Soviet freighter back to Gadzhievo, her home port, some 7000 kilometers away.
Augusta’s deliberate interference caused the towing attempts to fail, and after subsequent poison gas leaks into the final aft compartments and against orders, Britanov ordered the crew to evacuate onto the towing ship. Augusta continued to interfere with the personnel transfers, nearly swamping the small boats with her wake, but was unable to prevent them. Britanov remained aboard K-219.
Displeased with Britanov's inability to repair his submarine and continue his patrol, Moscow ordered Valery Pshenichny, K-219’s security officer, to assume command, transfer the surviving crew back to the submarine, and return to duty. Before those orders could be carried out, however, K-219 abruptly sank into the Hatteras Abyss, about 6000 meters down. What the proximate cause of the sinking is unknown; some evidence indicates that Britanov scuttled her.
Preminin earned the Red Star, awarded posthumously, for his bravery in securing the reactors. Britanov was charged with negligence, sabotage, and treason. He was never imprisoned, but waited for his trial in Sverdlovsk. In May 1987, after a new Defense Minister took office in Moscow, the charges against Britanov were dismissed.
In 1997, Warner Brothers released the HBO movie Hostile Waters, starring Rutger Hauer, Martin Sheen, and Max von Sydow, based on a book by the same name, which claim to describe the loss of K-219. In 2001, Igor Britanov filed suit, claiming that Warner Brothers did not seek or get his permission to use his story or his character, and that the movie did not portray the events accurately and made him look incompetent. In September 2004, the court ruled in Britanov's favor. Britanov is unwilling to state the amount of the award; descriptions range from "substantial damages" down to tens of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy issued the following statement regarding the book and movie:
- The United States Navy normally does not comment on submarine operations, but in the case, because the scenario is so outrageous, the Navy is compelled to respond.
- The United States Navy categorically denies that any U.S. submarine collided with the Russian Yankee submarine (K-219) or that the Navy had anything to do with the cause of the casualty that resulted in the loss of the Russian Yankee submarine.
References
USN statement: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/hostlh2o.htmlpl:K-219