The Mike SSN Tragedy 

***Correction*** The Mike SSN reactor has two primary loops feeding one reactor. Not two reactors.

20 yr US sub vet.. During your career your sub will have an emergency. Mine was loss of depth control, the sub going down backwards with no propulsion during a reactor scram drill session.. We lost hundreds of feet of depth until depth control was regained.. Ultimately, we had to emergency surface until the reactor could be brought back on line. For the remainder of the day the entire crew was utterly silent.. My heart goes out to all my submarine brothers on eternal patrol..

Absolute respect to the Captain going back into the burning and sinking ship to rescue more people.

Dude, Captain Vanin was a true leader who cared about his men. I have a lot of respect for that. Man, he was faced with some hard choices too.

I cannot even imagine the horror of banging on an escape pod hatch and hearing it eject off of the boat knowing that any hope of your survival just ended. That must have been terrifying.

The reason the first emergency blow came up 300 ft short was the boat rose at an extreme angle and this allowed some of the displacement gas to come out through the vents in the bottom. ( They had lost control of the planes so the rise was uncontrolled ) That anyone got out alive is a miracle.

No, there's no "help us" form within Russian submarines distress calls - there are just formalized forms you fill with digits which inform the shore staff about the real status of a boat, in such circumstances with no crypro apparatus to use - you may send it by special portable radio in HF band, whipping antenna off the sail. Which was, naturally, the case then: there is little trust in satellite comms off Polar circle and due to the loss of hydraulical pressupe not just planes were rendered off commission, but which is more important, periscops and telescopic HF antennas too. That is why they firstly sent garbled translations and got garbled incoming messages - normally extracted antennaes, this time were in half-raised position, so 80 per cents of 16-kilowatts of main transmitter was just heating the rubber skin of a sail. BTW, "sail" in USN Silent Service and "fin" on Royal Navy boats here in Russia is called "fencing" since that iron just shelters the periscops and antennas. All in all, this disaster had no connection to reactor affairs nor to weaponry - a rare bird even in Russian Navy. In our opinion on general level, this is the outcome of "automation" of the submarine, cutting the crew numbers off and substituting the live eyes, ears and noses with just sensors and drives. There were almost no conscripts there, just commissioned officers and WOs. Rig-For-Dive process is clearly twice as short as on Boomers (667xxx Projects). Well, in April 1989 I was still a cadet of naval college in Kaliningrad but the clear picture of the disaster was available within the Navy. Which was NOT the case for later Kursk...

So sad I was serving on British submarines when this happened so so sad RIP brothers of the deep

From United States Submarine Bergall, SSN-667, to Soviet Submarine Komsomolets, K-278, a salute.

I was in the Navy when the Mike came into service and we were interested in what little we knew of it. It sank after I left the service but I remember the news reports. Bless the souls of those lost.

As a submarine vet, you did a VERY thorough and satisfactory job detailing the necessity of cleanliness and maintenance required onboard a sub.

Jesus Christ it’s such a shame that the damage control started off so well but literally everything went wrong at the worst time. Rest In Peace to all those brave Seamen who lost their lives in this tragedy.

500 million years from now when the Norwegian sea floor is recycled into land crust, can't wait for the reaction of some sentient squid monkey archeologists to discover a fossilized Soviet sub & base their knowledge of humans from that.

I'm astonished that the Soviet admiral reached out to the Norwegians for assistance. I definitely approve, though. It's good to see some actual human beings made it to high rank in the USSR once in a while.

Damn the captain went down with his ship, he went back into a sinking sub??? What a freaking beast... Gotta have respect a man who leads from the front.....

This, is one hell of a story : a potentially revolutionary design ... and then , everything went wrong , the worst of it , the loss of so many of the courageous crew

Very well done!! I was the Weapons office on USS Seadragon SSN 584 and appreciate the quality of your presentations. Good job!! And thanks you.

Always fascinating for those not among the secret sub insiders.

I'm astonished that the ship's doctor didn't order everyone on the top of the sub to don survival suits ASAP when he first got there.

All sailors, no matter their national allegiance, are all one family. RIP to my missing brothers.

I know these were our potential enemies, but you have to admire their courage and selflessness in trying to save their crewmates. Submariners are a rare breed no matter where they come from.

Having served on SSBN sub in UK I can confirm every patrol in the 70,s never went by without an incident. Some dangerous. Some extremely life threatening. Chicken runs or Crazy Ivans were far and few between. But hydraulic bursts and main vents jamming open fwd, just a couple for example. Training is intense so sorting the problems become 2nd nature. No time to be scared. Just time after to have a laugh at it.

I didn't know there was only 1 "Mike." My brother was a sonar tech on three US subs, Nautilus, Patrick Henry & George Washington. RIP to all submariners who gave lives for their counties!

Holy crap...The amount of speed the escape pod reached to shoot out of the water!....Makes sense if you have something with positive buoyancy and having 1200 or so feet to gain momentum on the way up...I was Army so the only sea legs I have are through video games but as always I enjoy learning about this...Thanks Sub Brief!

jeesus, that casualty is beyond the thing of nightmares.

Doesn't matter where they are from or their political affiliations, they are sailors and people. What a horrible thing to have happened to them.

If that story is not good enough for a major docufilm then I do not know what is. It would be up there with K-19: The Widowmaker or Kursk. It must have been hell for the crew.

I just found your channel. Not only did you cite your sources, but you OPEN with them? Instant sub (pun intended).

Very high quality lecture, this video vastly exceeds the standards for RU-vid. Helluva job

I remember this. I have the Newspaper article clipping somewhere. I remember mixed emotions. Mixed because it was one less "Soviet" submarine that wasn't a threat. Yet the crew.. all I could think of was the families who lost loved ones as I wasn't so callus to not understand that the people of the Warsaw Pact were also people who lived and loved as we did. Now, all these years later, with the experience of life, I look at this as a tragic event in history. An event that given the exploits of the crew in trying to save their ship has shown that they were no different than we in the west. A heroic effort that is worth remembering to not only to learn from but to remember those who perished as well as those who survived.

I'm a simple man, I see a sub brief and I click

Another prime example of tombstone engineering. Mistakes are paid for in human lives. The sea does not take prisoners.

Takes a special kind of sailor to be in subs, and a lot of luck when it's a Soviet-era sub.

As a sub vet I say, well done. I was serving in U.S. Navy when Kosmolets went down. Though they were our adversaries, it's always tragic when you hear of a sub going down or suffering a catastrophic casualty. One thing though, I don't recall us ever deliberately maintaining low oxygen levels for fire prevention. My recollection was we always adjusted O2 bleed to maintain between 140-160 mm Hg O2 partial pressure. My thirty something year old memory may be a little off, but I don't recall O2 levels as part of fire prevention. We didn't want to raise O2 too high but I don't recall maintaining lower than normal since fire can burn quite well in O2 levels far below what humans need to breathe. Fire is the most deadly thing that can occur on a submarine. Flooding can be handled with emergency blow and hydraulic flood control valves. Reactor scram is more of an annoyance. But fire will kill you. Combining high pressure hydraulic oil with high pressure is especially bad, and HP air and hydraulic lines run throughout the ship. Fine mist of oil, hiss of HP air leak, someone lights a cigarette and poof, instant flamethrower.

Like most disasters, so many twists and changes of fate. Tragic R.I.P

That doctor deserves a medal for coordinating the evacuation of that sub.

One of the most amazing disaster/drama stories I have ever heard. Think "Hindenburg" underwater. Should be a movie.

Excellent video, thanks. One cannot imagine the immediate terror associated with the consecutive failures of heroic damage control measures to save the boat. It brings back bad memories of my own SSBN missions where we completed 200+ drill sets during patrol. Everyday our XO was pounding on us, “a clean ship is a happy ship”! Waste oil collection happens for a reason. Carry on.

Was planning to fall asleep listening to this but woah, this was terrifying. Fantastic retelling of a brutal accident Jive Turkey

5:55 "where the water is supposed to stay out of" made me giggle

I rank this as one of the best marine loss documentary's I've seen on YT, extremely well told, explained and illustrated. As a retired fire engineer, this was sad to hear but inevitable. Risk assessment is key at design stage, but safety and back up systems and equipment are expensive and never given enough budget. Fireproofing cable and pipeline transits through firewalls is basic however so how this was missed is so sad. Fair winds and calm seas to all sailors, RIP all those lost at sea.

My brother, days after H.S. graduation joined the U.S. Navy. The whole fam damnly was so proud. I said: do something that has post service dividends. He said: I am going to NNPTC. We were so proud. I said: you're 6'4"... get on a carrier, or at least a cruiser. He said: I am going with subs. We were concerned. I said: for Pete's sake at least get on a boomer! He said: fast attack is what I want. We were more concerned. I said: ppppbbbttt... you're 6'4"! After his first deployment, he called home. He said he hadn't had a really good stretch in months. We laughed, and laughed, and laughed. 😅🤣

This is a great reminder that rescue NEVER close. You are either rescued, or not. Until you are on a rescue vessel, you are not rescued. Im into search and rescue, and the decision to not dawn survival suits is foolish. Rescue missions go sideways in no many ways, and water is so cold. Rescue is a race. You dont slow down while racing. If you are close to the finish line, you don't slow down, if anything you speed up.

A hard and costly lesson. Reminds me of the early Apollo capsule fire and the lessons learned from that. Pure oxygen atmosphere, hatches opening inward - prescription for disaster. A solid presentation.

I so enjoy these briefs. Aaron is always passionate and thorough when discussing them. His Patreon is a great deal to access many more and other content for a whole 1 $ a month. Best dollar I spend each month.

Thanks, Aaron. I remember reading about this disaster in one publication, but have not seen anything else.

Damn, naval deaths can be particularly horrifying

This story is as tragic as exciting at the same time. RIP to all seamen who didn't make it and thank you to Jive for sharing this story with us! Cheers

Absolute heroic and professional crew this was. They fought this casualty perfect to the end, fair winds and following seas.

It always strikes me as peculiar that when disasters such this one occur, it is the able seamen and noncoms who are the first to express a desire to offer assistance to a ship or boat regardless of its nationality. Perhaps the training of officers does not only teach them what to do, but also what and how to think.

Well Done! You laid that account out very professionally and very efficiently! I feel like my time was well spent watching your presentation. Thanks!

Another thought on how the escape pod could have worked, in addition to the pod having a more reliable release mechanism, the addition of a drag chute would slow it's ascent to prevent it from breaching the surface so violently.

The sailer that started the diesel generator saved a lot of lives and when he was left behind that was his saving grace by the explosion ending his life swiftly I can only hope. I could not imagine what that captain was going through by having to make decisions like that. Many did go on to survive because of those decisions.

This is why i find submarines so fascinating. Because of the dangers and the tragedy that can befall them. This was one hell of a tragic story. Fiction cant come close to true stories like this. RIP to them all. Its a good thing that half a million + people can hear about this and they aren't just some forgotten souls.

Respect to the captain , may he and his men lost rest in peace.

This sub brief should be mandatory study @ Groton. Very well done, Salute.

You have quite some good knowledge sir! My Regards! As an aerospace engineer I also have great interest and passion for underwater warfare and it's very valuable that someone like you took the time and effort to put all the known aspects regarding this particular tragedy into detail. Great work!

Russian wiki mentions that the list to port was because the expanding hot air from the 7th compartment, where there was a break in compressed air piping, was blowing water out of the starboard ballast tank, to which the pipes were connected, and performing an emergency blow at that time to correct the list fed more air to the fire through the break even though the list was corrected temporarily by increasing air pressure in the port tank to compensate. It seems that the same air system was connected to the emergency breathing apparatuses, causing their contamination. Also they had garbled transmissions because the hydraulic pressure was supposed to prop up the antennas, so because the pressure dropped, they were out of the proper alignment.

Brilliant sub brief - thanks v much! Fascinating as usual - told with a real flair for the drama of the casualty but also with the compassion of a fellow submariner. I knew the basic story but not the horrifying details. Like I said your telling of the story was amazing... Much appreciated!

I'm not in the military, but I work in an industry that is plagued with mistakes and accidents ranging from very minor to fatal. I keep seeing the same mistakes over and over, because people don't take it seriously.

That captain of the sub was an honorable man to go back in and and make sure his men are safe,unlike the captain of that Italian cruise liner who crashed and sunk that ship was one of the first people off and didn't care about the safety of his passengers,yes much Respect to that submarine captain!!!!!!

YES ! thanks jive. "Ive been waiting a looong time for this moment"

Love your vids. So informative and I have learned alot. My cousin served on subs but I didn't get a chance to discuss anything about his service before he died. I love learning about different subs and accidents. Thanks David 🇬🇧

Heart breaking. Frustrating beyond measure. Almost everything that could go wrong did. That the accident didn't envelope the reactor and weapons was a small consolation. The sailors earned their seats in Valhalla. God be with them and their families.

I seem to remember that compressed air torpedo launches make a fair amount of noise alerting everyone that you just launched. Seawolf class was supposed to have larger swim out tubes that were much quieter launching.

In the 1970s I was an auxillaryman on an ssn. I completed my roving watch forward and did a tour of the whole boat as was our practice. When I reached the engine room aft I thought we had a fire because I saw what i thought was smoke. As a I ran closer to inspect I found it was compressed air and oil being blowing our of the weep hole in one of the hydraulic accumulator control rods. I reported fire in the engine room. I don't know what the nukes had been doing before but they hadn't noticed. Maybe it just started as I walked up. If we had had a spark just then we could have gone up in flames just the same as these poor guys.

Great presentation and explained so that the average person can understand , hats off to the courageous crew that fought to the end. thanks for posting

So glad you made this video.... Was going to request it on the Papa video!

Amazing story of these brave sailors in a horrible fire 🔥 event. Fire starts with sub very deep and spreads forward. This story is very engaging and well done. I was on the edge of my seat rooting for everyone to be saved! WOW.

Another topic I was looking forward to seeing you cover!

The details and incredible drama in this sub's history is amazing. Both the ship itself, but also the captain, and the lone seaman that survived the sinking. It could easily be made into a miniseries.

Thank you for taking the time to create this.

Holy everloving christ. What a nightmare. Honestly, it's amazing how many people did actually survive, and while there's a definite view of this as what not to do in the submarine world it also shows that humans can be absolutely relentless in trying to live. Ones own hardships seem a bit less serious when you consider a sailor in freezing water holding to a life raft with his fucking teeth and actually getting home after doing so.

"The reason that happens is because there are a lot of seals" Me, an intellectual: Jesus Christ they're being attacked by the wildlife too now?

Holy hell. Thanks for the work in putting this together.

I really like that you tell your source clearly and wish many other people did so too since sometimes I might want to take closer look of the subject or merely would like to look interesting pictures and wonder where people got them.

I have an amazing book called "Codename "Fin"" by Romanov D.A. (one of the lead engineers) This book is extensively covering the process of development and testing of the Project 685 SSN. In fact this book is so in depth (no pun intended) that it even has numbers and dates of all telegrams, directives and orders received by the people who were behind this project. It also has interesting pictures taken in development including destroyed DK-12 test chamber, reactor compartment, DK-15 chamber, heat exchanger and many more.

I hope no one believes in Soviet/ Russian sailors as being the “enemy”....... it is up to them, as it is up to US, British, Chinese etc. sailors, to keep calm heads and carry out their duties professionally in order to NOT trigger a nuclear conflict. I have utmost respect for these professionals, no matter the uniform they wear.

I'm new to this channel. What an amazing story. The narrator is excellent and keeps the story moving. Lots of interesting things involving sub operation and maintenance. Really tragic story overall. Kudos to you all.

A Russian admiral asking for assistance from a foreign nation is huge.

Can you imagine being the dude left in the sub and you hear them flee without you

This man is a professional, anyone can notice not only because of the knowledge he shares but the respectful way he talks about his former "enemies", not spitting american propaganda, just 100% technical knowledge and objective history

Great research and storytelling. Thank you for the knowledge and experience Shipmate. Phil... DMSN 1957-1961

Just found your channel, I love the DEPTH of your sub breakdown 😂

I served on the USS Dace SSN607 from 76-82, a 50's designed and just barely 60's built "Thresher" Class boat. Things going south either forward or aft were more the norm than the exception back then. It seemed like all we ever did was train, train, train, then train some more and again, we rarely ever got to sleep. But when the stuff hit the fan and it did in so many big ways, so many times, we responded instantly, intelligently and most of all without fear. The Russians may not have had the best boats but they had damn good Sailors. God Bless this Crew, God Bless these Great Men. No man should have to suffer the way they did, especially in so called times of peace. One thing I've always told friends is that any Vessel of War is an inherently dangerous environment and no technology, no amount of casualty assistance team response can hope to achieve 100% control over the intrinsic, the ingrained dangers presented by its very design. God Bless those Still On Patrol, God Bless those still living with the endless nightmare's. I Love You Brothers.

Incredibly well done. I would like to posit two likely errors: The loss of primary propulsion was not scramming the reactor. Propulsion had already been lost when compartments 6 & 7 were lost to the fire. The main shaft would likely have stopped due to loss of lube oil or some other result of the fire, given that no one was alive in the compartments to keep the impacted systems operating with systems failing due to the heat. Scramming the reactor would have been a likely standard response to loss of power to its main coolant pumps. The other is describing an “air leak” (there are many high pressure and low pressure air systems on a submarine), but given how the leak is described as so robustly supporting the fire it sounds to me like an O2 (oxygen) system leak and not just air. Bravo-Zulu to your documentary, and to the crew of the ship who fought so heroically to save her and their shipmates. Is there any word on how the survivors have gotten on with their lives?

Always an excellent presentation! Thank you!

Sir, as a former CPO in the United States Navy, I always enjoy every lecture you give.

Salute to the braves souls that fought to save their ship and the ones who are now on eternal patrol.

I'm not a sailor, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't tie my life raft to a sinking ship.

I understand one of the most important secrets to successful yt is many videos and the least amount of editing one can get away within. One of the rules an old radio announcer hand taught me in the late 60s was "never do a cold reading." That is, in their case, grab the copy to be announced or read and read it aloud, repeat, read it aloud on the way to a non-live mic so one can identify the gist of the copy and identify the words one can expect to have trouble with or difficulty in pronunciation. If one's shtick is to fly with out that, we can expect to be teased later. Great information, kudos to you for sharing this inside look at heroism and sacrifice, certainly tells me more than I knew.

Incredible synopsis of the incident, thank you.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but does the Russian/Soviet has the most number of submarine disaster in history ?

A Freon Fire Extinguishing system works the same way as Halon works primarily by stopping the chemical reaction of the fire. Unless they were dumping large amounts of Freon into the compartment suffocation should not be a problem.

As soon as I heard lubricant was involved, I thought about the casualty you recorded a video about. In your shoes, I would probably lose a few nights' sleep after reviewing this tragedy.

Escape pod indeed saved one person. I won't ever expect anyone to manage to escape from sinking submarine, underwater.

Too much Automation has its limits . Lesson one : Don't feed the Fire!

39:00 The name of the research ship that surveyed the wreck is pronounced "kell-dish". It's one of the ships that the intelligence center of my ship kept track of in the Western Pacific in the 1980s. It also was the research ship that appeared in the movie "Titanic".

I like the refinements you made to your production. Nice work!

Great video, I didn't know about this tragedy of the Komsolet.