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Saga of Soviet sub ending
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 29, 2008
By Daniel Barbarisi
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — When the bow of the sunken Soviet submarine Juliett 484 broke the surface of the Providence River on July 24, both the military divers and the sub’s caretakers rejoiced.
The work of raising the submarine, however, was not finished. Since then, divers have raised the stern of the submarine, and have spent the last few weeks securing the 43-year-old submarine so that it could be safely towed.
“They’ve taken the last two weeks to fabricate a set of steel flotation pontoons, which make it a lot easier and safer to tow,†said Frank Lennon, president of the Russian Sub Museum. “Think of it like training wheels on a bike.â€
Where it will be towed, however, is not yet clear. Lennon said it is still not certain what will become of the sub, which has deteriorated badly after so much time flooded at the bottom of the harbor. It could be restored if money is found, or it could end up as a sunken reef somewhere, or as scrap metal.
There is significant rust on the inside of the boat, and the red stars of the Soviet Union once prominent on the hull are now faded and barely identifiable.
Juliett 484 was commissioned by the Soviet Union in 1965 and served in the Soviet Baltic and Northern fleets as a ballistic-missile submarine until its decommissioning in 1994.
It was then converted into a restaurant in the North Sea. When that venture failed, it was sold to a group in St. Petersburg, Fla. In 2001, the submarine was used in the filming of the Cold War thriller K-19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford.
The submarine came to Providence as a museum ship in 2002. It sank in a storm at its Collier Point Park berth in April 2007, after hatches were left open, the military has said.
The military saw a unique opportunity in the Russian submarine sunk in shallow harbor water, and sent dive and salvage teams to Providence for two straight summers to figure out how to return the submarine to the surface.
In May, military dive and salvage teams first pulled the submarine upright using huge motors and cables, and then on July 24 pumped water out of the submarine’s innards until it was buoyant enough to break the suction with the mud holding it down.
But only the bow rose above the water; the stern was still anchored in the mud.
After several pumps in the stern were replaced by divers, the new pumps, combined with inflatable pontoons, gave the stern enough lift to pull it out of the mud. At about 9 p.m. on Aug. 2, the stern rose out of the water, finally bringing the submarine fully above the surface for the first time in 16 months, Lennon said. Juliett 484 was still heavy with water, however, and listing toward East Providence.
Over the next week, more water was pumped out, and by Aug. 8, Lennon said, the submarine sat normally above the water with no tilt.
With operations winding down, only a skeleton crew from the military remains, far fewer than the 80 men and women who were on site at the peak of the operation
Saga of Soviet sub ending
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 29, 2008
By Daniel Barbarisi
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — When the bow of the sunken Soviet submarine Juliett 484 broke the surface of the Providence River on July 24, both the military divers and the sub’s caretakers rejoiced.
The work of raising the submarine, however, was not finished. Since then, divers have raised the stern of the submarine, and have spent the last few weeks securing the 43-year-old submarine so that it could be safely towed.
“They’ve taken the last two weeks to fabricate a set of steel flotation pontoons, which make it a lot easier and safer to tow,†said Frank Lennon, president of the Russian Sub Museum. “Think of it like training wheels on a bike.â€
Where it will be towed, however, is not yet clear. Lennon said it is still not certain what will become of the sub, which has deteriorated badly after so much time flooded at the bottom of the harbor. It could be restored if money is found, or it could end up as a sunken reef somewhere, or as scrap metal.
There is significant rust on the inside of the boat, and the red stars of the Soviet Union once prominent on the hull are now faded and barely identifiable.
Juliett 484 was commissioned by the Soviet Union in 1965 and served in the Soviet Baltic and Northern fleets as a ballistic-missile submarine until its decommissioning in 1994.
It was then converted into a restaurant in the North Sea. When that venture failed, it was sold to a group in St. Petersburg, Fla. In 2001, the submarine was used in the filming of the Cold War thriller K-19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford.
The submarine came to Providence as a museum ship in 2002. It sank in a storm at its Collier Point Park berth in April 2007, after hatches were left open, the military has said.
The military saw a unique opportunity in the Russian submarine sunk in shallow harbor water, and sent dive and salvage teams to Providence for two straight summers to figure out how to return the submarine to the surface.
In May, military dive and salvage teams first pulled the submarine upright using huge motors and cables, and then on July 24 pumped water out of the submarine’s innards until it was buoyant enough to break the suction with the mud holding it down.
But only the bow rose above the water; the stern was still anchored in the mud.
After several pumps in the stern were replaced by divers, the new pumps, combined with inflatable pontoons, gave the stern enough lift to pull it out of the mud. At about 9 p.m. on Aug. 2, the stern rose out of the water, finally bringing the submarine fully above the surface for the first time in 16 months, Lennon said. Juliett 484 was still heavy with water, however, and listing toward East Providence.
Over the next week, more water was pumped out, and by Aug. 8, Lennon said, the submarine sat normally above the water with no tilt.
With operations winding down, only a skeleton crew from the military remains, far fewer than the 80 men and women who were on site at the peak of the operation