K-219 had previously experienced a similar event one of her missile tubes was already disabled and welded shut, having been permanently sealed after an explosion caused by reaction between seawater leaking into the silo and missile fuel residue. Shortly after 0532, an explosion occurred in the silo. K-219 weapons officer Alexander Petrachkov attempted to deal with this by disengaging the hatch cover and venting the missile tube to the sea. Shortly after 0530 Moscow time, seawater leaking into silo six of K-219 reacted with missile fuel, producing chlorine and nitrogen dioxide gases and sufficient heat to explosively decompose additional fuming nitric acid to produce more nitrogen dioxide gas. The incident was novelized in the book Hostile Waters, which reconstructed the incident from descriptions by the survivors, ships' logs, the official investigations, and participants both ashore and afloat from the Soviet and the American sides. Īlthough Augusta was operating within the area, both the United States Navy and the commander of K-219, Captain Second Rank Igor Britanov, deny that a collision took place. Though there was no official announcement, the Soviet Union claimed the leak was caused by a collision with the submarine USS Augusta. While underway a submerged seal in a missile hatch cover failed, allowing high-pressure seawater to enter the missile tube and owing to the pressure differential rupture the missile fuel tanks, allowing the missile's liquid fuel to mix and ultimately combust. The 15-year-old vessel, which was on an otherwise routine Cold War nuclear deterrence patrol in the North Atlantic 1,090 kilometres (680 mi) northeast of Bermuda, suffered an explosion and fire in a missile tube. K-219 was involved in what has become one of the most controversial submarine incidents during the Cold War on Friday 3 October 1986. It carried 16 R-27U liquid-fuel missiles powered by UDMH with nitrogen tetroxide (NTO), and equipped with either 32 or 48 nuclear warheads. K-219 was a Project 667A Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine ( NATO reporting name Yankee I) of the Soviet Navy. Sunk by explosion and fire caused by seawater leak in missile tube, 3 October 1986Ģ × 90 MWt OK-700 reactors with VM-4 cores producing 20,000 hp (15 MW) each Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry via email for comment.US Navy photo of K-219 on the surface after suffering a fire in a missile tube and Australia, announced in September 2021, will furnish Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines, understood to be a move countering China's influence in the Indo-Pacific. defense cooperation." The tripartite security agreement between the U.S., U.K. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who lauded the AUKUS trilateral defense pact as one that "will break down barriers and usher in a new era of U.S.-U.K. "We're regularly visited by nosy Russian ships, and we are regularly visited now by a number of Russian warships," Wallace added.Įarlier this week, Wallace met with U.S. In May 2021, Wallace told British newspaper The Telegraph that Russian submarines surrounded the British coastline, branding Moscow as London's "number one adversary threat." At least seven Russian naval ships and a kilo-class submarine were seen around the U.K., including in the Irish Sea for the first time, in the year up to the report, according to the newspaper. Putin, in response to Shoigu's report, said the naval assets could be used "elsewhere" during the ongoing war in Ukraine, adding that the navy's development "remains relevant." Read more Ukraine praises arrival of new "dream" weapons More than 25,000 troops, 89 aircraft and 12 submarines were involved in the exercises on April 14, he said. Last week, Russia began large-scale military drills of its Pacific Fleet, described by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as a "surprise inspection" in a Kremlin readout of a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent years, Russia has looked to upgrade its submarine fleet and has about 58 vessels making up one of the world's largest underwater forces, according to the non-profit organization Nuclear Threat Initiative. Russian state media reported earlier this year that a new "division" of submarines carrying nuclear-capable Poseidon "super-torpedoes" would be created for the Pacific Fleet as early as next year. has detected Russian submarines "doing some strange routes that they normally wouldn't do," British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said on Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin looks to naval officers during the Navy Day Parade, on July, 31 2022, in St.
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