SS Bratstvo (1963)
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | |
| Namesake: | Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships, projuct 567 and 567К. |
| Owner: |
29 December 1963 – March 1985:  Black Sea Shipping Company,  USSR |
| Operator: |
29 December 1963 – March 1985: Black Sea Shipping Company, USSR |
| Port of registry: |
29 December 1963 – March 1985: Odessa, USSR |
| Builder: |
Kherson shipyard; shipbuilding number 1215.[1][3] |
| Fate: | Scrapped in Algesiras, Spain, in 1985.[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | freighter, tweendecker |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 557.7 ft (170.0 m) abt |
| Beam: | 72.2 ft (22.0 m) abt |
| Propulsion: | two steam turbine engines driving a single 6.3 m (21 ft) screw propeller |
Bratstvo (Russian: Братство) was a multi-purpose tweendecker freighter owned by the Black Sea Shipping Company (Soviet Union). One of the Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships, it had steam turbine engines and oneproject 567K.[4]
Construction
The keel was laid on 20 September 1962. She was finished in December 1963.[1] The ship Bratstvo was delivered to the Black Sea Shipping Company on 29 December 1963.[3]
Around Africa
Due to the Suez Canal being closed from June 1967 until summer 1975, the ship Bratstvo went around Africa if her voyages were to Indian Ocean ports or to Far East ports. The ship had also voyages to Cuba and Syria. The ship sailed from Antwerp on 19 of January 1973, bound for North Korea via Las Palmas and around Africa. Later in the year 1974, she sailed from the Black Sea to Umm Qasr, Iraq, a voyage which too her around the Cape of Good Hope. The ship visited Cape Town for bunkering when rounding the Africa.[2]
The photo: The ship Братство during a visit in Cape Town.
Arab–Israeli War in October, 1973
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War, also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, was a war fought by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973. A total 23 or more Soviet merchant ships carried military cargoes to Syria and Egyptian in October and in early November, 1973. The ship Bratstvo was one of eight Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships which took part in this transport. According to U.S. information the ship Bratstvo visited Syria one time: the ship sailed from the Black Sea, passed the Bosphorus on the 18th and arrived at Latakia on 20 October 1973.[5]
The sailors of the civil merchant ships were not only witnesses, they were also participants in the ongoing war, as the ports were exposed to air bombardments by the Israeli Air Force. The ship Bratstvo arrived on the 20 October 1973, continued to discharge ammunition during the air raids.
From summer 1975 to summer 1984.
The photos:
- Soviet cargo ship Bratstvo (11,521 tons gross, built at the Kherson Shipyard in Ukraine) at anchor off Kuwait in March 1976.
- Steam-turbine runner Bratstvo in August 1978.
The last voyage.
The ship Bratstvo loaded wheat in bulk in Canada and sailed from Port-Cartier, Ontario, for Odessa in early September, 1984. When the ship passed the Strait of Gibraltar, she visited Ceuta for fresh water supply and for bunkering.[2][6]
After fresh water and bunker supply the ship Bratstvo sailed from Ceuta for Odessa on 18 September 1984. When the ship passed the port gates, she changed course to 98 degrees and speed was 14.0 knots. Weather was favorable and visibility at night was good, about 4 miles.[6]
Incident on Bratstvo.
When Bratstvo ship's clock showed 23:33 local time on the 18th of September (submarine's time was 01:34 on the 19th of September) a terrible concussion occurred suddenly. As per remembers of the Captain Vadim Fillipovich Demchenkov, it was comparable to the explosion due to the very powerful shake. Within 50 seconds the engine room of the ship was flooded up to the main deck line, the ship with 10 meters draught fell to the draught 12.5 meters, almost to the line of the main deck, but remained afloat – cargo ships of this serie had a big sagging, it is why the forecastle and aftcastle were under water level.[7][6]
The captain Vadim Demchenkov reminisced: "Watch of three men ran from the engine room up the ladders due to they were already knee-deep or waist-deep into the water. Due to alarm the second engineer arrived at own place in the engine room and immediately he blocked clinkety door by the actuator from the main deck. The capacity of the tunnel of the ship was not less than 1500 tons. If it was filled with sea water, the loss of the vessel would have been inevitable. This ship had single-compartment unsinkability, but she was still afloat! Apparently, the grain coefficient of permeability was very small actually and the grain was not so actively washed away at sea due to was not big waves and the ship was not heavily pitching and rolling".[7][6]
As the captain mentioned, theoretically the ship would sink within one minute, but fortunately it did not happen. It is possible to say that a marvel happened. The engine room was flooded, the turbine generator has stopped, but the emergency diesel generator was started in 20 seconds. The ship was not illuminated during 30–40 seconds only. In 10 minutes the life-boats were lowered into water and all crew members were in the life boats, - the crew was expected that the ship may sink...[6]
The lounched crew was close to the abandoned ship. According to the signal SOS other vessels went to Bratstvo. Bulgarian transport Pyatiero iz PMS came the first. Bulgarians lowered into water their ship motor-boat for unknown reason, but their boat engine stalled immediately and the wind blew the motor-boat into absolute gloom of the night. The captain of Bulgarian ship did not take on board the Soviet seamen until one of the life-boats of the ship Bratstvo is gone to search the Bulgarian trouble-rescuers. Soon they were found and towed to the board of the ship. Bulgarian crew evince friendly welcome to each "bratooshka."[8] Soon the Soviet ship Kapitan Medvyedev reached the scene and took all Soviet sailors on own board.[6]
Although the crew abandoned the Bratstvo, nevertheless one of the boats is constantly was on duty at the side of the ship to avoid somebody will consider that the ship is abandoned and will not get the ship like a booty. The captain and the chief of ship's radio-station climbed on board periodically to communicate with the shipping company. Crew members of Bratstvo brought the tug line from the Spanish tug-boat in the afternoon and this tug-boat towed the waterlogged ship in Algeciras bay and pulled stranded Bratstvo on a shallow sand bank with a depth of 12.5 meters.[6]
The captain Vadim Demchenkov nated: "Until the moment when the Spanish diver emerged from the flooded engine room, showed us pieces of rubber and shouted "Rushen submarine", everyone thought that it was an explosion."[7]
The hole size was 100 square metres: from the keel to height of 5 meters and a length of 20 meters. As it turned out, the submarine struck by own nose on an oncoming course and an bearing of 45 degrees (this is confirmed by the courses of the submarine and the vessel and the acoustic bearing). The blow fell at the end of the 3rd hold and ended all over the engine room. Submarine simply entered the hull of the ship and took out a huge chunk of the ship's board. The hole has not been ripped hole, but simply a piece of ship's board was missing.[7]
Incident in the Soviet Navy.
Second part of September and first part of October is the vilvety season at the Black Sea coast... The Commander of the Soviet Union Northern Fleet and Hero of the Soviet Union Admiral Arkady Mikhailovsky had a rest with his wife in Sochi "Aurora" (seems, it is Sanatorium). In the morning of the 19th of September he was called by the chief of staff of the Northern Fleet and Vice-Admiral Vadim Konstantinovich Korobov, who reported about the incident and about the orders from the Chief Commander: to interrupt the vacation.[6]
Somehow the commander of the disaster submarine K-53, which get a kick, had not report about it... during 9 (!) hours. It is why the information about the inexplicable collision of the Soviet transport in international waters was received... by the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union via Spain, and from there the information was received by the Soviet government, and not via the Ministry of defence. Accordingly, the Central command post of the General staff remained uninformed for a long time as no any alarm from the submarine had been received. K-53 reported about the collision with much delay, which caused the righteous anger of the Soviet Minister and Marshal Ustinov D.F., and a "dressing down" (Russian: втык)[9] to the Chief Commander and Admiral of the Soviet Union Fleet Gorshkov S.G..[6]
Meanwhile, a Soviet nuclear-powered submarine Victor-class submarine, NATO classification "Victor-1", passed the Strait of Gibraltar at 60 meters depth. At 19:45 on the 18 of September 1984, the commander checked the submarine's position and handed over the watch to the chief officer. It was necessary to surface for a communication session.[6]
Summary.
Bratstvo collided with the Soviet submarine K-53 of Victor I class in position Latitude 35 deg 55 min North and Longitude 005 deg 00 min West, at the exit from the Gibraltar Strait in Alboran Sea, on the 18th (as per ship's time due to ship's time) or 19 (as per submarine time) of September 1984. The ship was towed to Algeciras to cut for scrap.[1][2] This information was posted via Internet by Ukrainian seamen after the Soviet Union disintegration and Russia and Ukraine Opportunity in 2000–2010s. But English language sources mentioned until 2015 that the ship Bratsvo had to visit Algesiras port due to explosion in engine room and nothing about the collision until this this incident was described in a Wikipedia article Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships. Only from 2015 the English Internet sources commenced to correct own information about this collision. It is necessary to follow Soviet, Russian sources and Ukrainian seamen forums to understand clear what happened. And the situation became more clear after the seamen forums as they wrote accurate information as witnesses.
There are three parties which describe this incident differently: The master and crew of the ship Bratstvo are one party and the captain of the submarine and Soviet Navy commander are another side. And separately the ratings of the Soviet Navy have own opinion.
Fate
The ship was decommissioned in March 1985 and scrapped in Algesiras, Spain in 1985.[1]
Crew
Anatoliy Matveyevich Romanov was the staff master of the ship Bratstvo; he died in 2011.[10][11]
Viktor Snisarenko worked on this ship from the 1969 to 1983 and during this period passed from junior deck officer to master of this ship.[11]
Vladimir Filipovich Demchenkov was the captain of the ship Bratstvo in 1984 when the collision occurred.[11]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Братство". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "BRATSTVO – IMO 6405044". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- 1 2 "Project 567". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ↑ "Проект 567, 567К, тип Ленинский комсомол". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ↑ Розин Александр. "Советский флот в войнах и конфликтах "холодной войны". Это – персональная страница Александра Розина >> Война "Судного дня" 1973 г. Противостояние флотов СССР и США на море. Chapter 9: Корабли эскадры конвоируют транспорты.".
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Был ли доклад "Горизонт чист"? :: Флот – 21 век". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Капитан дальнего плавания Демченков В.Ф. (2010). "Воспоминания капитана теплохода "Братство".". Сайт "Русский Подплав".
- ↑ "Bratooshka" - brother of Bulgarian language and all Bulgarians have custom to call each Soviet seaman or solgier as "bratooshka".
- ↑ "Втык" - it can be translated on English as "dressing down" or "to insert a stick". It is a jargon between men and it is obscenely to explain what it means directly.
- ↑ "Одноклассники". OK.RU. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Одноклассники". OK.RU. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ↑ Розин Александр. "Советский флот в войнах и конфликтах "холодной войны". Это - персональная страница Александра Розина >> Война «Судного дня» 1973 г. Противостояние флотов СССР и США на море. Chapter 9: Корабли эскадры конвоируют транспорты. Table: Список судов по американским данным вышедших из черноморских портов в Сирию и Египет в октябре и начале ноября 1973 г.".