Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets

1989

Bear Island, a titanium hull, the plutonium at 1,680 m Location: Norwegian Sea, SW of Bear Island · Coordinates: 73.43°N 13.27°E · Casualties: 42 · Survivors: 27 · Depth: 1,680 m · Cause: fire — Fire broke out in the aft engineering compartment on the morning of 7 April 1989 at 335 metres depth. She surfaced but the fire spread through electrical cable runs; the hull lost pressure integrity and she sank five hours later at 1,680 metres. Most of the deaths were among men in the freezing Barents water waiting for rescue. · Fate: abyssal · plutonium sealed in torpedoes · Type: submarine · nuclear attack · Mike class (titanium hull) · Tonnage: 8,000 tons · Crew: 69 · Flag: Soviet Union · Launched: 1983 Soviet Mike-class experimental submarine, the only titanium-hulled attack submarine ever built, capable of diving beyond 1,000 metres. Fire in the aft engineering compartment on the morning of 7 April 1989 off Bear Island; surfaced but the fire spread through cable runs and she sank five hours later. 42 dead, mostly from exposure in the Barents Sea. Two plutonium-tipped torpedoes remain sealed inside the wreck at 1,680 metres; ongoing Russian surveys have detected no leakage so far. The Vessel The Soviet Navy submarine K-278 Komsomolets ("Young Communist") was a unique experimental submarine of the Mike class, commissioned at the Sevmash yard at Severodvinsk on 28 December 1983. She was 118 metres long, 8,000 tons submerged displacement, and was the only submarine ever built with a titanium pressure hull specifically rated for operations beyond 1,000 metres depth. Her operational depth specification was 1,000 metres (with a design maximum of 1,250 metres); the corresponding depth specification for contemporary Soviet and American SSNs was approximately 450-500 metres. The Mike-class project was the Soviet Navy's most ambitious submarine experiment of the late Cold War. The titanium-hull construction had been possible only through the Soviet ability to source titanium in large quantities (from Kazakh mines) and through the Sevmash yard's specific experience in titanium welding (developed for the earlier Alfa-class titanium-hulled attack submarines). The titanium construction gave Komsomolets operational characteristics no Western submarine could match: she could operate at depths beyond the range of Western anti-submarine torpedoes; she could conduct evasive diving at rates of 100 metres per minute; and her hull-radiated noise at standard operating depth was reportedly lower than any other submarine in any fleet in the world. Her commanding officer in April 1989 was Captain Second Rank Yevgeny Vanin, 39, a career Soviet Navy submarine officer. Her crew was 69 office The Disaster The fire in K-278 Komsomolets's sixth and seventh compartments could not be controlled. Over the following four hours, between 11:30 and 15:30 on 7 April 1989, her damage-control teams fought the fires, sealed affected compartments, and prepared for possible abandonment of the ship. Her electrical power progressively failed; her main hydraulic systems became inoperable; her compressed-air systems (used for blowing ballast for surface operation) progressively lost pressure. At 17:08 on 7 April 1989 K-278 Komsomolets lost her surface stability. She began to sink stern-first. Captain Vanin ordered abandon-ship. The emergency lifeboats, designed for surface operations in calm conditions, were inadequate for the actual 7 April 1989 conditions in the Norwegian Sea: the water temperature was 4°C; waves were 1.5-2 metres; winds were from the west at 25 knots. K-278 Komsomolets sank at 17:08 on 7 April 1989 at approximately 73°44′N 13°08′E in approximately 1,680 metres of water. Of her 69 crew, 42 died, mostly of exposure in the cold Norwegian Sea water before the Soviet Navy rescue ship Aleksey Khlobystov arrived at approximately 18:30. 27 were rescued, including 5 in the emergency rescue chamber that had detached from the submarine's sail during her sinking. Captain Vanin went down with his ship. His body was not recovered. His last recorded message to the Northern Fleet, transmitted at 17:05 on 7 April 1989, read: 'Preparing for possible loss. All non-engineering personnel to life