Frank Pope: 72 Hours: The First-Hand Account of a Royal Navy Mission to Save the Crew of a Trapped Russian Submarine

The insult to British sovereignty was still fermenting when the ex-Soviet state of Georgia erupted into war in August 2008. The energy-rich nation was leaning ever closer towards the west, wooed by Britain and America with military hardware, training, and the possibility of NATO membership. Unwilling to challenge the US, Moscow directed its fury at Britain, accusing it of acting like a 19th-century colonial power.

More sinister yet, in Russia the free media has been forced deep underground. Oleg Kashin, one of the Kommersant journalists who covered the AS-28 incident, was attacked and hospitalised in 2010 as a result of his reporting. Situations that are unflattering to the government are spun into propaganda, and the mauling that Putin suffered over the Kursk would be unthinkable today. But there are signs that the Russian Navy is now persuaded of the importance of international collaboration in submarine rescue. In 2011, a Kilo-class Russian submarine took part in NATO’s rescue exercises off Spain. If there was another accident and Russia requested help, the new NATO rescue team would doubtless be deployed.

The lessons learned from the 21st-century submarine rescue have developed and strengthened the coalition of nations who work together to protect their submariners from the gruesome, prolonged agony of death beneath the waves. They train in the latest and most effective submarine escape and rescue techniques. Equipment and strategies may progress every year, but one thing stays the same: the ruthless ticking of the clock. Whoever is mounting the mission, the time to first rescue remains 72 hours.

A-Frame:An A-shaped structure that supports a lifting point high above the deck and over the water, allowing safe deployment of equipment overboard.

ADS:Atmospheric Diving Suit – a human shaped pressure suit to allow divers to descend below 300 metres.

ATC:Air Traffic Control.

C17:Boeing’s C17 Globemaster III is a four-engined cargo aircraft used by various militaries around the world. Wingspan of 51 metres, able to carry over 77 tonnes of cargo. Three crew.

C5:Lockheed’s C-5 Galaxy is one of the world’s largest strategic airliners. With a wingspan of 67.8 metres, it is able to carry over 120 tonnes of cargo. Crew of eight.

ILS:Instrument Landing System, used to guide aircraft in to airports.

ISMERLO:The International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office, based in Norfolk, Virginia.

K-Loader:A specialised truck with a large flat cargo bed that can be raised and lowered. Crucial to the loading of C17 aircraft.

KIL-27:The anchor-handling and buoy-laying Sura-class tug-boat used by the Royal Navy rescue team as their Vessel of Opportunity.

LR5:The UK Submarine Rescue Service’s submersible, in service until 2009. Able to carry 16 rescued submariners.

MOD:The UK’s Ministry of Defence.

NATO:The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. A military alliance between 28 western nations.

NDB:Non-Directional Beacon. An outmoded navigation method still fitted as standard in aircraft, but rarely used.

Priz:The class name for the Russian Federation Navy’s rescue submersibles. Used in all fleets and deployed during the Kursk.

ROV:Remotely Operated Vehicle. An underwater robot usually equipped with video, lights, and manipulators.

Scorpio:The type of Remotely Operated Vehicle used by the UK Submarine Rescue Service’s. Rated for work at depths of up to 900m, it is a popular model with offshore oil companies.

SS:SubSunk. The code used by the Royal Navy to indicate the time at which a submarine is known to have sunk.

TTFR:Time To First Rescue. The all important measure of how fast a rescue team can respond after first being alerted.

VOO:Vessel of Opportunity. A ship allocated to a foreign rescue team by the host country.

Zulu:The International time code for Universal Time, or Greenwich Mean Time. Used in all aviation communications.

Lazurit Design Bureau

Depth rating: 900m

Length: 13m

Valery Lepetyukha (Валерий Лепетюха), Captain 1st Rank, Commander

Vyacheslav ‘Slava’ Milachevsky (Вячеслав Милашевский), Captain-Lieutenant, pilot

Antoly Popov (Анатолий Попов) – Warrant Officer

Sergey Belozerov (Сергей Белозеров) – Warrant Officer

Alexandr Uybin (Александр Уйбин) – crew member

Alexandr Ivanov (Александр Иванов) – crew member

Gennady Bolonin (Геннадий Полонин) – civilian engineer from the Lazurit Design Bureau, the designers of AS-28

Sergey Ivanov – Defence Minister, Russian Federation

Igor Dygalo – Russian Federation Navy spokesman

Admiral Victor Fyoderov – Russian Federation Navy, Commander of Pacific Fleet

Alexander Kosolapov – Russian Federation Navy, Pacific Fleet spokesman

Captain Viktor Novikov – Captain of rescue vessel Georgy Kozmin (AS-28 mothership)

Dmitriy Podkapayev – Russian Submarine Rescue Service pilot

Boris Doroganov – head of auxiliary ships fleet and Captain of KIL-27

Abul Avdoshin – head of operational department on Naval staff

Vladimir Masorin – Head of the Main Staff of the Navy, acting Navy commander on board command ship

Marina Belozerov – wife of Sergey Belozerov

Tatiana Lepetyukha – wife of Captain LepetyukhaYelena Milachevskaya – wife of Vyacheslav Milachevsky

Guzel Latypova – journalist

AN ORION EBOOK

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Orion Books.

This eBook first published in 2012 by Orion Books.

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