The Bay of Biscay is one of the
world’s great submarine graveyards. In late World War II, British and American
aircraft sank nearly seventy German U-boats in the Bay, which joined a handful
of Allied and German subs sunk in the region during World War I. On April 12,
1970, a Soviet submarine found the same resting place. Unlike the others,
however, K-8 was propelled by two nuclear reactors, and carried four torpedoes
tipped by nuclear warheads.
”Unfortunately, the loss of power
onboard and the difficult weather conditions were too much for the crew to
overcome. On April 12, K-8 sank with some forty crew members aboard, coming to
rest at a rough depth of 15,000 feet. The depth made any effort at recovering
the submarine, and the nuclear torpedoes, impractical.”
The Novembers (627):
The November
(Type 627) class was the Soviet Union’s first effort at developing nuclear
attack submarines. The 627s were rough contemporaries of the Skate
and Skipjack class attack boats of the U.S. Navy (USN), although they
were somewhat larger and generally less well-arranged. Displacing 4750 tons
submerged, the thirteen 627s could make thirty knots and carry twenty
torpedoes (launched from eight forward tubes). Visually,
the 627s resembled a larger version of the Foxtrot class diesel-electric
subs; the Soviets would not adopt a teardrop hull until the later Victor class.
The Novembers were renowned in the submarine community for their noise; louder
than any contemporary nuclear sub, and even preceding diesel-electric designs.
The Novembers
were initially designed with a strategic purpose in mind. The Soviets worked on
a long-range nuclear armed torpedo (dubbed T-15), which could strike NATO naval
bases from ranges of up to 40km. The torpedo was so large that each
submarine could only carry a single weapon. However, increasingly effective
Western anti-submarine technology quickly scotched the first mission. The
Novembers were too loud to plausibly find their way into close enough proximity
to a NATO port to ever actually fire a nuclear torpedo in wartime conditions.
The Soviet
Navy (which did not have much interest in the strategic mission at that point)
reconfigured the 627 class for a more conventional anti-ship role. Despite
their noisiness, the Novembers had the range to threaten NATO surface vessels,
especially transport convoys. A small number of nuclear torpedoes (configured
with smaller warheads compatible with conventional torpedoes) could wreak havoc
on such a convoy, despite the likely loss of the sub to any surviving escorts.
The 627s were never regarded as particularly effective sub hunters,
in part because they were louder than any foreign contemporaries, and in part because
of deficient sonar technology.
K-8:
K-8, the
third November boat, entered service in the Soviet Northern Fleet in late 1960.
In one of her first cruises, she suffered a coolant incident that almost
resulted in the loss of the ship; many of her crew members were exposed to high
levels of radiation. Drastic action saved the boat, and she returned to port
for repairs.
In early
spring 1970, K-8 participated in the Okean 70 naval wargame,
an exercise intended to display the reach of
the Soviet Navy, as well as to work out problems associated with operations
distant from Soviet bases. This exercise was enormous; the largest the Soviet
Navy had ever undertaken, and really the biggest naval operation that the
Russians had attempted since the ill-fated transfer of the Baltic Fleet to the
Pacific in the Russo-Japanese War. Ships from the Northern, Baltic, Black Sea,
and Pacific fleets participated, roughly two hundred in all. The Soviet
Northern Fleet deployed sixty surface ships and forty submarines in support of
the operation. As per normal procedure, K-8 was carrying four torpedoes armed
with nuclear warheads.
On April 8,
K-8 suffered two fires, resulting in a shutdown of both nuclear reactors. The
boat surfaced, and
Captain Vsevolod Borisovich Bessonov ordered the crew to
abandon ship. Eight crew members, trapped in compartments that were either flooded
or burned out, died in the initial incident. Fortunately, a Soviet repair
vessel arrived, and took K-8 under tow. However, bad weather made the recover
operation a difficult prospect. Much of K-8’s crew reboarded the
submarine, and for three days fought a life-and-death struggle to save the
boat. Although details remain scarce, there apparently was no opportunity to
safely remove the four nuclear torpedoes from K-8, and transfer them to the
repair ship.
Unfortunately,
the loss of power onboard and the difficult weather conditions were too much
for the crew to overcome. On April 12, K-8 sank with some forty crew members
aboard, coming to rest at a rough depth of 15,000 feet. The depth made any
effort at recovering the submarine, and the nuclear torpedoes, impractical.
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