Nuclear submarine K-152 "Nerpa": accident on November 8, 2008, handed over to India

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

K-152 Nerpa is a Russian-made nuclear submarine, also known as Shchuka-B or 971U. The service of this ship in Russia was short: on November 8, 2008, during the tests, it had an accident, and a year later it was withdrawn from the naval forces. In 2012, the boat was leased to India. Today we will get acquainted with the history of the vessel K-152 Nerpa.

Construction

The submarine was laid down at the end of 1991 at the Amur Shipyard. It was originally planned that the construction and testing of the vessel would take no more than five years. However, due to the curtailment of the nuclear shipbuilding program in the Far East, work was stopped as soon as it began. Only in the fall of 1999, when the then Prime Minister of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin visited the plant, a decision was made to complete the construction. It began only in 2004, after Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov signed an agreement with the Indian Navy on the construction and leasing of twonuclear submarines (NPS).

On June 24, 2006, the vessel was launched into the water. Initially, it was planned to transfer it to the Indian side in August 2007, but due to delays in the manufacturer, this date was constantly postponed. After the accident, the deadline was set for early 2011.

On June 11, 2008, trials began on the ship. At the end of October, the boat went to sea for the first time, and on October 31 it sank.

Accident on K-152 Nerpa

On November 8, 2008, the Nerpa left the water area of the Zvezda plant and went to the combat training area for the next stage of testing - torpedo firing. On this day, on the decks of the second compartment of the boat, an unplanned operation of the fire extinguishing system occurred. On average, the freon concentration in the compartment was 300 times higher than the permissible value. As a result of the accident, 20 people, 17 of whom were civilian observers, were killed. Another 21 people suffered from suffocation, frostbite and burns of the respiratory tract. Many also sought medical attention after a few days. In total, there were 208 people on the boat that day, of which 81 were military personnel, and the rest were civilians (factory specialists, delivery crew, and others).

During the tests, in addition to the crew, there was a delivery commission on the ship, equal in number of people to two more crews, and a smaller state commission. This team size was due to the fact that many devices and systems are configured to work together right during the testing process. As to whether there wererepresentatives of the customer and the designer are on board, no information.

According to the official statement, the accident did not affect the power units. The ship made its way to the temporary base on its own, and all the victims were brought ashore by the anti-submarine vessel Admiral Tributs.

Investigation

The prosecutor's office opened a criminal case under the article "Violation of the rules for operating and driving a warship, resulting in the death of more than two persons." There were lively discussions about the alleged causes of the accident. Initially, a computer failure and an illiterate organization of tests were called as a probable cause. Later, the investigators found that the fire extinguishing system was turned on by one of the sailors, Dmitry Grobov, without authorization. A criminal case was opened against him under the article “Causing death by negligence.”

Despite the fact that Grobov admitted his guilt, his colleagues do not believe that he could have made such a mistake. Captain of the second rank Igor Chefonov also expressed his dissatisfaction with this state of affairs, saying that, according to the charter, a sailor should not be left unattended.

In November 2008, data appeared, according to which Grobov is in a state of shock and gives slurred testimony. On November 21, the media reported that the sailor would undergo a psychological examination. At the same time, Sergei Stolnikov, a member of the commissioning team, said in an interview that the cause of the disaster was flaws in the ship's systems console.

It remained unclear why after triggeringof the fire-fighting system, freon reserves designed for three compartments fell into one, and why, despite the fact that the boat was fully equipped with breathing apparatus, so many people died.

New facts

On December 4, 2008, information appeared that instead of low-toxic tetrafluorodibromoethane, poisonous tetrachlorethylene was pumped into the fire extinguishing system. The mixture was supplied by the St. Petersburg enterprise "ServiceTorgTechnika", with which the Amur Shipbuilding Plant worked for the first time. Before refueling, freon was re-tested, in which the laboratory only confirmed that it was freon.

On January 22, 2009, Grobov was recognized as sane and continued to be considered as the main culprit of the tragedy. On February 10, information appeared that the manufacturing plant of the K-152 Nerpa submarine intends to sue the supplier of freon. After that, the commission that conducted the investigation assigned the final act the stamp "Top Secret".

Court

In March 2011, the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Pacific Fleet referred the case to the military court of the Pacific Fleet. The charges were brought against the bilge engineer Dmitry Grobov and the ship's commander, Captain First Rank Dmitry Lavrentiev.

April 25, a preliminary hearing was held at which the court decided to consider the case with the participation of jurors. On June 22, the first meeting was held, which was held behind closed doors. On July 5, at the second hearing, Dmitry Grobov retracted his previous testimony and declared his innocence. Formerhe called the statements self-incrimination given under “pressure from law enforcement agencies.”

From September 2011 to September 2013, the jury acquitted the defendants three times and received an appeal from the procurators twice. For the third time, the Military Collegium decided: “The verdict of acquittal is left unchanged, and the complaint is not satisfied.

Toxicological examination

According to the results of chemical analysis, it was found that 64.4% of the freon mixture was tetrachlorethylene, which should not be used for fire extinguishing. The fire-extinguishing concentration of freon for a person is not fatal. The worst thing that can happen upon contact with him is loss of consciousness. Therefore, even if the sailor really activated the fire extinguishing system on purpose, it would not lead to deaths.

The system on the submarine K-152 "Nerpa" was filled with a fake fire extinguisher. When it worked, due to the difference in the physical parameters of the poisonous freon from the normal one, three portions of the chemical automatically went into one compartment. The compartment was filled with saturated vapor of the mixture and a droplet-liquid phase, part of which was collected on the walls and flowed down. Pure freon should be sprayed in the form of an aerosol. With an increase in temperature, it evaporates and already in gaseous form is in contact with the combustion centers. Interfering with the process at the chemical level, freon acts as a retarder, anti-catalyst and combustion inhibitor. At the same time, contrary to popular belief, it does not displace or bind oxygen. In a burning room, oxygen can only be used to keep the fire going. If athe fire system is activated without a fire, the amount of oxygen in the room does not change.

Recovery

Restoration of the K-152 Nerpa boat cost the Russian Navy almost two billion rubles. Presumably, such costs were due to the fact that part of the equipment was destroyed by the action of tetrachlorethylene, which is an active solvent. The fake fire extinguisher was replaced with a normal one, and the fire extinguishing system was upgraded. The commissioning team of more than 200 people has been retrained.

Retests

Due to the difficulties of forming a delivery team, the start of repeated tests was delayed. They began on July 10 and continued until December 25, 2009. On December 28, a representative of the Pacific Fleet announced the successful completion of tests and the entry of the 971U Shchuka-B or Nerpa submarine into the Russian Navy.

Transfer to India

Throughout the construction of the boat, statements about the prospect of its transfer to the Indian Navy were repeatedly voiced and refuted. After the accident, information appeared that the ship would not be sold or leased, but would join the ranks of the Russian fleet. However, the Indians had big plans for this boat, in particular, regarding the training of the crew of the INS Arihant, the first Indian nuclear submarine, on it. In 2009, the press again started talking about the prospects for leasing.

In February 2010, a crew from India arrived at the submarine's home port for training. June 1 Mikhail Dmitriev, Head of the Military Cooperation Service,reported that the training of the crew had completed and the case was nearing the finish line. The final handover of the K-152 Nerpa to India was scheduled for October 2010.

Only on October 4, 2011, the Russian-Indian commission agreed on the completion of acceptance tests. They were supposed to start on October 30 and last 15 days. A week was allotted to eliminate the comments.

According to Izvestia, the Indian representatives of the intergovernmental commission would like to abandon this contract, but plunged into it so much that it was no longer possible. They were not satisfied with the reliability of the vessel and its weapons, as well as the non-compliance with Soviet quality standards, famous throughout the world.

After multiple transfers of the K-152 Nerpa lease on December 30, 2011, the corresponding contract was nevertheless signed.

Ceremony

On January 23, 2012, a solemn ceremony was held to hand over the Russian Guards nuclear submarine K-152 to the Indian Navy. The ceremony was organized on the territory of the shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen. It was attended by Ajay Malhotra, Indian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, and Admiral Konstantin Sidenko, Commander of the Eastern Military District. The Indian side also invited Captain Lavrentiev, the ship's commander during the 2008 tragedy, to the ceremony. The final total value of the deal was $900 million.

New name

As expected, as part of the naval forces of India, the K-152 Nerpa received the nameINS Chakra. She inherited this name from the Soviet nuclear submarine K-43 Skat, which from 1988 to 1992 was part of the Indian fleet on a lease basis. Despite the fact that the watch at the nuclear reactor was conducted by Soviet sailors, this ship became an excellent base for the training of Indian submariners. Many of the sailors who served on the first Chakra subsequently received important positions in the Indian Navy. Eight of them were able to reach the rank of admiral.

April 4, 2012, the nuclear submarine was ceremonially commissioned by the Indian Navy.