ВМФ СССР против НАТО в 1980х

Yet in the research for this report, a submarine accident was uncovered that indicates in
fact that the U.S. Navy has had at least one nuclear reactor accident which affected the operators.
On 21 April 1973, the nuclear-powered attack submarine, USS Guardfish (SSN-612),
experienced a primary coolant leak while running submerged about 370 miles south-southwest of
Puget Sound, Washington. The submarine surfaced, ventilated, decontaminated, and repaired the
casualty unassisted. Four crew members were transferred to the Puget Sound Naval Hospital for
radioactive monitoring.17 The severity of the accident is unclear, but the way it is reported in an
official Navy document indicates that it fits the definition of an official "accident." The accident
has never been reported in the media, and other official documents about the Guardfish do not
acknowledge that an accident occurred. According to the deck log of the USS Guardfish for 21
April 1973, for instance, the submarine was reported as operating "submerged as before" during
the entire day without incident. The command history of the Guardfish for 1973 also makes no
mention of an accident during the year.

 

Just as the United States is happy to list the shortcomings of the Soviet Navy, the Soviets are not slow to reciprocate. Opposite: The LISS Nautilus, the navy's first nuclear-powered submarine, on sea trials near Groton. Connecticut. According to Soviet claims, "defects" in the reactor shielding ex posed the crew to high levels of radiation in 1954. The sub was supposedly docked for refitting and the crew partially replaced. (all photos courtesy U.S. Navy) have obtained, the impact of a Faded Giant would be much like a major accident at a commercial reactor, with evacuations, contamination of food and water supplies, and the spread of fallout to areas downwind. The size of the affected region could be substantial. California state officials, after meeting with the navy in 1980, planned a 31.5-square mile evacuation zone around the Mare Island Naval Shipyard near San Francisco - an area that encompasses 186,000 people.

 

Like the foreign nuclear fleets, the U.S. Navy, citing a broad range of national security concerns, is quite secretive about its Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. In Congressional testimony and a handful of unclassified reports, however, Admiral Rickover and his successors have sought to assuage any public fears. Every year for the past thirty years they have testified before Congress with statements typical of this one last year: "there has never been an accident involving a naval reactor, or any release of radioactivity which has had a significant effect on individuals or the environment." The navy tells us, furthermore, that they have accomplished this perfect record while amassing 2400 years of reactor operation and 50 million miles of steaming at sea.

Despite the Admiral's assurance, it is an open secret that the navy does in fact maintain records of what appear to be nuclear accidents, at least as you and I would use the word "accident". These events, however, are not called "accidents" by the navy. They are "incidents" and "discrepancies". And they are, in the words of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, "born classified". While accident reports are frequently released by the nuclear navy's civilian counterpart, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the navy routinely denies public access to similar reports because "there has never been an accident." The nuclear navy's principal oversight committee in Congress - the House Committee on Armed Services - has shown little inclination to question the navy's claims to such a perfect record.

 

Just as the United States is happy to list the shortcomings of the Soviet Navy, the Soviets are not slow to reciprocate. Opposite: The LISS Nautilus, the navy's first nuclear-powered submarine, on sea trials near Groton. Connecticut. According to Soviet claims, "defects" in the reactor shielding ex posed the crew to high levels of radiation in 1954. The sub was supposedly docked for refitting and the crew partially replaced. (all photos courtesy U.S. Navy) have obtained, the impact of a Faded Giant would be much like a major accident at a commercial reactor, with evacuations, contamination of food and water supplies, and the spread of fallout to areas downwind. The size of the affected region could be substantial. California state officials, after meeting with the navy in 1980, planned a 31.5-square mile evacuation zone around the Mare Island Naval Shipyard near San Francisco - an area that encompasses 186,000 people.

 

16 May 1969
The U.S.S. Guitarro, a $50 million nuclear submarine undergoing final fitting in San Francisco Bay, sank to the bottom as water poured into a forward compartment. A House Armed Services subcommittee later found the Navy guilty of "inexcusable carelessness" in connection with the event.

 

За 5 лет (1983-1987 г.) на подводных лодках ВМС США произошло 56
столкновений, 113 пожаров, 12 посадок на мель, 85 взрывов и 48 затоплений
внутренних помещений и отсеков. Только в 1989 году в ВМС США произошло 71
аварийное происшествие с кораблями; в том числе 34 - с атомными подводными
лодками, из них 8 - с ПЛАРБ и 26 - с торпедными ПЛА: среди них 12 пожаров, 2
аварии ГЭУ, 3 посадки на мель и 9 столкновений. У нас такого за один год
никогда не бывало.

В 1995 году в ВМС Великобритании зафиксировано: 97 пожаров и возгораний; 17
случаев затоплений корабельных помещений. Около 50% аварий произошло в
период пребывания кораблей и судов в море. 75 случаев возгораний произошло
на надводных кораблях, 10 - на подводных лодках и 12 - на судах
вспомогательного флота. Это только отдельные примеры.

В целом за последние 5-10 лет аварийность на ПЛ ВМС США и ряда других стран
НАТО, по оценке их руководителей, продолжает оставаться значительной. Этот
вывод подтверждается достаточным количеством фактов. По оценке американских
специалистов, несмотря на принимаемые различного рода организационные,
научно-технические, практические меры и создание дополнительных специальных
органов, предназначенных главным образом для решения задачи предупреждения и
снижения аварийности, она в ВМС США и ряде других стран НАТО пока заметно не
снижается."

 

Table 7: Submarine Force Mishaps, 1983 - 1987

1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
Atl Pac Atl Pac Atl Pac Atl Pac Atl Pac Total
-Groundings 2 0 0 2 2 0 3 0 1 2 12
-Collisions 16 5 7 3 5 3 1 3 10 3 56
Submarines 13 4 5 3 5 3 1 3 10 3 50
Support Ships 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
-Fires 22 14 19 14 23 3 15 7 26 6 149
Submarines 18 14 13 11 16 3 11 6 16 5 113
Support Ships 4 0 6 3 7 0 4 1 10 1 36
-Floodings 11 3 7 3 6 3 7 1 5 2 48
Submarines 11 3 4 2 4 3 5 1 3 2 38
Support Ships 0 0 3 1 2 0 2 0 2 0 10
-Ordnance Mishaps 10 6 6 0 8 2 18 12 9 14 85
Submarines 9 5 6 0 8 2 10 8 4 9 61
Support Ships 1 1 0 0 0 0 8 4 5 5 24
-Equipment Mishaps 12 10 12 4 10 7 7 3 12 5 82
-Explosions 0 0 3 1 3 2 3 0 1 1 14
-Heavy Weather 2 2 2 0 2 0 3 1 2 0 14
-Suicides 6 4 3 2 4 2 4 2 3 1 31

 

A SAMPLING OF US NAVY NUCLEAR PROPULSION ACCIDENTS
*28/02/60, SSN 586 Triton, leak in main condenser leading to reactor shut-down.
*28/11/60, SSN 571 Nautilus, six men soaked by reactor coolant.
*31/12/62, SSN 578 Skate, engine rooms floods.
*24/11/67, USS Savannah, leak in auxiliary reactor cooling system.
*29/12/71, SSN 607 Dace, discharges 500 US gallons of coolant water into river. USN confirms other previous leaks.
*21/04/73, SSN 612 Guardfish, primary coolant leak requiring venting.
*c.1975, CGN 36 California, spills 15-20 US gallons of primary coolant.
*23/05/78, SSN 652 Puffer, 5-100 US gallons of radioactive water spilled from the secondary coolant system. Resulted in substantial amounts of drydock being torn out and sealed into containers for disposal.
*26/05/78, SSN 648 Aspro, 500ml of radioactive water leaked onto personnel.
*11/05/79, CVN 68 Nimitz, primary coolant leak.
*20/06/79, SSN 666 Hawkbill, primary coolant leak of 2 US gallons per hour for three days. USN says "such leaks happen occasionally".
*20/09/79, CGN 35 Truxton, spill of 13 US gallons of radioactive high purity water into harbour. May have been 80-100 US gallons.
*20/07/80, SSN 662 Gurnard, spill of 30 US gallons of radioactive water into harbour.
*03/12/80, SSN 666 Hawkbill, spill of 150 US gallons of radioactive water during repair work.
*28/09/82, SSN 609 Sam Houston, spills 50 US gallons of radioactive water. Not released into harbour but one person contaminated.
*02/04/84, SSBN 635 Sam Rayburn, paint found to be radioactive.
*24/11/85, SSN 579 Swordfish, suffered a propulsion "casualty".
*03/01/89, SSBN 659 Will Rogers, surfaces under a British fishing vessel.
*03/01/89, SSN 668 Spadefish, fire.
*07/01/89, SSN 613 Flasher, fire.
*10/01/89, SSN 716 Salt Lake City, collision in Pacific.
*17/01/89, SSN-714 Norfolk collides with the USS San Diego (AFS-6) near Norfolk.
*21/01/89, SSN 705 City of Corpus Christi, collision while submerged in the Atlantic.
*03/02/89, SSBN 726 Ohio, fire while submerged.
*24/02/89, SSBN-640 Benjamin Franklin, fire while submerged in Atlantic.
*20/03/89, SSBN 659 Will Rogers, fire in Atlantic.
*29/03/89, SSBN 659 Will Rogers, fire in Atlantic.
*04/89, SSN 662 Gurnard, commander relieved of his command after running aground.
*07/04/89, SSN 709 Hyman G. Rickover, fire while submerged in Atlantic.
*01/05/89, SSN 713 Houston, plunged towards sea bottom due to a broken valve.
*03/05/89, SSN 710 Augusta, fire in Atlantic.
*17/05/89, SSN 725 Helena, full failure of gearbox and propeller.
*18/05/89, SSN 639 Tautog, fire in Pacific.
*23/05/89, SSN 669 Seahorse, runs aground in Pacific.
*23/05/89, SSN 662 Gurnard, runs aground near San Diego.
*25/05/89, SS 581 Blueback, fire in Pacific.
*29/05/89, SSN 614 Greenling, equipment operation failure in Atlantic.
*02/06/89, SSN 638 Whale, explosion in Atlantic.
*14/06/89, SSN 713 Houston, snags a tow cable in Pacific (one death).
*16/06/89, SSN 713 Houston, entangled in fishnet.
*28/06/89, CGN 25 Bainbridge, runs aground in Netherlands.
*29/06/89, SSN 717 Olympia, equipment operations failure in Pacific.
*11/07/89, SSN 713 Houston, flooded.
*07/21/89, SSN 685 Glenard P. Lipscomb, deck accident in Atlantic.
*07/24/89, SSN 668 Spadefish, fire in Atlantic.
*27/07/89, CVN 72 Abraham Lincoln, spills 330 US gallons of radioactive collant into James River, Norfolk, Virginia.
*28/07/89, SSN 660 Sand Lance, fire in drydock.
*23/08/89, SSN 718 Honolulu, equipment operation failure.
*05/09/89, SSBN 624 Woodrow Wilson, collision in Atlantic.
*22/09/89, SSN 671 Narwhal, damaged by hurricane.
*29/09/89, SSBN 735 Pennsylvania, runs aground in Atlantic.
*13/11/89, SSN 670 Finback, fire in Atlantic.
All told, the US Navy had almost 1600 accidents of all classes in the
1980s. Numbers for the 1990 have not yet been made public.