Soviet submarine K-19

"K19" redirects here. For the 2002 movie about an accident involving the submarine K-19, see K-19: The Widowmaker.

Not to be confused with Soviet submarine K-219.

History
USSR
Name	«K-19»
Laid down	17 October 1958
Launched	8 April 1959
Completed	12 November 1960
Commissioned	30 April 1961
Decommissioned	1991
Fate	Purchased by Vladimir Romanov
General characteristics
Class and type	Hotel-class submarine
Displacement	4,030 long tons (4,095 t) surfaced 5,000 long tons (5,080 t) submerged
Length	114 m (374 ft 0 in)
Beam	9.2 m (30 ft 2 in)
Draft	7.1 m (23 ft 4 in)
Propulsion	2 × 70 MW VM-A reactors, 2 geared turbines, 2 shafts, 39,200 shp (29 MW)
Speed	15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) surfaced 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h) submerged
Range	35,700 mi (57,500 km) at 26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h) 32,200 mi (51,800 km) at 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h) (80 % power)
Endurance	60 days (limited by food, and physical health)
Test depth	250 m (820 ft) test 300 m (980 ft) design
Complement	125 officers and men
Armament	• 3 × ballistic nuclear missiles (650 km range, 1.4 megatons) • 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes forward • 2 × 16 in (406 mm) tubes forward • 2 × 16 in (406 mm) tubes aft

K-19, KS-19, BS-19 was one of the first two Soviet submarines of the 658, 658м, 658с class (Hotel-class submarine NATO), the first generation nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles. Her keel was laid down on 17 October 1958, christened on 8 April 1959 and launched on 11 October 1959. Her naval flag was first raised on 12 July 1960, and she completed all acceptance tests on 12 November 1960. Her officialcommissioning took place on 30 April 1961.

Due to the large amount of accidents during her construction and service life, she gained an unofficial nickname "Hiroshima" among naval sailors and officers. Over her service life, she ran 332,396 miles during 20,223 working hours.

List of construction accidents

Material has been taken from the historical overwiev of the «K-19» (in Russian).

Before official service

• 1959 During construction of the ballast cistern, a fire broke out and three people died.
• 11 October 1959 During the launching and christening ceremony, a bottle of champagne thrown by Urgent Unit 5 Captain V. V. Panov slid along the screws, rubbed the hull and did not break. This was seen as an act of very bad luck.
• January 1960 During a crew shift change, the compensating grate (composing part of the nuclear reactor) suffered a breakage, resulting in the demotion of Captain Panov and other responsible officers.
• May through June 1960 During reactor re-servicing, one of the metalworkers found live, very large insects (from 10 to 15 mm in size) in the graphite lubricant. Examples were sent to one of the specialized Soviet research institutes, but the official results of how the insects were able to live in this inhospitable environment were never given.
• 12 august through 8 november 1960 During passing the programm of acceptnce tests after the five-days autonomical mooving on the maximum speed the exfoliation of rubber coating of the hull was revealed what cuses the procedure of recoating the hull. Also, during the test dive on the mфximum depth on the 300 meters was founded the leak of water inside the reactor compartment. Was accepted the decigion of an extra surfacing when the sumbmarine surfarced in danger close to her supply ship and then make a dangerouse heel, about 45 degrees on the left and then on the right side.
• October 1960 During the remooving of the wood boards of the product box through the remooval system of the caboose waste of a nine compartment a jamming of a lid of this system has occured. While that nine compartment has filled on one third with the water.

During military service

Nuclear accident

On 4 July 1961, under the command of Captain First Rank Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev, K-19 was conducting exercises in the North Atlantic close to Southern Greenland when she developed a major leak in her reactor coolant system, causing the water pressure in the aft reactor to drop to zero and causing failure of the coolant pumps. A separate accident had disabled her long-range radio system, so she could not contact Moscow. The reactor temperature rose uncontrollably, reaching 800 °C — almost the melting point of the fuel rods — and the chain reactions continued despite the control rods being inserted via a SCRAM mechanism. The reactor continued to heat up as coolant is still required during shutdown until the reactions decrease. Despite Zateyev's and others' earlier requests, no backup cooling system had been installed.

The captain was concerned that the nuclear emissions resulting from the accident – and any possible explosion – might be interpreted by the United States as a pre-emptive strike and trigger a nuclear war. The captain was also very keen to save the ship and his crew.

As a cooling back-up system had not been installed, Zateyev made a drastic decision: a team of seven engineering officers and crew worked for extended periods in high-radiation areas to implement a new coolant system, by cutting off an air vent valve and welding a water-supplying pipe into it. Since the ship carried chemical suits, instead of radiation suits, they were certain to be lethally contaminated. But the repair team was not aware of that, believing the suits they wore would protect them from contamination. The released radioactive steam, containing fission products, was drawn into the ventilation system and spread to other sections of the ship. However, the cooling water pumped from the reactor section worked well.

The incident contaminated the crew, parts of the ship, and some of the ballistic missiles carried on board; the entire crew received substantial doses of radiation, and all seven men in the repair crew died of radiation exposure within a week, and twenty more within the next few years. The captain decided to head south to meet diesel submarines expected to be there, instead of continuing on the mission's planned route. Worries about a potential crew mutiny prompted Zateyev to have all small arms thrown overboard except for five pistols distributed to his most trusted officers. A diesel submarine, S-270, picked up K-19's low-power distress transmissions and rendezvoused with her.

American warships nearby had also heard the transmission and offered to help, a rare event during the Cold War, but Zateyev, afraid of giving away Soviet military secrets to the West, refused and sailed to meet the S-270. Her crew was evacuated, and the boat was towed to the home base; after landing, the vessel contaminated a zone within 700 metres. The damaged reactors were removed and replaced, a process which took two years. During this time there was further radiation poisoning of the environment and the workers involved.

During the repair process, it was discovered that the catastrophe had been caused by a drop from a welding electrode that had fallen into the first cooling circuit of the aft reactor during her initial construction. K-19 returned to the fleet, now having acquired the additional nickname "Hiroshima".

On 1 February 2006, former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev proposed in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the crew of K-19 should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their actions on 4 July 1961. In late March 2006, Nikolai Zateyev was formally nominated for the award.

List of crew members who died after the accident on 4 July 1961:

• Chief Starshina Boris Ryzhikov (Борис Рыжиков)
• Starshina, 1st class Yuriy Ordochkin (Юрий Ордочкин)
• Starshina, 2nd class Evgeny Kashenkov (Евгений Кашенков)
• Seaman Semyon Penkov (Семен Пеньков)
• Seaman Nicolai Savkin (Николай Савкин)
• Seaman Valery Charitonov (Валерий Харитонов)
• Commander of the division of movement Captain Lieutenant Yuriy Povstyev (Юрий Повстьев)

These seven men died between one and three weeks after the accident. All other crew members had lower doses of the irradiation and therefore suffered fewer or less acute health problems from radiation poisoning.

Collision

On 15 November 1969 at 07:13 AM, K-19 collided with the attack submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea at a depth of 60 metres (200 ft). She was able to surface by means of an emergency main ballast tank blow. The impact completely destroyed the bow sonar systems and mangled the covers of the forward torpedo tubes. K-19 was again repaired and returned to the fleet.

Fire

On 24 February 1972, a fire broke out on board K-19 while the submarine was at a depth of 120 metres (380 ft), some 1300 km (800 miles) from Newfoundland. A total of 28 sailors died in the fire, caused by hydraulic fluid leaking onto a hot filter. The boat surfaced, and surface warships evacuated the crew, except for 12 men trapped in the aft torpedo room. Towing was delayed by a gale, and the aft torpedo room could not be reached because of conditions in the engine room. After the gale abated, the boat was towed to Severomorsk on 4 April, and the men were rescued after surviving 24 days in the lightless, heatless torpedo room. The rescue operation lasted more than 40 days and involved over 30 ships. K-19 was again repaired and returned to the fleet.

Decommissioning

The submarine was decommissioned in 1991, and was transferred in 1994 to the naval repair yard at Polyarny. In March 2002, she was towed to the Nerpa Shipyard, Snezhnogorsk, Murmansk to be scrapped. It was announced in October 2003 that scrapping would start soon.

In 2006, the K-19 was purchased by Vladimir Romanov, who once served on the sub as a conscript, with the intention of "Turning it into a Moscow-based meeting place to build links between submarine veterans from Russia and other countries." So far, the plans remain on hold, and many of K-19's survivors have objected to them.

Popular culture

The movie K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, is loosely based on the story of the K-19's first disaster.

References

• Stewart, Will: Romanov invites Soviet sub heroes to cup final; Scotsman newspaper article, Scotsman Publications; 12 May, 2006

External links

• K-19: the History (from National Geographic)
• K-19, prototype of Hollywood thriller, to be cut up (from Pravda)
• Silchenko Simeon Mihajlovich, the participant of rescue of nuclear submarine К-19. The request for the help!!!