DOI :: 40 years ago, rocket explosions occurred in Severomorsk [EN] | (UPD)

severpost.ru

May 17, 2020

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This day in history is May 17, 1984, on Okolnaya Bay, a few kilometers from Severomorsk, one of the tragedies of the USSR era occurred. Northern Fleet ammunition depots exploded.

In the first minutes and hours of events, many thought about the beginning of the Third World War due to the characteristic “mushrooms” that appeared over the city. The force of the explosions was such that a combat alert was announced for the Northern Fleet: “Combat readiness No. 1. In fact!” This form of alarm is used only at the outbreak of war.

The Northern Fleet instantly lost half of its missile weapons.

“The first explosion occurred in a warehouse where about 500 warheads for anti-aircraft missiles were stored. Then the rocket boosters began to launch spontaneously. They scattered over the base, but the majority still went away from Severomorsk - into the hills,” a serviceman who had access to the results of the investigation commented on the course of events to Ogonyok magazine.

The mushroom most likely appeared as a result of the simultaneous detonation of a colossal amount of explosives in one of the warehouses. Enormous damage was caused to the fleet and the city.

Fortunately, the worst thing did not happen - the detonation of nuclear charges stored at the same base, but a mushroom rose above the city (the same as during an atomic explosion), and unguided rockets took off into the sky.

As eyewitnesses say, at that moment two multi-colored human streams were rushing through the city. Black, consisting of officers, to the piers where the warships were moored; and motley, of women and children, to leave Severomorsk.

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The ships urgently began to go to sea - away from the city. Only the cruiser "Kirov" remained at the pier. It protected the city from unguided missiles, as well as the nuclear submarine, into whose silos missiles with nuclear warheads were being loaded at that moment.

Several more nuclear-powered submarines, which were standing near the base on Okolnaya when the explosion occurred, were pulled away by tugboats. It's hard to imagine what would have happened if a crazy missile had hit one of these boats.

The fire that occurred in the warehouses was extinguished within 5-7 days. Fortunately, the nuclear charges stored there did not detonate.

As a result of the tragedy, according to official data, only two people died, captain 3rd rank Viktor Sadovlakhov and guard sailor Ramiz Dzhabrailov.

Let us remind you that a flash mob in support of teachers #ThanksTeacher is starting on the official pages of the education department of Severomorsk CATU on social networks.

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Several hundred people died in Severomorsk, but the Norwegian authorities kept mum

By , NRK, InoSMI 

InoSMI

2 min

October 7, 2022

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“When reports of the explosion appeared in the Norwegian media, I confirmed that they knew about it all along,” he said.

Policy: remain silent

Today Oddmund Hammerstad says that it was a widespread policy, not only in Norway, but throughout the NATO alliance: let the Soviet regime itself report on certain events.

“I don’t even remember how exactly we found out about this. Most likely during a weekly briefing from military command or intelligence, says Hammerstad. “Besides, it was decided that there was no rush to report this.”

The situation was very tense then, the former secretary of state recalls.

“Information from Norwegian sensors, be it ground-based radars or the Maryata reconnaissance ship, was often sent directly to the United States, because Norway itself did not have sufficient capabilities or experience to analyze the information.”

“I noted this in the second half of the 90s, when the Lund Commission investigated the work of the intelligence services,” adds Hammerstad.

In an ideal society everything is fine

The Norwegian Ambassador to Moscow in 1984 was Dagfinn Stenseth. It was not easy to navigate Soviet reality, he recalls.

“The fact is that officially no incidents happened in the Soviet Union. It was an “ideal” society, you know. And if something happened, they tried to remain silent so that no one would find out,” he recalls.

The ban on the dissemination of information greatly complicated the life of foreign diplomats in Moscow.

“We diplomats even had to compile our own telephone directories. We often learned about local incidents from the old concierges,” says Stenseth.

This was the case in 1984. Five years later, the Berlin Wall came down and Soviet society opened up to the outside world. But for how long?

Just 30 years ago, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. Has he disappeared? Do we learn about all important events?

Missile tests gone wrong

Nenoksa, August 8, 2019. Missile range 90 kilometers west of Arkhangelsk. Something went wrong during a rocket engine test.

Seven people died. Five are scientists from Rosatom.

The Ministry of Defense after a while issues a vague message that the situation is under control and that all the victims have received medical attention.

There is supposedly no nuclear threat.

A few days later, Norwegian authorities admit that the background radiation did not increase as a result of the explosion.

But that's not the end of the story.

Three weeks later, evidence appears that doctors treating the wounded were warned about the radiation danger. They were even sent to Moscow for examination. Then the Russian news agency TASS reports that the doctors were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

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