The submarine Zaporozhye is a fragment of an era, an artifact of the collapsed USSR. It went to Ukraine and was supposed to be the forerunner of the armada of the fleet, but, like many things in Ukrainian statehood, the protocols remained from the words, and amateurs were engaged in the restoration of the submarine. So good intentions turn into a shameful fact that adds negativity to the country's piggy bank.
Creature
The Zaporozhye submarine was laid down at the Admiralty Shipyards in Leningrad on March 24, 1970, lowered from the slipway on May 29 and went to sea on November 6 of the same year. A few months later, on January 20, 1971, it was assigned to the USSR Navy. As part of the Navy of the Union, it was listed under the code name B-435. In the NATO classification, this type of submarine is given the name Foxtrot. A submarine was designed for long crossings over the ocean - this was the first type of submarine intended for export sale. The last instance was launched in 1983. Most battery submarines have already been decommissioned and disposed of or are museum exhibits.
In the service of the Russian fleet, the submarine of Project 641 Zaporozhye spent 20 intense years. During this period, 14 long-distance crossings were made, among the ports are Tunisia, Syria, Cuba, Morocco. The team served the main service in the waters of the Barents and Mediterranean Seas, and plowed the Atlantic Ocean. The total number traveled by the submarine is 13 thousand nautical miles.
It entered the Black Sea Fleet on August 27, 1990, for which it was transferred to the new destination by inland waterways. The base of the accommodation was the South Bay of Sevastopol. After the collapse of the USSR and the division of the Black Sea Fleet between Russia and Ukraine, the B-435 submarine went to the Ukrainian side, where it received tail number U01 and a new name - Zaporozhye.
Repair of the period of the USSR
The first major overhaul of the Zaporozhye submarine took place after the Atlantic campaign in 1972. Routine repairs were carried out on board from 1979 to 1981 in Kronstadt. After being transferred to the Black Sea Fleet, repairs were carried out in Sevastopol (Kilenbukhta). Due to the lack of funding for the purchase of batteries, it was a joke.
Submarine's life in Ukrainian realities
The fate of the Zaporozhye submarine is a military melodrama where laughter and tears are mixed, while belligerence consists only in the name of the genre of history. Since the boat was dubbed the flagship of the Navy and was considered the embryo of great underwater weapons, they created the appropriate surroundings in the form of a division. It consisted of:
• Chief of Staff - Captain 1st Rank.
• Deputy captain for educational work.
• Specialists (doctor, miner, navigator, etc.).
• Assistants headquarters with the rank of captains of the 2nd rank.
The division consisted of a command post with appropriate personnel, consisting of high-ranking military sailors. Serving everyone had only one existing facility, which was the submarine Zaporozhye. At the same time, the replenishment of the fleet was not foreseen - there were no professionals who could build warships, the allocated funding was immediately lost in the pockets of officials.
Tired of the growing appetites of the mythical division, the leadership of the Navy decided to abolish it, and the submarine was transferred to surface ships. In February 2001, the solemn celebration of the next anniversary of the submarine took place - the ship turned 35 years old. The solemnity of the situation was diluted with piquant detail: the Zaporozhye submarine was welded to the pier with steel cables, otherwise it would have simply sunk.
Greek case of Ukrainian repair
After the transfer to Ukraine, the Zaporozhye submarine again went for repairs, which were carried out in Balaklava. In 2003, after the dock work, the submarine was launched, but was not brought into working condition. The reason for this is the lack of batteries. The leadership of the Ukrainian Navy decided to purchase new batteries from the Greek company Germanos SA. The total cost amounted to 3.5 million US dollars, while Russian companies offered to buy batteries cheaper, but the Ukrainian side refused.
The fact that the battery terminals do not fit the Soviet submarine, it became clear when they were going to mount them, in addition, the overall dimensions of the batteries also did not fit. So the boat remained on the joke for another six years, and the batteries were gathering dust nearby, on the shore under a canopy. The idea to restore "the entire submarine fleet of the country", consisting of a single boat, was fired up by Yuriy Yekhanurov, who was then the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. In 2009, the Ukrainian submarine Zaporozhye was removed from the pier and put into a floating ship repair dock.
Work without completion
Work in the dock continued until January 2010, batteries were installed on the submarine, installation work was carried out to assemble sonar, radar stations, and communication systems. In a half-repaired condition, the submarine took part in the naval exercises "Fairway of the World", held in 2011. During the exercises, it worked out the tasks of saving the submarine that lay at the bottom.
Long-term repair of the pride of the Ukrainian fleet was continued in 2012 in the territory of the shipyard of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Parts of the hull casing, torpedo tubes were replaced, the steering system was revised, the hull was painted and other works, including the installation of the notorious Greek-made batteries.
Not everything was as smooth as we would like, and financial issues overshadowed the life of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. In 2014, a lawsuit occurred between the Chernomorets design bureau (submarine repair contractor) and the military, where the former demanded a payment of 3 million hryvnias for the services rendered. The lawsuit was granted in favor of the bureau, but the money was never transferred.
Service under the flag of Ukraine
In March 2012, the Zaporozhye submarine finally set off on its first training assignment as part of the Ukrainian fleet. She managed to go to the open sea in April of that year. The total amount spent on the repair of the submarine is about 60 million hryvnia.
Testing of sonar systems, sonar, diesel installations, batteries was carried out in June 2012. The first dive after repair took place in the same year in July. The submarine sank to periscope depth, which is 14 meters. The last joint exercises and celebrations with the participation of the Ukrainian and Russian fleets took place in Sevastopol in the same 2012.
In 2013, the Zaporozhye submarine was solemnly accepted into the Ukrainian Navy and moored in the Streletskaya Bay.
Background of the exodus from Ukraine
The coup d'etat that happened in Ukraine in 2014 put all the country's inhabitants, including the military, in front of a choice. Someone managed to do it right away, someone is still in expectation that the situation will return to a reasonable course, but there are less chances. Residents of the Crimean peninsula had to make a decision at lightning speed, and this was not difficult, given the events that took place at that time in Kiev.
Ukraine planned to start increasing its fleet with the advent of the Zaporozhye submarine in the arsenal. But making fiery speeches is much easier than performing strategic tasks. Ukrainian presidents, ministers of defense, and leaders of the “non-skid” were changing, promised the sailors a lot, but they didn’t do even a little. The Zaporozhye submarine has never received a full repair over the years of its stay in the Ukrainian Navy, the crew has never been able to conduct exercises or make a sea voyage on a submarine that can plow the ocean, the Ukrainian authorities did not bother to equip the submarine with modern weapons, although it declared as a combat unit.
Only thanks to the efforts of the crew and the captains of the ship, the Zaporozhye submarine of the Ukrainian Navy remained afloat. In March 2014, the crew, like the whole country, split into two camps: some wanted to remain part of the "nenki", which did not promise any prospects, others decided to take a chance and stay in the profession, but under the Russian flag of St. Andrew.
Chronicle of the transition
Negotiations with the crew in March 2014 took place in a tense atmosphere, eight times from the Russian side, proposals were made to transfer the entire military personnel together with the vessel to the side of the Russian Navy. On March 11, the sailors were supported by the chefs from the city of Zaporozhye and sent food to the besieged crew.
March 25, Russian attack aircraft managed to capture the submarine. The crew of the ship was in a split: some of the sailors refused to surrender and lifted up inside the ship, the rest decided to surrender the ship. The decision to transfer was made by the commander of the second crew, Shageyev R. M. On the submarine Zaporozhye, the Ukrainian naval flag was lowered, the coat of arms and plates with the name of the ship were dismantled.
Part of the crew, led by Captain Klochan D.V., wishing to remain in service in the Ukrainian Navy, left the ship. But after some time, the captain of the first composition went after the submarine to the side of Russia. Andreevsky flag was raised above the artifact of the Ukrainian fleet, which was symbolic, but the practical use of the submarine as a combat unit, alas, is impossible. Having made an independent transition, the Ukrainian submarine Zaporozhye moored in the southern bay of Sevastopol.
