Message from Ted Rockwell

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Note: I am sending Ted's message in 2 posts due to excessive length



Friends:



Here's the other information that didn't transmit--too long.  I got it from

another list.  I've cut off all the references and footnote (which were in

Russian) and some curious commentary on radiation units.  I hope it will now

fit.  I hope you can enjoy the movie after this :~(



Ted Rockwell

tedrock@cpcug.org



On 12 August 2000 a modern submarine Kursk was lost at Barents Sea. The

Russian Navy has attributed the disaster to a collision with an alien

submarine, perhaps an American one. This incident sparked a lot of

interest in issues of safety of shipping and military activities in high

seas, oddly resulted in yet another scandal, which also features the

Russian Navy on one side, and the Americans on the other one. Although

this time the target of their ramming became not a ship, but the memory

of the lost Soviet sailors. It started when someone in Hollywood got the

idea to produce a blockbuster about the 40 years old tragedy - the

nuclear reactor shutdown aboard the Soviet submarine K-19 in the North

Atlantic. Through my connection in St.Petersburg I managed to contact

the St.Petersburg Association of Former Submarine Sailors, and some of

its members - the president, Rt.Cmdr.Kurdin, and survivors of K-19:

former chief of combat section (undersea), Rt.Cmdr.Mukhin; former chief

of combat section (missile), Rt.Cmdr.Shabanov; former chief of

navigation section, Rt.Cmdr.Kovalkov; former chief of navigation

section, Rt.Lt.-Cmdr.Yerastov; and former chief of electricians (8th

compartment), Rt.Sn.P.O.Kuzmin. I will quote their stories in the

present article. But first of all - a historical note.



The works on the first Soviet nuclear submarines started in 1956. The

Russians were rivalling with the Americans, who at that time started

realisation of their own program Polaris. The Soviet submarines were

built in Severodvinsk under the project code 658. Those were three deck

missile cruisers having 6,000t displacement and 26-knot speed. They

could stay two months undersea. Three ballistic missiles, each with 1.4

megaton warhead, were placed behind their kiosks. They also carried

torpedoes. But the most important - they were powered by two nuclear

reactors, which provided uninterrupted energy supply to all the ship

systems. Building of the first series of Soviet nuclear submarines was

not unnoticed by the American naval intelligence, and they got the

codename Hotel. It is hard to say why Hotel; perhaps due to the comfort

offered to the crew of 104 - each submariner had his own bunk. Of course

a submarine is not a hotel, so the kitchen compensated the discomforts

of the extended submarine sailing. Soviet submariners were in abundance

supplied with high quality Cabernet, chocolate, fruits, and many other

delicacies typical rather for hotels and restaurants.



The first submarine of the series was named K-19. She was laid on 17

October 1958, and launched on 8 April 1959. An ominous accident happened

during the ceremony - the bottle of champagne used for the baptism did

not break at once. The commander of the submarine, Lt.-Cmdr. Nikolai

Zateyev could not see it, for he was busy with paperwork and had to meet

officials. And the sailors dared not to tell him about the accidents -

political officers would promptly knock "superstitions" out of their

minds. And so K-19 became the most unlucky submarine in the Soviet Navy

- she was literally haunted by accidents. In the summer 1961 she took

part in the manoeuvres in the Atlantic Ocean, codenamed Polar Circle.

The navy was exercising its missile power, and co-operation of surface

ships and submarines. K-19 had to be tried in all the possible ways.

Everything was excellent for a while...



The troubles began on 4 July at 4:15, when the watch officer reported

dramatic drop of the cooling liquid pressure in the first circuit of the

port reactor. As it turned later, the pipe broke, and the radioactive

coolant burst through the crack. It caused increased radioactivity in

several compartments; according to further measurements - up to 1000

Rt/hr, while the health care standards deem a single dose of 400 Rt

lethal to humans. Peanuts when compared to the danger of the reactor's

meltdown and nuclear explosion. Yet even the loss of a submarine could

seem peanuts, as compared to the nuclear Armageddon, which could follow.

No naval regulations had foreseen such a situation. When the commander

studied nuclear technologies at the nuclear centre in Obninsk near

Moscow, he was assured that the reactor was absolutely reliable if

handled properly. An emergency council of officers and engineers was

hastily summoned in the central compartment. They unanimously made the

decision to mount an emergency cooling circuit. An extra pipe had to be

welded to the damaged circuit, and the cooling liquid had to be pumped

through it. There was no other option. The work itself was not a

difficult one, but it had to be done in the reactor's active zone. And

that meant sure death. There the captain's authority ended. He could not

order to do it and to die. All he could do was to tell everybody what

was the situation, and its consequences. A catastrophe was minutes

away...



The official press-release was laconic: In those circumstances the crew,

while demonstrating great heroism and self-sacrifice, managed to prevent

the development of a nuclear catastrophe, and to save its submarine,

which returned to service after the repairs and decontamination.1 It did

not say a word, that the incident had taken lives of 28 Soviet

submariners. Eight of them, who absorbed lethal doses of radiation (up

to 5000 Rt), past away in a hospital ashore several days later, and

further 20 of them died within several years due to consequences of high

radiation. At such a price they saved their other comrades of arms - 129

men.



After the loss of Kursk the price for the blood of Soviet sailors in the

movie industry soared. American audience, overfed with video-thrillers,

demands more excitement spiced with a fresh plot - a sort of spirit,

which can be taken for reality as watched in the comfort of a

home-theatre. America is a great place to make a buck; no wonder that

the Hollywood dream factory was swift to meet the demand. As early as in

the autumn 2000 there was created the company K-19 Production Inc.,

which hired Hollywood movie stars for the roles of Soviet sailors, and

organized their meeting with the survivors of K-19. V.A.Shabanov says:



During that meeting American movie producers told us, that they wanted

to make a film about "human courage". We asked immediately - show us the

screenplay. To have the proper understanding of human courage one at

least needs to happen in a pretty mess. They nodded in return - oh, yes.

But they did not give us the screenplay. Finally, the St.Petersburg

association of submariners managed to get the text. We read it and we

got mad.2



I.K.Kurdin adds:  



Four years ago some American movie company addressed the Navy authorities to help with production of a film about the incident 

aboard K-19. Then in 1997 another company approached with a similar project. And they too asked the St.Petersburg submariners' 

association to organize a meeting with K-19's crewmen. We insisted from the very beginning, that the rights of submariners to the 

privacy of their lives be observed. And the other our demand was to let the crew read the screenplay. We were said - yes, sure, you 

will get it.3   



But they did not get it. Instead, another strange story took place. The Americans produced several contracts with some K-19's 

crewmen, who allegedly consented to the use of their names and biographies in the film. Yet the inquired sailors could not 

remember signing any contracts, and the signatures, featured on those papers, look different from their signatures on other 

documents. The sailors claim, that the signatures were faked.   





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