Read Online Mutiny: The True Events That Inspired The Hunt For Red October by Boris Gindin, David Hagberg - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Boris Gindin, David Hagberg
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half centuries of hardships and deaths, naval officers may be the most complex of Russians. All along they’ve had to balance their jobs of protecting the Rodina, whether it be from Turkey or Sweden or Germany or the United States and NATO, with protecting themselves from their own government, whether it be run by a tsar or a Communist Party Secretary.
Potulniy is no exception. On the one hand, he is aloof from his men, while on the other, he understands they are all his responsiblity. The
Storozhevoy,
his ship, includes his men, and he’ll never blame his crew for his own mistakes.
It was 1974 when the
Storozhevoy
was ordered out of his base at Baltiysk for a short training cruise of just a few hours. It was a fairly common occurrence between deployments, mostly to maintain crew efficiency and check on repairs and new equipment. The
Storozhevoy
is fitted with four gas turbine engines. Two of them, called marching engines, produce 18,000 horsepower and are used for normal cruising. The other two are boost engines developing 36,000 horsepower and are used for battle conditions when more speed is needed.
One of the boost engines was down, and the mechanical crew was having trouble finding the problem. At the time, Captain Lieutenant Alexander Ivanov was in control of all BCH-5, but the engines were Gindin’s responsiblity. Ivanov reported the downed gas turbine to Potulniy and, according to regulations, to the assistant division commander on shore, who gave the go-ahead for the brief mission anyway.
The shakedown cruise goes without a hitch until they head back and are about fifteen minutes from the dock, when both marching engines break down and neither will restart.
It’s Gindin’s rotation and as the ship loses control he reports the situation to the captain, who orders the anchor to be immediately lowered. They are in the narrow cut leading to the base, and the wind is shoving them toward the land. When the anchor bites, the
Storozhevoy
turns broadside, completely blocking the ship channel.
Gindin starts the boost turbine, which is the only operational engine left, so that they will have power, and he and his crew attack the problem with the stalled marching engines. Twenty minutes later they get one of the engines started, and shortly after that the second, which puts them where they began—with two marching engines but with only one boost turbine.
He radios Potulniy on the bridge. “Captain, I have the two marching engines on line again.”
“What about the boost engines?” Potulniy demands, and Gindin can hear the strain in his voice.
“Only one of them is working. The other one is still down.”
“How soon will it be operational, Boris?”
“I don’t know,” Gindin has to admit.
In this instant Potulniy’s career is on the line. The Soviet navy high command is not forgiving of its officers who make embarrassing mistakes. Of course the problem with the boost engine could be blamed on the gas turbine crew, and the problem returning home from the short cruise could be blamed on the assistant division officer. In any navy it’s called covering your ass,
prekrit cvoju zadnicu,
and Russian ship captains know how it’s done.
But right now Potulniy is faced with staying where he is and blocking the narrow ship channel or getting under way in the hopes that the marching engines won’t quit again.
He opts to stay put and call for the gas turbine manufacturer’s rep on base to be brought out to the ship to fix the problem. It takes the expert all night to resolve the issue, and in the morning the
Storozhevoy
makes his way into base with all his engines up and running. And there were no repercussions from Division Headquarters. In this instance Potulniy acted as a man of steel, taking complete responsibility for everything and everyone aboard his ship.
Yet six months later, on their cruise to Cuba, Potulniy shows a completely different side. More a man of cotton than steel, Gindin thinks. The Cubans
Potulniy is no exception. On the one hand, he is aloof from his men, while on the other, he understands they are all his responsiblity. The
Storozhevoy,
his ship, includes his men, and he’ll never blame his crew for his own mistakes.
It was 1974 when the
Storozhevoy
was ordered out of his base at Baltiysk for a short training cruise of just a few hours. It was a fairly common occurrence between deployments, mostly to maintain crew efficiency and check on repairs and new equipment. The
Storozhevoy
is fitted with four gas turbine engines. Two of them, called marching engines, produce 18,000 horsepower and are used for normal cruising. The other two are boost engines developing 36,000 horsepower and are used for battle conditions when more speed is needed.
One of the boost engines was down, and the mechanical crew was having trouble finding the problem. At the time, Captain Lieutenant Alexander Ivanov was in control of all BCH-5, but the engines were Gindin’s responsiblity. Ivanov reported the downed gas turbine to Potulniy and, according to regulations, to the assistant division commander on shore, who gave the go-ahead for the brief mission anyway.
The shakedown cruise goes without a hitch until they head back and are about fifteen minutes from the dock, when both marching engines break down and neither will restart.
It’s Gindin’s rotation and as the ship loses control he reports the situation to the captain, who orders the anchor to be immediately lowered. They are in the narrow cut leading to the base, and the wind is shoving them toward the land. When the anchor bites, the
Storozhevoy
turns broadside, completely blocking the ship channel.
Gindin starts the boost turbine, which is the only operational engine left, so that they will have power, and he and his crew attack the problem with the stalled marching engines. Twenty minutes later they get one of the engines started, and shortly after that the second, which puts them where they began—with two marching engines but with only one boost turbine.
He radios Potulniy on the bridge. “Captain, I have the two marching engines on line again.”
“What about the boost engines?” Potulniy demands, and Gindin can hear the strain in his voice.
“Only one of them is working. The other one is still down.”
“How soon will it be operational, Boris?”
“I don’t know,” Gindin has to admit.
In this instant Potulniy’s career is on the line. The Soviet navy high command is not forgiving of its officers who make embarrassing mistakes. Of course the problem with the boost engine could be blamed on the gas turbine crew, and the problem returning home from the short cruise could be blamed on the assistant division officer. In any navy it’s called covering your ass,
prekrit cvoju zadnicu,
and Russian ship captains know how it’s done.
But right now Potulniy is faced with staying where he is and blocking the narrow ship channel or getting under way in the hopes that the marching engines won’t quit again.
He opts to stay put and call for the gas turbine manufacturer’s rep on base to be brought out to the ship to fix the problem. It takes the expert all night to resolve the issue, and in the morning the
Storozhevoy
makes his way into base with all his engines up and running. And there were no repercussions from Division Headquarters. In this instance Potulniy acted as a man of steel, taking complete responsibility for everything and everyone aboard his ship.
Yet six months later, on their cruise to Cuba, Potulniy shows a completely different side. More a man of cotton than steel, Gindin thinks. The Cubans
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