The President awarded the title Hero of Russia posthumously to four crew members of the AS-34 nuclear deep-sea station, on board of which a fire occurred last Monday. Among them is Captain 2nd Rank Dmitry Solovyov, who, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, managed to save a civilian specialist and closed the hatch of the emergency compartment behind him. Another 10 sailors were posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, including the two Heroes of Russia who died – Captains 1st Rank Nikolai Filin and Denis Dolonsky. According to available information, four surviving submariners who were on board the AS-34 were also awarded, but their names are not being published.

Based on the information disclosed by the Ministry of Defense, the fire started in the battery compartment and was possibly preceded by a short circuit in the AGS electrical network. This suggests that the large-scale fire was caused by a hydrogen leak from the batteries. It is possible that partly similar reasons - an explosion in the battery compartment as a result of a short circuit - led to the death of the Argentine submarine San Juan, which sank in 2017. At the same time, it is unlikely that we can talk about any fatal design flaws in the AC-34 that led to the tragedy, since it had been in operation since 2003, especially since a decision was made to restore the damaged apparatus.

The significance of this apparatus – although it looks like a regular submarine, but is much closer to deep-sea vehicles – can be judged at least by the fact that its completion was financed during the most difficult times of the 1990s. The Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research of the Ministry of Defense (GUGI), which includes this and other AGS, is a classified structure (although its existence is recognized and surface vessels for GUGI are built openly), as is the detachment of hydronauts – officers who control GUGI underwater vehicles.

The service in the GUGI hydronaut squad is somewhat reminiscent of the USSR cosmonaut squad in the 1960s and 1970s, including in the issue of assigning ranks: hydronauts are awarded ranks faster than in the regular navy, which explains the large number of senior officers on board the AS-34. Of course, the death of these unique specialists is the most serious loss, and it is much more difficult to restore it than the apparatus itself. The situation looks especially tragic given that hydronauts have never died before.

The characteristics of the AS-34 presented by the Ministry of Defense - a very short autonomy, only three days, and a speed of six knots - allow us to dismiss the hypothesis that the device is intended for sabotage against underwater cables. Of course, the station may have secret reconnaissance tasks, which explains the general increased secrecy of the GUGI, however, submarine forces in all countries of the world are among the most classified, since secrecy is the main weapon of a submarine. Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous, even in peacetime, remains the service of a submariner, comparable in the degree of danger to astronautics. Rescue equipment guarantees little, and the rescue itself in the event of a disaster is largely accidental. Therefore, the correct organization of the service and control over the condition of the equipment is of particular importance - it is due to this that in many fleets of developed countries there have been no underwater accidents with serious consequences for many years.

Submariners as astronauts