Soviet submarine K-219

Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:
Commissioned:	31 December 1971
Fate:	sunk by explosion and fire caused by seawater leak in missile tube
Homeport:	Gadzhievo
Stricken:	1986
General characteristics
Displacement:	7766 tons surfaced, 9300 tons submerged
Length:	129.8 m (425 ft 10 in)
Beam:	11.7 m (38 ft 5 in)
Draught:	8.7 m (28 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:	Two 90 MWt OK-700 reactors with VM-4 cores producing 20000 hp (15 MW) each
Speed:	26 knots (48 km/h)
Depth:	400 m (1300 ft)
Complement:	120 officers and men
Armament:	four 533 mm (21in) and two 400 mm (15.7in) torpedo tubes 16 SLBM launch tubes

K-219 was a Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine (NATO reporting name "Yankee I") of the Soviet Navy involved in what has become one of the most controversial submarine incidents in the Cold War. It carried 16 (later 15) SS-N-6 liquid-fuel missiles powered by UDMH with IRFNA, equipped with an estimated 34 nuclear warheads.

The Incident

On 3 October 1986, while on patrol 680 miles (1100 km) 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 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 in the explosion. The vessel surfaced to permit its twin nuclear reactors to be shut down, which was only accomplished when a 19-year old enlisted seaman, Sergei Preminin, sacrificed his life to secure one of the onboard nuclear reactors 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 7,000 kilometers (4350mi) away.

Although a towline was attached, towing attempts were unsuccessful, and after subsequent poison gas leaks into the final aft compartments and against orders, Britanov ordered the crew to evacuate onto the towing ship. 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 on 6 October 1986 , in a depth of about 6,000 meters (18,000 ft). While the proximate cause of the sinking is unknown, some evidence indicates Britanov may have scuttled her. K-219's full complement of nuclear weapons was lost along with the vessel.

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.

Hostile Waters

In 1997, Warner Brothers released in the United States the British BBC television film Hostile Waters, co-produced with HBO and starring Rutger Hauer, Martin Sheen, and Max von Sydow. It was based on a book by the same name, which claimed to describe the loss of K-219. In 2001, Captain 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 has declined 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.

An article on the US Navy's website posted by Captain 1st Rank (Ret.) Igor Kurdin (former XO of K-219) and Lieutenant Commander Wayne Grasdock denied any collision between K-219 and the Augusta. Captain Britanov himself also denies a collision. He has stated that he was not asked to be a guest speaker at Russian functions because he refuses to follow the Russian government's interpretation of the K-219 incident.

References

• USN statement on Hostile Waters
• Книга памяти - К-219
• Captain 1st Rank (Ret.) Igor Kurdin, Russian Navy; LCDR Wayne Grasdock, USN (2005). "Loss of a Yankee SSBN". Undersea Warfare 7 (5):