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From: deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Soviet _Komsomolets_ ("Mike") SSN
Message-ID: <1990Dec3.051911.4000@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 3 Dec 90 05:19:11 GMT
References: <1990Nov30.023259.10033@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 58
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman)

Re: a question on unclassified nuclear safety records:

Perhaps the most telling difference between the two navies
(i.e., U.S. and Soviet) and their respective safety records
is the fate of the _Komsomolets_, or "Mike" SSN, which is
presumed to have been sunk by a fire in the reactor hold.

Norman Polmar, in the Sept. 90 issue of _Naval Institute
Proceedings_, gives an excellent examination of the events
leading up to this April 89 tragedy.

For instance, Soviet computations for a speed regime of
36-38 knots submerged would require 41,000 to 45,000 shp
(shaft horsepower).  According to Polmar, such an achievement
would be remarkable for a reactor within a pressure hull
of less than 29.5 feet in diameter.

Initially, Western analysts believed the Mike to be powered 
by two reactors with lead-bismuth heat exchange media.

Quoting from the Polmar article:

"...[T]he Soviets have concluded that the cause of her loss
began with an electrical fire in the aftmost (7th) compartment.
Remote control activated the freon fire-extinguishing system.
Freon has long been used in Soviet diesel-electric and nuclear
submarines for blanketing fires. It would have done so in the
_Komsomolets_, but an electric arc burned through the side of
the side of the high-pressure main ballast blow system.  A high-
pressure jet of compressed air overwhelmed the freon blanket 
and fueled the flames; the compartment was now like a blast
furnace.  A series of other failures followed on board the
_Komsomolets_ until, flooding and with holes blown in her hull
(possibly by some of the seven surfacing charges), she went down.

"There are two views of the underlying cause of her loss: 'The 
positions of the parties have become quite clearly polarized:
the shipbuilders say the ship was good, the crew was poorly
trained; the Navy says the ship was defective, the crew was
adequately trained.

"The crew who sailed the _Komsomolets_ on her fateful voyage
was her "second crew."  The "first crew" had taken the submarine
through her trials and extensive evaluations. The second crew
had taken her to sea on her first operational cruise (which lasted
39 days when she was lost).  The first crew, under Captain 1st
Rank Yu. Zelenskiy, was considerably more experienced than the
second....

"[However,] the _Komsomolets_' demise appears to have been caused
by material failures, which have plagued Soviet submarines, the
Soviet Navy, and the Soviet society...."

-shane


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