Early on the morning of November 9, 1975,
two Tupolev Tu-16 bombers from Soviet Baltic Fleet Aviation reported the sighting of a
designated target. Upon receiving the report, Soviet Command confirmed the previously given
order to "destroy the target and provided the pilots with launch codes for the missiles.
The target for the Soviet bombers was a large military ship that the Soviet Air Force and
Navy had been hunting for several hours already. The drama of the situation was that this was
not some dummy ship serving as a training target; neither
was it an enemy warship threatening the security of the USSR. That morning the Soviet pilots
had been ordered to destroy their own anti-submarine frigate, with over 150 Soviet sailors on board.
These were the final moments of a big hunt the hunt for the "Storozhevoy."
In 1990, the movie "The Hunt for Red October" was released arguably one of the most famous
Cold War era action movies, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. Just to remind you,
the plot revolves around a rogue Soviet naval captain who wishes to defect to the United
States with his officers and the Soviet Navy's newest and most advanced ballistic missile
submarine. It was a cool movie by 90s standards, featuring smart Americans, evil Russians,
slick nuclear submarines, huge aircraft carriers, planes, explosions, and lead actors speaking
Russian, albeit in a way that I need English subtitles to understand. I first watched this movie as a 10-year-old
kid born and raised in the USSR. For me, watching such films, where the Soviets always lose
in the end, of course, was somewhat unpleasant, but at the same time, it was interesting because
those movies reflected the fear that Western countries had of the military power of the
USSR. Or rather, their perception of what that power could be, which to be fair, was
on the same level as the perception of my 10-year-old self, thinking of the Soviet Army
as a formidable and invincible machine. Which in reality was so far from the truth when
the Red Army was facing a real combat situation rather than a military parade or an exercise.
Of course, today my statement doesn't come across as shocking or surprising, especially
after the entire world has witnessed the pathetic organization of the Russian troops, who proudly
claim to uphold the traditions of the Soviet Army.
By the way, in this light, I found quite amusing one of the opening scenes of the movie, when
we learn the last name of the Soviet submarine s political officer and his subsequent fate.
However, what makes "The Hunt for Red October" special is that, unlike other similar films
of that time, it's not just a fictional story but is based on real events. The film itself
is an adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel, which, in turn, was inspired by a real-life incident
that occurred in the USSR in 1975 the mutiny on the anti-submarine frigate "Storozhevoy".
Though, if Tom Clancy knew all the details of the Soviet Navy and Air Force's actions
during the hunt for the Storozhevoy, he would have had to publish his book "The Hunt for
Red October" not as a techno-thriller but as a tragic comedy.
It's so easy to fall in love with the ideas of socialism. A perfect society where everyone
is equal, with no rich or poor, has lured the minds of many for over a century and people
over and over again are willing to sacrifice everything for yet another attempt to build
an ideal socialist country. The key is to convince oneself that all the previous historical
attempts failed not due to socialism itself but simply due to wrong implementation of
socialist principles, however this time it will all be different.
Most often it is capitalism that is presented as an opposing economic system, which, for
the sake of building the ideal socialist country, must be demolished first. However, among all
those well-known historical examples, there is one very unique case the case of Valery
Sablin, who decided to start a socialist revolution in a socialist country.
No, Valery wasn't insane or foolish. Quite to the contrary, he was a very intelligent
and talented Soviet Navy officer who graduated from the elite Frunze Naval Institute, followed
by the Lenin Military-Political Academy, where he excelled and where his name was then engraved
on the Academy s wall as one of the best graduates in its history.
However, after graduation Sablin's rationality couldn't withstand the test of socialist reality.
The extremely poor and highly corrupt Soviet nation had nothing in common with the socialist
paradise he and others had been so thoroughly taught in school. Valery Sablin believed the
reason for this was the current Soviet leadership, who had strayed from true socialist ways,
and that a new, proper revolution was needed to make the Soviet Union great again. To achieve his sacred goal, Sablin decided
he would simply seize the Storozhevoy anti-submarine frigate on which he served as Deputy Commander
for Political Matters. On November 8, 1975, the Storozhevoy was in the port of Riga after
participating in a military naval parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Soviet
Revolution. In the late evening, Valeri Sablin, along with some crew members who supported
his ideas, managed to get weapons from the armory, and then locked the rest of the Storozhevoy
crew in compartments, including its captain, Anatoly Potulny. After taking full control
of the ship, Valery Sablin left the port and set a course for the Gulf of Riga. His plan
was to reach the city of Leningrad, the cradle of the Soviet revolution, where he wanted
to anchor right by the legendary revolutionary symbol the cruiser Aurora and then make a
political statement on national radio and television, which would start a new revolution
in the USSR. The Soviet leadership, obviously, did not
appreciate Sablin's initiative. Furthermore, they seriously feared that all his appeals
to revolution were merely a cover-up so he could take the ship to Sweden. The thing is
that, to reach Leningrad, the ship, after leaving the Gulf of Riga, had to make a right
turn and head towards the Gulf of Finland, where Leningrad was located. However, if the
ship did not make that turn and stayed on the same course, it could quickly end up in
Sweden, which was very close by. Despite Sweden s neutral status back then, the USSR was well
aware of their relationship with NATO. Therefore, the prospect of an international scandal involving
a mutinous ship carrying the latest Soviet weaponry and equipment into the hands of NATO
seriously heightened the Soviet leaders concerns. And those were justified concerns. At the
time, the Storozhevoy, which was built less than two years prior, was considered a highly
advanced ship. It was one of the Project 1135 Krivak-class anti-submarine frigates, which
were some of the most successful and combat-capable ships in the Soviet Navy. These frigates combined
high seakeeping ability and sailing autonomy, powerful anti-submarine weapons, as well as
strong anti-aircraft defense. Some experts believe that in comparison to their foreign
counterparts of the time, the Krivak-class ships were, arguably, the best in the world,
surpassing US Navy frigates of the Knox and Perry classes. Of course, the US Navy may
not agree with that, but there was no doubt among the Russian leadership, and thus allowing
one of the most advanced Soviet ships to fall into NATO's hands was simply unacceptable.
Therefore, Leonid Brezhnev, who was awakened late at night by Defense Minister Andrey Grechko,
gave a clear and concise order: "Stop the Storozhevoy; otherwise, destroy the ship along
with the crew." Even though news of the mutiny on the Storozhevoy
became known almost immediately, the alarm for the Baltic Fleet sounded only three hours
later. The thing is that one of the officers from the Storozhevoy managed to escape from
the ship and quickly ran to headquarters, but the officers on duty were initially hesitant
to believe what he was saying, thinking that he was simply intoxicated from the previous
night's celebrations. The idea that a political officer could have incited mutiny on the ship
was really hard to believe. So, no action was taken while the duty officers waited for
the arrival of a doctor to assess the Storozhevoy officer's level of alcohol intoxication. But
when the situation became clear, the Storozhevoy had already gained a few hours head start,
and its precise location was unknown. However, it was clear to everyone that the Storozhevoy
was heading towards the Irbe Strait, the only way for the ship to reach the open sea.
The first ships sent to intercept the Storozhevoy were the border guard patrol boats, which
were the closest to the rogue ship since they were already patrolling in that area.
A bit later Command also sent the frigate SKR-14 from Riga, as well as a group of ships
from Liepaja that consisted of the old frigate "Komsomolets Litvy", accompanied by three
anti-submarine corvettes. The quantitative composition of the interception
group looked impressive; however, its combat capabilities were not that much.
Here s a quote from Vladimir Duginets, who served on one of those corvettes and participated
in the interception of the Storozhevoy: "I, with my young communist party-driven mind,
couldn't believe that a Soviet officer could simply seize a military ship and take it abroad.
. And what are we going to do with our 57mm double-barreled popguns against a frigate
seven times our size? As for the patrol boats, they looked quite
impressive for intercepting small targets during peacetime. Two 30mm cannons mounted
on the bow and stern, along with four torpedo launchers, could certainly intimidate any
maritime border violator. The catch, though, was that the crews on these vessels never
had actual torpedoes. Due to some obscure convention, border guard patrol boats were
not allowed to carry missile or torpedo ammunition on board. So, the border guards who were the
closest to the Storozhevoy were obviously reluctant to engage in combat with the giant
frigate and tried, instead, to use verbal diplomacy to stop the violator. After all,
on board the Storozhevoy were two twin-barreled 76mm artillery turrets, which, if desired,
could turn the small patrol boats into tiny splinters along with their little cannons.
However, the peace of Duginets' morning musings was shattered by the roar of Yak-28 bombers
appearing in the sky. Recognizing the inadequacy of the naval forces
sent to intercept the Storozhevoy, the Soviet command decided to deploy aviation to assist
in countering the mutinous frigate. First and foremost, they considered Long-Range Aviation,
whose aircraft could carry anti-ship cruise missiles capable of sinking even an aircraft
carrier. However, the commander of Long-Range Aviation, General Vasiliy Reshetnikov, did
his utmost to avoid having his subordinates carry out such a delicate task.
As he later recalled in his book, when he received the order to sink the Storozhevoy,
he "managed to slip away from the task, since given the unknown location of the Storozhevoy,
the 'operation' threatened not only the destruction of the military ship and its, as it turned
out later, innocent crew, but also the high risk of mistakenly hitting another target,
for instance a civilian ship. Which, to makes things even worse, could be of foreign allegiance."
Reshetnikov s position of course was not appreciated by his superiors. As he described, he could
clearly sense the nervousness of Pavel Kutakhov (the commander of the Soviet Air Force) who,
of course perfectly understood Reshetnikov s arguments but nevertheless tried to push
him into the risky mission. The thing is that Kutakhov, in turn, was also under constant
pressure from Defense Minister Andrei Grechko, who, in anticipation of looming international
embarrassment if the ship were to enter Swedish territorial waters, impatiently demanded from
Kutakhov one thing: "Sink Storozhevoy immediately." The situation was reaching a boiling point.
The means were not discussed; anything would do.
Next to the minister was the chief-commander of the Soviet Navy, Sergei Gorshkov, who persistently
urged that the best missiles for striking the ship were those in the inventory of Long-Range
Aviation. Of course, the chief-commander was dissembling, being fully aware of the potential
consequences of this incident, so he was trying to distance himself from the impending disaster
before it was too late. In the meantime, around 3 a.m., according
to Pavel Kutakhov's orders, two aviation regiments from the 15th Air Army of the Baltic Military
District were raised to combat alert. Those were the 899th Fighter Regiment and the 668th
Bombardment Regiment, which was armed with Yak-28B tactical bombers.
The 668th Regiment initially thought it was just yet another combat readiness check. However,
when the regiment commander contacted the air division's command post, he was surprised
to learn that they had not heard of any such exercise, and nothing like this was planned
for the night. After that, he called the air division commander directly, who had been
peacefully sleeping at home. The awakened general, quote, "calmly, clearly, and explicitly
explained to the newly appointed regiment commander that the one who had put the regiment
on alert, bypassing the division commander, should be the one to command the regiment.
Meanwhile, on the airfield, flight preparations were actively underway. Yak-28s were prepared
for takeoff, and 250 kg High Explosive Fragmentation Bombs (OFAB-250Sh) were loaded into the Yaks
bomb bays. Those were the bombs from the so-called first loadout that had been stored in ground
embankments near the planes. As Alexander Tsymbalov recalled: We then received
an encrypted message straight from the 15th Air Army Headquarters with a description of
the tactical situation, together with the task for a training mission. It turns out
that this time a foreign warship had invaded the Soviet Union s territorial waters. A brief
description of the ship was given, along with its geographical coordinates in the Gulf of
Riga. The task for the aviation regiment was briefly formulated as to be ready to execute
an air strike on the ship with the aim of destroying it. Since the ship was a fairly strong target,
a question was raised about replacing the bombs with a heavier and more powerful FAB-500.
It was a fair point, but such bombs were in the third ammunition loadout and were stored
in the weapon warehouses in factory packaging. And, since this was just considered yet another
training, it was decided not to bother with opening the warehouses, but only to conditionally
mark the change of ammunition, while keeping the planes with the previously loaded 250
kg bombs. With the dawn, one Yak-28 set off on the target
search and weather reconnaissance. The weather conditions were very poor; early twilight,
low clouds, and thick haze significantly limited visibility. Given the conditions, it was no
surprise they failed to locate the rogue ship. It is worth mentioning that the flight personnel
of the 668th Bomber Aviation Regiment had very limited experience in dealing with maritime
targets, which for them were considered a second priority. In case of a war, the primary
task of the 668th regiment was to attack enemy airfields in the territory of West Germany,
and this in turn was reflected in the regiment s training and expertise.
A bit later another pair of bombers was sent with the mission of finding the Storozhevoy.
Initially, they also failed to find anything and thus received an order to split up: one
aircraft was now supposed to search for the ship in the area of its presumed location,
and the other one was to search in the area near the Swedish island of Gotland.
The crew that was searching the area of presumed location quickly spotted a large surface target.
Following the task conditions precisely the Yak approached the target in the thick haze
at an altitude of 500 meters, visually identified the vessel as a destroyer-sized warship, and
then began bombing. The high-explosive fragmentation bombs detonated on the water s surface right
next to the vessel, damaging the starboard side of the ship which ... turned out to be
a regular Soviet cargo ship. Their mistake quickly became obvious when
the cargo ship started broadcasting distress signals on the radio, reporting they were
under a blatant terrorist attack in the territorial waters of the Soviet Union. The Baltic Fleet
and the Border Guard radiomen received these signals and reported them to higher command.
Fortunately, there were no casualties or injuries on board the innocent cargo ship.
In the meantime, the second Yak-28, which was searching for the ship near Gotland Island,
consistently discovered with their radar groups of surface targets. But, remembering the failure
of the other crew, they now had descended to 200 m so to visually check all the targets.
However, the vast majority of those targets were mere fishing boats. Time was passing,
but the Storozhevoy had yet to be found. And so, the 668th regiment commander decided to
increase the search efforts by sending two more Yak-28s from the 1st squadron, which
started their engines and began taxiing to the runway. But then, as Alexander Tsymbalov recalled,
apparently something drastically changed in the overall situation. He suggested that most
likely the Storozhevoy had approached the border of Soviet territorial waters, which
the pursuing ships reported to Command. Why these very ships and the Baltic Fleet Headquarters
did not provide the Air Force with the exact location of the Storozhevoy was a big mystery
for Tsymbalov, as he recalled. Apparently, until that moment, the 668th Regiment was
not considered the primary force capable of stopping the rebel ship. However, when the
ship approached neutral waters and the final decision was made to destroy it with any combat-ready
means, the regiment found itself at the very center of the events. Anyway, whatever the reason might have been,
the commander of the 15th Air Army suddenly gave the order to scramble in the shortest
possible time the entire 668th regiment and attack the rogue ship, the exact location
of which the pilots still did not know. Here it s worth explaining one technical detail.
The Soviet Air Force at that time adopted three scenarios for scrambling a regiment
on combat alert. Those were a take-off on a combat mission within the aircrafts combat
range; a take-off on a combat mission with a subsequent relocation to another airfield;
or a take-off while evading an enemy surprise attack on the airfield, which was the fastest
scenario in terms of timing. When evading the attack, the first to take
off was the squadron which was parked the closest to either end of the runway; in the
668th Regiment s case this was the third squadron. The next to take off was the first squadron,
which should take off from the opposite direction, the very direction the flights were carried
out on that ill-fated morning. The third to take off was the second squadron.
The third squadron, having received the order to take off under the evade an attack variant,
taxied to the runway as soon as possible, and immediately began takeoff, not knowing
that at the same time, on the other side of the runway, two planes from the first squadron
were already preparing for takeoff, having received their order earlier. A catastrophic
collision right on the runway was avoided only because the commander of the first squadron
and his wingman managed to stop their takeoff run at the initial stage and clear the runway. It took quite some time to get the take-off
process back in order, and all the regiment bombers managed to take off safely, but due
to the initial chaos it was no longer possible to organize the regiment in the predetermined
battle formation. Instead, the bombers headed to the target area like an uncontrolled flock
of birds at various altitudes at one-minute intervals. ? perfect target for the Storozhevoy
s anti-air missile defense systems with their 40-second reload cycle. As Alexander Tsymbalov
said, had the ship actually repelled this air strike, there is a high degree of certainty
that all 18 bombers of this battle formation would have been shot down. In the meantime, the second lone Yak-28, which
was sent earlier and was searching for the ship near Gotland Island, finally spotted
on the radar a group of ships, two of which looked bigger than the others. Disregarding
the flight restriction to not fly below 500 meters, the crew passed between two large
warships at a mere 50 m and identified them as anti-submarine frigates.
The pilot didn t know that one of those ships was the old frigate 'Komsomolets Litvy' with
1st Rank Captain Rassukovany on board, who was in command of the pursuing group sent
from Liepaja. But to be fair, it was not that important because on board the other ship,
the pilot clearly observed the sought-after number 500, which meant he had finally found
the Storozhevoy. A report with the ship's coordinates was immediately
sent to the bomber regiment's command post, along with a request to engage. After receiving
the attack order, the Yak-28 executed a bombing approach at an altitude of 200 meters, although
unsuccessfully. The Storozhevoy performed a swift evasive maneuver, so the bomber had
to abort the attack, passing right over the ship at an altitude of just 50 meters. However,
after the failed 1st attack the Yak gained some altitude, turned around and attacked
the ship again, dropping 3 bombs. The first bomb hit the deck on the ship s stern, while
the other 2 hit the water slightly beyond, causing no damage to the ship. According to
Alexander Tsymbalov, it was after this attack that the Storozhevoy stopped moving. By this
time the group of pursuing ships, led by the frigate Komsomolets Litvy , were getting closer
to the Storozhevoy, and it may have seemed that the incident was close to the end, but
at that very moment the flock of 18 Yak-28 bombers started to arrive on the scene, with
the first one quickly getting down to business by mistakenly attacking the frigate 'Komsomolets
Litvy'. As Vladimir Duginets recalled, the first Yak
bomber came after the 'Komsomolets Litvy' and mistakenly dropped three bombs right in
front of the ship, at a mere distance of 100 meters. Those bombs miraculously did not demolish
the aging ship, though it hugely terrified the crew. Meanwhile, the Yak-28 pilot reported
to the command post about the dropped bombs and also about multiple missile launches from
the ship. At that moment everyone at the aviation command post held their breath, thinking of
the Storozhevoy air defense system s capabilities and fearing what might happen next. They sighed
with relief only when the pilot clarified that these were signal rockets.
The 'Komsomolets Litvy,' being under attack, launched signal flares chaotically in every
direction in an attempt to scare off the audacious pilots. A moment later patrol boats suddenly
started randomly shooting their guns in an attempt to drive the fighters away. According to Duginets, it was a moment of
pure chaos, and they took shelter on the bridge due to the unexpected attacks. However, this
would have been little protection had the shells hit the bridge. On top of that, in
the middle of that chaos an engine fire started due to overheating, and soon their ship was
covered in a thick black smoke. The most surprising thing for Duginets was
why the pilots didn't ask them to designate the correct target. But interestingly, the
pilots in their recollections asked the very same question of why the sailors didn't provide
them with the target's location, which would have helped to avoid that mess. At one point,
Duginets even thought that it would be great if someone finally destroyed the Storozhevoy
to put an end to all that chaos. It seemed that his thoughts were heard, since
at that moment, two Tupolev Tu-16 heavy bombers appeared on the horizon. Meanwhile all the
ships received an order from Command: "Do not fire at the Storozhevoy. Take up positions
10 km behind the Storozhevoy. Aviation is going to work now."
The approaching Tu-16s were missile carriers from the 240th Regiment of the Baltic Fleet
Aviation. According to Vladimir Zaborsky (the head of the operational management department
of the Navy s General Staff), after the mistaken attack on a civilian cargo ship by Army Aviation,
Admiral Kosov gave the order to scramble a pair of naval missile carrier aircraft. After
locating the target, the leader of the missile carriers started the combat approach and requested
missile codes to execute the launch. However, it appeared that the duty officer at the command
post did not have the codes and had to call Navy Command to get them. Meanwhile, the missile
carriers had to turn away from the combat course and start a second approach. As it
later turned out, this small delay saved the Storozhevoy because at that moment its captain
managed to regain control of the ship and report to Command.
It is believed that part of the crew who did not support the mutiny took advantage of the
confusion caused by the Yak-28 attacks and freed their commander, Anatoly Potulny. Who,
in turn, made his way to the captain s bridge and shot Valery Sablin in the leg. Immediately
after this, he contacted Navy Command, which then canceled the attack on the ship. The
time was 10:30 am. Before returning to the airbase the Tu-16
turned around and flew at low altitude over the Storozhevoy, which under the escort of
several patrol boats, took a course to the port of Liepaja.
The actions of the naval aviators were described in exactly the same way by Commander of Long-Range
Aviation Vasiliy Reshetnikov, who in his book ended his story about the Storozhevoy lamenting
that he had missed the chance to 'distinguish' himself in the fight against the 'rebels'
over the Baltic Sea, and thus he hadn t added more glory to the Soviet Army.
To be fair, Vasiliy Reshetnikov dissembled in that matter, as Soviet Long-Range Aviation,
in particular the elite 121 Heavy Bombardment Regiment, had prepared for an attack on the
Storozhevoy. However, it's highly unlikely that those actions would have brought glory
to Soviet Army. At the very beginning of the hunt for the
Storozhevoy, among all the forces that were considered for the task of destroying the
fugitive-ship was the 121st Heavy Bombardment Regiment, armed with Tupolev Tu-22 bombers.
As one of the regiment s pilots, Alexandr Davydov, recalled: "It all began with a signal
from Headquarters that the regiment was being placed on high alert. However, there was some
confusion right from the start because the command 'HIGH ALERT' came with an error: the
code word in the encrypted message matched the password, but the numerical part didn't.
Some time passed as the regiment's command worked with headquarters to confirm the order.
Meanwhile, an alarm sounded at the airbase, spreading overall nervousness and uncertainty
among the personnel." Approximately 20 minutes later, all flight
crews assembled in the regiment's briefing room. Here, they were informed about the events
surrounding the Storozhevoy. Subsequently, they were assigned a combat mission: "Three
crews were to destroy a large anti-submarine frigate with Kh-22 cruise missiles, so to
prevent the ship from leaving Soviet waters. The regiment s commander, Colonel Gennady
Nesterov, who some of you may recall from one of my previous videos about the Tu-22
that accidently flew to Iran, ordered 3 of his best crews in the regiment to carry out
the combat mission. The rest of the crews were ordered to prepare their aircraft for
takeoff and await further orders. The routine process of refueling and loading the missiles
had begun, but not without some peculiarities. Unlike the flight crews, the tech personnel
hadn't all arrived at the airbase at the designated time. It was the time of a big Soviet holiday,
and some of the missile-loading crews were out of the airbase for celebrations. Moreover,
for some unknown reason, the tech staff was told that the alert was due to a U.S. aircraft
carrier invading Soviet territorial waters. And what does that mean? War? The situation
was unclear. Tensions mounted. However, the most dangerous part was that the Aviation
Field Laboratory a unit in the regiment responsible for missile handling was determined to meet
the given readiness standards at all costs. And thus, due to haste, some missiles were
sent to the bombers within the designated time but without fuel, oxidizer, or even warheads.
Major D'yachenko, for example, recalled that his Tu-22's missile lacked oxidizer, while
Captain Vusik found that his missile had no fuel. Moreover, it took a long time to find
the duralumin pins for missiles, which are only used during real launches and are cut
when the missiles leave their holders. However, the pilots discovered that all the bombers
had steel pins, which were only used for training flights.
It turned out that Major Eduard Ladzygo, the head of the Field Aviation Laboratory, had
left at home the keys to the safe where the duralumin pins were stored. One of his deputies
was urgently sent to retrieve the keys. Throughout this ordeal, Colonel Gennady Nesterov
was incessantly pestered by his superiors on the phone with questions about the readiness
of the aircraft and crews for an actual combat mission. After some time, Colonel Nesterov
gathered the flight crews in the briefing room and gave a clear order: The ship is escaping
across the Soviet border! The target s location has been determined. Destroy the ship! . According
to Davydov, at that moment Major Ladzygo muttered, "This is the end." But even today nobody can
say exactly what he meant. Three Tu-22s taxied onto the runway and reported
they were ready for takeoff. The other crews remained on standby on the tarmac with their
engines running, awaiting their turn for takeoff. This situation lasted for about 30 minutes.
But then all of a sudden, the crews received an order: "Abort! Return bombers to parking.
Shut down the engines. Everyone, go have breakfast." After all the turmoil, Colonel Gennady Nesterov
said, "If the regiment had actually been ordered on a combat mission, I would have personally
shot Major Ladzygo." Meanwhile, the Storozhevoy was escorted to
the Liepaja naval base and underwent repairs at the local shipyard's dock. It turned out
that the ship had not sustained significant damage during the aerial attacks. Following
the repairs, the Storozhevoy was transferred far from the site of the mutiny to the Russian
Far East and continued service until October 2002 when the ship was sent for scrap. Valery Sablin was put on trial, and for the
attempt of starting a socialist revolution was sentenced to death, and soon executed.
Surprisingly, out of all his accomplices, only one sailor was sentenced to prison, for
eight years. The rest of the Storozhevoy crew was disbanded.
Typical for the Soviet system, the punishment machine was brutal. Even officers who were
not on the ship during the mutiny, as they were on leave for the holidays, were disciplined.
The investigators somehow believed that they should have recognized their politically unreliable
commander. The majority of Storozhevoy officers were demoted to the rank of sailor and discharged
from the navy. An exemplary case of Soviet justice was the case of First Sergeant Aleksei
Davydov, who with his bare hands attacked one of the armed mutineers and ultimately
managed to free the captain, which led to the recovery of the Storozhevoy. After a detailed
investigation, General Yepishev, the head of the Main Political Department of the Soviet
Army and Navy, told him, "You deserve a reward for your actions, but we can't make public
our disgrace. Therefore, you will be retired from the service." However, after this, Davydov
was demoted to the rank of sailor and discharged from the navy without any pension.
Many high and low-ranking officers of the Baltic Fleet Command were also discharged
from the navy, including the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Kosov, and
Vice Admiral Shablikov, the head of the fleet's political department.
The aviators also faced consequences. The Central Committee of the Communist Party at
its meeting approved the actions of the Air Force because they had managed to suppress
the mutiny without any casualties among the personnel or losses in equipment. However,
the uncoordinated and often inept attacks by the 668th Regiment's crews infuriated the
Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. General Kutakhov ordered an investigation into the
actions of the regiment's personnel and sent a commission to the 15th Air Army. Following
the investigation, the commander of the 15th Air Army, General Boris Gvozdikov, was retired,
while the rest of the division's command received severe warnings about not meeting service
standards, which, according to army regulations, was the final punishment before dismissal
from the military. Regular pilots were informed that no one would
be punished or rewarded for their actions. Essentially, it was clear to everyone that
the causes of the chaotic actions of the 668th Regiment were rooted in a different issue.
At the end of the 1950s, the Soviet Navy had removed fighter, fighter-bomber, and bomber
units from its aviation, except for those flying the heavy Tu-16. The task of combating
maritime targets in coastal waters was delegated to the Air Force units stationed in the maritime
regions. However, the Air Force command did not consider this task a priority, and therefore,
the flight crews had significant gaps in their combat training. Neither the pilots nor the
navigators could identify ship classes and types. Additionally, issues of interaction
and target designation between the Air Force, the Navy, and the Border Guard units were
severely underdeveloped. As for the Storozhevoy incident in general,
according to Gennadiy Litvinov, one of the then-political officers of the 668th Regiment,
many participants and witnesses of the events believed that "Valery Sablin was not only
a traitor but also a mere scoundrel and not a true Russian. He woke up hundreds of people
suffering from heavy hangovers during one of the rare Soviet holidays when drinking
was considered a sacred duty. Even the neighboring 'evil capitalists' were accustomed to relaxing
and reducing their military activity during the November holidays. And here came Sablin
with such
a 'low blow'."
