The Widowmakers by Edward Jones

Author:Edward Jones [Jones, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-03-21T04:30:00+00:00

Radiation Spreads

Capt. Zateyev and his crew quickly encountered yet another problem to deal with: the spread of slower yet still lethal radiation throughout the sub. With the reactor compartment jury-rigged to allow for the improvised cooling system, radioactive steam had been sucked into the sub’s ventilation system. Additionally, crew members were pumping radioactive water out of the reactor compartment. As they did so, radioactive water began leaking out of sewage drains in compartments 3 through 8, comprising well over two-thirds of the entire ship.

With the radioactive gases and drainage water spreading throughout the sub, Zateyev and his senior officers came to the realization that none of the crew would survive the week-long, 1,500-mile trek back to Soviet territory. With the ship’s short-range radio still operational, Zateyev took a bold gamble that paid off. He turned his stricken ship southward, away from home, but towards a nearby area where three older Soviet diesel-powered subs were known to be patrolling the waters. Initially, the Soviet submarine S-270 responded to the short-range radio transmissions of the K-19. (American warships also picked up the K-19’s short-range distress calls and offered assistance, but Zateyev turned down the American offers for help, not wanting to divulge any Soviet state secrets.) The S-270 met up with the K-19, and Zateyev boarded the S-270 to radio Moscow and ask for instructions. The most critically ill men (including those who undertook the suicide mission of repairing the reactor) were evacuated to the S-270. The S-270 attempted to tow the stricken K-19, but the tow ropes broke under the strain of attempting to tow the larger, heavier K-19.

Within a day, more help arrived, first in the form of the other two Soviet submarines in the area (the S-159 and the S-268), and finally a Soviet Navy destroyer dispatched as a tow ship. The stricken K-19 was evacuated and towed back to port near the city of Murmansk in the Soviet Union.

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