How it was 10/03/1999 (1999)

The tragedy of the submarine K-19, 1961.

In the multivolume history of Soviet diplomacy, in detail, virtually all visits and negotiations conducted by A. A. Gromyko for 30 years of his tenure Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and only the content of the talks with JF Kennedy on July 12, 1961, is still a mystery behind seven seals.

Historians called dozens of different reasons for this meeting - Cuba, the Berlin crisis, the deployment of American missiles in Turkey - but none of the versions could be confirmed.

The program tells about an event that, in theory, could force AA Gromyko to fly to Washington.

The first catastrophe of the Soviet nuclear submarine took place on July 4, 1961, and in fact put the world on the brink of a new world war (the boat was in the immediate vicinity of the US military base on the island of Jan Mayen during the celebration of the US Independence Day).

The crew managed to save the submarine, but within a week 7 people died of radiation sickness; their bodies were buried in lead coffins in secret, without even mentioning the place of burial for relatives.

The sailors dubbed the K-19 "Hiroshima".

In 11 years, on the same boat, a new tragedy occurred - a fire that could lead to the explosion of an atomic reactor.

28 people died; 12 crew members stayed in one of the emergency compartments for 23 days practically without air, water and food, they were deemed dead ...

Visiting the program participants of both accidents: vice-admiral Vladimir Rudakov, veteran of special risk units Gleb Bogatsky, management of the nuclear reactor in 1961, Yury V. Erastov, commander of the electrical engineering division in 1961 Vladimir E. Pogorelov, members crew in 1972, Mikhail I. Mezhevich, midshipman Ivan Petrovich Khramtsov, captain-lieutenant Boris Aleksandrovich Polyakov.

Interview in the record: commander K-19 in 1961 Nikolai Zateev.

Personnel chronicles: AA Gromyko's visit to Washington on 12.07.1961, the days of the memory of the dead sailors at the cemetery.

The program uses excerpts from the documentary "The Fleet in the Fate of Russia" (directed by A. Vilkens) and the feature film "The Hunt for Red October" (1990, directed by D. McTiernan).