On the eve of the Submariner's Day celebrated on March 19, TASS correspondent Sergei Babkin met with submariner, head of the All-Russian Fleet Support Movement (DPF) Captain of the first rank Vladimir Maltsev. He spoke about the glorious naval traditions of submariners, about the attitude towards women on the ship, presented his point of view on the urgent problem of combating unmanned boats.
— Vladimir Pavlovich, first of all, happy Submariner's Day, celebrated on March 19! Tell us about yourself — what projects have you served on boats, how long have you been underwater?
— I served on various projects. He completed his internship at the 670th project (Project 670 "Skat" is a series of 11 nuclear submarines (NPS) built in the 60s and 70s — approx. TASS) in 1978. My first trip to the sea was in March. When we went out to the Barents Sea, I was a cadet. The K-308 boat was from the 11th Division.
We went out to sea. It was stormy. Certain procedures were immediately followed — the ship was performing a combat mission. The cadets were also involved, for example, in removing deviation — there is such a thing. Then all those who went to sea for the first time (on a submarine — approx. TASS), they were called to the central compartment, where the commander and his deputy were. They conducted a ritual of initiation into submariners — they gave them a drink from a container with seawater from a depth of 200 m.
Then, in order to instill love for the ship's iron, the newly minted submariner had to kiss a sledgehammer. She was suspended and swinging. It was necessary to contrive so as not to get in the teeth. I did it — I kissed the sledgehammer. Then the submariner's certificate was handed over. Then the Day of the submariner was not celebrated. Subsequently, when it began to be celebrated — sometime in the mid-90s - I discovered that the certificate had been written out and handed to me on March 19. I still keep it, sealed it in a "crust". These were two sheets with the signatures of the commander and his deputy in the political department. This is how I remember my first trip to the sea.
Then, in July 1978, he joined the Western Army (one of the bases of the Northern Fleet submarines — approx. TASS). He was assigned to the submarine of the 671st project (code "Ruff" - a series of submarines for the construction of Admiralty Shipyards). He served there for two years as a foreman of the OSNAZ team (special purpose, radio intelligence — approx. TASS). The specialty was in demand. I had to go to sea not only on my own, but also on different submarines. I went to exercises, went to military service.
One of the most interesting combat services — and there were about 10 of them on submarines and ships — we went to the east coast of the United States. The farthest point is the Caribbean Sea, the Sargasso Sea, located in the so—called Bermuda Triangle. An interesting incident happened there. All refrigeration units are out of order. The temperature in the compartments was plus 40 degrees, in the turbine compartment — plus 60. The turbine guys, who were on watch in three shifts (usually the watch lasts four hours), were given a one—hour watch. That is, one hour of watch, then a relatively cold shower — the temperature of the seawater, even at a depth of 200 m, was about plus 18, and this was in October. Within two weeks in this condition, the official uniform was announced in one-time underwear: one-time underpants and a shirt. And so — from the commander to the sailor. Repair work has been carried out all this time. They were headed by the foreman of the bilge crew. I remembered his first and last name for the rest of my life: Gennady Pochuyev. He was an experienced submariner who served for about 10 years as a midshipman. He led the repair team, and it worked a miracle. Two weeks later, the operation of the "refrigerators" was restored. The temperature has returned to normal, the only thing is that all the "freshness" from food has disappeared. Well, the submariners have enough food... (Laughs.) We didn't feel any hunger. It was enough for us to get to the base.
Then he entered the Kiev Higher Naval Political School. Upon graduation, he was sent back to the Northern Fleet. This was my wish, because I had the right to choose as a graduate of college with honors.
At first I got on a surface ship, but I didn't stay on it for long, because I was always a submariner at heart. So I ended up in the 42nd brigade in Liinahamari on a diesel boat. First there was the Buki-9 boat (B-9, project 641, Foxtrot according to the NATO classification — approx. TASS). Then I got on the Buki-103 boat, which was going into combat service. The appointment took place two weeks before the boat sailed. Then there were six months at sea. Then there were other boats.
In general, he spent about four years underwater and hiking in total. It is clear that a diesel boat can stay underwater for about 72 hours, and then it must surface for 12 hours to recharge the batteries. On submarines, everything is different, you can be at depth for a long time. But, in particular, there was a trip to the North Pole in 1995, when they sailed quite often, because they practiced surfacing in the polynya. There were more than a dozen ascents in total. The most trumped-up was wormwood number 23 in the area of the North Pole.
Whoever says that he surfaced at the point of the North Pole, do not believe him. (Laughs) Yes, we passed through the geographical point of the North Pole, but under water. They found wormwood. We were in our Arctic sector. And in the other was our strategic submarine Akula, which was launching a ballistic missile. We provided her work.
There is an interesting point. When you come to 85 degrees north latitude, you need to convert the compasses to quasi-coordinates. This is a certain art. There are no more than a hundred such navigators around the world who can do this. Only submariners of the USSR (Russia) and the USA walked under the ice. No one else was registered there. Perhaps the British went under the edge, but did not surface near the North Pole. But even our diesel boats did this, taking into account their limitations during the Great Patriotic War. There have been and still are such cases, but mostly this is the work of the submarine.
Even in 1977, when the icebreaker Arktika was sailing to the North Pole, it was accompanied by a submarine under it. I can't say for sure — in my opinion, even two.
A nuclear submarine can surface in the north without a wormwood using certain methods, including launching a torpedo, but the ice is "alive" after detonation ... or maybe an ice crumb, and you just won't see a wormwood. The ice is constantly in motion, and all this is quickly erased.
— Nuclear submarines. What do they mean for the Russian Navy?
— Multipurpose and strategic nuclear submarines are a reliable shield of our country. Their tasks are different. Multipurpose — they were called "fighters" among themselves — solve the tasks of countering submarines of a potential enemy. For them, the main thing is the fight against enemy boats: search, detection and destruction. Their main target was and is the enemy's strategic submarines. We all understand that if you found the enemy's "strategist" and destroyed him, then you have completed your task. Regardless of whether you returned alive or died. If the task is completed, you are a hero.
And the "strategists" have another task — to be in a given area [of combat patrol], and not be detected [before the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles], and at the appointed time strike territories, bases, orders of ships. This is their main task. These tasks are designated by higher headquarters. We will not disclose decision-making schemes.
— In a number of foreign Navies, women joined the crews of submarines. Will we follow the same path?
— I can't say for sure. We also have separate boats with female crews. Last year, the girls proved themselves in the destruction of [marine] drones in Sevastopol. In principle, why not? For example, the president recently visited a school where pilots are trained. Yes, women have certain advantages over men. But I do not consider it advisable to create a crew with the participation of two or three women and a hundred men. It is necessary to create certain living conditions for women. If it is a short voyage, then it is possible <...>. Civilian sailors — they also had women in their crews: a barmaid, a cook. I don't take transatlantic liners as an example, where there are many women in the service staff, but I take, say, dry cargo ships, tankers. At some time, their participation in the crews began to be refused — there were problems.
— Will a series of submarines of the 636.3 project be built for the Baltic and Northern Fleets?
— As far as I have information, this is in the plans. In the 90s of the last century, there was an idea to abandon the construction of diesel submarines, since submarines have certain advantages. But today, with the advent of new types of weapons, for example, Kalibr and Onyx cruise missiles, which can also be carried by diesel submarines, the construction of the latter is advisable to protect, in particular, the coastal zone. They are also capable of operating in the ocean zone.
They have one advantage: low noise. The second advantage is the relative cheapness of construction. For the construction of a multi-purpose submarine, many times more funds are required. And the construction time of diesel boats is much shorter than that of submarines. If you debug the production of diesel boats and make them in more than one factory, as is being done now, they can be produced like hot cakes, ten each year, if necessary. For a while, this was not necessary. Now we understand that we need to protect our maritime borders, we have the largest maritime border in the world. Diesel submarines have unique tasks.
— How to deal with unmanned boats (BEC), is there a recipe?
— There is no ready-made recipe. It is necessary to carry out a set of measures. Since BECs are made mainly of composite materials, they can be detected by a thermal trace, acoustic detection devices can be used, and appropriate rapid-fire types of weapons are needed on the sides of ships. We understand that if one, two, three backup units are involved in the attack, then modern corvettes have enough weapons to defeat them. And when the attack comes in a swarm of 10 or more backs and several waves, it is problematic. Therefore, on all ships it is necessary to provide additional combat platforms for large-caliber machine guns and rapid-firing small-caliber guns, as it was during the Great Patriotic War on ships with anti-aircraft guns. When it is completed, they can be removed. Another option is to install additional bombing installations, grenade launchers. Go back to the well—forgotten old one - small-caliber anti-aircraft guns capable of firing at surface targets.
Ships are dying because they are acting alone. During combat operations, the ship is not designed to act alone, each ship has its own tasks. There must be several ships in the order to solve the tasks in a complex. Then they will be able to destroy both the BACK swarm and the two swarms.
It is necessary to set up acoustic buoys with a round-the-clock watch in all protected areas. It is advisable to carry out all ship crossings during the daytime under the cover of aviation. A combination of organizational and technical measures is needed to ensure the safety of our ships.
— Does it make sense to return to the baby submarines that were part of the Soviet Navy?
— In my opinion, there should be ultra-small submarines in the Russian Navy. And we have them today, but there are not so many of them. These are special purpose boats. They can be used for scientific research purposes, for combat sabotage purposes. There should be a lot of them in every fleet. They must have the ability, among other things, to counteract underwater drones. Based on the existing realities, they need additional weapons to solve new tasks. You can't spare money for this, there is a great need for it.
There are new projects of ultra-small submarines developed in our design bureaus. But they need to be implemented. It is clear that this topic is very private.
— What events should be expected in 2024 with the participation of the DPF?
— We have already started the year 2024 successfully. I will not list the events held. Ahead is the 120th anniversary of the birth of our outstanding naval commander, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov. It will be on July 24th. We will hold a set of events in connection with this date throughout the country.
In particular, there are sambo competitions ahead for prizes in memory of sailor Sergei Preminin, Hero of Russia. In 1986, in the Sargasso Sea, aboard the emergency submarine K-219, he shut down a nuclear reactor off the east coast of the United States at the cost of his own life. The title of Hero of Russia was awarded posthumously in 1997.
This year we will celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of the famous marine writer who served in the Navy, Viktor Viktorovich Konetsky. He is an amazing man who stood at the origins of the DPF. It all started with the Council on Preparations for the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy.
We plan to celebrate the victory of the Soviet people over Japanese militarism in the Alexander Garden on September 2-3 in a teleconference with the participation of representatives of all Russian Navy bases.
— How does the DPF help its participants?
— Our regional organizations and the central office are actively involved in this work. The Primorsky branch, for example, helps the Marines of the Pacific Fleet. The Central Council and the board are in direct contact with Captain V., a former Marine (there are no former ones), who headed the battalion of mobilized soldiers formed in Kostroma in 2022. All necessary assistance is provided. Our representatives regularly visit the area of their own. In the DPR, we have created a regional branch of the DPF with a deployment in Mariupol. It works very actively. Last year, we provided assistance to the Sevastopol hospital.
— Comrade captain of the first rank, how should I introduce you, in reserve or retired?
— Always in stock!