The largest maritime disasters in history. photo. Death Cruise. The wreck of the Admiral Nakhimov became the “Soviet Titanic”
We all know about the ill-fated story of the Titanic, but few people know that this tragedy was only the third largest in the history of shipping. Today we invite you to familiarize yourself with the list of the 10 most terrible disasters that occurred on the water.
1. MV Wilhelm Gustloff.
In January 1945, this German ship was hit by three torpedoes in the Baltic Sea while participating in the evacuation civilians, military personnel and Nazi officials who were surrounded by the Red Army in East Prussia. The ship sank in less than 45 minutes. More than 9,400 people are estimated to have died.
2. MV Doña Paz.
This Philippine ferry sank after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector on December 20, 1987. More than 4,300 people died. The collision occurred in the dead of night and resulted in a fire and life jackets were locked, forcing passengers to jump into the burning water, which was also infested with sharks.
3. RMS Lusitania.
This British liner sailed on the Liverpool-New York route. During World War I, the ship was hit by German torpedoes on May 7, 1915, and sank within just 18 minutes of impact. The disaster killed 1,198 people out of 1,959 on board.
4. RMS Lancastria.
This British ocean liner was requisitioned by the government during World War II. She sank on June 17, 1940, taking 4,000 lives. This disaster caused death more people than the sinking of the Titanic and Lusitania combined.
5. RMS Empress of Ireland.
This Canadian liner sank in the St. Lawrence River after colliding with a Norwegian freighter on May 29, 1914, due to heavy fog. 1012 people died (840 passengers and 172 crew members).
6. MV Goya.
The German transport ship MV Goya was carrying 6,100 passengers when it was sunk by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea on April 16, 1945. The ship sank just 7 minutes after impact. Almost all the people on board died. Only 183 people survived.
7. USS Indianapolis (CA-35).
On July 30, 1945, Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58 and sank 12 minutes later. Of the 1,196 people, only 300 survived.
8. MV Le Joola.
A Senegalese ferry capsized off the coast of Gambia on September 26, 2002, killing at least 1,863 people. As it became known, the ferry was overloaded, which is why it capsized after 5 minutes when it encountered a storm. Only 64 people survived.
9. SS Mont-Blanc.
This French cargo ship carrying ammunition exploded in Halifax Harbor on December 6, 1917. The explosion caused the death of 2,000 people, including city residents. The explosion was caused by a collision with the Norwegian ship SS Imo. The fire resulting from the collision caused an explosion of ammunition that destroyed the harbor and the city.
10. RMS Titanic.
This is perhaps the most famous maritime tragedy of all time. The Titanic was a passenger liner that sank in the northern part of Atlantic Ocean April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. The sinking of the Titanic took 1,514 lives.
On April 16, 1945, exactly 117 years after the death of Francisco Goya, the ship Goya was sunk by a torpedo attack by a Soviet submarine. This disaster, which claimed 7,000 lives, became the largest shipwreck in world history.
"Goya"
The Goya was a Norwegian cargo ship requisitioned by the Germans. On April 16, 1945, things went wrong in the morning. A gloomy omen of the coming disaster was the bombardment to which the ship was subjected. Despite the defense, during the fourth raid a shell still hit the bow of the Goya. Several people were injured, but the ship remained afloat and they decided not to cancel the flight.
For Goya, this was the fifth evacuation flight from the advancing units of the Red Army. During four previous campaigns, almost 20,000 refugees, wounded and soldiers were evacuated.
Goya set off on its last voyage loaded to capacity. Passengers were in the passages, on the stairs, in the holds. Not everyone had documents, so the exact number of passengers has not yet been established, from 6000 to 7000. They all believed that the war was over for them, they made plans and were full of hope...
The ships (Goya was accompanied by a convoy) were already at sea when at 22:30 surveillance noticed an unidentified silhouette on the right side. Everyone was ordered to put on life-saving clothing. There were only 1,500 of them on board the Goya. In addition, one of the ships of the group, the Kronenfels, suffered a breakdown in the engine room. Waiting for the end repair work, the ships began to drift. An hour later the ships continued their journey.
At 23:45, Goya shuddered from a powerful torpedo attack. The Soviet submarine L-3, which was following the ships, began to operate.
Panic began at Goya. Jochen Hannema, German tankman, who became one of the few survivors, recalled: “Water rushed noisily from the huge holes formed as a result of being hit by torpedoes. The ship broke into two parts and began to rapidly sink. All that was heard was the terrible roar of a huge mass of water.”
The huge ship, devoid of partitions, sank in just 20 minutes. Only 178 people survived.
"Wilhelm Gustlow"
On January 30, 1945, at 21:15, the submarine S-13 discovered in the Baltic waters the German transport "Wilhelm Gustlow", accompanied by an escort, on board which was, modern estimates, over 10 thousand people, most of whom were refugees from East Prussia: old people, children, women. But there were also German submarine cadets, crew members and other military personnel on the Gustlov.
Submarine captain Alexander Marinesko began the hunt. For almost three hours, the Soviet submarine followed the giant transport ship (the displacement of the Gustlov was over 25 thousand tons. For comparison, the steamship Titanic and the battleship Bismarck had a displacement of about 50 thousand tons).
Having chosen the moment, Marinesko attacked the Gustlov with three torpedoes, each of which hit the target. The fourth torpedo with the inscription “For Stalin” got stuck. The submariners miraculously managed to avoid an explosion on the boat.
While escaping pursuit from a German military escort, the C-13 was bombed by over 200 depth charges.
The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustlov is considered one of the largest disasters in maritime history. According to official data, 5,348 people died in it; according to some historians, real losses could exceed 9,000.
Junyo Maru
They were called "Ships of Hell." These were Japanese merchant ships used to transport prisoners of war and workers (actually slaves, who were called "romushi") to Japanese-occupied territories during World War II. The “ships of hell” were not officially part of the Japanese navy and had no identification marks, but the Allied forces sank them no less violently. Only war time 9 “Ships of Hell” were sunk, on which almost 25 thousand people died.
It is worth saying that the British and Americans could not help but know about the “cargo” that was transported on the ships, since the Japanese codes were deciphered.
The largest disaster occurred on September 18, 1944. The British submarine Tradewind torpedoed the Japanese ship Junyo Maru. Among the rescue equipment on the ship, filled to capacity with prisoners of war, there were two lifeboats and several rafts. On board were 4.2 thousand workers, 2.3 thousand prisoners of war, Americans, Australians, British, Dutch and Indonesians.
The conditions in which slaves had to survive on ships were simply terrifying. Many went crazy and died from exhaustion and stuffiness. When the torpedoed ship began to sink, the captives of the ship had no chance of salvation. The boats accompanying the “ship of hell” brought on board only the Japanese and a small part of the prisoners. In total, 680 prisoners of war and 200 romushi remained alive.
This was a case where the living envied the dead. The prisoners who miraculously escaped were sent to their destination - to construction railway to Sumatra. The chances of surviving there were not much greater than on the ill-fated ship.
"Armenia"
The cargo-passenger ship "Armenia" was built in Leningrad and was used on the Odessa-Batumi line. During the Great Patriotic War in August 1941, "Armenia" was converted into a medical transport ship. The side and deck began to be “decorated” with large red crosses, which, in theory, were supposed to protect the ship from attacks, but...
During the defense of Odessa, "Armenia" made 15 flights to the besieged city, from where more than 16 thousand people were taken on board. The last voyage of the “Armenia” was a trip from Sevastopol to Tuapse in November 1941. On November 6, having taken on board the wounded, almost all medical personnel Black Sea Fleet and civilians, “Armenia” left Sevastopol.
At night the ship arrived in Yalta. The captain of the "Armenia" was forbidden to make the transition to Tuapse during daylight hours, but the military situation dictated otherwise. The port of Yalta did not have cover to protect against German air raids, and there were already German troops on the near approaches to the city. And there was practically no choice left...
At 8 o'clock in the morning on November 7, "Armenia" left Yalta and headed for Tuapse. At 11:25 the ship was attacked by a German torpedo bomber He-111 and sank less than 5 minutes after the torpedo hit the bow. Together with “Armenia”, from 4,000 to 7,500 people died, and only eight managed to escape. The causes of this terrible tragedy are still controversial.
"Dona Paz"
The sinking of the Dona Paz ferry is the largest shipwreck that occurred in Peaceful time. This tragedy became a cruel lesson exposing greed, unprofessionalism and sloppiness. The sea, as you know, does not forgive mistakes, and in the case of “Danya Paz” mistakes followed one after another.
The ferry was built in Japan in 1963. At that time it was called "Himeuri Maru". In 1975, it was profitably sold to the Philippines. Since then he has been exploited even more than mercilessly. Designed to carry a maximum of 608 passengers, it was usually packed to capacity, accommodating between 1,500 and 4,500 people.
Twice a week, the ferry carried out passenger transportation on the route Manila - Tacloban - Catbalogan - Manila - Catbalogan - Tacloban - Manila. On December 20, 1987, the Doña Paz set sail on its last voyage from Tacloban to Manila. This flight was packed with maximum passengers - Filipinos were rushing to the capital for the New Year.
At ten in the evening of the same day, the ferry collided with the huge tanker Vector. The collision literally broke both ships in half, and thousands of tons of oil spilled across the ocean. The explosion caused a fire. The chances of salvation were reduced to almost zero. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the ocean at the site of the tragedy was swarming with sharks.
One of the survivors, Paquito Osabel, later recalled: “Neither the sailors nor the officers of the ship reacted in any way to what was happening. Everyone demanded life jackets and a lifeboat, but there were none. The cabinets in which the vests were stored were locked, and the keys could not be found. The boats were thrown into the water just like that, without any preparation. Panic, confusion, chaos reigned."
The rescue operation began only eight hours after the tragedy. 26 people were caught from the sea. 24 are passengers of the Donya Paz, two are sailors from the tanker Vector. Official statistics, which cannot be trusted, indicate the death of 1,583 people. More objective, independent experts claim that 4,341 people died in the disaster.
"Cap Arcona"
Cap Arcona was one of the largest passenger ships in Germany, with a displacement of 27,561 tons. Having survived almost the entire war, the Cap Arcona perished after the capture of Berlin by the Allied forces, when on May 3, 1945, the liner was sunk by British bombers.
Benjamin Jacobs, one of the prisoners who were at Cap Arcona, wrote in the book “The Dentist of Auschwitz”: “Planes suddenly appeared. We clearly saw them identification marks. “These are the British!” Look, we are KaTsetniks! We are prisoners of concentration camps!” we shouted and waved our hands at them. We waved our striped camp caps and pointed to our striped clothes, but there was no compassion for us. The British began to throw napalm at the shaking and burning Cap Arcona. On the next approach, the planes descended, now they were at a distance of 15 m from the deck, we clearly saw the pilot’s face and thought that we had nothing to fear. But then bombs fell from the belly of the plane... Some fell on the deck, others into the water... They shot at us and those who jumped into the water from machine guns. The water around the drowning bodies turned red."
Aboard the blazing Cap Arcona, more than 4,000 prisoners were burned alive or suffocated by smoke. Some prisoners managed to escape and jump into the sea. Those who managed to escape the sharks were picked up by trawlers. 350 prisoners, many of whom suffered from burns, managed to escape before the liner capsized. They swam ashore, but became victims of the SS men. A total of 5,594 people died on Cap Arcona.
"Lancasteria"
Western historiography prefers to remain silent about the tragedy that occurred on June 17, 1940. Moreover, a veil of oblivion covered this terrible catastrophe on the day it happened. This is due to the fact that on the same day France surrendered to Nazi troops, and Winston Churchill decided not to report anything about the death of the ship, as this could break the morale of the British. This is not surprising: the Lancastrian disaster was the largest mass death British during the entire Second World War, the number of victims exceeded the sum of the victims of the sinking of the Titanic and Luisitania.
The Lancastria liner was built in 1920 and was used as a military vessel after the outbreak of World War II. On June 17, he evacuated troops from Norway. A German Junkers 88 bomber spotted the ship and began bombing. The liner was hit by 10 bombs. According to official figures, there were 4,500 soldiers and 200 crew on board. About 700 people were saved. According to unofficial data published in Brian Crabb's book about the disaster, it is said that the number of victims is deliberately downplayed.
The USSR kept silent about many things. Under no circumstances should any information be included in Western media. Local domestic media also fell under the total top secrecy of everything.
IN modern world news is too accessible - partly this has led to mass manipulation of people's minds. In Soviet times, the model of complete calm and order was fine-tuned to perfection. Soviet citizens were not given information about large-scale disasters, about corruption, about violence, about aggression - they took care of their psyche. And if it was reported, it was not immediately. Not to mention the representatives Western press... This created the illusion that in a huge country everything was running smoothly, the economy was developing and progressing.
In fact, if we look at it on a large scale, it was so. We were a great power and some of the credit for that goes to government control of the media. With all the freedom of speech and all the democratic bells and whistles today, I would prefer to start and end my day with good, kind, positive news, but today it seems there is simply none. It has reached the extreme - everyone seems to be telling the truth, everyone knows everything. In reality, the reality of modern media looks something like this:
- I have two news for you: one is good and the other is bad. Which one should I start with?
- Well, let's go with the good one.
- Good news - bad news No.
- Well, which one is bad?
- There is no good news either...
Well, now to the essence of the article:
The largest, of course, is the well-known Chernobyl accident, which happened in 1986. The total number of people who died from radiation exposure after the accident is approximately 600 thousand people, of which approximately 4 thousand people died from cancer or blood diseases. ABOUT Chernobyl accident the whole world became aware of it in a matter of hours. It was impossible to hide a catastrophe of such magnitude. But our list today includes other accidents that the authorities, for obvious reasons, preferred not to talk about; printing about them was forbidden for some time.
No. 1. Explosion of nuclear waste at the Mayak chemical plant in Chelyabinsk-40 (1957)
Explosion at the Mayak plant, Photo: kommersant.ruThis was the first radiation accident in the history of our country, the first nuclear disaster in the USSR. The tragedy is better known as the “Kyshtym accident”, since the chemical plant was located in Chelyabinsk-40 (now Ozersk), and Kyshtym was the closest city indicated on the maps.
No one died directly from the explosion. On the first day after the explosion, military personnel from the nearest unit and prisoners from the colony, which was also nearby, were removed from the affected area. And only a week or two after the accident the evacuation began local population, and even then only from the most affected settlements.
The explosion, estimated at tens of tons of TNT equivalent, occurred in a container for radioactive waste: the cooling system failed. But this story with the cooling system is official version. There was another version - unofficial: a solution of plutonium oxalate was mistakenly added to the evaporator tank with a hot solution of plutonium nitrate. When oxidizing oxalate with nitrate, it released a large number of energy, which led to overheating and explosion of the container containing the radioactive mixture. The tank, located in a concrete canyon at a depth of 8.2 m, was destroyed, the concrete floor, 1 meter thick and weighing 160 tons, was thrown aside 25 meters; the explosion shattered glass in buildings within a radius of up to 1 km; About 20 million curies of radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere.
> By comparison, approximately 380 million curies were released during the Chernobyl accident, about 19 times more.
A huge territory with a population of 270 thousand people, which included three regions: Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Tyumen, was in the zone of radiation contamination.
The losses came later - among the hundreds of thousands of military personnel and civilian workers brought in to eliminate the consequences of the accident. All of them received significant doses of radiation. Now at the site of the accident there is a nuclear reserve "East Ural Radioactive Trace". You cannot visit it: the level of radioactivity in it is still very high.
The authorities hid information about the disaster both from the population of the country and from residents of the Urals who found themselves in the zone of radioactive contamination. The column of smoke and dust, up to a kilometer high, shimmering with an orange-red light, was called the “Aurora Borealis” in the newspapers. But the fact of the accident in the Urals quickly became known abroad. The Danish press was the first to report this. True, the message was not entirely accurate: it claimed that some kind of accident had occurred during Soviet nuclear tests.
No. 2. Ballistic missile explosion at Baikonur (1960)
This was not the only disaster at Baikonur, but it was one of the largest that occurred at the cosmodrome in Soviet period. It happened on October 24, 1960. A fundamentally new Soviet intercontinental was being prepared for launch. ballistic missile R-16.
The Chairman of the State Commission for Testing the R-16 was the Commander-in-Chief himself Rocket Forces strategic purpose (Strategic Missile Forces) - Marshal of Artillery M. I. Nedelin. As often happened in Soviet history, wanted to give a gift for the 43rd anniversary October revolution, carry out the first launch before November 7.
In a hurry, all conceivable and inconceivable violations of safety regulations were committed. As a result, during testing, the engine started prematurely and the rocket fuel exploded. According to various sources, from 92 to 126 people were burned and later died from burns and wounds. Among the dead was Marshal Nedelin.
Information about the tragedy was classified; there were no official reports about the disaster. Relatives and friends of the victims were advised not to talk about the accident. Even Marshal Nedelin, according to the official statement, “tragically died in a plane crash.”
The Roscosmos TV studio dedicated an interesting story to this tragic event. documentary: “The day when rockets don’t launch.”
No. 3. Airliner collision over Dneprodzerzhinsk (1979)
This plane crash is one of the largest in aviation history. It ranks second in the number of victims in the history of the USSR, and third among aircraft collisions in the world.
(flights Chelyabinsk - Chisinau and Tashkent - Minsk) In the sky over Dneprodzerzhinsk (Ukrainian SSR), two Tu-134 aircraft of Aeroflot airlines (flights Chelyabinsk - Chisinau and Tashkent - Minsk) collided, resulting in the death of all 178 people on board. Among the dead were 17 Uzbek players football club"Pakhtakor". On that day, in the Kharkov control center, in violation of instructions, there was an inexperienced dispatcher in the most tense sector. The situation was further complicated by the fact that one of the three air corridors was “reserved” for the top party nomenklatura Chernenko, who was supposed to fly that day to visit Brezhnev, who was vacationing in Crimea.
Pakhtakor-79 When the controllers saw that the planes were crossing each other, they gave the command to one of the aircraft to gain altitude. The answer was heard on the air: “Got it.” The controllers calmed down, deciding that the command was carried out by the right aircraft. In fact, the crew of the third plane, an Il-62 flying to Tashkent, responded. A minute later, two Tu-134s collided in the air...
This catastrophe would have been silent, like others, if not for the death of an entire football team, and from the major league. As a result, although this plane crash did not receive wide publicity in the USSR (only in the newspaper " Soviet sport"a tiny note was placed about the death of Pakhtakor), but on international level she didn't keep silent.
No. 4. The death of a plane carrying Pacific Fleet command personnel near Leningrad (1981)
Photo: Inosmi.ru During takeoff from a military airfield in the city of Pushkin (near Leningrad), a Tu-104 transport plane crashed, carrying the commander of the Pacific Fleet, almost all of his deputies, half personnel headquarters, command of naval aviation, flotillas, brigades and squadrons.
At one point, the Pacific Fleet lost its command. A total of 52 people died, including 16 admirals. For comparison: for the entire Great Patriotic War soviet fleet lost only four admirals.
The cause of the tragedy was the overload of the plane. In addition to heavy safes with maps and documents, they carried a lot of scarce goods that the authorities were able to get in Leningrad: household appliances, furniture, even fruit. The crew understood that the plane was overloaded and reported this to the dispatcher, but he did not dare to object to the high authorities.
An overload in the tail section, a sudden increase in wind, improper alignment of the aircraft, and likely cargo that shifted after takeoff all led to the disaster. After takeoff, the plane fell 50 meters onto its tail and starboard side and fell. Upon impact, the fuel caught fire - no one managed to survive. Eyewitnesses recalled that after the crash the entire strip was covered with scarce oranges. After the disaster, all Tu-104s were taken out of service by the Air Force.
No. 5. The death of the ship "Alexander Suvorov" (1983)
Motor ship "A. Suvorov". Rostov embankment. Spring 1983 A cruise ship traveling along the route Rostov-on-Don - Moscow, on maximum speed(25 km/h) entered under the non-navigable span of the Ulyanovsk Bridge over the Volga and, by inertia, passed another 300 meters under the bridge. As a result, the ship's entire top part: wheelhouse, cinema hall, chimneys. The situation was aggravated by the fact that at that time there was a freight train. Due to the collision of the ship with the bridge, the train was displaced by 40 centimeters. As a result, some of the cars overturned, and their cargo (coal, grain, logs) spilled onto the ship, increasing the number of victims.
The death toll, according to various sources, ranged from 176 to 600 people. Difficulties in counting are due to the fact that the ship was overloaded. In addition to 330 passengers, 50 crew members and 35 service personnel, acquaintances and relatives of the crew members were on board, not quite officially. Unfortunately for me, most of passengers was on the upper deck (in the cinema hall and on the dance floor), completely destroyed during a collision with the bridge - hence big number victims.
One of the main reasons for the tragedy that occurred late in the evening was the lack of signal lights on the bridge. In addition, on the ill-fated non-navigable span there was a lineman's booth, which in the dark resembled a signal board indicating a ship's span.
No. 6. Death of two trains near Ufa (1989)
The land and forest burned for many tens of meters on both sides of the railway. This disaster is the largest in the history of the Russian railway transport. At the moment of the oncoming passage of two passenger trains - "Novosibirsk - Adler" and "Adler - Novosibirsk" - an accident occurred. powerful explosion. Of the 1,370 passengers (among them were 383 children), 575 people died (according to other sources - 645), of which 181 were children; 623 people were injured.
The explosion was so powerful that the shock wave broke glass in a neighboring city, located more than 10 kilometers from the scene of the incident, and the column of fire was visible even 100 kilometers away.
What a neighboring town! The explosion triggered the North American system's alarm. air defense(NORAD)! The Americans decided that the Soviets had experienced another atomic bomb. According to experts, the power of the explosion was almost equal to the force nuclear explosion in Hiroshima.
What caused such a destructive explosion? On a nearby pipeline Western Siberia- Ural - Volga region, through which the liquefied gas-gasoline mixture was transported, a hole of one and a half meters was formed. The gas that escaped through the hole accumulated in the lowland, not far from the railway track.
Some of the carriages were torn to shreds, the rest were burned. A few hours before the disaster, instruments showed a drop in pressure in the pipeline. However, instead of looking for a leak, the duty personnel only increased the gas supply to restore pressure. As a result, even more gas leaked out under the increased pressure. Drivers of passing trains warned the station dispatcher that there was heavy gas pollution on the stretch, but they did not attach any importance to this. Ctrl+Enter.
The world is familiar with many shipwrecks that shocked us with their scale and horror of what happened. Domestic history knows many terrible shipwrecks that resulted in significant human casualties.
Top most terrible shipwrecks of the 20th century
As is known, modern ships equipped with means designed to save human life. However, this was not always the case. Especially many large shipwrecks occurred in the last century.Some water disasters occurred far out to sea, and some occurred in coastal areas due to collisions with reefs. The consequences can be frightening. Next, let's look at some of the most terrible shipwrecks in human history.
Steamship "Sultana" (SS Sultana)
The wooden paddle steamer Sultana was built at an American shipyard in Cincinnati and launched in 1863. The ship suffered a disaster on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to the explosion of a steam boiler. 
The ship transported soldiers released from captivity. 1,653 people became victims of the disaster, 741 people were saved. This shipwreck is the largest disaster of the 19th century in terms of the number of victims.
Ferry Donja Paz
One of the largest shipwrecks of the 20th century occurred in 1987 - we are talking about the passenger ferry Dona Paz. For more than two decades, it regularly transported people, cruising along the coasts of the Philippines and Japan. 
Colliding with the tanker, the ferry literally broke in half. A fire broke out and passengers died in the fire. The number of victims of this terrible shipwreck is 4375 people.
Liner "Wilhelm Gustloff"
The cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff belonged to one of the largest tour operating companies of the Third Reich. It was launched in 1937. The ship sailed 50 cruises, and the cost of tickets was so low that even the working class could afford to go on a trip on board. 
During the Second World War, the liner served as a hospital, and later became a barracks for submarine sailors. In early 1945, the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine. According to official data, 5,348 people died in that shipwreck. Historians call a different number of victims - at least 9 thousand people.
The wreck of the Titanic
Who doesn't know about the Titanic? It seems that everyone has heard about this sensational shipwreck. The ship made only one voyage, which ended in disaster in 1912. According to the website, Titanic is included in the rating of the largest ships. 
The shipwreck killed 1,513 people. Only 711 passengers were saved. The Titanic disappeared under water in 160 minutes. This terrible disaster was reflected in cinema: in 1997, director James Cameron shot a film of the same name. The main roles in the film were played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Cruise ship Costa Concordia
Costa Concordia is one of the largest European ships. The maritime disaster occurred on the night of January 13-14, 2012 in the Tyrrhenian Sea, near the Italian island of Giglio, during a cruise in the western Mediterranean. There were 4,229 people on board when the ship struck a reef and capsized. The crash killed 32 people.6 people found guilty in the crash of the Costa Concordia
The main culprit was the captain of the liner, Francesco Schettino, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison. After this incident, the rules for maritime navigation and pre-trip instructions for passengers were tightened.
The most terrible shipwrecks in Russian history
Russian history knows several major shipwrecks, and all of them resulted in huge casualties. One cannot help but recall the crash of the “Armenia”, “Admiral Nakhimov” and “Novorossiysk”. A terrible tragedy The death of the submarine "Kursk", the shipwreck of "Bulgaria" and "Komsomolets" became for our country and the whole world."Armenia" sank in the fall of 1941 near Crimea in just four minutes. The ship carried evacuated residents and wounded Red Army soldiers. Five thousand people died, and only 8 passengers were able to survive.
One of the most major disasters On the water in the USSR, the Admiral Nakhimov crashed. It went from Novorossiysk to Sochi, carrying 1243 people. Due to the fact that the ship rammed a grain carrier, a hole was formed in it, and it sank in 7 minutes. This shipwreck occurred at the end of August 1986, and 423 people died.
The name “Novorossiysk” in the USSR was given to a ship that previously belonged to the Italian Navy. At the end of October 1955, an explosion occurred in the bow of the ship, which caused a hole of 150 square meters to form. meters. The Novorossiysk sank with 604 people on board.
In September 1994, the ferry Estonia, leaving the port of Tallinn, was caught in a storm, lost its bow, causing it to fall on its side and drown. The rescue operation was complicated by a natural disaster that left 852 people missing and killed.
Our contemporaries know about the tragedy that occurred with the nuclear submarine Kursk. The crash occurred in August 2000 due to explosions on board. The crew consisted of 118 people, there were no survivors.
In July 2011, another terrible shipwreck occurred in national history- sinking of the motor ship "Bulgaria", which was cruising along the Volga. With a capacity of 140 people, there were 208 passengers on board. About 120 people were killed, many of them children. The Goya disaster is recognized as the worst shipwreck ever.
The collapse of the Goya is called the bloodiest disaster. It happened during the Second World War. The ship was used as an evacuation ship. At night, a Soviet submarine caught up with the Goya and attacked the ship. After 10 minutes, the Goya ship, along with all its passengers, sank under water. On land, major incidents involving human casualties occurred no less frequently. We invite you to learn more about the worst disasters in history.
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The death of the Titanic after a collision with an iceberg in 1912 became a symbol of all major maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime for decades to come. By the end of the 20th century, people again began to have the illusion that tragedies of this kind had become history. The retribution for such delusions is always cruel.
On August 31, 1986, a disaster occurred in Tsemes Bay near Novorossiysk, which later became known as the “Soviet Titanic.” But, unlike the story of 1912, in this case there was no iceberg - the collapse was entirely the work of human hands.
Trophy "Berlin"
The Soviet cruise ship Admiral Nakhimov was launched in March 1925 in Lobbendorf, Germany, receiving the name Berlin. In the early years of its existence, the Berlin flew from Germany to New York. By the end of the 1930s, transatlantic flights became unprofitable, and the ship was transferred to cruises in the Mediterranean.
With the outbreak of World War II, the Berlin was converted into a hospital ship and was used as such until 1945. In January 1945, it hit a mine near the port of Swinemünde and sank at shallow depths. In 1947, the ship was recovered by Soviet divers and sent to the docks of the Kronstadt port for partial repairs. The steamship that became a trophy received a new name - “Admiral Nakhimov”, after which it went to its homeland, Germany. In the GDR, the ship underwent a major overhaul and in 1957 became part of the Black Sea Shipping Company."Berlin", 1920s. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Prestige holidays and special operations
“Admiral Nakhimov” became a symbol of a prestigious cruise vacation in the USSR, hitherto unknown Soviet citizens. However, sometimes it was used for other purposes. Yes, during Cuban missile crisis on board they transferred Soviet military personnel to Cuba, and in 1979 - Cuban military personnel to carry out secret mission in Africa.
In the history of "Admiral Nakhimov" there were also flights with pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, and swimming with participants of the World Festival of Youth and Students. The steamship had an exceptional reputation - for almost three decades of its operation in the USSR, not a single serious incident was recorded with its participation.Time, however, made itself felt - in the 1980s, Admiral Nakhimov replaced long-distance flights with cruises on the Black Sea. These cruises were wildly successful among the unspoiled residents of the USSR.
The promenade deck of the Admiral Nakhimov in 1957. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Flight Odessa - Batumi - Odessa
On August 29, 1986, the Admiral Nakhimov set out on its next voyage along the route Odessa - Batumi - Odessa with calls to Yalta, Novorossiysk and Sochi. The cruise was supposed to end on September 5. Having left Odessa, the ship safely reached Yalta, and then at 14:00 on August 31st arrived in Novorossiysk. At 22:00 the liner was supposed to leave the port and head for Sochi. There were 1,243 people on board: 346 crew members and 897 passengers.
Captain of the Admiral Nakhimov since 1984 Vadim Markov, an experienced sailor who had work on foreign shipping lines behind him. Captain Markov knew his ship very well, and leaving the port did not promise any dangers.
According to a message from the ship traffic control post (VDR), at that moment the only ship approaching the port of Novorossiysk was the dry cargo ship Pyotr Vasev, carrying Canadian barley. The cargo ship was commanded by a captain Victor Tkachenko, who said that he would allow the steamer leaving the bay to pass.“Peter Vasev” is meeting halfway
With a delay of 10 minutes from the schedule, the Admiral Nakhimov unmoored and rushed to the exit from the port. The steamer passed the port gates, set a heading of 154.2 and began to follow the direction of the Penay Banks buoys, which were located at the exit from the bay.
There was calm on board. Some of the passengers went to bed, some were going to a movie show, young people were at a disco in the music salon, some people were in bars.
At this time, Captain Tkachenko once again confirmed that “Pyotr Vasev” would allow “Admiral Nakhimov” to pass. Tkachenko transmitted the same information via radio to the second mate of the Admiral Nakhimov. Alexander Chudnovsky, who at 23:00 took over the watch from Captain Markov. Tkachenko and Chudnovsky agreed that the ships would pass on their starboard sides. Captain Tkachenko relied on the readings of the ARPA - an automated radar course plotting system. The data from this device indicated that the ships would disperse safely.
But Chudnovsky, who was on the Admiral Nakhimov and observed the situation visually, discovered at approximately 23:05 that the ships were moving dangerously close. The watchman again contacted Tkachenko, clarifying: “Pyotr Vasev” is definitely letting the steamer through? Captain Tkachenko confirmed: yes, everything is fine.
"Peter Vasev." Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
“Work back immediately!”
Meanwhile, on the Pyotr Vasyov there were those who saw that the situation was developing in a dangerous direction. Mate Zubyuk drew Tkachenko's attention to the fact that the bearing on the Admiral Nakhimov practically does not change, which indicates that there is a threat of collision. At the same time, Zubyuk pointed to the lights of the steamer, indicating that the ships were approaching a collision.
Captain Tkachenko looked only at the device for several more minutes with inexplicable stubbornness. And only then, finally looking where Zubyuk was pointing, I realized with horror - “Peter Vasev” on high speed flies straight towards the Admiral Nakhimov.Captain Tkachenko began to give commands to the engine room - “medium forward”, “small forward”. These half measures no longer helped, and last command Tkachenko began: “Stop, go all the way back!” However, a heavy cargo ship cannot change direction instantly. "Pyotr Vasev" continued to go towards "Admiral Nakhimov". On the ship, the captain's assistant on the watch, Alexander Chudnovsky, radioed to the cargo ship: “Work back immediately!” The helmsman of the Admiral Nakhimov was given the command: “Left aboard!”
"Nakhimov" sank to the bottom in 8 minutes
This did not help - at 23:12 a collision occurred. "Pyotr Vasev" at a speed of 5 knots entered the middle of the starboard side of the steamer at an angle of 110°. In the underwater part, the bulk carrier entered with its protruding part, the bulb, several meters into the hull of the Admiral Nakhimov in the area of the bulkhead between the engine and boiler rooms. The Admiral Nakhimov continued to move forward by inertia, turning the cargo ship around and thereby increasing the size of the hole in the starboard side, which eventually amounted to about 80 square meters.
A huge hole led to the rapid flooding of the ship. In just 30 seconds, the engine room was filled with water. The ship began to fall to starboard. The emergency lighting, which turned on to replace the main one that had turned off, only worked for two minutes. Many people were trapped in cabins inside the sinking ship. All the team members managed to do was launch the inflatable rafts. 8 minutes after the collision, at 23:20, the Admiral Nakhimov sank under the water, leaving hundreds of people fighting for their lives on the surface. Among them there was no assistant captain Alexander Chudnovsky. The sailor, realizing that the ship was dying, pronounced a death sentence on himself - going down to his cabin, he locked himself in it and, together with the Admiral Nakhimov, sank to the bottom.
More than 60 ships rescued the dying people
The first to approach the scene of the disaster was a small pilot boat LK-90, heading to the “Peter Vasev” to escort it to the pier. "Admiral Nakhimov" sank in front of the boat's crew members.
At 23:35 LK-90 began rescuing people. 118 people were lifted aboard the small vessel, which is significantly more than the permissible load. Then the rescued people began to be transferred to other ships that approached. At this time, the captain of the port of Novorossiysk, Popov, gave the order to all watercraft to proceed to the disaster area to save people. Tugs, small and raid boats, border troops boats, hydrofoil comets - a total of 64 vessels took part in the rescue operation.
Had to work in difficult conditions— strong wind, waves up to two meters. But the sailors did everything possible and impossible. The cadets of the Novorossiysk Higher Naval Engineering School, alerted, went to sea in skiffs, risking their own deaths.
The crew of the dry cargo ship “Pyotr Vasev” also took part in the rescue operation, bringing 36 people on board. Of the 1,243 people on board, 423 died: 359 passengers and 64 crew members. Among the dead were 23 children.
Who is guilty?
A large government commission headed by the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR arrived from Moscow Heydar Aliyev, and with it a large investigative team.
In the end, both captains went to trial - Viktor Tkachenko and Vadim Markov received 15 years in prison. Markov, who miraculously survived the disaster, was blamed for his absence on the bridge. At the time of the disaster, the captain was in the cabin of the head of the KGB department for the Odessa region, Major General Krikunova, where he was invited to dinner. Unlike Markov, General Krikunov died along with his family.
For thirty years in the disaster of "Admiral Nakhimov" who and what was blamed - and anomalous zone, and the Soviet system, and the dilapidation of the ship, and saboteurs... The story about the ordinary “human factor” grated on the ears of many. "Admiral Nakhimov" took two more human lives after the crash, two divers died while lifting the victims’ bodies to the surface. After this, work on the ship was stopped, and the bodies of 64 people remained inside the hull of the Admiral Nakhimov.
The captain of the Peter Vasyov went to Israel and died in a shipwreck.In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine pardoned the convicted captains.
After his release, Vadim Markov returned to Odessa and worked at the Black Sea Shipping Company as a captain-mentor. Due to persecution from relatives of the victims, his family had to change their place of residence several times. In 2007, the captain of the Admiral Nakhimov died of cancer.
The captain of "Petra Vasyov" Viktor Tkachenko, taking his wife's surname - Talor, moved to permanent place residence in Israel, hoping that there the story of the death of “Admiral Nakhimov” will cease to interfere with his life. In 2003, a yacht captained by Victor Tallor crashed off the coast of Newfoundland. The wreckage of a yacht and the remains of people were found on the coast of Canada.
The area of Tsemes Bay, where the Admiral Nakhimov lies at a depth of 47 meters, is officially the burial place of the victims of the disaster. Anchoring, diving by divers and submersibles, as well as any actions that disturb the peace of the burial site are prohibited in the specified area.