| Kronstadt miraculously escaped destruction Yesterday, each of the 50 thousand residents of Kronstadt once again realized that the naval town located on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland lives on a powder magazine. On Tuesday, the city almost blew up, but a miracle saved the Kronstadt residents: there was no TNT in the part of the “cellar” where the fire started, and firefighters managed to neutralize the burning arsenal in time.
No one was killed, but six people were injured, two of whom were taken to hospital in serious condition. One of the victims had 40% of her body burned. A commission of the Navy headquarters headed by Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy for Armaments, Vice Admiral Anatoly Smolyakov, came to St. Petersburg to investigate.
At approximately half past ten in the morning local time, Kronstadt was shaken by a series of explosions. At the same time, the city began to be covered in gray smoke. The residents of Kronstadt know very well that the city is literally stuffed with naval arsenals, and therefore they immediately began to prepare for the worst. Firefighters who arrived at the scene of the incident cordoned off everything for hundreds of meters around, fearing the scattering of ammunition fragments. Armed with metal shields, firefighters went into the interior of the burning warehouse.
The dam across the Gulf of Finland, connecting the island with St. Petersburg, was closed to the passage of all except emergency vehicles, which is why there was a traffic collapse in the northwestern regions of the city on the roads stretching along the Gulf of Finland.
The 18th Navy Arsenal, where the fire started, burned for almost two hours, during which time more than 20 of its 100 rounds of ammunition exploded. This military enterprise, along with the 521st military plant, is engaged in the disposal of weapons, having the appropriate license to do so. Yesterday, during the disassembly of the RSL-6 rocket depth charge, its starting engine fired, which led to the detonation of neighboring ammunition, which is 10-15 years old. According to the naval command, the cause of the engine explosion was carelessness when handling the bomb. The military prosecutor’s office also took this version as a basis, which opened a case under Article 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of safety rules at explosive objects). Fortunately for the plant workers and Kronstadt residents, there was no TNT in the bomb - only a powder charge. The ammunition that was waiting to be dismantled next door also had no lethal fillings. Otherwise, it is possible that the consequences of the incident could have been more dire.
Five years ago, the whole of St. Petersburg was kept in suspense for several days in a row by explosions at the Rzhev test site - shells from the Leningrad Military District exploded there, villages were evacuated, and shrapnel whistling through the neighboring forests almost hit trains with gasoline standing on a nearby branch. The north-eastern part of the city was then covered in smoke, many were seized with panic, the Ministry of Emergency Situations was ready to extinguish the arsenal with the help of aircraft.
And on the other side of St. Petersburg, “next door” to the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, mines and shells from the Krasnaya Gorka fort are waiting in the wings. This storage facility is dangerous not only because no one knows the exact volume of the deadly cargo stored here (according to various sources, there may be from 700 to 900 shells and chemicals that began to be stored in the first half of the last century, their total capacity is tens of tons in TNT equivalent), but no one knows how to get inside and how to clear the semi-emergency warehouse. Penetration into it is dangerous for life, as spontaneous explosion of the cellars is possible. This, however, does not scare off local residents, who from time to time steal explosive “toys” from the arsenal to use for household purposes.
Depth rocket bomb (DRB) is a type of naval ammunition for the destruction of submerged submarines, as well as combat swimmers, anchor and bottom mines. GRBs are dropped from an airplane or fired from a ship using a special device. Such bombs can have a conventional or nuclear charge. At the end of the 50s of the last century, bombs with nuclear filling entered service with the Navy. Modern depth rocket bombs have a caliber of 203-375 mm, a total mass of 120-250 kg, and a combat charge of 40-100 kg. The fuse is triggered when it hits a target or at a specified depth. Dmitry ANDREEV, St. Petersburg |
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