The Wreck of Komsomolets – A Soviet Submarine, Lost to Icy Depths

For us Cold War veterans I remember hearing that a Russian boat went missing during my Army service, we would be briefed on Soviet actions and accidents Because of readiness for possible attacks This boat was mentioned but no details was given

That probably isn't missing hull plating in the last photo, but rather anechoic tiles. They are basically rubber tiles that cover the exterior of submarines to dampen noise and reduce sonar signature. It's not uncommon for some of them to fall off during normal operation so those may well have been missing before the submarine was lost.

The “periscope “ you pointed out is actually the main entrance from the sail into the pressure hill for the crew.

Considering that the stern has minimal to no damage I would surmise that the boat switched on the way down and struck the bottom bow first, which would explain the damage to the bow section. That "Piping" you refer to looks like a compressed gas tank, probably knocked out of that peeled back area in the hull (It looks like there is another one inside that area). A very interesting wreck, thanks.

I've been fascinated by Komsomolets since I saw the NatGeo article with its beautiful painting of the wreck in the early 90's, when I was like 6 years old.

Советский подводник Виктор Слюсаренко всплыл и выжил в спасательной капсуле с глубины 1 километр. После всплытия от перепада давления вырвало люк капсулы и 4 человека погибло, Виктор Слюсаренко сумел выбраться из тонущей капсулы и плавал в ледяной воде +2 градуса около 40 минут, потом его спасли. Капсула затонула и лежит недалеко от лодки.

A good reason for the lack of a catastrophic implosion is the simple fact that the sub flooded from the water pouring in from the screw. And the deeper it went, the faster that water flooded throughout the pressure hull. It wouldn't have mattered whether the bulkheads were secured, the water would have made it's way through the interior due to it's pressure alone. I would surmise that all the spaces within the sub completely flooded long ago, which would have negated a possible implosion.

Sir, Not a bad video. K-278 sunk while I was on active duty. Pretty familiar with the 'MIKE' class. The 'torpedo' shaped opening in the deck was believed to be a storage nest for a deployable floating buoy communications device. This is similar to a buoy used by U.S. ballistic missile subs. As for the condition of the bow, which is the first I've of it, I would believe that compressed air bottle used as part of the main ballast tank blow system may have ruptured when the ship hit bottom. Possible a weapon detonated, though I think this much less likely.

14:05 appears to be a a roller used to spool in and out cable from floating wire antenna I think.

Great video like always. Glad you make regular uploads. Keep it up man you’ll make it big. High quality videos

Glad you bring up ship wreck topic from cold war era

at 13:32, the thing that looks like a bomb port in the center of the picture is actually a floating antenna for communications. They drag it behind themselves like flying a kite and it goes close to the ocean to receive/transmit messages.

Excellent presentation and research.

Looks like some penetration of the hull outer plates was made post sinking to expose and remove some of the high pressure air or hydraulic system storage vessels beneath to gain access to systems beneath. The venting looks like warm water escaping passively by thermo-syphon from the reactor cooling system as intended. This as a result of its lower density, looks smokey. There will be little hull implosion as the vessel flooded progressively as a result of fire compromising the electrical hull penetration gland packing. It would be intumescent but only to a point. So strange to me that so little effort was made to eliminate sources of combustible material from construction. Even a minor hp steam leak can set fire to paper and the like. They used to use cigarette papers to locate steam leaks because they would instantly catch light on contact with invisible steam jets. HP steam is invisible water vapour and nothing like the stuff coming out of your kettle at home.

I really liked this video a lot! I've never heard of this wreck. I feel like I should mention that it's okay to relax and be more conversational with your narration. As long as the words and information are clear, nobody expects a professional delivery.

Excellent presentation.Sad,tragic.

The Bridge is not in the sail. Its just for navigation and monitoring when emerged if its to cold to stay outside for too long

A five kopeck insulator was used in place of the required 20 kopeck insulator. Those darn bean counters !

A thought on the bow damage where the ‘tear’ in the plating is, consider a flat bottom, maybe better illustrated as a ruler standing on edge making a ‘flat bottom’, two thoughts: take a pencil and lay the flat ruler edge on the perpendicular pencil, located beneath the damage section, second, pencil in the same location but buried in the mud. As the sub impacted the ocean bottom, the section above the pencil might have ripped open as the weight of the bow, forward the pencil location, impacted the bottom. Perhaps a rock or rocky outcropping would replace the ‘pencil’ in the illustration. In the second scenario, the submarine main section impacting the bottom first, then striking the ‘pencil’ (or rock) would have forced the bow section up wrinkling the area above the pencil first, then the weight of the bow would then impact the bottom with the same result as scenario one, where the ‘wrinkled’ section already weakened, would then be torn open. I found it difficult to find the right words to express both scenarios so I did the best I could. My apologies if the description is difficult to understand because of my inability to find the words to best describe the damage as the submarine struck the bottom.

A Norwegian surveillance P-3 Orion filmed the rest of the perishing crew on on an open liferaft, not beeing able to help. This is if my memory serves me right. Probably absolutely not something for viewing here.. RIP