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In April 1989, the Komsomolets submarine encountered a disaster, sinking deep into the Norwegian Sea, claiming the lives of 42 sailors. After over 30 years, the vessel continues to leak radiation, prompting scientists to decide to leave it on the seabed rather than attempting to salvage it due to its extreme danger.State-of-the-Art Submarine Dives Over 1 Kilometer Deep
K-278 Komsomolets is the sole submarine of Project 685 Plavnik or the Mike class according to NATO designation built by the Soviet Union. It is a nuclear-powered attack submarine, uniquely designed and equipped with advanced technologies, capable of diving deeper than 1 kilometer, surpassing all submarines of its time.
The Project 685 was designed by the Rubin Design Bureau to meet the requirements of a state-of-the-art submarine capable of carrying 6 torpedoes and guided missiles with conventional or nuclear warheads. The design phase began in 1966 and was completed in 1974. The submarine was constructed at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, launched in 1983, and commissioned into the Russian Navy in late December of the same year.
Compared to other submarines of its time, K-278 has a double hull and an inner hull made of titanium, allowing it to withstand higher pressures and dive much deeper than the most advanced submarines of the United States. Inside this high-pressure hull are 7 reinforced compartments, with the second and third compartments protected by bulkheads forward and aft, ensuring greater safety and even providing the crew with an escape option through a rescue chamber located in the sail in case of emergencies.
K-278 Komsomolets joined the 6th Squadron, Northern Fleet of the Soviet Navy in January 1984 and from here the vessel began a series of deep diving tests. Under the command of Captain Yuri Zelensky, the K-278 submarine set a record for diving depth reaching 1020 meters in the Norwegian Sea - a truly astonishing depth compared to US submarines. For instance, the USS Los Angeles can dive to a maximum depth of only 450 meters. Moreover, the crush depth of K-278's structure reaches 1371 meters.The Soviet Navy regarded K-278 as an invulnerable vessel at depths exceeding 1000 meters because at such depths, the vessel almost disappears into the depths of the sea, making it very difficult for enemy sonar to detect and torpedoes to reach. For example, the US Mark 48 torpedoes have a maximum operating depth of only 800 meters.The state-of-the-art design of the Soviet Project 685 submarines includes numerous automated systems, thereby reducing the manpower required on board. According to the 1982 proposal of the Soviet Ministry of Defense, the crew only needs 57 personnel, which later increased to 64 personnel including 30 officers, 22 warrant officers, 12 petty officers, and sailors.Komsomolets Disaster
On April 7, 1989, the K-278 Komsomolets submarine, under the command of Captain Evgeny Vanin, conducted its first patrol in the Norwegian Sea. The vessel was diving at a depth of 335 meters in waters near Bear Island, Norway, 180 km southwest. At 11:02 local time, the vessel unexpectedly encountered a mishap while at a depth of 150 meters. A fire broke out in compartment 7 - the engine room, attributed to 'electrical arcing and ignition of hot oil in the separator system.' The fire quickly damaged a valve in the compressed air pipeline, allowing oxygen-enriched compressed air to be pumped into the engine room, intensifying the blaze.
According to Norman Polmar and Kenneth Moore, two experts in Russian submarine operations and design, the K-278 Komsomolets was originally a platform for technology testing. With a small crew, it lacked damage control measures, and most of the crew were inexperienced sailors. In their book Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945 - 2001, Polmar and Moore describe the fire on the Komsomolets submarine as so intense that sailors on deck witnessed the outer rubber coating peeling off due to the extreme heat.
At 11:37 local time, Captain Vanin signaled for help, and the Soviet Navy received the distress call, but the response they received was incomplete, leaving them unaware of the vessel's dire situation. By 11:54, Captain Vanin decided to bypass Soviet encrypted transmission protocols to send an SOS signal, appealing for any available assistance with the message: “Near Bear Island, there is a Soviet nuclear submarine on fire. The vessel is floating on the surface, the crew is fighting for their lives.”
The Il-38 aircraft rolled onto the runway at 12:43 and by 14:40, the pilots on the Il-38 observed sailors on the sea surface, but they were not wearing survival suits. They may have assumed they would soon be rescued, but the water temperature in the Norwegian Sea was nearing freezing (~ 2°C) and if immersed in such icy waters for just 15 minutes, they would lose consciousness. Meanwhile, the K-278 Komsomolets lay motionless on the surface, black smoke billowing from its stern. The Ilyushin Il-38 dropped rescue rafts, but only a few sailors managed to board them, and there weren't enough rafts for everyone. Many sailors, numb from immersion in the frigid water, were unable to cling to the rafts.Captain Vanin and 4 other sailors returned inside the Komsomolets to search for others - those still trying to save the vessel in vain. However, the intense fire prevented Vanin and the rescue teams from advancing further, and the vessel began to bow down and sink.
Vanin and the rescue team found the escape chamber, but it was jammed, unable to deploy. As the vessel sank to nearly 400 meters depth, the pressure tore it apart, releasing the escape chamber. As the escape chamber neared the surface, pressure differentials blew off the chamber lid, ejecting 2 individuals, and water rushed in quickly. Ultimately, only 1 person surfaced and survived, while Captain Vanin and the others sank with the escape chamber alongside the Komsomolets submarine.At 17:08, after hours adrift on the sea surface, the K-278 Komsomolets submerged to a depth of 1680 meters at a 80-degree angle. The sailors floating on the surface were rescued, but not all survived. 81 minutes after the K-278 Komsomolets sank, the surface vessels Aleksey Khlobystov and Oma arrived for rescue, but only 27 people survived. 42 people perished, including 9 who sank with the submarine, 30 died from hypothermia or trauma, and 3 died on the ship.Radiation Still Leaking to This Day
The K-278 Komsomolets sank with its nuclear reactor, 22 Type 53 torpedoes, and SS-N-15 Starfish anti-submarine missiles. Among these torpedoes were 2 nuclear-tipped ones. Under pressure from Norway, the Soviet Union deployed deep-sea submersibles, operated from the oceanographic research vessel Keldysh, to search for the K-278 submarine. In June 1989, two months after the incident, the wreck was found, and Soviet officials asserted that the radiation leakage was insignificant and posed no harm to the environment.
In 1992, a second expedition took place involving a group of scientists, including experts from Norway, conducting surveys of water samples, sediments, and marine organisms, but found no evidence of hazardous radiation leakage. By 1993, another survey by Russia with experts from the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States discovered Cesium-137 radiation and also identified a large hole in the torpedo compartment. From 1989 to 1998, a total of 7 expeditions were conducted to preserve the reactor and seal the torpedoes to prevent radiation leaks.Tengiz Borisov, head of Russia's Special Commission on Underwater Tasks, once told reporters: 'If there were a leak, fishing activity could not take place in the Norwegian Sea for 600 to 700 years.'
Hilde Elise Heldal, a researcher from the Institute of Marine Research, who participated in expeditions to the Komsomolets wreck, stated: 'Previous Russian expeditions, in the 1990s and most recently in 2007, discovered radiation leaks from a ventilation duct of the vessel.' After taking 5 samples from this duct, researchers measured varying levels of radiation contamination. One sample showed normal levels of contamination, one had concentrations over 30,000 times normal, 2 samples showed contamination levels 100,000 times higher, and notably, one had concentrations approaching nearly 1 million times the norm.Heldal emphasized that they indicate radiation from the Komsomolets has been leaking over time!
In 2019, researchers for the first time were able to closely access and directly measure radiation levels at the Komsomolets wreck thanks to an unmanned submersible Aegir 6000. They also filmed, photographed, and collected samples at the wreck. Radiation detectors on the Aegir 6000 confirmed radiation leakage from the vessel's ventilation duct with levels ranging from hundreds of thousands to nearly a million times higher than uncontaminated seawater. However, Heldal expressed cautious optimism, stating 'the results could be very alarming' but not yet alarming as the leaked radiation would quickly dilute, evidenced by the fact that just half a meter away from the ventilation duct, no radiation was detected.She also mentioned that scientific models have been constructed to examine what would happen if all the Cesium radiation on the Komsomolets vessel leaked out. In the worst-case scenario, it would not affect the fish in the Barents Sea as it is at a very deep depth. She believes it is best to leave it lying at the bottom of the sea because it would be very dangerous to try to raise the ship; radiation could potentially leak onto the surface, which is also the worst-case scenario.'Through monitoring radiation pollution, I can affirm that fish or seafood in this area are still safe to eat,' Heldal said.
